Effects of Task Complexity on L2 Writing Behaviors and Linguistic Complexity

This study investigated whether task complexity influences second language (L2) writers’ fluency, pausing, and revision behaviors and the cognitive processes underlying these behaviors; whether task complexity affects linguistic complexity of written output; and whether relationships between writing behaviors and linguistic complexity are moderated by task complexity. Participants were 73 advanced L2 writers, who completed simple or complex essay tasks. Task complexity was operationalized as the absence versus presence of content support. Participants’ writing behaviors were recorded via keystroke logging software. Four writers, drawn from groups performing simple and complex tasks, additionally engaged in stimulated recall. Content support was found to lead to less pausing, more revision, and increased linguistic complexity. When content support was absent, more frequent pauses and revisions were associated with less sophisticated lexis. These results, combined with stimulated recall comments, suggest that content support likely reduced processing burden on planning processes, facilitating attention to linguistic encoding.

本研究探讨了任务复杂性是否影响第二语言（L2）写作者的流畅性、停顿和修改行为以及这些行为背后的认知过程；任务复杂性是否影响书面输出的语言复杂性；以及写作行为和语言复杂性之间的关系是否受到任务复杂性的调节。参与者是73名高水平的第二语言写作者，他们完成了简单或复杂的作文任务。任务复杂性通过有无内容支持来操作化。参与者的写作行为通过按键记录软件进行记录。从完成简单和复杂任务的小组中抽取的四名写作者还进行了刺激回忆。研究发现，内容支持会导致停顿减少、修改增多以及语言复杂性提高。当没有内容支持时，更频繁的停顿和修改与不太复杂的词汇有关。这些结果，结合刺激回忆的评论，表明内容支持可能减轻了规划过程中的处理负担，有利于对语言编码的关注。