This article presents the results of a pilot study that sought to identify: (1) the syntactic mechanisms that a group of PhD-level Colombian EAP students used to express originally written content in oral presentations, and (2) how those mechanisms can be used to describe the differences of performance between high- and low-rated presentations. To achieve these objectives, a discourse analysis comparison of eight parallel pairs of texts (eight essays and their corresponding oral presentation transcriptions) was performed. Quantitative analyses were also performed to confirm the qualitative analyses. Syntactic modifications to clause structure and heavily modified noun phrases were identified as some of the mechanisms that students used to transition from written to oral discourse. The analysis of these mechanisms includes the description of further sub-mechanisms, the linguistic resources that are implemented, their pragmatic appropriateness, and their grammatical correctness. Among the sub-mechanisms deemed as useful indicators of quality of oral performance are topicalization and reduction of heavily modified NPs. Other sub-mechanisms such as the rhematization of NP modifiers were not useful to discriminate among levels of oral performance. This report ends with the presentation of the implications and limitations of the study, and the perspectives for future research.

中文翻译：

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从学术书面语到口头话语的句法机制：哥伦比亚博士学位水平的EAP课程的表现差异

本文介绍了一项初步研究的结果，该研究试图确定：（1）一组博士学位级别的哥伦比亚EAP学生用来在口头陈述中表达原始书面内容的句法机制，以及（2）如何使用这些机制描述高评分和低评分演示之间的性能差异。为了实现这些目标，对八对平行文本（八篇论文及其相应的口头陈述转录）进行了语篇分析比较。还进行了定量分析，以确认定性分析。对从句结构的句法修饰和名词短语的大量修饰被确定为学生用来从书面话语过渡到口头话语的一些机制。对这些机制的分析包括对其他子机制的描述，所实施的语言资源，其实用性和语法正确性。在被认为是口头表现质量的有用指标的子机制中，有局部化和严重修饰NP的减少。其他子机制（例如NP修饰剂的风湿化）无法用于区分口腔功能水平。本报告以研究的意义和局限性以及未来研究的观点作为结尾。在被认为是口头表现质量的有用指标的子机制中，有局部化和严重修饰NP的减少。其他子机制（例如NP修饰剂的风湿化）无法用于区分口腔功能水平。本报告最后介绍了研究的意义和局限性，以及未来研究的观点。在被认为是口头表现质量的有用指标的子机制中，有局部化和严重修饰NP的减少。其他子机制（例如NP修饰剂的风湿化）无法用于区分口腔功能水平。本报告以研究的意义和局限性以及未来研究的观点作为结尾。