چکیده:
The present study attempted to probe into the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free writing, and control) over the frequency of employing metacognitive strategies in argumentative and expository writings of 108 participants. Employing an experimental writing task design under four planning time conditions and implementing a retrospective questionnaire, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted. Through implementing the retrospective questionnaire, an 8-point Likert-type scale was used and the associated statistical procedures were employed. The results showed that the frequency of the use of Generation of Ideas strategy was significantly higher in the argumentative writings than in the expository writings. The use of Elaboration of Ideas strategy was significantly different from Thinking about Language Aspects strategy and Thinking about the Essay Structure strategy and it was the lowest. The highest strategy use belonged to ‘Thinking about Language Aspects strategy’, followed by Thinking about the Essay Structure, Generation of Ideas, Organization of Ideas and Elaboration of Ideas strategies respectively. The use of ‘Thinking about Language Aspects strategy’ in the extended task condition was different from the other groups, and it was the lowest. In ‘Thinking about Language Aspects strategy’ use no significant differences were observed among argumentative and expository writings. The study can help broaden the understanding of EFL writers’ metacognitive writing processes involving planning and, the results may have pedagogical implications for EFL writing instructors and theoretical implications for EFL writing researchers.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Department of Foreign Languages, Language Center, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran Abstract The present study attempted to probe into the effects of four planning time conditions (pre-task, extended task, free writing, and control) over the frequency of employing metacognitive strategies in argumentative and expository writings of 108 participants.
Keywords: Argumentative writing, expository writing, metacognition strategies, planning time situations, writing mode Introduction Writing is a cognitive activity whose production as asserted by Ong (2014) necessitates both the coordination and synchronization of planning, transcribing and revising with their related subcomponent processes such as evaluating and monitoring (Olive & Kellogg, 2002).
The afore-mentioned studies have mostly ignored the procedural conditions of the cognitive processes and the way EFL writers distribute their metacognitive strategies during the completion of a writing task, which is of paramount significance regarding the functions of the working memory.
More specifically, the present study attempted to address the following questions: 1- What are the effects of planning time (pre-task, extended pre-task, free writing and control condition) on the metacognitive processes of Iranian EFL learners writing expository versus argumentative essays?
Concerning the first question of the study regarding the effects of the planning time conditions over metacognitive strategy use under differences in writing mode from expository to argumentative, as Table 2 reveals, in all the four groups, there exists significant differences between expository and argumentative writings with regard to the exploitation of Generation of Ideas (GI) strategy.