A Dynamic Perspective On The Development Of Complexity, Accuracy And Fluency In Early L2 Writing:A Case Study

Research on L2 writing development plays an important role in SLA research. Researchers investigating L2 writing development have carried out their research from various theoretical perspectives and angles. Nonetheless, most of these perspectives and angles tend to focus on the changes in the status of language performance via comparisons between the final written products of the L2 writers, while giving less attention to the dynamics of L2 writing development itself. Taking a dynamic perspective on the development of L2 writing, Dynamic Systems Theory(DST) focuses on the process in which the changes take place, which provides a brand-new way of viewing and researching L2 writing development.L2 writing is a complex and elusive activity that can‘t be measured directly. Researchers believe that the multi-dimensional CAF constructs made up by complexity(further divided into grammatical complexity and vocabulary complexity), accuracy and fluency can successfully gauge learners‘ language abilities, since they can cover the pivotal aspects of language performance—complexity gauges the learners‘ language knowledge, accuracy the appropriateness of language use, and fluency the automaticity of language use. Through investigating the developmental trajectories of the CAF constructs and the interactions among them, we may get a better understanding of L2 writing development.Studies on L2 writing development tend to focus on how L2 writers of advanced levels develop their L2 writing abilities. Yet, it is also important for us to understand how novice L2 writers develop into more advanced L2 writers during the early stage of L2 writing.Adopting a DST perspective and a longitudinal multi-wave research design, the current study is a 14-week case study on a Chinese EFL learner. The main purpose is to explore how the CAF constructs develop and interact with each other during the study so as to offer insights into the way L2 writing changes. The findings of the study show that the developmental trajectories of the CAF constructs fluctuate differently, and that no significant developmental jumps are detected during the process. In addition, no significant correlations are found among the CAF constructs except a strong positive correlation between vocabulary complexity and accuracy.