This study aims to shed light on the potential influence that cognitive and affective individual difference variables may have on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of L2 learners’ written texts. We administered diverse ID tests and questionnaires and correlated results with CAF measures of L2 writings during task-based performance.
SLA-oriented L2 writing research has underscored the important role that individual differences (IDs) may play in writing (Kormos, 2012), especially from the perspective of the connection between writing and language learning (Cumming, in press; Manchón, 2011; Manchón & Vasylets, 2019). Although a body of empirical research (e.g. Adams & Guillot, 2008; Bailey, Lee, Vorst & Crosthwaite, 2017; Bergsleithner, 2010; Kormos & Trebits, 2012; Kormos & Safar, 2008; Lu, 2013, 2015; Oh, Lee & Moon, 2015; Quian, 2019; Xao & Wong, 2018; Yang, Sun, Chang & Li, 2019; Zahibi, 2018; Zalbidea, 2017) has investigated the mediation of learner-related variables (grammatical sensitivity, inductive language learning capacity, motivation, or strategic behavior) on the characteristics of L2 writing, most studies have investigated specific IDs. Therefore, it is an empirical question whether sets of IDs (other than L2 proficiency) differentially influence L2 learners’ written texts during task-based performance. To address this gap, our study looked into the combined effects of (i) cognitive (working memory and language aptitude) and (ii) affective (writing anxiety and L2 writing motivation) variables on the texts written as the outcome of a communicative task. To do so, 18 high-intermediate undergraduate students were invited to produce a written text based on a picture-based problem-solving task in which they had to take decisions as how to solve a problem. Additionally, they completed a battery of ID tests targeting the IDs that constituted our independent variables. Their L2 written products were analyzed in terms of standard CAF measures. Preliminary results provide evidence of the predicted connection between L2 writers’ IDs and their written performance. We shall interpret our main findings in light of SLA-oriented theory and research on the language learning affordances of L2 writing during task-based performance (Byrnes & Manchón, 2014) and the mediating role that IDs may have in such learning potential.
