A Study On The Effect Of The Iterative Continuation Task On Senior High School Students’ English Writing Proficiency

The facilitating effect of the reading-writing integrated continuation task on foreign language learning is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention in the field of foreign language instruction.The iterative continuation task emerged as an enhanced version of the reading-writing integrated continuation task,theoretically enhancing its facilitating effect on foreign language learners’ writing proficiency but has received a few case studies as empirical support.The present study was going to explore whether the iterative continuation task can promote Chinese senior high school students’ English writing proficiency from both production and process.The specific research questions are as follows: Does the iterative continuation task promote senior high school students’ English writing proficiency? To what extent does the iterative continuation task affect the English writing proficiency of senior high school students in terms of content,language,and organization? How does the iterative continuation task at different stages affect the English writing proficiency of senior high school students in terms of content,language,and organization?A 4-week experiment was conducted in November 2021 to probe into the influence of the iterative continuation task on the English writing proficiency of senior high school students.This experiment contained 4 stages of reading and writing,with one stage for one week.The research participants were 35 students from an intact class of grade three in a certain senior high school in Qingdao.Research instruments involved writing tests,learners’ self-reflection,and follow-up semi-structured interviews.Four English writing tests served as the primary tool to collect quantitative data about the development of students’ English writing proficiency.During these four writing tests,four successive stories from a simplified version of the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were picked and then removed endings as the experimental material.Participants created new endings for them after reading every incomplete story in the same time duration.Students’ writing proficiency would be measured in terms of content,language,and organization based on the Shandong version of the writing assessment criteria for English continuation writing in Gaokao.Then they were asked to record their comments on the reading material,and their strengths as well as weaknesses on the paper of self-reflection.Students’ self-reflection was collected,along with their compositions,after every writing test.Six participants were randomly selected to take semi-structured interviews after the whole experiment.Results of the study verified that the iterative continuation task significantly promoted the development of senior high school students’ English writing proficiency.To be specific,it significantly facilitated senior high school students’ English writing proficiency in terms of content and language.Every stage of the iterative continuation task produced gains in senior high school students’ English writing proficiency in terms of content,language as well as organization,especially a significant facilitating effect on content at the second stage and a significant impact on language at the last stage.The above findings contribute to justifying the assumption that the iterative continuation task could facilitate foreign language learners’ development of English writing proficiency.The pedagogical implication lies in the fact that the iterative continuation task was recommended for practicing writing in senior high school English instruction.Besides,interesting stories,teachers’ explicit guidance,multi-dimensional feedback,and peer interaction all contribute to enhancing the facilitating effect of the iterative continuation task.