A longitudinal study of the syntactic development of very advanced Dutch EFL writing

What is it about?

The study of EFL writing has so far not been able to go beyond the observation and discussion of group characteristics. While it has been possible to study developmental data, in the sense that writing products of students at various levels of proficiency were available for research, longitudinal EFL data were virtually non-existent. The LONGDALE project seeks to find an answer to the question how EFL writing develops over time. This article reports on a quantitative and a qualitative study of Dutch EFL writing, based on a modest amount of longitudinal data. Its aim is to find out if and how non-native writing develops over time, whether it develops in the direction of native writing, and whether individual students display individual developmental patterns The answer to all three questions appears to be affirmative.

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Why is it important?

The study of EFL writing has so far not been able to go beyond the observation and discussion of group characteristics.