Zhang Shuang, Zhang Huiping, Zhang Cun
School of Foreign Languages, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 May 6;13:787710. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.787710. eCollection 2022.
This study investigated the development of lexical complexity, sentence complexity, accuracy, and fluency in the English writing of 22 Chinese university students from the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). Compositions were assigned 30 times over the course of one academic year through Pigaiwang, an online platform that automatically evaluates writing. A modified retrodictive modeling approach was adopted. Specifically, a longitudinal cluster analysis was used to examine emergent prototypes. A moving correlation analysis and retrodictive interviews were conducted to study the signature dynamics that produce each prototype. At each collection, the 22 student compositions were classified into two clusters. One cluster contained those students who performed better than average in accuracy, but worse in the other three variables. The other cluster comprised those students with the opposite performance. Students moved continuously between the two clusters; and their change trajectories can be categorized into three prototypes: a continuously stable type, an initially variable and then stable type, and a continuously variable type. Case studies of three students representing the three emergent prototypes indicated that the signature dynamics for the three prototypes were related to dynamic interactions among different variables and dynamic changes in affect-related elements in the form of writing interests, motivation, and strategies. The initial conditions and the feedback from Pigaiwang acted as key control parameters in shaping the prototypes. The continuously variable prototype developed their writing proficiency to the greatest extent and had the most variability. Based upon the findings, implications for teaching L2 writing are discussed.
本研究从复杂动态系统理论（CDST）的视角，调查了22名中国大学生英语写作中词汇复杂性、句子复杂性、准确性和流利度的发展情况。在一学年的时间里，通过在线写作自动评估平台“批改网”布置了30次作文任务。采用了一种改进的回溯性建模方法。具体而言，运用纵向聚类分析来检验涌现的原型。进行了移动相关性分析和回溯性访谈，以研究产生每个原型的特征动态。每次收集时，将22名学生的作文分为两类。一类包含那些在准确性方面表现优于平均水平，但在其他三个变量方面表现较差的学生。另一类则由表现相反的学生组成。学生们在这两类之间不断转换；他们的变化轨迹可分为三种原型：持续稳定型、先变化后稳定型和持续变化型。对代表这三种涌现原型的三名学生的案例研究表明，这三种原型的特征动态与不同变量之间的动态交互以及以写作兴趣、动机和策略形式存在的情感相关元素的动态变化有关。初始条件和批改网的反馈在塑造原型方面起到了关键控制参数的作用。持续变化型原型在写作能力提升方面最为显著，且变化最大。基于这些发现，讨论了对二语写作教学的启示。
