Individual Factors Contributing To EFL Learners' L2 Writing Proficiency And Development

Mapping out EFL learners'L2 writing proficiency and development is a challenging task as various individual factors such as L1 proficiency,motivation,L2 linguistic proficiency,writing metaknowledge as well as the strategies they employ during the process of writing may exert influence on one's L2 writing proficiency and development.So far,many researchers have attempted to discuss the explanatory and predictive power of individual factors from the perspectives of cognitive theories,motivational theories,language transfer theory,dynamic systems theory,etc.and have constructed general models of L2 writing development based on empirical data.Informed by previous studies,however,there are still some questions worth exploration.On the one hand,when a particular theoretical model is empirically justified as a good approximation to the sample data for a homogeneous group,the question whether the same model holds across different groups merit further investigation;whether group differences lead to varying explanatory power of variables is still worth studying.On the other hand,what developmental trajectory is manifested as learners' L2 writing develops through time;what impact EFL learners' initial conditions have on their subsequent L2 writing proficiency development;whether Matthew Effect,i.e.,the stronger gets stronger and the weaker gets weaker exists shall be further examined.Using Kormos' writing model as theoretical framework and combining language transfer theory and dynamic systems theory,the present study examined the explanatory power of several individual variables on Chinese university EFL learners' L2 writing proficiency and development through multi-group structural equation modeling and latent growth analysis.Two sets of data were collected for this study.One set is cross-sectional data consist of non-English major sophomore year students from three different program levels in a comprehensive university in Chinese mainland,i.e.131 participants from basic level group,135 participants from intermediate level group and 132 participants from advanced level group were involved as participants.The other data set is longitudinal data collected throughout one semester from the 131 participants in the basic level group.In particular,this study intends to answer the following four sets of questions:(1)How do the EFL learners' L2 writing motivation,L1 writing proficiency,L2 linguistic knowledge,L2 writing metaknowledge and L2 writing strategy contribute to their L2 writing proficiency at the initial stage?How are these independent variables related to each other?(2)Are there significant differences in EFL learners' L2 writing proficiency in different program levels?How do program levels affect the relative contributions of the individual variables to L2 writing proficiency?(3)How does the basic level group EFL learners' L2 writing proficiency develop over the course of a semester in terms of overall quality,content,organization and language?How do the students perceive the development of their L2 writing proficiency and the contributing factors?(4)Are there significant differences in EFL learners'initial L2 writing proficiency in the basic level group?How do the basic level group EFL learners' L2 writing proficiency,L2 writing motivation,L1 writing proficiency,L2 linguistic knowledge,L2 writing metaknowledge and L2 writing strategy at the initial stage predict their L2 writing growth rate?To answer the aforementioned research questions,data were collected in the basic level group,the intermediate level group and the advanced level group through L2 writing motivation questionnaire,L2 writing metaknowledge questionnaire,L2 writing strategy questionnaire at the onset of the study.Students' L2 linguist knowledge was also assessed through vocabulary and grammar tests.Besides,students' timed L1 essays and timed English essays were collected.All the above collected data comprise the multi-group cross-sectional data for the present study.In addition,basic level EFL4,learners' timed English essays have been collected another three times throughout the semester to be used as time-series data.To complement quantitative data,qualitative analysis of the basic level group EFL learners' English essays have been conducted and semi-structured interviews have been implemented with eight students and their English teacher.Major findings of the current study include:(1)At the initial stage,in the overall samples,EFL learners' L2 linguistic knowledge,L1 writing proficiency,L2 writing strategy and L2 writing metaknowledge have all directly contributed to their L2 writing proficiency.The four variables can explain 57.2%of the variance in the EFL learners' initial L2 writing proficiency and L2 linguistic knowledge contributes the most direct influence.L1 writing proficiency contributes directly to L2 writing proficiency and indirectly through the mediation of L2 linguistic knowledge,thus,making the most total influence on EFL learners' L2 writing proficiency.L2 writing motivation has no significant direct influence on L2 writing proficiency but it exerts significant indirect influence on L2 writing proficiency through the mediation of L2 writing strategy.L2 writing motivation is positively correlated with L2 writing strategy;L1 writing proficiency is positively correlated with L2 linguistic knowledge.