A Comparative Study of the Cognitive Processes involved in Taking IELTS Academic Writing Subsets: A Grounded Theory Approach

This research investigated the comparability in test takers cognitive processes when completing two different types of tasks including Graph Prompt Task (GPT) and Verbal Prompt Task (VPT), the extent to whichtest takers cognitive processes were affected by the use of different prompts. The total of 15 postgraduatestudents participated in this study. They completed two tasks (GPT and VPT) while thinking aloud their writingprocesses. Then, their retrospective interview protocols were collected. Observations of the students engaged in writing GPT and VPT were conducted. Consistent with grounded theory approach, the data were analyzed toidentify the patterns underlying cognitive processes. The findings demonstrated that differences in cognitiveprocesses were evidenced at four stages: Analyzing Instructions; Translating Identified Information into WrittenDiscourses; Examining Comprehension; and Re-presenting Identified Responses into EFL Written Discourses. Furthermore, the findings indicated that amount of time students spent on GPT and number of recursiveprocesses they utilized to make inference regarding the pattern underlying the graph made this task to be morechallenging and cognitively demanding. Methodologically, such findings highlight the importance ofconsidering test takers cognitive processes when conducting test comparability, designing, and developing these two tasks.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cognitive Process ، IELTS Writing Subsets ، Grounded Theory Approach