earticle

영어

This study investigated linguistic and discourse features as predictors of Korean EFL learners at college level. A total of 52 argumentative essays written by Korean undergraduate students from different proficiency groups were gathered, coded for relevant academic writing features (i.e., lexical, syntactic and discourse features), and rated for writing quality. Frequency and regression analyses revealed that several academic features (i.e., length, syntactic complexity, the frequency of discourse markers and the presence of a thesis statement and a topic sentence) significantly predicted the writing quality across the different proficiency groups. On the other hand, some discourse features (i.e., lexical diversity, diverse discourse markers, and the presence of introductory sentences, supporting sentences and a conclusion statement) were found to have no association with writing quality. The findings of this study may offer a valuable insight into the design of strategic EFL writing curriculum that should explicitly teach the crucial characteristics and expectations of academic writing.