Professional Bio

Xiaofei Lu’s research interests are primarily in corpus linguistics, English for Academic Purposes, second language writing, second language acquisition, and computer-assisted language learning. He has had a longstanding interest in issues related to lexical and syntactic complexity. He has made available several computational tools to facilitate their automated analysis, including the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer, the Lexical Complexity Analyzer, and the D-Level Analyzer. He has also conducted numerous studies to investigate the relationship of lexical and syntactic complexity to language proficiency, language development, and language production quality as well as the effects of various learner- and task-related factors on this relationship. His current research calls for closer attention to the meaning and function dimensions of linguistic complexity and highlights a framework that integrates corpus- and genre-based approaches to academic writing research, teaching, and assessment, with a particular focus on the linguistic realizations of different rhetorical and communicative functions in different genres of academic writing. Xiaofei Lu teaches several courses on corpus linguistics (APLNG 578; APLNG 579) and technology-mediated language learning (APLNG 588; APLNG 589). He is the author of Corpus linguistics and second language acquisition: Perspectives, issues, and findings (Routledge, 2023) and Computational methods for corpus annotation and analysis (Springer, 2014) and lead co-editor (with Berlin Chen) of Computational and corpus approaches to Chinese language learning (Springer, 2019).

Select Recent Articles and Book Chapters

Lu, X. (2025). Towards greater conceptual clarity in complexity and difficulty: A commentary on “Complexity and difficulty in second language acquisition: A theoretical and methodological overview”. Language Learning, 75(2), 594-598. 

Hu, N., Lu, X., & Hu, R. (2025). Developing fine-grained sense-aware lexical sophistication indices based on the CEFR levels of word senses. Behavior Research Methods, 57(8), Article 226. 

Wu, J., Lu, X., Hu, R., Lin, Y., & Liu, F. (2025). Syntactic and phraseological complexity in Chinese as a Second Language adapted teaching materials. The Modern Language Journal, 109(2), 326-343. 

Lu, X., & Hu, R. (2024). Sense-aware connective-based indices of cohesion and their relationship to cohesion ratings of English language learners’ written production. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 46(3), 644-662. 

Jiang, Y., Lu, X., Liu, F., Zhang, J., & Jin, T. (2024). What should go with this word here: Connecting lexical collocations and rhetorical moves in narrative stories. Applied Linguistics, 45(5), 786-805. 

Kim, M., & Lu, X. (2024). L2 English speaking syntactic complexity: Data preprocessing issues, reliability of automated analysis, and the effects of proficiency, L1 background, and topic. The Modern Language Journal, 108(1), 270-296. 

Liu, Y., & Lu, X. (2024). Development of verb argument constructions in L2 English learners: A close replication of Research Question 3 in Römer and Berger (2019). Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 46(5), 1373-1391. 

Poehner, M. E., & Lu, X. (2024). Sociocultural theory and corpus-based English language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 58(3), 1256-1263. 

Zhang, X., & Lu, X. (2024). Testing the relationship of linguistic complexity to L2 learners’ comparative judgment on text difficulty. Language Learning, 74(3), 672-706. 

Lu, X., & Hu, R. (2022). Sense-aware lexical sophistication indices and their relationship to second language writing quality. Behavior Research Methods, 54(3), 1444-1460. 

Lu, X., & Wu, J. (2022). Noun phrase complexity measures in Chinese and their relationship to L2 Chinese writing quality: A comparison with topic-comment-unit-based measures. The Modern Language Journal, 106(1), 267-283. 

Hu, R., Wu, J., & Lu, X. (2022) Word-combination-based measures of phraseological diversity, sophistication and complexity and their relationship to L2 Chinese proficiency and writing quality. Language Learning, 72(4), 1128-1169. 

Zhang, X., Lu, X., & Li, W. (2022). Beyond differences: Assessing effects of shared linguistic features on L2 writing quality of two genres. Applied Linguistics, 43(1), 168-195. 

Lu, X., Yoon, J., & Kisselev, O. (2021). Matching phrase-frames to rhetorical moves in social science research article introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 61, 63-83.

Lu, X., Yoon, J., & Kisselev, O., Casal, J. E., Liu, Y., Deng, J, & Nie, R. (2021). Rhetorical and phraseological features of research article introductions: Variation among five social science disciplines. System, 100, 102543.

Lu, X., Casal, J. E., & Liu, Y. (2020). The rhetorical functions of syntactically complex sentences in social science research article introductions. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 44, 100832.

Peng, J., Wang, C., & Lu, X. (2020). Effect of the linguistic complexity of the input text on alignment, writing fluency, and writing accuracy in the continuation task. Language Teaching Research, 24(3), 364-381.