The development of English syntactic maturity was investigated among Chinese secondary school students learning English as a second language. Narrative and expository compositions written by 60 students at three grade levels were analyzed for increases in T-unit length, clause length, number of clauses per T-unit, and the use of nominals, adverbials, and coordinations within T-units. T-unit length, clause length, and number of clauses per T-unit were found to increase with grade level as well as from expository to narrative writing. Similarly, use of nominals and adverbials increased with grade level, with greater increases in the expository than in the narrative compositions. There was not a significant increase in use of coordinate structures between grade levels, indicating that this transformation is acquired early. The syntactic development of the students showed a notable resemblance to that of native English speaking students, indicating the employment of common language learning strategies. (Author/RW)