Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing
Nominalizations, or nouns derived from verbs or adjectives through suffixes, are a pervasive characteristic feature of written academic discourse. To better understand the nature of nominalization in L2 student writing and its relation to assessment in first-year writing (FYW) contexts, we report fi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Liverpool University Press
2023-09-01
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| Series: | International Journal of English for Academic Purposes |
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| Online Access: | http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/ijeap.2023.8 |
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| author | Tetyana (Tanya) Bychkovska Joseph J. Lee |
| author_facet | Tetyana (Tanya) Bychkovska Joseph J. Lee |
| author_sort | Tetyana (Tanya) Bychkovska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nominalizations, or nouns derived from verbs or adjectives through suffixes, are a pervasive characteristic feature of written academic discourse. To better understand the nature of nominalization in L2 student writing and its relation to assessment in first-year writing (FYW) contexts, we report findings of a comparative corpus-based analysis of nominalization use in university student papers. Data consist of high-rated (A graded) and low-rated (C graded) L2 undergraduate research papers from multiple sections of an FYW course for international and multilingual students. Nominalizations were examined in terms of frequencies, unique types, abstract/concrete and human/non-human categories, nominal stance types, and modification types. Results reveal no statistically significant differences in the examined classifications. However, the small effect sizes for certain categories point to subtle differences between the two groups, which together might have affected the instructors’ evaluations of text quality. We conclude with suggestions for incorporating nominalization instruction in English for Academic Purposes writing courses. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dbdabb37c2014bfcb91a57be8bf2749d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2634-4610 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Liverpool University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of English for Academic Purposes |
| spelling | doaj-art-dbdabb37c2014bfcb91a57be8bf2749d2025-08-20T02:12:11ZengLiverpool University PressInternational Journal of English for Academic Purposes2634-46102023-09-013213515810.3828/ijeap.2023.8Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writingTetyana (Tanya) Bychkovska0Joseph J. Lee1(independent scholar)Dalarna University, Sweden (Corresponding Author: )Nominalizations, or nouns derived from verbs or adjectives through suffixes, are a pervasive characteristic feature of written academic discourse. To better understand the nature of nominalization in L2 student writing and its relation to assessment in first-year writing (FYW) contexts, we report findings of a comparative corpus-based analysis of nominalization use in university student papers. Data consist of high-rated (A graded) and low-rated (C graded) L2 undergraduate research papers from multiple sections of an FYW course for international and multilingual students. Nominalizations were examined in terms of frequencies, unique types, abstract/concrete and human/non-human categories, nominal stance types, and modification types. Results reveal no statistically significant differences in the examined classifications. However, the small effect sizes for certain categories point to subtle differences between the two groups, which together might have affected the instructors’ evaluations of text quality. We conclude with suggestions for incorporating nominalization instruction in English for Academic Purposes writing courses. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/ijeap.2023.8nominalizationnominal featuressecond language writingacademic writingcorpus analysis |
| spellingShingle | Tetyana (Tanya) Bychkovska Joseph J. Lee Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing International Journal of English for Academic Purposes nominalization nominal features second language writing academic writing corpus analysis |
| title | Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing |
| title_full | Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing |
| title_fullStr | Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing |
| title_short | Nominalization in high- and low-rated L2 undergraduate writing |
| title_sort | nominalization in high and low rated l2 undergraduate writing |
| topic | nominalization nominal features second language writing academic writing corpus analysis |
| url | http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/ijeap.2023.8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tetyanatanyabychkovska nominalizationinhighandlowratedl2undergraduatewriting AT josephjlee nominalizationinhighandlowratedl2undergraduatewriting |