Challenging Stereotypes about

Academic Writing:
Complexity,
Elaboration, Explicitness

Doug Biber
Northern Arizona University

(Collaborating researcher: Bethany Gray)

 Background: Generally accepted claims about
writing in comparison/contrast to speech
Complex
Elaborated
Explicit in meaning
E.g., Hughes (1996.32-34), comparing writing to
speech:
longer and more complex clauses
full phrases and clauses with little abbreviation or
ellipsis
explicit and varied marking of clause relations
explicit presentation of ideas
explicit indication of text organization
 Elaboration and/or explicitness as a characteristic of academic
research writing

Li & Ge (2009): a more elaborate presentation of the data-analysis

procedures may serve to strengthen the [] accuracy (e.g. clearer,
precise) [] of the Results section [] (p. 98)

Hyland (2008: 11, 16): Here then we see the emphasis of the soft
knowledge fields on [] identifying and elaborating relationships in
argument
This reflects the more discursive and evaluative patterns of argument
in the soft knowledge fields, where persuasion is more explicitly
interpretative [] The presentation of research is therefore
altogether more discursively elaborate, []

Hyland & Tse (2005): [] in academic writing [] elaborated

structures are generally preferred as they facilitate the readers
understanding of the text. (p. 127)
 Elaboration and/or explicitness as a characteristic of
student academic writing

Wright (2008): Students [writing chemistry lab reports]

engage in elaborated discourse with a high degree of
specificity [] Once they have focused on salient data
and evidence, elaborated forms of discourse arrange
information into more complex and explicit
representations reflective of canonical scientific ideas.
(p. 292)

Keen (2004): Myhill (1999) identifies elaboration and use

of subordination as features which tend to
characterise high quality Grade A writing [] (p. 95)
The redrafting process facilitates progressively more
extended clause planning and greater elaboration.
(p. 96)
 Major goals of the talk

Challenge all three generalizations about the language of

academic prose:

1. Complex: Not according to traditional measures.

There is actually more clausal embedding in conversation

2. Elaborated: actually more 'compressed' than

'elaborated'.

3. Explicit: academic style has evolved to become

increasingly less explicit in the expression of
grammatical and textual relations
 Is Biber saying that academic
writing is not complex?
Yes and No.

Yes: The grammatical characteristics usually

used to measure complexity are not typical
of academic writing.
Conversation is actually more complex if
we consider those features

But no, academic discourse is complex in its

use of other grammatical features
 Why does this matter for language
pedagogy?
Teaching EAP writing: Many books
emphasize grammatical features that are
not actually characteristic of academic
writing

Testing (and researching) writing

development: usually emphasizes
grammatical measures that are not
actually relevant for academic writing
 Complexity and 'Elaboration (1)
Elaboration, clausal subordination, and
grammatical complexity are usually linked in
linguistic theory.
A simple clause has only a subject, verb, and
object or complement. A simple noun phrase has
a determiner and head noun.
Elaboration = structural additions, resulting in
complex grammar
 Complexity and 'Elaboration (2)

Descriptive linguists: dependent clauses are the

most important measure of grammatical complexity
(often contrasted with simple clauses; see e.g.,
Huddleston 1984: 378; Willis 2003: 192; Purpura
2004: 91; Carter & McCarthy 2006: 489).

Researchers on writing development: dependent

clause measures (see Brown et al. 2005; Ellis &
Yuan, 2004; Larsen-Freeman, 2006; Nelson & Van
Meter, 2007; Li, 2000; Norrby & Hkansson, 2007)

Wolfe-Quintero et al. (1998: 118-9): measures

based on dependent clauses are the best []
complexity measures so far
What does corpus research tell
us?
 Major corpora for the study

Conversation
Synchronic: Longman Network; 713 texts; 4,175,000
words
Diachronic: Drama 1700-1990: ARCHER, 75 texts; c.
75,000 words

Science/medical academic research articles

Synchronic: 20th c. science research articles,
1965, 1985, 2005: 155 texts, 655,000 words
Diachronic:
ARCHER, 1700-1990: 160 texts; c. 160,000 words
Corpus of English Texts on Astronomy (A Corua),
1700-1900: 42 texts; c. 400,000 words
 'Elaboration' features
Contractions and 'incomplete sentences' are
common in conversation; rare in academic
writing:
A: Of course he gets mad cos he can't smoke
cos we always take non-smoking.
B: Oh well.

