1.4 Structure of the book

This book consists of seven chapters, each following a similar structure, starting with an introduction and ending with a summary or conclusion. Chapter one provides an overview of the whole study. The rationale of the study is first presented. Then, the purposes and research questions are stated, followed by the significance of the study.

Chapter two reviews the related literature on the writing construct, which provides the theoretical basis for the present study. First, a brief history of the writing assessment is outlined. Then the principles and caveats of writing task construction and design are reviewed. Next, the nature of writing is examined. This chapter concludes with the discussion of EFL writing research, incorporating cognitive and affective aspects of EFL writing and the componential construct of EFL writing.

Chapter three is devoted to both theoretical and practical research of context and context validity. It begins with a theoretical review of context in communication, linguistic studies, and language teaching and testing. Then, context validity and context validity of writing tests are discussed. Next, empirical studies on the effects of contextual features on writer's performance are reviewed. Following the document analysis of contextual features in writing tasks in textbooks and writing tests, a framework of contextual features in writing task is put forward for the present study.

Chapter four, the methodology part, describes the research design, the instruments adopted, the pilot study, and the main study, in which a comparative study with a within-subjects and between-subjects design was developed and implemented.

Chapters five and six present the results of the main study, i.e., Chinese undergraduates' writing performance on the writing tasks with different degrees of contextual features. Chapter five discusses both writing quality and textual features of the essays written by those students, and Chapter six examines test-takers' writing processes, both cognitive and affective, when they sat for these writing tests.

The final chapter, Chapter seven, summarizes the findings, discusses the limitations of the research, and offers its theoretical and practical implications as well as suggestions for future research.