Assessing EFL learners’ written performance: The case of task repetition

Abstract

Previous second language acquisition (SLA) research on task repetition has mainly addressed oral production, and the contribution of task repetition to various aspects of writing has received scant attention. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy, complexity and fluency of written productions of intermediate-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners once they were exposed to two task repetition types: content repetition (repeating the same task with the same procedures) and procedural repetition (repeating the same procedures with different content). Eighty-six participants were randomly assigned to either content repetition or procedural repetition groups and were engaged in dictogloss tasks three times over a two-week period, with the content of the text differing for the procedural group each time. The results of mixed ANOVAs revealed no difference between the two groups in general accuracy, but the procedural group was superior in terms of task-induced accuracy (error-free use of passive voice). Concerning complexity, the procedural group outperformed in lexical complexity and some sub-dimensions of syntactic complexity. Both groups were also found to perform equally well in terms of fluency. The findings suggest implications for second language (L2) contexts.