Mahmoud Abdi Tabari

University of Nevada, Reno | UNR · Department of English

The present study examined the effects of written planning (WP) and oral planning (OP) on the complexity, accuracy, lexis, and fluency of L2 written production. This study also addressed the question of how attentional resources are distributed across different aspects of writing during planning and writing. To do so, 60 ESL learners were asked to...

This study adopted an integrated approach to investigate how second language (L2) writers engaged in cognitive processes during planning and writing and generated their written products under a randomly assigned planning time condition. Participants were 160 intermediate-high L2 writers who performed a narrative task under either the pre-task plann...

Increased second language acquisition (SLA) research interest in the effect of planning on subsequent L2 oral production has typically examined the effect of planning on the syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and/or fluency (CALF) of L2 production. However, the results of research in this domain are inconclusive. This study, a rese...

Despite extensive research on task planning in L2 writing contexts, the optimal length of pre-task planning time remains uncertain due to varying lengths used in TBLT studies. This study aimed to address this gap by investigating the effects of different pre-task planning times (nil, 5, 10, and 15 minutes) on the argumentative writing task performa...

This study investigated the effects of task complexity on the lexical complexity of second language (L2) learners’ written production. Fifty-eight L2 English learners completed simple and complex versions of an argumentative writing task manipulated along two resource-directing variables: reasoning demand and number of elements. The essays were ana...

This study examined the combined effects of written corrective feedback (WCF) and think-aloud protocols (TAPs) as two types of pedagogical intervention for improving the revision quality of second language (L2) writing. With a quasi-experimental design, it explored whether TAPs trigger deeper processing of WCF under two WCF-type conditions: direct...

Increased interest in task-based language teaching among L2 writing researchers has motivated a number of studies on task complexity features and their effect on the syntactic complexity, accuracy , lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) of L2 written production. One such task complexity feature-planning-has been identified as an important method o...

Informed by task-based approaches to language teaching, recent L2 writing research has sought to determine the effect of task complexity features on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of written L2 production (Johnson, 2017). However, two areas of task-informed research have received scant attention: a) the effect of task complexity features on...

The dearth of research examining the progression of cohesion in L2 writing through a time-series research design is evident. Therefore, the current study employs the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory to explore the evolution of cohesive devices in L2 writing. Thirty advanced-level L2 writers from a US university participated over a semester, providing...

This study examined the use of cohesive features in 270 narrative and argumentative essays produced by 45 s language (L2) students over a semester-long writing course. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the ability of the computational indices of cohesion (TAACO) variables to predict human ratings of essay quality, recognize a...

This study examines the extent to which verb argument construction (VAC) based indices of syntactic complexity could predict four different writing task conditions: a simple task with no repetition (S + NR), a simple task with repetition (S + R), a complex task with no repetition (C + NR), and a complex task with repetition (C + R). Ninety-six high...

This study investigates trajectories of L2 development in writing in two genres over multiple time points in a semester-long ESL writing program. Conceptually replicating previous studies on genre and development, we analyzed 270 argumentative and narrative essays written by 45 ESL students to find developmental and genre differences, using fine-gr...

Considering the increasing application of task-based frameworks to second language (L2) writing research, there has been a pressing need to examine TBLT views on the interactions between task conceptualization, task performance, and L2 writing outcomes. To address this need, the present study was designed to explore the synergistic effects of task...

To test the predictive power of the SSARC (stabilize, simplify, automatize, reconstruct, and complexify) model of pedagogic task sequencing in second language (L2) writing development, the present study explores the performance of written decision-making tasks with varied levels of cognitive complexity in a simple-to-complex sequence in comparison...

Using Bui’s (2014) task-readiness framework, this study investigates the interface between topic familiarity as a task-internal factor and strategic planning as a task-external factor in the TBLT field and explores how the two forms of task preparedness affect L2 learners’ writing complexity in assessment tasks. To this end, 64 L2 learners enrolled...

Focusing on the relationship between linguistic, cognitive, socioemotional factors in writing English for academic purposes (EAP), this study investigated whether topic familiarity as an important cognitive factor of task complexity influences different levels of emotionality and linguistic complexity in EAP writing and whether there are relationsh...

Although several studies have explored the effects of task sequencing on second language (L2) production, there is no established set of criteria to sequence tasks for learners in L2 writing classrooms. This study examined the effect of simple ̶ complex task sequencing manipulated along both resource-directing (± number of elements) and resource-di...

This study investigated the role of prompt types in the emotion and lexical complexity level in L2 writing performance using fine-grained automatic textual analyzing tools and indices. Fifty-three ESL advanced-mid students wrote essays on pandemic (esp. COVID-19) and non-pandemic prompts. A textual Sentiment Analysis was carried out to detect both...

This study investigated the effects of strategic planning and task structure (personal, narrative, and decision-making tasks) on L2 writing outcomes. One hundred and twenty intermediate English as a foreign language learners were randomly divided into strategic-planning and no-planning-time groups. The strategic-planning group performed the three t...

Much research has investigated the role of planning time in second language writing; however, the results show that there are inconsistent findings about the effects of planning time conditions on the complexity of the EFL learners’ textual output. The current study attempted to consider the differential effects of planning time conditions in terms...

This study investigates the effects of pre-task planning and online planning on L2 writing production (complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexical variety). Seventy-eight intermediate EFL learners were randomly divided into three groups (n1/3 26): pre-task planning, online planning, and no planning. Participants were required to write a description...

RESUMEN This paper provides a methodological review of previous research on cognitive task complexity, since the term emerged in 1995, and investigates why much research was more quantitative rather than qualitative. Moreover, it sheds light onto the studies which used the mixed-methods approach and determines which version of the mixed-methods des...

The major thrust of this research was to investigate the cognitive aspect of the high school textbooks and interchange series, due to their extensive use, through content analysis based on Bloom's taxonomy and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences (MI). This study embraced two perspectives in a grid in order to broaden and deepen the analysis by determi...