The Influence Of Task Complexity And Working Memory Capacity On Chinese EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

In the past 20 years,task-based language teaching(TBLT)has become one of the most widely used teaching methods,and has attracted the attention of many educators and researchers.A large number of empirical studies have emerged around the two hypotheses of the trade-off hypothesis(Skehan,1996,1998)and the cognition hypothesis(Robinson,2001a).However,previous research mainly focuses on oral output,with little research on writing performance,and more research focuses on the writing performance along the resource-dispersing dimension while less research along the resource-directing dimension.Furthermore,due to the differences of the dimensions and variables,the writing task and working memory test used,and the objective measures adopted,the related research conclusions are inconsistent.The present study aims to investigate the independent and interactive influence of task complexity along the resource-directing dimension and working memory capacity on writing performance of Chinese English as a foreign language(EFL)learners.This study used a 2*2(task complexity:complex and simple;working memory capacity:high and low)design.The participants are 52 seniors majoring in English Language and Literature.The working memory capacity test used was the automatic operation span test developed by Redick et al.(2012),which was run by the psychology software E-Prime 2.0.08.The writing tasks were adapted from Michel’s(2011)study,whose data then were calculated and analyzed by SPSS 26.0 for the global holistic rating and task-specific objective measures.Three measures were used for accuracy(EFT/T,GE/T and LE/T).Three measures were used for fluency(W/T,W/C and W/EFT).Complexity is broken into two componets:lexical and syntactic.Three measures were used for lexical complexity(LS1,LS2 and MSTTR),and three measures were used for syntactic complexity(MLT,DC/C and VP/T).Independent sample t-tests,two-way analysis of variance,multi-linear regressions,and generalized linear models were employed to analyze and compare data,which aimed to explore the influence of task complexity and working memory on writing performance.The quantitative results revealed that task complexity and working memory capacity had significant main effects on participants’ syntactic complexity of writing performance.whereas no significant interaction effects was founded.Specifically,the results showed that the holistic scores,fluency,lexical complexity and syntactic complexity of learners’ writing performance decreased significantly with the increase of task complexity,which were demonstrated in the objective measures of fluency(W/T),lexical complexity(LS1)and syntactic complexity(MLT).Moreover,working memory capacity had a negative influence on lexical complexity,which was decreased in the measure for lexical complexity(MSTTR),but there was no significant difference among the holistic scores and other objective measures.Last but not least,task complexity and working memory capacity had no interaction effects on the holistic scores and any objectives measures of writing performance.To sum up,the present study provides empirical evidence for theories and research related to task complexity and working memory capacity,and offers some enlightening pedagogical implications for writing teachers and Chinese EFL learners in Chinese EFL writing contexts.