But structural compression is much more

prevalent than structural elaboration in academic
writing
Phrasal embedding is much more common
than clausal embedding
 Elaboration' features: Dependent clauses
Overall, dependent clauses are actually more common in speech
than in academic writing especially finite dependent clauses
functioning as clausal constituents

Adverbial clauses are more common in speech

So she can blame someone else if it doesn't work.

Complement clauses are more common in speech

I dont know how they do it

Post-nominal clauses are more common in academic writing

the quantity of waste that falls into this category
The results shown in Tables IV and V add to the picture
 Figure 1. Com m on finite clause types functioning as clausal constituents

12

10

Conversation
8
Rate per 1,000 words

6 Academic
Writing

Finite adverbial V+THAT V+WH

clauses
 Examples from conversation

I just dont know

[if thats
[what he wants] ]

But I don't think

[we would want
[to have it
[sound like
[it's coming from us] ] ] ]
 Conversation
Gayle: And Dorothy said Bob's getting terrible with, with the
smoking. Uh, he's really getting defiant about it because there are
so many restaurants where you can't smoke and he just gets
really mad and won't go to them.
[]
Peter: Well they, they had a party. I forget what it was. They had it at
a friend's house. I can't remember why it wasn't at their house
any way. And they had bought a bottle of Bailey's because they
knew I liked Bailey's.
[]
Gayle: I can't remember who it was. One of us kids.
[]
Peter: Oh. I'll tell you I think the biggest change in me is since I
had my heart surgery.
Gayle: Really? Yeah I guess my, I mean I know my surgery was a
good thing but
Peter: <?> It makes you think. You realize it can happen to you.
 Compression' features: Dependent phrases
Embedded phrases (non-clausal) are extremely common in academic
writing

For example:

Each new level [of system differentiation] opens up space [for further
increases [in complexity] ].

Attributive adjectives
new level, further increases

Nouns as pre-modifiers of a head noun

system differentiation

Post-nominal prepositional phrases

level [of system differentiation]
space [for further increases [in complexity]
 Figure 2. Com m on dependent phrasal types functioning as constituents in a noun
phrase

70

60

50 Conversation
Rate per 1,000 words

40

Academic
30 Writing

20

10

Attributive Premodifying Postmodifying

adjectives in NPs nouns in NPs prepositional
phrases in NPs
Academic writing: Noun phrases with non-clausal modifiers

This patterning [of behavior] [by households]

[on other households] takes time.

This may indeed be part [of the reason [for the

statistical link [between schizophrenia and
membership [in the lower socioeconomic
classes] ] ] ].

In conclusion, it is suggested that the interspike

intervals [in a burst] and the silent intervals
[between bursts] are two important determinants
[of the effectiveness [of the burst pattern] [in
promoting neuropeptide release] ].
 Differing complexities in speech versus
academic writing

Favored in conversation ------- Favored in academic writing

Parameter A: Structural type

finite dependent clauses vs. dependent phrases
(non-clausal)

Parameter B: Syntactic function

structures that are vs. structures that are
constituents in clauses constituents in noun phrases
 Intermediate complexity features

E.g., nonfinite clauses as clause constituents;

finite clauses as noun phrase constituents

Syntactic function is more important than

structural type:
Clause constituents are preferred in conversation,
even when they are nonfinite dependent clauses and
non-clausal phrases
Noun phrase constituents are preferred in writing
 A
dv
er
b- Rate per 1,000 words
ad
v er 10

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
P bi
P- al
ad s*
ve
rb
ia
ls
*
V
+T

* per 100 w ords

O
N
ou V
n+ +I
N
TH G
A
N T-
ou co
m
n+ p
TO
N -c
+ om
P p
re
p
TH +
A IN
T G
re
N la
on t iv
f in W
ite H es
re
re la
la t iv
tiv es
e
cl
au
se
s
Figure 3. Dependent structures that m ix the tw o param eters

