Effect Of A Model Text On Chinese EFL Learners' Writing Performance In The Continuation Task

Due to difficulties involved in writing in a foreign language,effective ways to facilitate second language(L2)writing have always been an issue of concern to both researchers and teachers.Model texts and the Continuation Task,which have received increasing interest in recent years,have been proved to be useful in facilitating L2 writing.However,almost all of the previous studies focused on the efficacy of model texts in picture-writing tasks.Therefore,it remains an open question whether model texts can be beneficial to L2 learners' writing performance in more open-ended writing tasks.Moreover,introducing a model text into in the Continuation Task might increase interaction between learners and the text,therefore enhance learner-text alignment effect and ultimately improve L2 learners' writing performance.So far,none of the previous studies have been conducted to test this possibility.Therefore,in order to bridge gaps of research on both areas,the present study investigates the effect of a model text on Chinese EFL learners' writing performance in the Continuation Task.The Continuation Task and the use of a model text were integrated in a three-stage writing task which required participants to(i)continue in English a story with its endings removed according to the reading material given at Stage 1,(ii)compare their own texts with a model text at Stage 2,(iii)rewrote their original texts at Stage 3.A total of 16 Chinese EFL learners of high English proficiency participated in the present study and were randomly and equally divided into an experimental group(who went through all three stages)and a control group(who only went through stage 1 and 3).Two interviews were conducted respectively after Stage 1 and3 to elicit the participants' attitude towards the writing practice that combines model text with the Continuation Task.In the writing task,all participants were required to do think-aloud at all stages and take notes of whatever problems noticed at Stage 1.Participants in the experimental group were also required to take notes of whateverdifferences noticed between their texts and the model text at Stage 2.All think-aloud protocols and written notes were collected and then language-related and content-related episodes were identified for data analysis.The major findings of the present study are as follows.First,at composing stage(Stage 1),the learners focused primarily on language-related problems and were able to solve many problems by aligning with the given reading material.Second,at comparing stage(Stage 2),the model text was useful for attracting learners' attention roughly equally to language and content features.Moreover,at this stage,the learners noticed the gap between their writing and the native-like model text and often showed their approval and appreciation towards features noticed from the model text.Thirdly,at rewriting stage,the model text was proved to be facilitative in learners' upgrading in both language and content.At this stage,the learners actively align with the model text at both linguistic and content-level,thus making more better changes in their rewritten texts.Overall,the learners showed their appreciation towards a native-like model text as well as the writing practice that combines a model text with the Continuation Task.On the basis of the above findings,it is concluded that a model text had a positive effect on Chinese EFL learners' writing performance in the Continuation Task and was welcomed by the learners.Therefore,it is suggested that L2 teachers combine model text with the Continuation Task in their writing class to facilitate L2 writing.