In the present study, two different models of task complexity; namely, limited attentional capacity model and cognition hypothesis were examined. To this end, the manipulation of cognitive task complexity along +/- single task dimension on Iranian EFL learners’ production in terms of fluency was explored. Based on the results of the writing test of TOFEL (2004), 48 learners were selected as the...

This study examines second language (L2) syntactic development in conjunction with the effects such development has on human judgments of writing quality (i.e., judgments of both overall writing proficiency and more fine-grained judgments of syntactic proficiency). Essays collected from 57 L2 learners in a longitudinal study were analyzed for growth and scoring patterns using syntactic complexi...

This study examined the effects of task complexity on written narrative production under different task complexity conditions by EFL learners at different proficiency levels. Task complexity was manipulated along Robinson’s (2001b) proposed task complexity dimension of Here-and-Now (simple) vs. There-and-Then (complex) in. Accordingly, three specific measures of the written narratives were targ...

This study investigated the effect of sequencing tasks from simple to complex along +/- reasoning demands on fluency in writing task performance of English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The participants of this study included 90 intermediate EFL learners from three intact class divisions at the Islamic Azad Uni- versity, Shahr-e-Qods Branch. They were distributed in three groups: Experime...

This study compared the effects of teacher-provided direct and indirect written corrective feedback and manipulation of resource-directing dimensions of task cognitive complexity along +/- Here and Now condition on the grammatical accuracy of Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ narrative writing tasks. There were 45 participants in the study who were randomly assigned to three experimental group...

One area of writing that may be particularly problematic for less skilled writers and writers with learning disabilities is constructing well-formed sentences. In this single-subject design study, sentence-combining practice with a peerassistance component was used to improve the writing ability of 6 fourth-grade students with and without learning disabilities. The results support the use of se...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of two types of paragraph on EFL learners’ written production. It addressed the issue of how three aspects of language production (i.e. complexity, accuracy, and fluency) vary among two types of paragraphs (i.e. paragraphs of chronology and cause-effect) written by EFL learners. Thirty intermediate level learners of English participate...