An Analysis of Topical Structure in Argumentative Essays of EFL Learners

Year 2018, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 33 - 39, 01.12.2018

Bilal Genç , Volkan Darmaz Namık Ülkersoy

Abstract

In teaching and learning foreign language teachers
and learners aim to improve four skills to the extent which is considered
native-like or at least advanced. Quite naturally success in each skill is assessed
based on different parameters. This paper explores improvement in writing
skills of English language learners through the examinations of compositions
written in May of 2014 and 2017. Syntactic and lexical complexities alongside
with topical structure analysis are used to discover the potential improvement
between the two groups of papers written by 31 participants of the study. The
statistical analyses revealed that there were statistically significant
differences between the two performances of the participant students writing
performances in terms of lexical complexity and a remarkable though not
significant improvement in their syntactic complexity.

Keywords

topical structure analysis, argumentative essay

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