A Comparative Study on Continuation Task Writing Output Among Senior High School Students with Different English Proficiency Levels

This study compares the continuation task writing of Chinese senior high school students across three proficiency levels (high, intermediate, low). Sixty participants completed a narrative continuation task, and their writings were analyzed for syntactic complexity, lexical richness, accuracy, and discourse coherence. Results revealed significant disparities: high-proficiency students produced more complex and accurate sentences, used a richer vocabulary, and constructed more coherent narratives. Intermediate students showed basic competence but exhibited a trade-off between complexity and accuracy. Low-proficiency outputs were constrained by simple structures, repetitive lexicon, and frequent errors, leading to fragmented discourse. The findings confirm that general English proficiency is a critical determinant of continuation task performance. The study advocates for differentiated instruction with targeted scaffolding to address the distinct needs of each proficiency level.