81008804

open access

Version of Record

Impact on L2 Writing Fluency of Topic Selection Method for a Timed Writing Activity

English (英語)

神戸大学国際コミュニケーションセンター論集

11

55-71

神戸大学国際コミュニケーションセンター

2014

2015-04-03

Fluency in writing, while difficult both to define and to quantify, is a critical area for development in L2 learners. L2 writers may be confronted with on-demand writing tasks, either in standardized tests such as portions of the TOEFL or TOEIC writing tasks, in overseas academic courses, or in real-life work situations in an increasingly globalized world. This paper centers on L2 writing fluency and describes a small-scale quantitative study that investigates aspects of a timed writing classroom activity with high-level English language learners at a Japanese university. The main findings of the study were that writing on teacher-selected topics produced slightly higher fluency scores over freely chosen student-selected topics, and that students indicated a clear preference for teacher-selected topics. Results of the study may help inform pedagogical decisions in the development of writing fluency.

紀要論文