A meaning-based approach to the study of complexity in L2 writing: The case of grammatical metaphor

•I stress the link between linguistic complexity and its discourse-semantic function.•I focus on nominalizations to illustrate the meaning- and form-integrated approach.•The SFL concept of grammatical metaphor captures the complexity of nominalizations.•The complexity of nominalizations is illustrated within an advanced L2 writing task.•Implications for research include redrawing the taxonomy of complexity constructs.

This article argues for an alternative approach to complexity in L2 writing that foregrounds the link between aspects of linguistic complexity and its discourse-semantic function of constructing particular types of meanings in written texts. To illustrate a meaning- and form-integrating approach, the paper focuses on nominalizations as a linguistic form recently identified as a potentially significant indicator of complexity of advanced L2 writing. In line with the linguistic theory of meaning making, systemic functional linguistics (SFL), nominalizations are explored as realizations of grammatical metaphor (GM), a concept that helps capture the complexity of the semantic dimension of these linguistic forms. Furthermore, exploring nominalizations as GMs helps explain their discourse function as meeting the demands of more complex communicative tasks typical of advanced literacy contexts. Application of such conceptualization of complexity is illustrated by an analysis of an advanced L2 writing task that demonstrates precisely how nominalizations as GMs enable the L2 writer to meet the complexity of these demands through conceptual refiguration of experience and configuration or development of concepts in texts. The paper concludes with the implications of such an approach for L2 writing research, curriculum construction, and L2 writing pedagogy.