Using AS-units to Measure the Syntactic Complexity of Students' Responses to Epistemic Questions in Algerian EFL Classrooms

The study aims to gauge the syntactic complexity embedded in Algerian EFL students’ responses to epistemic questions. It involves an empirical inquiry that employs quantitative methods for answering the research questions and for testing the hypotheses. The main objectives are to determine the average score of syntactic complexity entrenched in students’ oral spontaneous production and to probe the significance of the difference existing between the mean scores of complexity elicited by referential and display questions (epistemic questions). Measuring syntactic complexity is based on the implementation of “analysis of speech units” (AS-units) into the examination of transcribed data corresponding to six EFL lessons delivered to third-grade students at two different Algerian universities. The results are derived from the analysis of 437 responses to epistemic interrogatives. The findings indicated that the average score of complexity embedded in the examined responses is equal to 0.56 which means that most of the answers did not involve clausal formations but were rather composed of phrasal and elliptical structures, indicating a tendency toward generating fragmented and concise responses. A very significant difference (p-value= .01) is found to be present between the syntactic complexity of students’ answers produced after display/referential questions, as a small to moderate effect size is reported vis-à-vis the impact of the epistemic nature (referential/display) of questions on complexity scores (Cohen’s d= 0.35). The main findings of the study imply that referential questions were more effective than their display counterparts in increasing the syntactic complexity of students’ oral production as the discrepancy in the complexity of output produced after the two questioning techniques can be noticeable. These insights can guide EFL teachers in selecting efficient questioning techniques that promote language development and better learning outcomes. Further research is warranted in the local context to delve deeper into the underlying mechanisms that govern EFL production and explore other potential factors that might have influenced the observed differences in syntactic complexity.