1.3 Outline of the study

The remaining part of the dissertation is made up of the following five chapters：

Chapter Two first reviews Constructivist discourse synthesis theory，theoretical concepts of both cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in writing processes，and previous empirical studies on integrated writing tasks.Upon the review of literature，a hypothesis concerning the construct of subjects’strategy use in integrated writing tasks is presented，and research questions are indicated.

Chapter Three describes the methodology taken in the present research，including data collection methods，i.e.，questionnaires，TAPs，and follow-up interviews，quantitative data analysis methods，i.e.，Factor analysis，Multi-facets Rasch Model and qualitative data analysis methods by means of Nvivo 8.0.This chapter aims to build a coherent link between the rationale of data triangulation and selection of research methods.

Chapter Four depicts the results of both quantitative and qualitative data.First，the MFRM analysis is presented to reveal facets that might contribute to variability of the test scores.Questionnaire survey results will be indicated，including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis using SEM，to address the nature of subjects’strategy use.Subjects’TAP and interview data are analyzed thereafter with due attention to the differences of strategy use across scoring levels.

Chapter Five steps further into the discussion of the research findings within the broader context of the fields of language assessment and educational psychology.Each of the research questions will be discussed first in light of the research results presented in the previous chapter.This discussion will be related to the previous studies concerning mental operations in discourse synthesis as well as other process-oriented research on integrated writing test tasks.At the end of this chapter，the view of the present research on the nature of subjects’strategy use is proposed.

Chapter Six makes a brief conclusion，addresses the limitations of the present research and the directions for future research，and presents the theoretical，methodological，and pedagogical implications of the research for second language writing and testing research.