Syntactic complexity in individual, collaborative and E-collaborative EFL writing: mediating role of writing modality, L
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Syntactic complexity in individual, collaborative and E‑collaborative EFL writing: mediating role of writing modality, L1 and sustained development in focus Zohre Mohamadi Zenouzagh1
© Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2020
Abstract This study investigates the potential of individual, collaborative, and E-collaborative writing modalities on the development of syntactic complexity (SC), their sustained effect on SC development, and the potential meditating role of SC of L1 (First Language) in SC of L2 (Second Language). To this end, 90 Iranian intermediate EFL learners participated in individual, collaborative, and E-collaborative writing treatments for 10 sessions. L2 SC on three measures of pre, post, and delayed posttests in three writing modalities were assessed using multidimensional SC measures. Besides, the role of L1 syntactic complexity preferences in L2 SC was examined. The results of ANOVA (analysis of variance) and Repeated Measure ANOVA indicated that individual writing had the highest potential in developing SC of L2 in comparison with other writing modalities. As far as sustainable development is concerned, only the effect of collaborative writing was sustained in delayed posttest. Regression through mediation analysis indicated that the degree of syntactic complexity in L1 significantly mediated L2 SC under individual writing and its mediating effect faded away in collaborative and E-collaborative writing. Analysis of students’ perceived efficacy of writing modalities through theme elicitation analysis of students’ reflective essay suggests that the centrality of the role of instructors, group leadership and environmental supports in computer mediated learning need to be revisited. Implications and future research directions were discussed. Keywords Syntactic complexity · Writing modality · L1 · Sustained development · Collaborative writing and E-collaborative writing
Introduction Writing has received special attention (Alghasab and Handley 2017) for several reasons in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context (Naghdipour 2016). First, traditionally, writing has been taught through product-based approach towards learning for many years. In
* Zohre Mohamadi Zenouzagh [email protected]; [email protected] 1
English Translation and Teaching Department, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Karaj, Iran
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this approach, students write their writing task individually. The teacher corrects grammatical mistakes of the student writing. This makes students to be teacher-dependent. Writing is used as a medium to practice grammar rather than as an end by itself. Second, writing is one of the most difficult skills to learn and it is not acquired until later stages of language development. In addition, the negative perception of learners towards writing makes writing the least favorable skill to be learned. The inquiry about the quality of writing in terms of accuracy and complexity is not new (Yang et al. 2015). But,
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