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Language in the Balance: Lexical Repetition as a Function of Topic, Cultural Background, and Writing Development
Author(s) -
Reynolds Dudley W.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/0023-8333.00161
Subject(s) - linguistics , cohesion (chemistry) , repetition (rhetorical device) , psychology , organic chemistry , philosophy , chemistry
Writers' use of lexical repetition changes in relation to writing topic, cultural background, and development of writing ability. As the principal means of explicitly marking cohesion in a text, lexical repetition offers insight into how texts are structured and the balance of old and new information. Nonnative writers (134) from four cultural backgrounds (Arab, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish) and NS high school students (57) wrote a timed assessment essay on either a descriptive or a persuasive topic. Multiple regression analysis indicates that writing ability measures are the most important variables for predicting changes in repetition usage, with less significant effects found for topic and cultural background. Discussion focuses on how characteristics of learner texts change in relation to different combinations of the independent variables.