A correlational study of the holistic measure with the index measure of accuracy and complexity in international English -as -a -second -language (ESL) student writings

The study examined the relationship between the index measure and the holistic measure of L2 writing; in particular, the study investigated whether or not the index measure contributes to and complements the holistic measure in terms of accuracy and syntactic complexity.;The 51 writing samples were collected from the EFS 100 class at the University of Mississippi. For holistic scores, English language experts measured writing samples according to the ACTFL writing proficiency guidelines. For index scores, the researcher measured the same writing samples through the use of the accuracy and syntactic complexity measures which were determined by means of repeated sampling reliability as the valid measures among index measures used in studies of L2 writing. Accuracy was measured by means of error-free T-units (EFT) and errors per T-unit (E/T); syntactic complexity was measured by means of dependent clauses per clause (DC/C) and clauses per T-unit (C/T). Pearson product-moment correlations and a multiple linear regression were conducted to test the three null hypotheses. The predictor variables were the index measures including accuracy and syntactic complexity, and the criterion variable was the holistic measure.;The results showed that little correlation was found between the scores of the holistic measure and the index scores of accuracy and syntactic complexity measures including EFT, E/T, DC/C and C/T. The implications of the results were discussed and further research was recommended.