Oral Task Performance Research Articles

The roles of task-specific self-efficacy and enjoyment in EFL learners’ development of speaking CALF: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study adopts a person-centred approach to examine EFL learners’ development of speaking CALF; the fluctuating correlations of affective ID variables (self-efficacy and enjoyment), as well as their impacts on oral task performance over time. Thirty-one Chinese EFL learners completed eight oral tasks bi-weekly over six months, followed by post-task scales to measure task-specific self-efficacy and enjoyment. Data were subjected to group-based multi-trajectory modelling (GBMM) to discern the development of speaking CALF, moving correlation analysis to explore the interactions between task-specific self-efficacy and enjoyment, and panel data regression to examine the longitudinal impact of task-specific self-efficacy and enjoyment on oral task performance. GBMM results revealed variability at both the group and individual levels, despite similar educational backgrounds and learning contexts, as evidenced by differing speaking CALF patterns. Moving correlation analyses revealed dynamic, non-linear trends between self-efficacy and enjoyment. Panel data regression analyses suggested that higher levels of affective ID variables would generate better oral performance, as evidenced by speaking CALF patterns. This study successfully integrated ID variables into TBLT research within a CDST framework for enhancing our understanding of the complex nature of EFL learners’ speaking competence and underscoring the interconnectivity between task-specific self-efficacy and enjoyment.

The Effect of Different Planning Conditions versus Explicit Grammar Instruction on Young EFL Learners’ Oral Production of a Picture Promoted Task and Grammar Gain

This study examined the effects of three task conditions on young EFL learners’ oral performance of a picture prompted task and their grammatical knowledge gain. To this end, 34 EFL learners were randomly assigned into three experimental groups, namely online planning, pre-planning, and explicit instruction, and one control group. Pictures were employed as prompts to implement the tasks in all groups. A Grammatical Judgment Test was used to compare students’ knowledge of simple present passive structure before and after the treatment. Learners’ oral task performance was measured in terms of Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF). The findings demonstrated significant differences among groups as for CAF measures. However, no significant differences were spotted in GJT posttest scores. The paper calls for the incorporation of diverse prompt-based planning conditions in task-oriented teaching practices in order to target learners' higher levels of oral competence.

Effects of task repetition with grammatizing on oral task performance and knowledge development

Abstract This study compared the effects of task repetition only (TR), task repetition with grammatizing (TR+GR), and grammatization with no task repetition (GR) on 94 EFL learners’ oral task performances. Participants’ productions were measured both in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency as well as receptive knowledge (measured by an error correction test) and productive knowledge (measured by a sentence-level oral production test) development. Immediately after performing a narrative task, the TR+GR and GR learners were required to restore the target structure, namely the English regular past tense, which had been deleted in a grammatized text. Learners in the TR group received no grammatization, and only the TR+GR and TR groups repeated the same task twice. Results revealed that although both TR conditions led to enhanced receptive knowledge, the TR+GR performed better than the TR in fostering learners’ receptive knowledge and improving accuracy and productive knowledge at a delayed posttest. The GR group improved their receptive knowledge in the immediate posttest, but this improvement tailed off in the delayed posttest. Lastly, the TR+GR group could also improve the complexity and accuracy of their narrative task performances–albeit at the expense of fluency.

The effect of pre-task planning on computer-based second language writing

Drawing on models of first language writing and models of second language (L2) oral task performance, this quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of pre-task planning (PTP) on the product of computer-based L2 writing against a no-planning (NP) condition with the total time-on-task controlled for. It also examined the possible influence of writers’ strategy preferences on the effect of PTP. The study adopted a within-group design. Forty-three participants were required to complete two argumentative essays on a computer with one produced under the PTP condition and the other in the NP condition. A post-task questionnaire was used to collect participants’ strategy preferences. Statistical analyses showed that PTP affected only writing fluency and had no effect on complexity, accuracy, lexis, idea density and coherence and cohesion. Considerable individual differences were found on how learners were affected by the planning conditions but no mediating effect of strategy preferences was evident. Based on the results, we argue that teachers can require students to pre-plan when they want to encourage fluent writing but should not expect PTP to improve text quality in computer-based writing. Theoretical implications are discussed in relation to the different theoretical positions on the effect of PTP.

