Investigating Source-Text Use in Academic Writing Tasks of EFL Students through Integrated Writing Assessment (Research Paper)

This study investigated the writing quality of EFL students through the factors of source text use (source idea, linguistic modification, and content accuracy) in integrated writing assessment. The participants were 30 MA-level EFL students from three different universities in Fras province, Iran. The participants were selected through purposive sampling. The test used in the study was a standardized three-part TOEFL package with reading, listening and writing sections. The study used both qualitative and quantitative data to report the findings. In the qualitative part, some instances of source idea, substantial linguistic modification, and content accuracy were listed in tables to show how the participants generally responded to these factors. In the quantitative part, multiple regression analysis was used and all of the assumptions were verified. The results revealed that the predicators could significantly explain 25.8% variance in the writing quality scores. Furthermore, out of the three factors of source text use, “substantial linguistic modification” was the only significant component, which was seemingly influenced by the participants’ advanced level and the nature of the writing task. The related implications were also elaborated.