Syntactic Complexity in Secondary-level English Writing: Differences Among Writers Enrolled on Bilingual and Non-bilingual Programmes

Abstract

© 2017, Universidad de Granada. All rights reserved. This study examines syntactic complexity in the writings of secondary education students from bilingual and non-bilingual contexts. The participants were 393 students in their third and fourth year of compulsory secondary education. Essays were evaluated by a selection of measures gauging complexification at the sentential, the clausal, and the phrasal level of syntactic organisation. Findings showed significant differences between the bilingual and the non-bilingual groups with the scores on all syntactic complexity measures being significantly higher in the bilingual programme group. The comparison between grades in both groups suggested a significant increase in clausal coordination and phrasal elaboration in both groups but no significant difference in subordination in the bilingual group pointing to a possible interplay of coordination and subordination according to the programme selected.