Group and Individual Learning Profiles of Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in L2 English Writing at Secondary School

Abstract

According to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), language development is an individually owned process. CDST studies should draw from both group-based and individual-based data since research results should not be generalized from the group to the individual and vice versa unless the group is an ergodic ensemble. This paper describes a part of a sequential mixed method (MM) study in which group-based data obtained in a panel study were further analysed with respect to all individual learners. The aim of the study was to examine the individual learners’ development of syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) in L2 English writing at secondary school in comparison to the whole group. The study was based on The Written English Developmental Corpus of Polish Learners (WEDCPL), which includes 1,923 essays written by one hundred learners during twenty-one data waves organized over the period of three years at secondary school. The results of the study indicated that the individual learners rarely differed from the group in terms of the average CALF results, but in terms of progress over time, most learners represented different learning profiles than the group. The main implication for practitioners is to empower moreindividual learners to succeed in L2.

Keywords

• complex dynamic systems theory (cdst)
• syntactic complexity
• accuracy
• lexical complexity
• fluency (calf)
• individual learning profiles
• l2 writing
• learner corpus
• secondary school