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Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 17. Number 3, September 2026 Pp. 58-74
Language Institute, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Language Institute, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
This study examines similarities and differences in linguistic features and determines the linguistic features most commonly used in English narrative writing by Grade 6 students enrolled in an English Program and those in a Thai Program at a demonstration school in Bangkok. This comparative quantitative descriptive study provides insights into how different learning programs may relate to students’ linguistic performance in writing, and it helps identify the areas for improvement in linguistics and writing. Various studies have examined the English writing of Thai EFL students; however, research on a comparative analysis of linguistic features in EFL narrative writing remains limited. Three linguistic features are highlighted: lexical, syntactic, and discourse. Forty-nine participants, selected through convenience sampling, produced five narrative texts of about 100 words each. Data were gathered using a narrative worksheet for writing samples; AntConc to tabulate lexical density and diversity; and Coh-Metrix to calculate syntactic complexity, coherence, and lexical cohesion. Descriptive statistics, including percentages and means, were used in this study. The results showed that English Program students wrote more syntactically complex sentences with denser information, possibly due to greater English exposure in their classes. Thai Program students demonstrated better performance in repetition and semantic continuity. Both groups demonstrated similar difficulty with overall coherence. The results have important implications: different language exposure may contribute to variation in linguistic features in narrative writing, and highlight the areas where extra instructional support is needed.
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Monthakan Chitphirom is the Head of the English Program and an English teacher at Ramkhamhaeng University Demonstration School (Bangna Campus), Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand. He is interested in Applied Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, English language teaching and Teaching English as a Second Language. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1516-9745
Supakorn Phoocharoensil is an Associate Professor of English and the Director of the Language Institute at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, which is indexed in SCOPUS and ERIC. His research interests primarily focus on Second Language Acquisition, Corpus Linguistics, and English Collocations and Formulaic Language.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3528-3402