The Effect of Mixed Planning on the Fluency and Complexity of EFL Learners' Writing Performance

Abstract

This study set out to explore the effect of planning conditions on Iranian {EFL} learners’ written task performance regarding fluency and complexity. Forty five intermediate learners were selected out of a population of 90 {TEFL} learners on the basis of their scores on the proficiency test. Participants of this study were randomly assigned to three groups: pre task planning (PTP), on-line planning (OLP), and simultaneous pre and on-line planning (POLP) groups. A Decision-making task was used for data collection. The results revealed that pre task planning resulted in greater fluency, unpressured on-line (OLP)planning had statistically significant effect neither on syntactic complexity nor on written fluency, and the opportunity to engage the learners simultaneously in per- task and no-line planning (POLP) enhanced the fluency and complexity of their written performance significantly.