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ERIC Number: EJ1258499
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Jul
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0265-5322
EISSN: N/A
Effect of Prompt Type on Test-Takers' Writing Performance and Writing Strategy Use in the Continuation Task
Shi, Bibing; Huang, Liyan; Lu, Xiaofei
Language Testing, v37 n3 p361-388 Jul 2020
The continuation task, a new form of reading-writing integrated task in which test-takers read an incomplete story and then write the continuation and ending of the story, has been increasingly used in writing assessment, especially in China. However, language-test developers' understanding of the effects of important task-related factors on test-takers' performance with regard to this task is still in its infancy. In this study we investigate the effect of prompt type on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing performance and writing strategy use in a continuation task. Four groups of Chinese EFL learners performed a continuation task with four different prompts and filled out a writing strategy questionnaire. The participants' continuations were scored holistically and textually analyzed using a range of fluency, grammatical accuracy, lexical complexity, syntactic complexity, cohesion, and source-use features. Prompt type significantly affected the participants' overall continuation writing scores, syntactic complexity, cohesion, and source-use features. It also significantly affected the participants' monitoring strategy. We discuss how continuation-task conditions, such as providing opening sentences or key words (or both) for test-takers to use will affect how the test-takers orient themselves to the writing task and, concomitantly, may affect performance outcomes.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A