Lexical complexity – Variety in predicates

 Complexity is related to task for the two learners. Sophia uses more various predicates in the Jigsaw task than Anna B, and Anna B uses more various predicates in the Comparison task than Sophia.

In the Jigsaw task as shown in the table, Sophia and Anna B both use ‘있다 (to exist)’ and ‘이다 (to be)’ most frequently. Although Sophia shows more variety than Ann B in using predicates in the Jigsaw task, she also uses ‘있다 (to exist)’ considerably more than other predicates. On the other hand, while Anna B also uses ‘있다 (to exist)’ frequently in the Jigsaw task, her total use of other predicates approximates her use of ‘있다’.  In the Comparison Task, Anna B shows a much wider variety in predicates than Sophia, suggesting more complex sentence structures.

The fact that Anna B has more syntactic variety than Sophia is surprising when we recall our first impression of the two learners’ proficiency. At first, Sophia sounded more fluent, accurate as well as confident than Anna B. However, the analysis of the variety of predicates the two learners use indicates that Sophia’s apparent fluency and accuracy may result from her repetition of simple sentence structures like the existential expression, ‘있다’. Although Anna B sometimes has longer pauses and hesitations in her speech, she also uses more various predicates than Sophia. Thus, teachers need to be cautious about judging a learner’s proficiency based on their first impressions.