Abstract
According to Bygate and Samuda (2005), task repetition can help students to integrate what they know with what they do, since it allows two different experiences of the same requirements of a task. Thus, such differences can result in changes from one speech production to another. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate which individuals, whether those with higher or lower working memory capacity, implement more new information during task repetition. A sample of 28 students from a public university underwent data collection which consisted of a working memory test (Speaking Span Test), a translation task, repeated twice, and two questionnaires. In general, the results showed that higher working memory capacity individuals were those who most implemented new information during task repetition, in terms of the implementation of new lexical items. The results are discussed in the light of the literature in the fields of working memory and task repetition. Final considerations are made suggesting that task repetition, in addition to bringing gains to oral production in terms of fluency and accuracy, for example, makes participants in the higher working memory capacity group able to allocate more cognitive and attentional resources to implement a greater number of new lexical items in second task performances.
Highlights
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has been seen by several authors as an effective approach to language teaching and learning (BYGATE; SKEHAN; SWAIN, 2001; ELLIS, 2003)
This research sought to answer the following research question: Who implements more new information during task repetition, lower or higher working memory capacity individuals? To answer this question, Table 2 shows the p-values for the tests of comparison between the number of new information implemented by lower and higher span groups
It is important to note that the null hypothesis means that the number of new information implemented by each group is statistically the same
Summary
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has been seen by several authors as an effective approach to language teaching and learning (BYGATE; SKEHAN; SWAIN, 2001; ELLIS, 2003) According to this approach, the use of tasks is proposed as the main component of second language classes. According to the psychometric approach, individuals with a higher working memory capacity would be more apt to perform certain tasks, which has been demonstrated in several studies (ENGLE; KANE; TUHOLSKI, 1999; JUST; CARPENTER, 1992). The explanation for these results was that higher working memory capacity participants probably retrieved more information, but this was not confirmed because such individuals decided not to use all the information retrieved Instead, they decided to implement new ideas during repetition. This study aims to further investigate how higher and lower working memory capacity individuals deal with the implementation of new information during task repetition
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