Understanding Middle Graders' Language Borrowing: How Lexical and Demographic Characteristics Predict Similarity

Autor/inn/en	Dobbs, Christina L.; Caselli, Naomi K.; Hartzell, Ethan; Flanagan, Coral; Yan, Yan
Titel	Understanding Middle Graders' Language Borrowing: How Lexical and Demographic Characteristics Predict Similarity
Quelle	In: Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 35 (2022) 4, S.971-994 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Dobbs, Christina L.) Weitere Informationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0922-4777
DOI	10.1007/s11145-021-10210-0
Schlagwörter	Middle School Students; Linguistic Borrowing; Academic Language; Writing Processes; Sentences; Editing; Word Frequency; Language Fluency; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Language Tests; Scores; Computational Linguistics; Writing Skills; Language Usage + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Lehnwort; Academic; Language; Languages; Akademiker; Sprache; Wissenschaftssprache; Sentence analysis; Satzanalyse; Redaktion; Textbearbeitung; Word analysis; Frequency; Wortanalyse; Häufigkeit; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Language test; Sprachtest; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Writing skill; Schreibfertigkeit; Sprachgebrauch
Abstract	Language borrowing from sources is a phenomenon used by developing writers as they are learning academic language, though there is much to be learned about how younger students borrow from sources. This study explores student writing, from a sample of 166 diverse middle graders, across topics to determine patterns in borrowing from instructional source texts. Computational techniques were used to identify borrowing, defined as similarity in pairs of sentences from student texts and instructional texts. Qualitative analyses of the sentence pairs that included borrowing showed that position statements, borrowed in part or whole, represent the majority of borrowing. Students also made superficial edits to sentences from instructional text by substituting or deleting words, but rarely adding words. Quantitative analyses of the sentence pairs revealed that more difficult words (longer, less frequent) were more likely to be borrowed. We found no differences in amounts of borrowing among students with varying English fluency levels (as measured by grade, standardized English test scores, and English language designation). Lastly, we examined whether borrowing was related to writing quality and found no effect. Using a unique combination of methodological approaches, we provide information about patterns of borrowing and point toward considerations of how students integrate instructional text into writing. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01