IELTS Research Reports

The cognitive processes of taking IELTS Academic Writing Task 1CONTENTS1 Background and rationale..................................................................................................3761.1 Introduction............................................................................................................3761.2 Dearth of research into test takers’ cognitive processes of completing AWT1......3761.2.1 Theories of graph comprehension in cognitive psychology and theirimplications for research into integrated writing tasks using graph promptsin language tests....................................................................................................3772 Research aims and questions...........................................................................................3802.1 Research aims.......................................................................................................3802.2 Research questions...............................................................................................3803 Research design and methodology..................................................................................3803.1 Approach...............................................................................................................3803.2 Participants............................................................................................................3813.3 Data collection.......................................................................................................3824 Analyses and findings........................................................................................................3854.1 Participants’ graph familiarity and English writing abilities.....................................3854.1.1 Participants’ graph familiarity.................................................................................3854.1.2 Participants’ writing performances under normal examination conditions.............3864.1.3 Participants’ writing performances under think-aloud conditions...........................3874.2 Developing a working model of cognitive processes for AWT1 tasks....................3884.2.1 Comprehending non-graphically presented task instructions................................3894.2.2 Comprehending graphic information......................................................................3904.2.3 Re-presenting graphic and non-graphic information in continuous discourse.......3904.2.4 Summary of the working model.............................................................................3914.3 Addressing the four research questions................................................................3934.3.1 Research question 1..............................................................................................3934.3.2 Research question 2..............................................................................................3974.3.3 Research question 3..............................................................................................4004.3.4 Research question 4..............................................................................................4035 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................406References ..........................................................................................................................410Appendices ..........................................................................................................................414IELTS Research Reports Volume 11375