Comparative Study of Lexical Density and Lexical Diversity of Creative and Academic Writing of Ukrainian EFL Students

In order to assess the quality of foreign language learners’ writing and their linguistic competencies, various measurements have been conducted by educators and language instructors. Such concepts as lexical density and lexical diversity when applied in the process of EFL acquisition progress assessment can provide pivotal information concerning language learners’ writing skills and highlight prospective areas for improvement which in turn will help facilitate academic growth. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investigate the correlation between lexical density, lexical diversity, and language proficiency.
This study explored the concepts of lexical density and lexical diversity in academic and creative writing and determined the existing patterns regarding lexical density and lexical diversity of academic and creative writing of Ukrainian EFL students. In the course of this research Lexical Frequency Profiles of Ukrainian EFL students were created, which made it feasible to draw connections between the language proficiency of the subjects and the lexical density and lexical diversity of their writing. Additionally, the relationship between lexical density and other linguistic features such as sentence length and word length in creative and academic writing of Ukrainian EFL students was explored. Furthermore, in this thesis, the potential impact of such factors as text genre and language proficiency on lexical density and lexical diversity was examined and Ukrainian EFL students were positioned in the community of international EFL learners regarding their lexical richness and active vocabulary. To do so, we resorted to the quantitative method, which consisted of frequency analysis, as well as lexical density and lexical diversity measurement.
The paper's scientific originality stems from the evaluation of the language proficiency of Ukrainian EFL students conducted through the exhaustive and systematic study and analysis of lexical peculiarities demonstrated in their writing. The findings of this research may be applied in creative and academic writing seminars, as well as used by EFL educators and instructors.
The theoretical background to the study is described in the first chapter of the thesis, whereas the methodology and data analyzed are presented in the second. It is the third chapter that provides systematized and analyzed findings of the research.
It was determined that the participants of the research produced academic writing with moderate lexical density levels both in the second and the fourth years of study, their lexical density values not being inferior to the average lexical density index of their international peers.
In the creative writing of the Ukrainian EFL students, which was characterized as moderately lexically dense, there was detected a lexical density growth in the period between the second and the fourth years of study. Additionally, their scores lie within the bounds of the lexical density results of other students in the global EFL community.
The data concerning lexical diversity indices in the academic writing of Ukrainian EFL students indicate a moderate level of lexical variance with a growth in the fourth year of study. Additionally, according to the Lexical Frequency Profiles, in the period of two years, the participants managed to widen their vocabulary range and start implementing more unique lexical units into their academic writing. When compared to those of their international peers, the results of Ukrainian students cannot be considered inferior.
Similarly, the lexical diversity of the research participants’ creative writing increased in the period between the second and fourth years of study. Their developed language proficiency and enriched vocabulary are reflected by an increase of lower frequency words as demonstrated by their Lexical Frequency Profiles. Moreover, the lexical diversity scores of Ukrainian students were higher than those of EFL learners from other countries, which underscores their profound English knowledge as well as the conduciveness of creative writing to the students’ implementation of a wider vocabulary range.
Thus, our analysis placed Ukrainian students among the global EFL community based on their operational vocabulary as measured by lexical density and lexical diversity.

Samusenko M. Comparative Study of Lexical Density and Lexical Diversity of Creative and Academic Writing of Ukrainian EFL Students : master’s thesis : 035 Philology / supervised Anna Karaban. Kyiv, 2023. 121 p.