Beyond linguistic complexity: Assessing register flexibility in EFL writing across contexts

Abstract The present study examines adolescent and adult English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) Learners’ linguistic complexity and register flexibility in writing across academic and colloquial contexts. A total of 263 EFL learners from three first language (L1) backgrounds (Chinese, French, and Spanish) participated in this study. Each participant produced two written texts on the same topic: a personal email to a close friend and an academic report to an educational authority. A total of 526 texts were analyzed for lexical, syntactic, and discourse organizational features. Multilevel modeling results revealed positive associations between participants’ English proficiency and their textual linguistic complexity. In contrast, the association between English proficiency and register flexibility was not consistent across the different linguistic levels analyzed and across the three L1 groups. Findings inform the design of pedagogical practices that anticipate the unique communicative challenges faced by EFL learners and teach communicative functions of complex linguistic forms.