Investigating EFL Learners’ Cognitive Processes of Completing Integrated Writing Tasks

This study explored the cognitive processes of completing integrated writing tasks among learners of English as a foreign language in Japan. The tasks were designed according to the specifications used by the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP), which employ multiple texts and graphs to assess the English writing proficiency of high-school students for university admission. This mixed-methods study employed a sequential explanatory design using eye-tracking, questionnaires, and focus-group discussions as research instruments for data collection. This study explored the relationship between participants’ English language proficiency and their cognitive processes involved in completing the integrated writing tasks. In particular, we examined the correlations between eye-movements of the participants (n=42) and their TEAP writing sub-scores in five assessment areas (i.e., Main Idea, Coherence, Cohesion, Lexical Range & Accuracy, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy). Data from the questionnaire and the focus-group discussions (n=24) provided further evidence on the differences between the upper and lower proficiency groups in summarizing the trend described in the texts and graphs. Overall, the findings of the study suggest that participants' language proficiency affected how they used the source texts and graph information in their integrated writing. Implications of the findings are discussed with reference to the effects of source texts and graphs on test-taking processes and performance, as well as the use of eye-tracking as a method to examine the validity of integrated writing tasks.