절대평가 도입 전후 수능 영어 독해 지문의 통사적 복잡성 비교

A comparison of syntactic complexity in CSAT reading passages before and after the introduction of criterion-referenced evaluation.

The present study aimed to compare the reading passages in the English Section of the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT) before and after the introduction of criterion-referenced evaluation in terms of syntactic complexity. By using the web-based version (Ai & Lu, 2013; Lu & Ai, 2015) of Lu’s (2010, 2011) L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer, the five categories of syntactic complexity were examined: length of production unit (Mean Length of Clause, Mean Length of Sentence, Mean Length of T-unit), sentence complexity (Sentence Complexity Ratio), subordination (T-unit Complexity Ratio, Complex T-unit Ratio, Dependent Clause Ratio, Dependent Clauses per T-unit), coordination (Coordinate Phrases per Clause, Coordinate Phrases per T-unit, Sentence Coordination Ratio), and particular structures (Complex Nominals per Clause, Complex Nominals per T-unit, Verb Phrases per T-unit). Results showed that the reading passages between the academic years 2016-2017 (50 passages) and 2018-2019 (50 passages) did not differ across any of the fourteen syntactic complexity measures. This study suggests the need to set benchmarks against which the development of English as a second/foreign language can be measured and to utilize them in the new era of the CSAT English Section.