The Effects of Task Complexity on the Use of Cohesive Devices in L2 Writing
This study,grounded in the framework of functional adequacy,investigates the impact of task complexity on the use of cohesive devices across different linguistic levels(local,global,and textual)in L2 writing.The participants were 48 second-year English majors.The findings reveal that task complexity significantly affects lexical overlap in local cohesion,with no significant impact on the use of connectives or semantic similarity.At the global level,task complexity significantly influences lexical overlap and synonym overlap,with increased complexity reducing lexical overlap while enhan-cing synonym overlap.At the textual level,higher task complexity leads to significant reductions in temporal cohesion,pronominal cohesion,and semantic similarity.These results suggest that task complexity constrains the development of functional adequacy by affecting the dimensions of cohesion and coherence,supporting the"Trade-off Hypothesis".The findings offer valuable insights for teach-ers in designing classroom tasks to enhance L2 writing instruction and help learners improve their writing skills.
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