Motivational dispositions predict qualitative differences in oral task performance

AbstractThe study examined how learners’ motivational dispositions predict the complexity, accuracy, fluency of their oral task performance and their overall second language proficiency. Eighty-one speakers of English as a second language in the United States completed a regulatory focus and a regulatory mode questionnaire, an oral interview task, and a picture description task. Regression analyses showed a meaningful pattern of results. The assessment mode (concerned with analysis, evaluation, and comparison) contributed to syntactic and lexical complexity, the reduction of dysfluencies, and overall English proficiency, whereas the locomotion mode (concerned with acting without deliberation) positively predicted the speed measure of fluency and the total number of errors. The prevention focus (concerned with stability, security, and safety) negatively predicted lexical sophistication, whereas the promotion focus (concerned with advancement, accomplishments, and growth) predicted overall English proficiency. Theoretical and instructional implications were discussed.

How Working Memory and Prior Vocabulary Knowledge Influence the Impact of Task Repetition on L2 Oral Performance: Insights into Vietnamese EFL Learners

The present study investigates the effect of task repetition and individual differences on Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ lexical use and fluency in oral task performance. The study adopts a within-subjects design with forty students performing the same narrative task twice. Students also completed two prior vocabulary knowledge tests (i.e., a receptive size test and a productive level test) and two working memory tests (i.e., a backward-span task and a Vietnamese-version operation-span task). Lexical complexity was measured in two aspects (i.e., lexical sophistication and lexical diversity). Fluency was assessed in terms of articulation rate. Unlike previous studies, our study surprisingly did not reveal an effect of task repetition on lexical complexity and fluency. Interestingly, prior vocabulary knowledge and working memory appeared to be good predictors of learners’ lexical complexity and fluency.

The role of pausing in L2 oral task performance

Abstract Studies of L2 oral task performance report fluency as critical for functional adequacy, with pausing behaviors emerging as strong predictors of functionally adequate speech. The present study investigated the extent to which the type and location of pausing is related to functional adequacy. Oral performances on two tasks by 40 L2 speakers of English at four proficiency levels were rated on a functional adequacy scale and analyzed for type of pausing, silent and filled at mid- or end-clause location. The study found significant relationships between functional adequacy and the frequency of end-clause pauses in L2 speech. We interpreted this finding as suggesting that breakdowns in message conceptualization play a role in how the functional adequacy of L2 speech is construed by the listeners.

Task anxiety, cognition and performance on oral tasks in L2 Spanish

ABSTRACT This article investigates the three-way interface between foreign language anxiety (FLA), cognition and performance in Spanish L2 oral tasks, and examines qualitatively the construct of task anxiety (TA) in relation to its three interconnected facets: affective, cognitive and behavioral. 51 low-proficiency university learners of L2 Spanish performed two narrative tasks manipulated in their cognitive demands. Results revealed TA negatively affected certain functions of learners’ L2 cognition, especially at the attentional level and in word retrieval, highlighting the important role of L2 self-esteem in oral production tasks. This study advocates for a pedagogical approach that implements both curricular and individual aspects from a task-based language teaching perspective. It further emphasizes the importance of raising awareness of the interrelated emotional, cognitive and performance dimensions of the L2 learner, and how these may manifest in TA during oral task performance.

The effect of modality on oral task performance in voice, video, and VR-based environments

Synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) is a topic of great interest in CALL literature where research has investigated the effectiveness of SCMC compared to traditional face-to-face instruction. However, there are few studies that investigate the intrinsic differences in SCMC modes, particular in terms of their effect on oral communication. At the JALTCALL 2019 conference, we introduced research which assessed the anxiety-reducing affordances of VR. This year we presented results of a follow-up study which focused on the effect of SCMC modality on learners’ speaking performance. 30 participants (15 pairs) completed a spot-the-difference task within three different SCMC modes: voice, video, and virtual reality (VR). Using the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) model, participants’ oral task performances were analysed. Results suggest that the voice mode promoted the highest structural complexity, however, the VR mode promoted the highest lexical complexity. Findings therefore suggest that different modes of communication may be used to focus on different skill development. Additionally, practitioners should consider how modality affects learner anxiety and choose the most appropriate system for their students and needs. This paper introduces the VR system, a detailed analysis of results, pedagogical implications, and future research directions for the use of VR in language teaching contexts.

