A Study On The Effects Of Topical Knowledge On Efl Learners’ Writing Performance In Timed-impromptu Writing Tests

Topical content of the writing prompts has been identified as one of the possible factors that cause differences in an individual student’s performance. Carlson and Bridgeman (1986:139) point out,’the content implied by the topic must be as fair as possible, not favoring a specific set of personal or cultural experiences’. For this reasons, this present study investigates the effects of topical knowledge on EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ writing performance in the Timed-impromptu Essay Tests.The findings of the study are expected to answer the following three research questions:1. Do EFL learners perform differently in terms of overall and component scores when responding to two prompt types?2. Do the two prompts have different effects on specific textual features in EFL learners’ writing in terms of content, discourse, and language use?3. How do participants perceive their writing performances for the two prompts?The research adopted quantitative as well as qualitative method to answer the above three research questions. The participants were50students with different levels of English proficiency (basic, intermediate, and advanced) attending at The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts. Each student wrote two timed-impromptu essays: one responding to a prompt requiring general knowledge about education and the other pertaining to specific knowledge about drama. The final results showed that:1. Students across three proficiency levels performed significantly better on the general topic than they did on the specific topic. And the difference between the scores of the advanced students on the two prompts was more pronounced than that of students at the basic level. The specific topic produced lower scores on content due to poor quality and development of ideas, implicit position taking, and a weak conclusion.2. Students also scored lower on discourse and language on the knowledge-specific task because of weaker coherence and cohesion, shorter essays, more language errors, and less frequent use of academic words. This suggests that the knowledge-specific prompt had a more serious effect on the linguistic performance of the students whose writing on Prompt B did not represent their true language proficiency levels.3. Post-test self-reflections confirmed that participating students were challenged by the prompt that required specific topical knowledge.The findings of the present study indicate that in choosing topics for writing exercises, attention should be placed upon selecting themes drawn from known contexts or themes that can be directly related to personal experiences. The study also draws attention to the importance of developing appropriate prompts for EFL writing tests.