Effects of task complexity on linguistic complexity in EFL writing

Abstract

本研究以616名中国英语学习者为研究对象,以四项复杂程度不同的英语写作任务为实验材料,采用39项语言复杂度测量指标,比较全面地考察了外语写作任务复杂度中元素和背景知识两个变量对语言复杂度的影响。结果显示,任务复杂度对语言复杂度的不同维度产生不同的影响。因此,任务复杂度研究还需突破过于简化的视角,"竞争假说"和"认知假说"还有待进一步的验证和完善。【This study explored the effects of task complexity on linguistic complexity in EFL writing. 616 undergraduates performed four English writing tasks with prompts of different cognitive complexity, manipulated using two factors: few elements and prior knowledge. The participants’ written production was analyzed using 39 linguistic complexity measures. Results show that task complexity produced different effects on different dimensions of linguistic complexity, suggesting that research on task complexity needs to break away from simplicity, and that Cognition Hypothesis and Limited Attentional Capacity Hypothesis require further verification and refinement.】 Key words: task complexity; few elements; prior knowledge; linguistic complexity