Are two heads always better than one? The effects of collaborative planning on L2 writing in relation to task complexity

This study investigated the effects of individual versus collaborative pre-task planning on second language (L2) writing, particularly in relation to task complexity manipulated in terms of the number of task elements. The participants were 40 8th -grade Korean learners of English who were divided into simple and complex task groups. Each group performed two writing tasks: one using individual planning and one using collaborative planning in pairs. After planning, the participants individually described simple or complex picture stories in writing. The participants' English texts were analyzed in terms of lexical and syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Collaborative planning had advantages over individual planning in fluency and syntactic complexity, but not in accuracy. Furthermore, its effects on lexical complexity were affected by task complexity: collaborative planning and individual planning resulted in a similar level of lexical complexity on complex tasks, but individual planning was much more beneficial on simple tasks. The pedagogical and research implications of these results are discussed.