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Measuring information density in interlanguage through entropy analysis.
1Faculty of Education, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt. mohamed.abdelgawad3@edu.bsu.edu.eg.
Scientific Reports
|June 16, 2026
Summary
This study shows information-theoretic measures reveal proficiency differences in second language writing. Lexical entropy and positional concentration increased with proficiency, while grammatical divergence and compression ratio decreased.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Computational Linguistics
- Second Language Acquisition
Background:
- Traditional methods for assessing interlanguage development often rely on structural counts, which may not fully capture probabilistic language organization.
- Information-theoretic indicators offer a novel approach to analyze learner language structure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if information-theoretic indicators can detect proficiency-linked distributional differences in argumentative interlanguage writing.
- To explore the sensitivity of measures like lexical entropy, grammatical divergence, compression ratio, and positional concentration index to L2 English proficiency levels.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 200 de-identified argumentative essays (143 L2 English at B1, B2, C1 levels; 57 L1 English).
- Application of four primary information-theoretic indicators: lexical entropy (Hlex), KLgram (POS trigram divergence), compression ratio (CR), and positional concentration index (PCI).
- Statistical analysis using Welch's ANOVA and Games-Howell post hoc tests to compare proficiency groups.
Main Results:
- Lexical entropy (Hlex) and positional concentration index (PCI) showed an increase across proficiency groups (B1 < B2 < C1).
- Grammatical divergence (KLgram) and compression ratio (CR) decreased as proficiency levels increased.
- Findings suggest a probabilistic reorganization in learner writing, with increased lexical dispersion and structural regularity at higher proficiency levels.
Conclusions:
- Information-theoretic indicators are sensitive to proficiency-linked changes in interlanguage writing.
- The study provides evidence for probabilistic reorganization in L2 development within a specific corpus and genre.
- Results highlight the potential of these measures for nuanced assessment of second language writing proficiency.
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