Planning in L2 writing: A research synthesis and meta-analysis

Increased interest in task-based language teaching among L2 writing researchers has motivated a number of studies on task complexity features and their effect on the syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) of L2 written production. One such task complexity feature-planning-has been identified as an important method of alleviating the cognitive demands of L2 written production. However, inconclusive, at times contradictory, research results make it difficult to understand the effect of planning on L2 written production. This study, a research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis of L2 writing research on task planning, examines operational definitions of planning and writing tasks, then directly compares the results of quantitative research on the effect of planning on L2 written CALF. The results of the research synthesis and meta-analysis are discussed in terms of their theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications.