Use of Complex Sentences by Syrian and Turkish Foreign/Second Language Learners

Abstract

Studies on complex sentences have been on the rise in recent years. However, complexity has been hardly questioned and criticized. This study mainly aims to bring a critical approach to complexity in linguistics. On the other hand, it is taken for granted that language learners have difficulty using complex sentences composed of various clauses. This study examined the written essays of Turkish language learners of English and Syrian learners of Turkish. The sentences were extracted from these essays (N=30). Thus, a small scale corpus was composed. The results show that complex sentences emerge later than simple sentences. Use of relative clauses appears to be more difficult when compared to the use of noun and adverbial clauses. In addition, some uses of complex sentences seem to be used in a formulaic way rather than generatively. Therefore, it can be concluded that learners need to be exposed to use of complex sentences more frequently since frequency might affect foreign/second language learners’ written production.