Η συντακτική πολυπλοκότητα στη γραπτή παραγωγή της Ελληνικής ως Δεύτερης Γλώσσας: Ο ρόλος του επιπέδου γλωσσομάθειας (Syntactic complexity in L2 Modern Greek written production: The role of proficiency.)

The present study examines the development of syntactic complexity across different language proficiency levels. The research involved 55 L2 Greek learners who participated in an intensive six-week summer program in Greece. Their proficiency levels ranged from A2 to C2. The participants completed a written task in which they wrote an opinion essay. Various indices based on sentences, clauses, and T-units were used to measure and analyze their written production. According to the results, the L2 proficiency only affected the indices of subordinate complexity. Specifically, indicators related to subordination, such as subordinate clauses per T-unit, subordinate clauses per clause, and clauses per T-unit, were found to be influenced by proficiency level. Advanced-level students (C1-C2) exhibited a higher degree of subordination compared to intermediatelevel (B1-B2) and beginner-level (A2) learners. On the other hand, other syntactic complexity indicators, including mean length, coordination, and sentence complexity, were not influenced by language proficiency level. Based on these findings, we argue that the three indicators of subordination are suitable for distinguishing and characterizing the language proficiency levels of learners. However, none of the syntactic complexity indices examined in this study were found suitable for distinguishing adjacent levels. Therefore, future research should focus on additional indices, such as those related to the complexity of phrasal structure (nominal and verbal phrases). At the pedagogical level, we consider that L2 Greek teachers have a useful tool for assessing the linguistic performance of their students in relation to their language proficiency level. Furthermore, the corpus created within the scope of this research provides examples that can be utilized for instructional purposes, particularly for teaching different types of sentence conjunction, to enhance the written syntactic complexity of L2 Greek learners.