Alignment effects of the continuation task on L2 Chinese writing

Abstract This study aims to investigate the alignment effects of the continuation task on L2 Chinese writing. 60 participants were divided into a continuation group and a summary writing group. The former was required to continue a text with its ending removed, while the latter was required to summarize the text. The effect of the tasks was measured by examining the CSL (Chinese as a second language) learners’ correct use of vocabulary and the key grammar structure: the ba construction (“把” 字句). The study found that the continuation group made significant improvement from the pretest to the posttest, while the summary writing group did not. Moreover, learners in the continuation writing group produced more sophisticated words than those in the summary writing group and used key grammar structures with a greater degree of creativity than those in the summary writing group. These findings provide evidence for the language learning potential of the continuation task, which shows a better effect than the summary writing task.