Assessing the use of sophisticated EFL writing

Even very advanced EFL writing tends to be less sophisticated than native writing. One of the problems seems to be finding the right collocations and the correct register. The aim of this article is to pinpoint what characterizes the development in very advanced Dutch EFL students’ written language production. We discuss the development of students’ ability to use appropriate intensifiers. Compared to their native English speaking contemporaries, the Dutch students initially tend to use intensifiers that are found typically in spoken English, such as really and a bit, but they gradually replace them by modifiers more suitable to academic writing. It is argued that the use of appropriate intensifiers can be seen to be a measure of advancedness and hence be used as a criterion in the assessment of advanced EFL writing quality.