Görev karmaşıklığı ve anlatım türünün İngilizce yabancı dil öğrencilerinin yazma performansına etkisi

Based on task-based language teaching and cognitive task complexity literature, this study examined the effects of task complexity and rhetorical mode on EFL learners' writing performance in terms of linguistic complexity, coherence, cohesion, and overall writing quality. Three rhetorical modes were studied: descriptive, narrative, and cause-and-effect writing. For each rhetorical mode, two writing tasks described as complex and simple were performed. Students were required to conduct simple task in each rhetorical mode under strategic pre-task planning during which special time (15 minutes) was given to make a plan of content and process. For their complex task carried out through unpressured on-line planning, they had neither time-pressure to complete their writing task nor special time to make a plan. In the study following a repeated-measures design, data were collected from 41 Turkish EFL learners at tertiary level. Each student wrote an essay for the two tasks in three rhetorical modes; thus, a total of 246 essays were obtained. Essays were assessed by automated analysis tools for syntactic and lexical complexity, and cohesion. Using an analytic rubric, two trained-raters evaluated essays in terms of coherence and overall writing quality. Two-way repeated measures MANOVA tests revealed that although significant differences were seen in essays according to rhetorical mode, task complexity had no effect on the results of syntactic and lexical complexity. Furthermore, small to medium effect of rhetorical mode was observed on both types of cohesion whereas complexity of task had an adverse effect on just one of them (referential cohesion). According to two-way repeated measures ANOVA tests, coherence of students' writing was not influenced by the rhetorical mode and whether the task was performed under strategic planning or unpressured on-line planning. In addition, two-way repeated measures ANOVA tests indicated a small effect of both rhetorical mode and task complexity on overall writing quality results. The finding regarding effects of task complexity on linguistic complexity do not have any support for the Cognition Hypothesis. In the light of these results, this study proposes some implications for writing instruction and assessment and task-based research. Keywords: Task-based language teaching, Task complexity, Rhetorical mode, EFL learners, Writing performance, Syntactic complexity, Lexical complexity, Coherence, Cohesion, Overall writing quality