Effects of input enhancement and genre on L2 learners' performance in the continuation writing task

Despite much research on xu-argument based continuation writing tasks, little has been done to explore its role with multiple factors in language output. This study, recruiting 80 Chinese high school students, attempted to investigate the effects of input enhancement and genre on Chinese EFL learners' linguistic performance measured by complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in continuation writing tasks. A two-factor mixed experimental design was adopted, and simple effect tests were conducted to analyze the interaction effect. It was found that: (a) Input enhancement did not significantly impact complexity and fluency, but significantly impacted accuracy; genre had significant effects on complexity, accuracy, and fluency. (b) There was interaction between input enhancement and genre in accuracy, but not in complexity and fluency. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Li Meng, Hongshan Yin