Abstract Measures of syntactic complexity are often employed as a way to objectively characterize the development of second language (L2) writing. Complexity measures are eclectic and may be based on length of syntactic unit, relationships between clauses, and variety of syntactic structures. Development in written complexity is of particular interest to university foreign language (FL) departments given its connection to academic discourse. However, few studies explore longitudinal syntactic complexity development in the academic discourse of university FL majors. The present study, part of a larger program assessment project, performs a comprehensive longitudinal analysis of the L2 Spanish written complexity development of three university students over the course of their Spanish major program. A total of 42 academic texts were analyzed for eight complexity measures based on length, inter-clausal relationships, and phrasal/clausal variety. Results show that students develop certain measures more than others, with the greatest growth in length-based measures. Additionally, the importance of inter-learner variability is evident, as participants show clear individual tendencies. Findings are discussed in light of methodological choices, and implications for university FL major programs are explored.

中文翻译：

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西班牙语专业写作：句法复杂性的纵向分析

摘要 句法复杂度的测量经常被用作客观描述第二语言 (L2) 写作发展的一种方式。复杂性度量是折衷的，可能基于句法单元的长度、从句之间的关系以及句法结构的多样性。鉴于其与学术话语的联系，大学外语 (FL) 系对书面复杂性的发展特别感兴趣。然而，很少有研究探讨大学 FL 专业学术话语中纵向句法复杂性的发展。本研究是大型课程评估项目的一部分，对三名大学生在西班牙语专业课程中的 L2 西班牙语书面复杂性发展进行了全面的纵向分析。根据长度、子句间关系和短语/子句多样性，共分析了 42 篇学术文本的八项复杂性度量。结果表明，学生比其他人更多地发展某些措施，其中基于长度的措施增长最快。此外，学习者间可变性的重要性是显而易见的，因为参与者表现出明显的个人倾向。研究结果根据方法选择进行了讨论，并探讨了对大学 FL 主要课程的影响。