Chapter 6. The effects of planning type, working memory, and anxiety on L2 writing performance

Abstract

This study explores (1) the effect of planning type on second language learners’ writing performance and (2) the role of working memory and anxiety in different types of planning. 48 Korean high school English as a foreign language learners participated in the study. Each learner composed a written narrative under one of the three planning conditions: pre-task planning, within-task planning, and no planning. The results showed that pre-task planning enhanced fluency, while within-task planning led to greater accuracy. Regarding the impact of individual difference factors, it was found that that working memory was a significant predictor of morphosyntactic accuracy of the pre-task planning group’s writing. Anxiety significantly predicted morphosyntactic accuracy across all planning conditions, and it was a significant predictor of the syntactic complexity of the essays written under the pre-task planning condition. Working memory and anxiety were not predictive of fluency and overall writing quality.