Abstract
This study aims to explore how verb frames can potentially influence text difficulty and shed new light on text evaluation. Different from previous works focusing mostly on lexical frequencies, this paper explores semantic categories of verbs and their correlation with the difficulty levels (DLs) of textbooks. Based on a corpus of nine sets of primary school Chinese textbooks, verb-frame diversity and distribution trends by difficulty levels were examined. The results show that the diversity of verb frames has a strong positive correlation with difficulty levels. The distribution trends of the frames largely correspond with the three cognitive tiers proposed in the skill theory for language development: the sensory–motor, representational, and abstract tiers. This study introduces verb frames as a salient semantic factor in text analysis and proposes that verb-frame-related features have the potential to be utilized in the evaluation of leveled instructional materials and readability assessment. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 621-641 |
| Journal | International Journal of Applied Linguistics |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Online published | 13 Nov 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2024 |
Funding
Hong Kong Institute of Data Science, City University of Hong Kong, grant number 9360163.
Research Keywords
- cognitive language development
- skill theory
- textbooks
- text difficulty
- verb frames
Publisher's Copyright Statement
- COPYRIGHT TERMS OF DEPOSITED POSTPRINT FILE: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Liu, M., Zhang, Z., & Lee, J. S. Y. (2023). Verb frame distribution and text difficulty: A corpus-based analysis of verb frames in Chinese textbooks. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12511.
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RGC Funding Information
- RGC-funded