"Examining lexical features and academic vocabulary use in adolescent L2 students’ text-based analytical essays"

Third-year doctoral student Undarmaa Maamuujav is sole author of a new article in Assessing Writing exploring lexical needs of adolescent second language (L2) writers. The title of the article is “Examining lexical features and academic vocabulary use in adolescent L2 students’ text-based analytical essays.”
 
Maamuujav, who is specializing in Teaching, Learning and Educational Improvement (TLEI), is working on two major research projects. Under the guidance of her advisor, Professor Emerita Carol Booth Olson, Maamuujav is a graduate researcher on a U.S. Department of Education grant to scale cognitive strategies instruction to writing and professional development in eight states (Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin). Under Associate Professor Penelope Collins, Maamuujav is serving as a co-researcher on a UCI Education Research Initiative to investigate the utility and effectiveness of infographics to scaffold undergraduate students’ writing skills development in process-based writing courses. Maamuujav received a 2020 Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program (CDIP) appointment from the California State University Office of the Chancellor in support of her goal to become a tenure-track professor at a California State University.

Undarmaa Maamuujav

​Abstract
 
Having rich and complex vocabulary is a crucial component that contributes to the quality of writing for academic purposes. However, use of academic vocabulary can be challenging for adolescent L2 writers who are developing their academic language proficiency. Thus, understanding lexical needs of adolescent L2 students in composing academic essays is pivotal in supporting this population in their endeavor to become proficient academic writers. This study investigates the lexical features of adolescent L2 students’ text-based analytical essays and analyzes the extent to which lexical density, lexical diversity, and lexical sophistication predict the quality of their writing. Computational tools Coh-Metrix and VocabProfiler were used to obtain quantitative measures of lexical density, diversity, and sophistication. The results of the study indicate that the essays (n = 70), on average, have (1) low lexical density, (2) more repetition of words indicating less diversity compared to grade-level estimates, and (3) a higher percentage of basic words and lower percentage of academic words. 44 % of the AWL words in the essays come from the source text and prompt. The results of multiple hierarchical regression indicate that the use of academic vocabulary is a predictor of writing quality. The study has important pedagogical implications for classroom practice at secondary school.