The Effects of Task Complexity on Linguistic Complexity in L2 Learners’ Writing Performance

The study of task complexity has been a focal point among researchers in the domain of task-based language teaching since the proposal of models by Skehan and Robinson. The present study examined how learners' writing performance varies in terms of lexical and syntactic complexity, contingent on task complexity, and the relationship between these two subsystems. The narrative writing task was utilized, and task complexity was manipulated through the use of reasoning. A total of 67 participants, all university students, were divided into two groups: simple and complex. In the simple task, participants described the given pictures, while in the complex task, they created an additional story based on the modified version of the same pictures. The results for the simple task showed a higher frequency of infrequent words and longer sentences, whereas the complex task resulted in more frequent words and a greater number of dependent clauses. The investigation further revealed positive and negative correlations between lexical and syntactic complexity measures, underscoring the intricate interplay between these two subsystems in the context of L2 writing. The outcomes of this study are discussed in the context of previous research on L2 writing.