Writing
Academ ic
Conversation
Dimension 1 in Multi-Dimensional studies of
English

1988 general spoken and written registers

2006 university spoken and written
registers
Study Corpus Linguistic features on Dimension 1
Biber spoken 1st and 2nd person pronouns, other pro. present tense,
1988 and mental verbs, modals, emphatics, hedges,
written verb+that-complement clauses (usually with 0
registers complementizer), causative adverbial clauses,
WH-clauses
versus
nouns, prepositions, attributive adjectives, long words,
type/token ratio
Biber university contractions, demonstrative pronouns, it, 1st person
2006 spoken pronouns, present tense, time advs, that-omission, WH-
and questions, etc.,
written verb+that-complement clauses (usually with 0
registers complementizer), WH-clauses,
adverbial clauses: causative, conditional, other
versus
nominalizations, long words, nouns, prepositions, abstract
nouns, attributive adjectives, passives, stance noun + to-
clause, etc.
 General English Dimension 1 (1988 study)
INVOLVED
| TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
35 + FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATIONS
////////
20 + Personal letters, SPONTANEOUS SPEECHES
////////
| PREPARED SPEECHES, Romance fiction
0 +
| General fiction, Professional letters
| BROADCASTS
-5 +
| Science fiction
| Humor
-10 + Popular lore; Editorials; Hobbies
| Biographies
| Press reviews
-15 + Academic prose; Press reportage
|
| Official documents
-20 +
INFORMATIONAL
Measuring complexity for writing development:
t-unit length and clauses per t-unit
Conversation eg:
Well, since he got so upset, I just didnt think we
would want to wait for Tina to come back.
t-unit length: 20

Academic writing eg:

This may be part of the reason for the statistical
link between schizophrenia and membership in
the lower socioeconomic classes.
t-unit length: 20
Measuring complexity for writing development:
t-unit length and clauses per t-unit [cont.]

Conversation:
Well [since he got so upset], I just didnt think
[we would want
[to wait for
[Tina to come back] ] ]

main verb: think

number of dependent clauses per t-unit: 4
Measuring complexity for writing development:
T-unit length and clauses per t-unit [cont.]

Academic writing:
This may be part of the reason for the
statistical link between schizophrenia and
membership in the lower socioeconomic
classes.

main verb: be
number of dependent clauses per t-unit: 0
 Diachronic change towards compressed
(less elaborated) phrasal structures in the
noun phrase

Increasingly dense use of non-clausal

modification

Academic writing has been the most

innovative / receptive to change
 Figure 3: Historical change in the use of nouns as nom inal pre-m odifers in academ ic
prose

90

80

70

60
Rate per 1,000 words

50

40

30

20

10

1725 1775 1825 1875 1925 1965 1985 2005

Historical period
 Figure 4: Historical change in the use of phrasal as post-nom inal m odifers in academ ic
prose (m edical)

35

30
OF-phrases

25
Rate per 1,000 words

Other
20 prepositions

15
Appositive
NPs

10

0
18th century 20th century
Historical period
 Explicitness
Conversation: Inexplicit (situation-
dependent) references to objects, places,
and times are common
rare in writing

Academic writing: Inexplicit marking of

meaning relationships: among syntactic
constituents and textual elements
in the noun phrase
spreading to other structures?
increase in use historically
 Non-explicit references in speech
(classroom teaching)
Situation-dependent or vague reference marked in yellow

Instructor: What I want you to do in your free writes is kind of reflect on

what do you think he means here. Maybe - and what you could
answer is would you want to live in that kind of place. Would you want
to live there? And if you do, Why? and do not, Why? And how does
Rymmer give you clues? -- I think Rymmer, especially in a poem like
this, he talks about this hollowness at his core, sort of the absence of
the bona fide, legitimate purpose to the whole thing. I think clues like
this are embedded throughout that suggest that Rymmer's pretty
negative, or skeptical about this whole project, right? And what I wanna
know is, if you do want to live there, why is that, and if you don't, what
is it about Rymmer's writing, or Rymmer's ideas that lead you to
believe that you wouldn't want to live there.
Inexplicit marking of syntactic relations in writing:
Noun phrases

