The Effects Of Time Restraint Condition In During-task Phase And Planning Time In Pre-task Phase On EFL Learners’ Written Narratives

Quite a few researches have been carried out recently to find out that both planning time in the pre-task phase and time restraint condition in the during-task phase exert a great influence on learners’writing proficiency, however, the studies before focused on the effect of either planning or time restraint condition while their interactive effect has not been examined. Based on the previous studies, the present research compares learners’ narrative writing performances under different planning and time restraint conditions. It aims to answer the following two research questions:(1) Given the same planning time in the pre-task phase, do learners produce more fluent, accurate and complex language when they have no time limit than when they have limited time in the during-task phase?(2) Given the same time restraint condition in the during-task phase, do learners produce more fluent, complex, and accurate language when they have time to plan a written narrative in advance than when they have no planning time?Involved in a quantitative and qualitative research,100participants were decided after the pre-test to ensure that they are at the same proficiency level in case of writing. The subjects in each experimental group were required to complete a narrative writing task based on a video under four different task conditions, i.e.,—planning time+time restraint,—planning time—time restraint,+planning time+time restraint and+planning time—time restraint; and then a questionnaire survey was administered to examine their mental processes during the planning time and the task completion. After the experiment, the researcher has calculated the fluency, accuracy and complexity of all the writings and made a one-way ANOVA analysis with the assistance of SPSS11.5.The results indicated that in case of fluency and accuracy, planning time allowed in the pre-task phase could not assist in improving learners’writing performances whether they were asked to finish the task with a time limit or not in the during-task phase; at the same time, independent of the effects of planning time provided during the pre-task phase, the differences of learners’writing productions were also not statistically significant between the time-restrained and time-unrestrained groups. However, on one hand, only when participants were not allowed planning during the pre-task phase could a significant difference be witnessed on the content complexity between the two experimental groups with and without time limit, in other words, the time-unrestrained group performed significantly more complex than the time-restrained group; on the other hand, whether they were required to complete the writing task with a time restraint or not in the during-task phase, the planners performed significantly better than the non-planners as far as the lexical variety and content complexity were concerned. Combined the questionnaire survey results, the above principal findings have been explained comprehensively with the theories of Kellogg’s writing model, the limited processing capacity and Skehan’s cognitive model. In addition, a comparison with the previous relevant research results has also been made.The present study carries significant pedagogical implications for the future English writing teaching in college and it is instructive for teachers to design syllabi in writing and to improve learners’writing complexity.