Effects of working memory and task type on syntactic complexity in EFL learners’ writing

Abstract This study investigated the predictive power of working memory and task type for syntactic complexity in EFL adult learners’ academic writing. One hundred forty-eight Chinese adult students were recruited as participants. Their working memory was assessed with an operation span task, a set of digit span tasks, and a symmetry span task. The syntactic complexity of their written products from two different TOEFL iBT writing tasks, an integrated writing task and an independent writing task, was measured using a natural language processing tool. Results showed a significant positive association between operation span and coordination in the students’ written products. In addition, a significant difference was found between the integrated task and the independent task with respect to phrasal complexity, with the integrated task eliciting more complex nominals per clause than the independent task. No significant effects were identified for other components of working memory or other measures of syntactic complexity.