Longitudinal Development of L2 Writing Cohesion in Continuation Tasks

ABSTRACT This study intends to explore the potential of continuation tasks (CT) to enhance writing cohesion using a longitudinal design. Specifically, it investigates changes over time in 23 cohesion indices from three dimensions: local, global, and text cohesion in the CT writings of high school English learners. The results reveal significant and meaningful improvements in seven indices. Specifically, learners show progress in linking sentences and paragraphs through lexical repetition. In addition, they demonstrate greater proficiency in the appropriate use of connectives in the narrative genre, indicating growth in their genre knowledge. Alignment with and imitation of these reading passages may have influenced learners’ development of L2 writing cohesion. The implications of these findings for designing CT to better support writing cohesion are discussed.