A Study On The Effects Of Task Complexity On English Writing Performance Of Senior High School Students With Different Levels

In recent years,with the development of task-based language teaching and second language acquisition theory,the research on task complexity has gradually become one of the hot topics explored by scholars.The main theories on task complexity research are Skehan’s Limited Attentional Capacity Model and Robinson’s Cognitive Hypothesis Model.At present,research on task complexity at home and abroad mostly focuses on its impact on oral performance,while research on writing performance is relatively rare.Based on this,this study aims to explore the effects of simple writing task(letter writing)and complex writing task(continuation writing)on English writing competence of senior high school students with different levels.Specifically,three research questions are explored: 1)What effects does the task complexity have on the English writing complexity of senior high school students with different levels? 2)What effects does the task complexity have on the English writing accuracy of senior high school students with different levels? 3)What effects does the task complexity have on the English writing fluency of senior high school students with different levels?Students from two parallel classes in Grade One of X High School in Hunan Province participated in this study.The students of the two classes were divided into high-level group,medium-level group,and low-level group according to their midterm exam scores.They were required to complete the letter writing task and the continuation writing task within the specified time.After the subjects completed the writing task,the researcher conducted interviews with randomly selected subjects to understand the reasons for their different performance in different writing tasks.In addition,the researcher used the collected written text as research corpus,and calculated the syntactic complexity,lexical complexity,accuracy,and fluency of the corpus by using the Second Language Syntactic Complexity Analyzer(L2SCA),the Lexical Complexity Analyzer(LCA),and Excel software.Subsequently,the relevant data were imported into SPSS 26.0 software for analysis.Results showed that: 1)In terms of writing complexity,the length of production unit(MLC,MLS,MLT)and the amount of subordination(C/T,DC/C)of complex task were better than those of simple task,but the amount of coordination(CP/C,T/S)and the degree of phrasal sophistication(CN/C,CN/T)were worse than those of simple task.Among them,there was a significant difference in the length of production unit between the high-level and the medium-level groups,but there was no difference in the low-level group.There was a significant difference in the clause per T-unit(C/T)of the amount of subordination between the high-level and the low-level groups,but there was no difference in the medium-level group.There was a significant difference in the degree of phrasal sophistication in the low-level group,but there was no difference between the high-level and the medium-level groups.Besides,the lexical sophistication-I(LS-I),adverb variation(Adv V),modifier variation(Mod V),and noun variation(NV)of complex task were better than those of simple task,but the type/token ratio(TTR)was worse than that of simple task.Among them,there was a significant difference in adverb variation(Adv V)between the high-level and the low-level groups,but there was no difference in the medium-level group.2)In terms of writing accuracy,the subjects’ writing performance in complex task was worse than that of simple task.Among them,there was a significant difference in writing accuracy in the low-level group,but there was no difference between the high-level and the medium-level groups.3)In terms of writing fluency,the subjects’ writing performance in complex task was better than that of simple task.Among them,there was a significant difference in writing fluency in the low-level group,but there was no difference between the high-level and the medium-level groups.This study complements the Cognitive Hypothesis Model theory to a certain extent,verifies the learning promotion effect of continuation writing,and provides the following teaching suggestions for senior high school English teaching.Firstly,teachers should attach importance to the basic teaching of writing,consolidate students’ basic knowledge,and ensure that students obtain optimal development.Secondly,the writing tasks designed by teachers should be hierarchical and follow the principle of low to high complexity,balancing the promotion of students’ writing abilities.Finally,the writing tasks designed by teachers should be diverse,taking into account different question types and styles,and meeting the requirements of the General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards as well as the writing needs of students.