Heavy use of nominalization

(Halliday 1979; Halliday and Martin 1993)
States the action, not explicit that someone acts

But noun modification is even more important:

dense use of phrasal modification, where the relationship
between the head noun and the modifier is implicit,
rather than being stated explicitly
Pre-modifiers: Nouns
Post-modifiers:
non-finite clauses
prepositional phrases
appositive noun phrases
 Inexplicit meaning relations in the noun phrase:
Nouns as pre-modifiers
Compare:
family history history about a person's family
heart disease disease located in the heart
alcohol consumption process of consuming alcohol
prison officials officials who work in a prison
computer keyboard a keyboard used with a computer
computation time time required to compute something
retail outlet outlet which sells retail merchandise
union assets assets belonging to a union
pressure hose hose able to withstand pressure
pressure ratio ratio measuring pressure
 Inexplicit meaning relations in the noun phrase:
Prepositional phrases as post-modifiers

Another reason to use Ohio as a surrogate [for the country

as a whole] is that the data base [for hazardous waste
generation and flow] [for the State] is fairly good.

a surrogate for the country as a whole

a surrogate that represents the country as a whole

the data base for hazardous waste generation

the data base that documents hazardous waste
generation

the data base for the State

the data base that the State uses
 Inexplicit meaning relations in the noun phrase:
Prepositional phrases as post-modifiers [2]
farms in Malaysia
farms that are located in Malaysia

variation in the quality of water

the way in which the quality of water varies

experiments in agricultural chemistry

experiments that focused on the study of agricultural chemistry

the roots on the surface

roots which are on top of the surface

restrictions on underground injection of chemicals

rules that restrict the underground injection of chemicals

writers on style
writers who discuss style
20th c.; Appositive NPs in academic writing (1)
Coreferential, marked with parentheses:

In four cohorts (Athens, Keio, Mayo, and

Florence), investigators stated that

We present the results of the International

Meta - analysis of Mortality Impact of
Systemic Sclerosis (IMMISS)
20th c.; Appositive NPs in academic writing (2)
NOT coreferential, or coreferential but providing technical definition:

depending on whether enrollment (first cohort visit) occurred

within 6 months of the first physician diagnosis of systemic sclerosis
(incident case) or whether diagnosis had preceded the first visit by
>6 months (prevalent case).

Analyses that included all cases in each center (n=3311; total follow-
up: 19,990 person-years) yielded largely similar results.

All cohorts showed significantly increased standardized mortality

ratios (figure 1) .

Our Girnock analysis (fig. 2a) shows that late autumn and winter
(day 240 onwards) was the only period when
 Inexplicit meaning relations in the noun phrase:
Appositive noun phrases (2)
Compare:

Our Girnock analysis (fig. 2a) shows that late autumn and winter (day
240 onwards) was the only period when

vs.

Our Girnock analysis shows that late autumn and winter was the only
period when
+
The results of the Girnock analysis are presented in Figure 2.
+
For the purposes of our study, we defined 'late autumn and winter' as
day 240 onwards.
 Inexplicit meanings outside of the noun
phrase?

Signaling the meaning relations among

clauses

linking adverbials vs colons

(APA prohibition of numbered sections)
 Clause connectors: linking adverbials vs colons

14

linking
12 adverbial;
acad
10 linking
adverbial;
Rate per 1,000 words

8 news
colons;
6 acad

4 colons;
news
2

1725 1775 1825 1875 1925 1965 1985 2005

Century
 Conclusions: A more 'complex' picture of academic writing

Complex:
yes, in specific ways: nominal modifiers, non-finite
clauses, phrasal embedding
but not in the overall frequency of dependent clauses
Elaborated:
yes, in that it avoids contractions and fragments
but 'compressed' grammatical structures are more
prevalent than elaborated structures
Explicit in the expression of meaning:
yes, in that it avoids pronouns and other situation-
dependent references
but many logical relations among elements in the text are
implicit; requires expert background knowledge to
understand