چكيده
The present study examined the effect of task complexity and language proficiency on 64
written narrative outputs produced by Iranian EFL learners. Task complexity was
manipulated along task complexity dimension of Here-and-Now (HN) (simple) versus Thereand-
Then (TT) (complex) proposed by Robinson (2001a, 2006). Language proficiency was
defined as scores on the TOEFL proficiency test (2004). After administering TOEFL
proficiency test (2004), sixty eight participants out of one hundred seven were selected from
seven intact classes, studying at three different levels at the Kish Language Institute in
Kashan. Then the 32 participants in the high-proficiency (HP) group with scores of one
standard deviation above the mean, and thirty six participants in the low-proficiency (LP)
group with scores of one standard deviation below the mean were randomly divided into two
groups to form two groups of 16, and two groups of 18. In the next phase of the study,
participants were required to write a narrative account by means of a picture story. Of the
whole 68 participants, due to absence of three participants in the writing session, thirty three
participants from two groups of high and low proficiency performed a simple narrativewriting
task, and thirty two participants from two groups of high and low proficiency
performed a complex narrative-writing task. Finally, due to incompleteness of one of the
writings in TT condition, 64 participants remained for data analysis to have four groups of:
G1) HP-HN: 16, G2) HP-TT: 14, G3) LP-HN: 17, and G4) LP-TT: 17. In order to investigate
the effect of task complexity and language proficiency, three specific measures of production
were employed as dependent variables: complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Multivariate
Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was the statistical procedure which was used for data
analysis in the present study. The findings of this study indicated that more complexity and
accuracy were found in the complex task on one hand, and with high-proficiency learners on
the other hand. No significant effect of task complexity and language proficiency on fluency
vi
was found. Moreover, the results showed that no significant interaction between the two
independent variables of task complexity, and language proficiency was observed. On the
basis of these findings and with regard to the operationalization of task complexity, a number
of pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research will be presented and
discussed.
