Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the effects of content familiarity and task repetition on Iranian EFL learners’ engagement in L2 oral performance. To this end, 44 intermediate EFL learners (17 males and 27 females) from Nahal, Nik, Rastak and Noyan English institutes in Isfahan, Iran, whose age range from 16 to 25, were selected through Oxford Placement Test (OPT). To collect the data, one familiar narrative task (events in Iran) and one unfamiliar task (events in China) were selected for the participants to narrate each one two times. After this phase, a stimulated recall interview was conducted with all the selected participants to capture their inner thoughts about speech production and affective responses to content familiarity and task repetition. After the data collection, the data were analyzed to compare the two familiar and unfamiliar topics to explore the effect of familiarity on learners’ engagement in Oral performance, and also to find the effects of task repetition in both familiar and unfamiliar tasks. In addition, he data obtained from the interview were analyzed through content analysis. The results of this study revealed that there was a significant difference between the level of behavioral and cognitive engagement between the familiar and unfamiliar task and also between the first and the second performances of each. Moreover, potential interaction effect was spotted between content familiarity and task repetition in terms of the four indicators.
Highlights
Over the last three decades task-based approaches to second language (L2) instruction have become increasingly popular, but research has focused primarily on the effects of task design and implementation on language processing during task performance
After the participants’ first and second time performances, a stimulated recall interview was conducted with all the selected participants to capture their inner thoughts about speech production and affective responses to content familiarity and task repetition
The Results of the Interview As stated before in chapter three, After the participants’ first and second time performances, a stimulated recall interview was conducted with all the selected participants to capture their inner thoughts about speech production and affective responses to content familiarity and task repetition
Summary
Over the last three decades task-based approaches to second language (L2) instruction have become increasingly popular, but research has focused primarily on the effects of task design and implementation on language processing during task performance. The complex nature of engagement, as a performance construct, emphasizes the interdependence between the cognitive, the social, and the affective aspects of learners’ involvement in language use This is important because it recognizes the potential contribution of social and affective dimensions of task-based interaction in mediating learners’ perceptions and willingness to work hard on a task Tasks have a primary focus on meaning, induce learners to draw on their linguistic and cognitive resources, and are outcome oriented (Samuda and Bygate, 2005). These qualities have rendered tasks enormously practical instruments for teaching and assessing languages, and for researching language learning processes. From a practitioner’s point of view, this is a crucial aspect of task design and implementation as it relates directly to improved instructional practice and the quality of learners’ performance in the classroom
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