CORRELATIONS OF ENGLISH WRITING COMPLEXITY, ACCURACY, FLUENCY, AND TEST SCORES: A CASE STUDY OF STANDARDIZED WRITING TEST SAMPLES

Ming Huei Lin

DOI Number
https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP1902199L
First page
199
Last page
210

Abstract


The Limited Attentional Capacity Model (LACM) (Skehan & Foster, 1997, 2001) is believed to affect the memory processing system, leading to a trade-off model between the levels of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in writing output by EFL learners. Time may be one of the critical variables moderating EFL writers’ LACM, but few writers, least of all in the context of Taiwan, have studied the possible influence of LACM on the CAF relationship as demonstrated in timed writing,. What has not been properly investigated includes possible CAF interaction varying with Taiwanese EFL writers’ proficiency levels. This should also be examined, given the changes in the development of student writers’ skills as they learn, that is, mastering greater complexity, accuracy or fluency than before. To shed light on these aspects, the present researcher studied 150 timed writing samples created by 150 EFL test-takers who participated in the General English Proficiency Test High Intermediate. Both inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The research results indicate a possible shifting relationship between complexity and fluency/accuracy, suggesting that LACM impacts on Taiwanese EFL writers’ performance, mostly probably subject to the time factor, since no differences of any kind were found between the interrelationship of writing qualities and their CAF.


Keywords

the Limited Attentional Capacity Model (LACM), EFL writing, writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22190/JTESAP1902199L

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