DST made its entry into applied linguistics through the pioneering work of Larsen-Freeman in 1997. Larsen-Freeman drew upon insights from chaos theory to highlight language as a complex adaptive system, laying the groundwork for employing DST in language development research. In DST, systems evolve and adapt continuously to their changing environment, often comprising numerous interacting components driving system-wide changes. According to de Bot (2008), DST aims to illustrate how the performance of a dynamic system evolves over time, focusing on the interplay between internal and external factors in shaping the system’s emergence. Unlike traditional linear causality models, DST adopts a nonlinear approach and stops considering the evolution of the system and its constituent parts as predictable.
2.2 The Continuation Writing Task
2.2.1 Introduction to the CWT
The continuation writing task (CWT) is a pedagogical activity that integrates language comprehension and production, effectively enhancing learners’ language proficiency (Wang, 2012; Wang & Qi, 2013). Typically, this task involves students reading an incomplete passage and then creatively, coherently, and logically continuing it based on their comprehension. Wang et al. (2000) suggested that CWT could encourage students to write extensively in foreign languages. Building on this, Wang (2009) proposed the principle of interrelationship between L2 learning variables and L2 use, further exploring the theoretical significance and practical value of CWT. Theoretical investigations by Wang (2012) delved into the mechanisms underlying CWT’s promotion of foreign language learning, leading to subsequent empirical studies exploring its alignment and learning promotion effects. Theoretical frameworks cited in these studies primarily include the xu-argument (Wang, 2016, 2017), the interactive alignment model (Pickering & Garrod, 2004; Pickering & Garrod, 2006; Costa et al., 2008), and the situation model (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998). Among those theories, the direct theoretical source of CWT is the xu-argument, which combines the strengths of various theories.
The situation model, as proposed by Zwaan and Radvansky (1998), refers to mental representations constructed to understand the state of affairs described in a text, encompassing elements such as time, space, characters, causal relationships, and communicative intentions. This model was later recognized by Pickering and Garrod (2004) in studying language use mechanisms in dialogues, leading to the development of the interactive alignment model. This model elucidates the mechanism of language use in dialogue, emphasizing the importance of interaction for smooth conversation progression. Wang and Wang (2014) further elaborated on this, emphasizing the necessity of cooperation, adaptation, and dynamic adjustment for mutual understanding in dialogue, culminating in the convergence of mental representations of both parties. Alignment in this model occurs at both linguistic and contextual levels, with contextual alignment facilitating linguistic alignment to enhance understanding.
Chapter Three Research Design ............................ 16
3.1 Research Questions ............................ 16
3.2 Participants ....................... 16
Chapter Four Results .......................... 25
4.1 Development Trends of Writing CAF ............................. 25
4.1.1 Group Averages ......................................... 25
4.1.2 Variation of CAF between Individuals ............... 32
Chapter Five Discussion ............................... 59
5.1 Development of CAF in CWT ....................... 59
5.2 Interactions between CAF in CWT ...................... 62
Chapter Five Discussion
5.1 Development of CAF in CWT
The first resear
