Explaining L2 Writing Performance Among Chinese Junior High School Students: The Contribution Of English Proficiency,Working Memory And L2 Writing Anxiety

L2 writing plays a very important role in second language acquisition.Nowadays,there is a wide range of research at home and abroad on factors influencing L2 writing performance,such as L2 proficiency,mother tongue transfer,discourse features,metacognition and affective factors.But the research subjects of L2 writing performance are mainly adults,such as college students or graduate students.Most of the researches on L2 writing performance are single-factor perspective and lack comprehensive perspectives.Based on these deficiencies,this thesis makes a comprehensive study from the perspectives of linguistic factor,cognitive factor and affective factor,attempting to explain L2 writing performance of junior high school students in China,and to explore the specific contribution of English proficiency,working memory and second language writing anxiety(SLWA)to L2 writing performance in terms of complexity,accuracy and fluency.The following are the main research questions :(1)What are the relationships between English proficiency,working memory,SLWA and L2 writing performance in Chinese instructional context?(2)What are the contributions of English proficiency,working memory and SLWA to L2 writing performance?(3)Do the different contributions of English proficiency,working memory and SLWA cause “Trade-off” effect among complexity,accuracy and fluency of L2 writing performance?In the present study,60 junior high school students in Hangzhou were randomly selected as the research participants.Students’ English proficiency was measured by their English mid-term examination,and students’ working memory was measured by operation span test.L2 writing anxiety was measured by Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory(SLWAI)and their L2 writing performance was measured by English composition.All datas were analyzed by descriptive statistical analyses,Pearson correlation analyses,and multiple regression analyses via SPSS 19.0.The results of the study are as following:(1)There are significant correlations between English proficiency and complexity,accuracy and fluency of L2 writing performance.SLWA is only related to accuracy of L2 writing performance.There is no correlation between working memory and L2 writing performance;(2)English proficiency has a decisive contribution to L2 writing performance.Neither working memory nor SLWA contribute to complexity or fluency.Avoidance behavior of SLWA has a slight negative contribution to accuracy of L2 writing performance;(3)The different contribution of English proficiency,working memory and SLWA cause a “Trade-off” effect exists between lexical complexity and fluency in L2 writing performance.The results imply that the main influencing factors of L2 writing performance are linguistic factors represented by English proficiency and affective factors represented by L2 writing anxiety,while cognitive factors represented by working memory have no contribution.This provides suggestions for English writing teaching.On the one hand,the most important thing in English writing teaching is to improve students’ English proficiency.Teachers need to pay attention to vocabulary,syntax,cohesion,coherence and other teaching priorities to improve the complexity,accuracy and fluency of students’ L2 writing performance.On the other hand,teachers should try to reduce students’ SLWA,reduce their avoidance behavior,and cultivate students’ positive attitude in English writing.