A Comparative Study on Lexical and Syntactic Features of High-Scoring and Low-Scoring Writings in First Year High School English Application Writing
Abstract
This study investigates lexical and syntactic differences between high-scoring and low-scoring English practical writings of first-year high school students. Based on 40 exam writings selected from the top and bottom 20% of students at Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, lexical diversity was measured using Type-Token Ratio (TTR), and syntactic complexity was assessed through three L2SCA indicators: Mean Length of T-unit (MLT), Dependent Clauses per Clause (DC/C), and Complex Nominals per T-unit (CN/T). Results show that high-scoring writings exhibited slightly higher lexical diversity, but the difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, significant differences emerged in MLT and CN/T, indicating that high-scoring writers use longer structural units and more complex noun phrases. DC/C showed no significant between-group difference. The study posits that in high school English practical writings, syntactic complexity, particularly sentence length and noun phrase complexity, plays a more critical role in differentiating writing ability, while lexical diversity contributes less. These findings provide empirical implications for teaching high school English practical writing.
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