The Effects Of Strategic Planning On Pause In Second Language Writing

Strategic planning is one of the important factors in L2 tasks.Many researchers have found that strategic planning had facilitative effects on writing outcomes in terms of complexity,accuracy and fluency,but the exploration into the underlying writing cognitive processes is still needed.According to Hayes and Flower’s(1980)and Kellogg’s(1996)writing models,writing cognitive processes involve three basic components: Planning(capitalized “P” as a distinction from “planning” in “strategic planning”),translating and reviewing.Since the underlying writing cognitive processes operate within the limits of cognitive resources,writers may prioritize a specific cognitive process at the cost of other cognitive processes.Thus,less fluent writing performance,such as pauses,might occur.Pause is usually understood as a problem solving process and is one of the important indicators to observe writing process.Cognitive Load Theory provides a perspective for investigating task effects on the allocation of cognitive resources and L2 writing outcomes.Therefore,based on Cognitive Load Theory,the present study tries to explore the effects of strategic planning on L2 writing pauses and outcomes from the perspective of cognitive load.This study tries to answer the following questions:1)What are the effects of strategic planning on L2 writing outcomes?2)What are the effects of strategic planning on L2 writing pauses?3)What are the effects of strategic planning on L2 writers’ cognitive load?60 English major sophomores from a key university were divided into two groups with similar L2 proficiency(30 in the planning group and 30 in the no-planning group).They wrote about Do you think online shopping will replace shopping in reality? And why? via Inputlog in 30 minutes.The no-planning group had half a minute to read the topic,while the planning group was given additional 10 minutes of strategic planning time.The planners could write notes in the 10 minutes’ preparation,but the notes were taken away when they started writing.Immediately after the writing task,all the participants were asked to complete a questionnaire for self-perception of cognitive load.Duration,frequency and ratio of pauses in the writing process were taken as indexes of the underlying writing cognitive processes.The writing outcomes were measured from complexity,accuracy and fluency.The major findings are the following:1)Strategic planning had a significant facilitative effect only on fluency.Participants’ writing accuracy and complexity were not significantly influenced,which might be related to the familiar topic and learners’ limited L2 proficiency.2)Mean pause duration,pause frequency and pause ratio were lower,though insignificant,in the planning group than those in the no-planning group.Strategic planning led to longer and more frequent pauses between paragraphs.Besides,under strategic planning condition,pause ratio was lower in the first interval and pause duration was shorter in the third interval.Strategic planning improved fluency by affecting the Planning process.3)Strategic planning had a significant effect on germane cognitive load,but not on intrinsic cognitive load or extraneous cognitive load.Although germane cognitive load was higher for the no-planning group,the writing outcomes were not improved,which might be related to their L2 proficiency.Writing outcomes are not only affected by strategic planning,but also by topic familiarity and L2 proficiency.Learners’ background knowledge and language ability cannot be improved by strategic planning in a short period without support from input.Strategic planning improves fluency by affecting the Planning process,but it does not necessarily improve writing accuracy and complexity.In addition,the increase of germane cognitive load does not improve writing outcomes.Cognitive load shows a specific feature in L2 tasks compared with general learning tasks.This study provides more detailed suggestions for teachers to manipulate variables in task design and make better use of task features to adjust learners’ allocation of cognitive resources.