The Effects of Writing Task Types on EFL Students’ English Writing Performance

This study is aimed at investigating how the different types of writing tasks affects’ EFL students’ writing performance. To fulfill the purpose, three different types of writing (dialogue journal, descriptive essay, and comparison/contrast essay writings) were collected from 12 college freshmen (9 females and 3 males). These writings were compared based on four writing features (quantity, complexity, focus, and cohesive quality). The findings are as follows: 1) dialogue journals were significantly shorter than the two formal essay writings; 2) the comparison/contrast essay was the most complex type of writing, while a greater variety of clause connectors was most frequently used in the descriptive essay; 3) the personal-close focus was more preferred in dialogue journal writing and descriptive essays than comparison/contrast essays; and 4) comparison/contrast texts demonstrated different cohesive qualities from dialogue journals. It is suggested based on the results that, when assessing writing, a teacher should try to collect as many writing samples under varying conditions as possible from a student to measure her writing proficiency adequately, and that informal writing as well as formal essays has to be encouraged in order for EFL students to promote their ability to express themselves fully in English writing, using written expressions and structure conventions that are appropriate for the text type.