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Revisiting Assessment of Text Complexity: Lexical and Syntactic Parameters Fluctuations

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Speech and Computer (SPECOM 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 14338))

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Abstract

In this article we share findings on linguistic complexity fluctuations of Russian middle school textbooks. The study partially confirmed the null hypothesis that textbook syntactic complexity grows universally over the course of a single school year. The Research Corpus was compiled of 104 textbooks used in 12 subject domains in Russian middle schools. In accordance with school semesters (Fall-Spring), we divided each textbook into two parts and examined 208 texts for 47 quantitative parameters measured with RuLingva (rulingva.kpfu.ru). After considering dynamics of the values of each parameter for Fall and Spring semesters, we narrowed the parameters list down to syntactic (average word length, average sentence length, Flesch-Kincaid grade level) and lexical (lexical diversity and frequency) clusters. We identified and scrutinized three types of text complexity fluctuations: simultaneous increase of both clusters of parameters, opposite dynamics and independent fluctuations. The majority of textbooks demonstrate lexical and syntactic clusters’ “trade-off’” when the lexical complexity increase triggers the syntactic complexity decrease thus balancing the joint complexity. We also discuss the assumptions that underline the concept of complexity fluctuations and algorithms of its measurements in an effort to put the issue on the agenda of researchers and education authorities. Our findings can be useful for scholars, academicians and education policy makers at the national and regional levels.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    SIS in FKFL(SIS) stands for the initials of the formula developers, i.e. Solovyev, Ivanov, Solnyshkina [19].

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Kazan Federal University Strategic Academic Leadership (Priority 2030).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kazan Federal University, 420008, Kazan, Russia

    Alexandra Vahrusheva, Valery Solovyev, Marina Solnyshkina & Elzara Gafiaytova

  2. Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan, Russia

    Svetlana Akhtyamova

Authors
  1. Alexandra Vahrusheva
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  2. Valery Solovyev
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  3. Marina Solnyshkina
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  4. Elzara Gafiaytova
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  5. Svetlana Akhtyamova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valery Solovyev .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. St. Petersburg Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Alexey Karpov

  2. Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, India

    K. Samudravijaya

  3. Indian Institute of Information Technology Dharwad, Dharwad, India

    K. T. Deepak

  4. Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, Dharwad, India

    Rajesh M. Hegde

  5. KIIT Group of Colleges, Gurugram, India

    Shyam S. Agrawal

  6. Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, Dharwad, India

    S. R. Mahadeva Prasanna

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Vahrusheva, A., Solovyev, V., Solnyshkina, M., Gafiaytova, E., Akhtyamova, S. (2023). Revisiting Assessment of Text Complexity: Lexical and Syntactic Parameters Fluctuations. In: Karpov, A., Samudravijaya, K., Deepak, K.T., Hegde, R.M., Agrawal, S.S., Prasanna, S.R.M. (eds) Speech and Computer. SPECOM 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 14338. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48309-7_35

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48309-7_35

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-48308-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-48309-7

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