Abstract
This forum attempts to uncover the role played by theory in three empirical studies. To that end, in the sections that follow, I will begin with the review of literature on language complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Next, I will report on metric indices employed in the studies to measure the phenomenon of linguistic complexity and the results pertaining to grammatical and lexical complexity. Then I proceed with describing the status of theory in empirical research and the challenges research on CAF faces. The closing presents the discussion on how theory impacted the design of the empirical studies sampled for this paper.
Highlights
Language proficiency is multi-componential in nature and, according to many SLA researchers and L2 practitioners, is best captured by the concepts of complexity, fluency, and accuracy (CAF)
The contrasting findings reported by Kuiken and Vedder in the three studies they reported pointed to the inherent flaw of the Triadic Framework and the predictions of the Cognition Hypothesis
The research on complexity, accuracy, and fluency and their interaction in different task conditions seems to occupy a particular position in the debate on how different task environments impact CAF
Summary
Language proficiency is multi-componential in nature and, according to many SLA researchers and L2 practitioners, is best captured by the concepts of complexity, fluency, and accuracy (CAF). The studies that invoke the Cognition Hypothesis either refer to Robinson’s Triadic Framework (Robinson, 2001a) and the Cognition Hypothesis to structure their research and explain the findings, or they take a more radical stand to argue that the premises underlying the Cognition Hypothesis and the claims derived from it are problematic. This forum attempts to uncover the role played by theory in three empirical studies. The closing presents the discussion on how theory impacted the design of the empirical studies sampled for this paper
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