Influence Of Time Allotment And Word Count In Timed Writing

This thesis reports a study on the influence of time allotment and word count on L2 writing. The study is empirical, systematic and three-dimensioned.There are numerous reasons to carry out further empirical studies to investigate the influence of allotment and word count on L2 writing. The previous studies abroad concerning the influence of time allotment and word count on the English performance mainly centered on oral English. At home, there are very few studies in this direction. Though these studies have made some interesting findings, they have their limitations. First, these studies were carried out either in a famous comprehensive university or using English majors as their research subjects. Their results may not be applicable to students in local universities. Second, most of the studies were aimed at investigating the influence of planning time on L2 writing to serve routine teaching and learning, they were not much appropriate for testing conditions. Third, most studies concerning the influence of time on English performance mainly focused on oral performance under planned or unplanned conditions, not much on L2 writing. Fourth, most of the studies have not drawn appropriate and shared conclusions on what the optimal writing time limit is and how many words are the most appropriate word counts for students to give their best in testing condition. Fifth, the criteria for deciding the appropriate time span to demonstrate language performance are not the same. At the same time, during the investigation of the influence of time allotment on L2 writing, most researchers did not take word count into consideration.To investigate the influence of time allotment and word count on L2 writing, thirty students were selected out of one hundred and twenty-nine non-English major first year college students. They were given four topics respectively and required to write compositions in different time allotment with different word count. The written products were graded by three teachers with at least six-year teaching experiences in college and marked according to accuracy, content and complexity. T-test was also performed to show the influence of time allotment and word count on L2 writing.The results of this study show that time allotment truly influences L2 writing of the subjects. When the word count is set in testing conditions, the more time is given to the students, the better they will achieve in writing. Sometimes the improvement with the increase of time allotment is significant. Some other times the improvement is not significant; When time limit is set, the students' writing performance varies with different word count. The changing tendency in different time allotment is not always the same; The influence of time allotment and word count on L2 writing is realized through their influence on the accuracy, complexity and content of writing products. The research reveals that 40 minutes is the most suitable time period and 140 words is the optimal word count for students to give their best in timed writing. In this way, we can get a clear and comprehensive picture of the influence of time allotment and word count on L2 writing.It is hoped the findings of this study will provide new insights into the theories and practices of L2 writing.