On The Role Of Summary Paragraph In The Comparative Continuation Task

There has been substantial research undertaken on the role of alignment on second language learning and writing.Following this line of research,Wang(2015)detected that the continuation task was effective in generating alignment effect parasitic on the reading-writing coupling.Immediately adapting language in the input to a new context can promote language acquisition and development.However,as intrapersonal interaction,the intensity of interaction in the continuation task may be abated if no external confinement is exerted.To address this problem,Wang(2018)proposed the comparative continuation task which can strengthen the interaction by writing a summary paragraph and by continuously refuting the viewpoints in the continuation.However,the contribution of the comparative continuation has received little attention in the field of second language writing.hitherto scanty studies have been conducted to testify Wang's(2018)arguments on the advantages of the comparative continuation task and the summary paragraph in this task.Hence the current study attempts to fill in the lacuna and to solve the three research questions: 1)how does the summary paragraph in the comparative continuation task influence the re-reading? 2)How does it influence linguistic alignment? 3)How does it influence the quality of the written production?To delve into the role of the summary paragraph in the comparative continuation task,a qualitative study was conducted involving two versions of the writing task: one was the comparative continuation task with a summary paragraph,and the other was the task without a summary paragraph.Six participants of Chinese learners of English as a foreign language enrolled in the study.They were selected based on their proficiency level,writing ability and personality.The experiment was conducted in three steps: first,the participants filled in their background information and then received think-aloud training.The training did not cease until the participants could vocalize their thoughts fluently.Second,participants were required to finish the comparative continuation task and keep vocalizing their thoughts in the process of writing.Last,a post-writing questionnaire was finished and an immediate recall was implemented.An analysis on the think-aloud data,immediate recall and written production was conducted to gain insights into the role of the summary paragraph in the comparative continuation task.The findings showed that the summary paragraph could positively influence the magnitude of the alignment effect and the accuracy and complexity of the output composition.The influence was mediated by the completeness of the situation model and the interaction between the learner and the input text.The influence was displayed in the following three aspects:(1)The task of writing a summary paragraph intensified the interaction with the input text by processing the information in the input text in a deep manner;(2)The summary paragraph stimulated learners to frequently re-read the input text,which helped make their situation model complete;(3)a more complete situation model enabled learners to take more notice of language form,which was conducive to the accuracy and complexity of the written production.The results provided an evidence base for the role of the summary paragraph in the comparative continuation task.It also reaffirmed the importance of interaction and situation model in improving the alignment effect and quality of language production.This study suggested that more measures on improving learners' comprehension of the input material and learners' interaction with the input text could be put forward to strengthen the alignment effect in the reading-writing coupling practices.