Effects of Task Complexity on L2 Writing Behaviors and Linguistic Complexity
This study was supported by a grant from Trinity College London. We would like to thank Elaine Boyd, Roger Gilabert, Gareth McCray, and John Rogers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful suggestions and the editor, Pavel Trofimovich, for his meticulous and constructive feedback on the manuscript.
Abstract
This study investigated whether task complexity influences second language (L2) writers’ fluency, pausing, and revision behaviors and the cognitive processes underlying these behaviors; whether task complexity affects linguistic complexity of written output; and whether relationships between writing behaviors and linguistic complexity are moderated by task complexity. Participants were 73 advanced L2 writers, who completed simple or complex essay tasks. Task complexity was operationalized as the absence versus presence of content support. Participants’ writing behaviors were recorded via keystroke logging software. Four writers, drawn from groups performing simple and complex tasks, additionally engaged in stimulated recall. Content support was found to lead to less pausing, more revision, and increased linguistic complexity. When content support was absent, more frequent pauses and revisions were associated with less sophisticated lexis. These results, combined with stimulated recall comments, suggest that content support likely reduced processing burden on planning processes, facilitating attention to linguistic encoding.
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Number of times cited: 3
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- Jiyong Lee, Task Complexity, Cognitive Load, and L1 Speech, Applied Linguistics, 10.1093/applin/amx054, (2018).
- Muhammad Rahimi, Effects of increasing the degree of reasoning and the number of elements on L2 argumentative writing, Language Teaching Research, 10.1177/1362168818761465, (136216881876146), (2018).
