Developmental Trajectories of Functional Adequacy in Chinese EFL Learners' L2 Writing
Based on complex dynamic systems theory and adopting an individual growth curve modelling technique and reflection analysis,the present study explores the developmental patterns of functional adequacy in 28 Chinese EFL learners' L2 writing,concurrently depicting individual-level and group-level developmental trajectories.Results of the study show that individual learners followed distinct developmental paths with different dimensions of functional adequacy,accompanied by varying degrees of inter-individual variability.Learners at the group level experienced a significant increase in two dimensions of functional adequacy,which are comprehensibility and coherence and cohesion,while there is no significant change in the content dimension.The author further examines the developmental patterns of high-and low-growth learners and the reasons for their differences with a change point analysis and reflection analysis.The study finds that high-growth learners experienced critical changes and continued with an increase;however,the low-growth learners experienced no significant change over time.Results of reflection analysis show that attentional resource allocation and task attitudes are important factors influencing the developmental patterns of functional adequacy in writing.The findings of the study provide pedagogical suggestions for language instructors in designing writing tasks in their EFL classrooms to enhance learners' writing proficiency.
functional adequacyL2 writingComplex Dynamic Systems Theoryindividual growth curve modellinglongitudinal study
NETL
NSTL
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