(2)There are significant differences in EFL learners'L2 writing proficiency among the three program levels.In the initial stage of the study,the advanced level group has the highest mean score of L2 writing proficiency,followed by the intermediate level group and the basic level group.There are structural variances in the models and significant differences exist in three paths among the different program levels,i.e.L2 writing strateg?*L2 writing proficiency,L2 writing motivation?L2 writing proficiency and L2 writing metaknowledge?L2 writing proficiency.Nevertheless,L2 linguistic knowledge and L1 writing proficiency contribute consistently to EFL learners'L2 writing proficiency regardless of program levels.(3)Through the course of one semester,basic level EFL learners'L2 writing proficiency has developed in its overall quality and in the specific category of content,organization and language(Detailed reports can be found in the results and discussion chapter).The largest gain is in content and the smallest gain is in language.In general,the growth of L2 writing proficiency is slow/gradual and the developmental trajectory is non-linear,resembling an S-shaped learning curve found in many educational settings for skills acquisition and cognitive development.In other words,basic level EFL learners'L2 writing development sets off very slowly,that is why there is no significant change in writing performance from time 1 to time 2.When it comes to time 3,noticeable growth is observed as the curve becomes steeper,but it levels off again from time 3 to time 4.The majority of the students interviewed have recognized their progress in the aspects of either content,organization or language.Besides,improvements in the lengths of writing,way of thinking and writing attitude have been reported.The students have acknowledged the importance of L2 linguistic knowledge and L1 proficiency and noted that they would resort to way of thinking and materials stored in L1 to express their opinions.They have also stressed the importance of time and opportunity for writing practice,teachers' writing instruction and tutorials.(4)Even in the basic level group,there is statistically significant difference in individuals' L2 writing proficiency at the initial stage.EFL learners' initial L2 writing proficiency is negatively correlated with their L2 writing growth rate.This means that the higher the learners' L2 writing proficiency is at the initial stage,the slower their writing proficiency tends to grow.The gap between the more proficient writers and less proficient writers tends to narrow down over time.Among the several independent variables measured during the initial stage,EFL learner's L2 linguistic knowledge,L1 writing proficiency and L2 writing metaknowledge negatively predict the growth rate of their L2 writing.This suggests that learners equipped with better L2 linguistic knowledge,higher L1 writing proficiency and higher L2 writing metaknowledge score at the initial stage tend to demonstrate slower growth rate in their subsequent development of L2 writing proficiency.The gap in EFL learners L2 writing proficiency,resulted from initial differences in the three variables tends to narrow down with the passing of time.Matthew Effect in L2 writing proficiency is not supported in this study.The findings have validated the explanatory power of linguistic interdependence hypothesis and linguistic threshold hypothesis in interpreting learners' L2 writing proficiency and provided support for regarding the two hypotheses as complementary continuum instead of contradictory dichotomy.The path differences in the models constructed have provided evidence for the existence of a linguistic threshold for learners'L2 writing motivation and L2 writing strategy to exert positive influence on their L2 writing proficiency.Meanwhile,the study has pointed to the nature of causal relationships between learner factors and L2 writing proficiency as dynamic and contingent.This non-static relationship,which varies upon groups and time,can be interpreted using dynamic systems theory as a theoretical apparatus.Characterized by initial condition dependence and feedback sensitivity,the non-linear development of L2 writing proficiency and the compensatory developmental pattern of the initially less proficient learners unveiled in the study highlight time as an important dimension affecting the developing system.Thus,I call for researchers to take a broader view and include the relations between variables in horizontal and longitudinal comparisons in the future studies.