The Effects of Individual vs. Collaborative Pre-task Planning on Korean Middle School Learners’ English Oral Task Performance under Different Task Complexity

The Effects of Individual vs. Collaborative Pre-task Planning on Korean Middle School Learners’ English Oral Task Performance under Different Task Complexity

Korean L2 speakers’ regulatory focus and oral task performance

AbstractThe L2 motivation self system posits that motivation emerges from the dynamic interactions among a learner’s ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and situated learning experience. Only a few studies to date have investigated the individual and combined impact of trait-based and task-induced motivation (i. e., situational motivation related to the immediate learning environment) on L2 performance. Therefore, the current study explored whether Korean L2 speakers’ trait-based and task-induced regulatory focus impacted their oral task performance. Vietnamese university students (N=62) studying Korean as a foreign language completed a questionnaire to assess their L2 instrumentality as being oriented toward prevention or promotion. They were randomly assigned to promotion or prevention task-induced conditions, and then carried out an oral task. The results indicated that whereas the participants’ general motivational tendencies did not impact their task performance, the task-induced prevention condition facilitated faster speech rate (i. e., fluency) and lower error rate (i. e., accuracy) than the promotion condition. Implications for further studies are discussed.

The effects of planning time and proficiency level on accuracy of oral task performance

This study examined the effect of pre-task planning (PTP) and proficiency level on the language proficiency of 60 English foreign language learners. The Oxford placement test was administered. Based on the scores, the participants were divided into groups of low and high proficiency. The high and low language level students were randomly assigned to either 0 minutes or 10 minutes PTP time. Then the participants in all the four groups were shown a set of pictures and were required to produce a story about it. They spoke based on the same topic, but in different conditions. The productions were transcribed for further analyses. The results of the analysis revealed that high proficiency learners (PTP) outperformed the NP group of the same level; however, there was no meaningful difference between the low groups. The results of two-way Anova also revealed an interaction between the planning and proficiency levels. Keywords: Pre-task planning time, oral performance, accuracy, proficiency.

Focus on language versus content in the pre-task: Effects of guided peer-video model observations on task performance

The present experimental study examined whether a different focus during a pre-task planning observation task affects learners’ subsequent oral task performance. Forty-eight ninth-grade students learning German as a foreign language were randomly assigned to two different planning conditions: video observations with a focus on language (FonL) and video observations with a focus on content (FonC). With a communicative oral task we measured the effects on oral task performance, in terms of attempted (accurate) use of the target structure and complexity, in terms of number of words, subordination and coordination. In addition we investigated whether there was a trade-off between attempted (accurate) use of the target structure and complexity. Results showed that the focus of the observations at the pre-task stage did indeed lead to different outcomes: students in the language condition used the grammatical target structure more often and more accurately, whereas students of the content condition generated more coordinate and subordinate clauses. Trade-offs were found between attempted (accurate) use of the target structure and the use of subordinate clauses. These findings imply that, depending on the purposes of the lesson, the observation of peer-model videos with different planning foci can be effectively used to promote (accurate) use of targeted grammatical structures and improve complexity during subsequent task performance.

The Effect of Focus on Form and Task Complexity on L2 Learners’ Oral Task Performance

Second Language learners’ oral task performance has been one of interesting and research generating areas of investigations in the field of second language acquisition specially, task-based language teaching and learning. The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of focus on form and task complexity on L2 learners’ oral task accuracy. To this end, sixty intermediate learners of English as a foreign language attending an English institute were chosen as the participant of the study and were divided into three groups control and two experimental groups with and without focus on form strategy. ANOVA and Independent Sample T-test were employed as the statistical means of analysis. The results a of analysis revealed significant differences among the performance of the groups. The study carries significant implications for syllabus and task designers, curriculum developers and language teachers. Keywords: Accuracy, Focus on form, Task, Task-based language teaching, Task complexity

The Effects of Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency on Communicative Adequacy in Oral Task Performance

Communicative adequacy is a key construct in second language research, as the primary goal of most language learners is to communicate successfully in real-world situations. Nevertheless, little is known about what linguistic features contribute to communicatively adequate speech. This study fills this gap by investigating the extent to which complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) predict adequacy, and whether proficiency and task type moderate these relationships. In all, 20 native speakers and 80 second language users from four proficiency levels performed five tasks. Speech samples were rated for adequacy and coded for a range of CAF indices. Filled pause frequency, a feature of breakdown fluency, emerged as the strongest predictor of adequacy. Predictors with significant but smaller effects included indices of all three CAF dimensions: linguistic complexity (lexical diversity, overall syntactic complexity, syntactic complexity by subordination, and frequency of conjoined clauses), accuracy (general accuracy and accuracy of connectors), and fluency (silent pause frequency and speed fluency). For advanced speakers, incidence of false starts also emerged as predicting communicatively adequate speech. Task type did not influence the link between linguistic features and adequacy.

The effect of ‘massed’ task repetitions on complexity, accuracy and fluency: does it transfer to a new task?

To date, research results suggest that task repetition positively affects oral task performance. However, researchers have not yet shown the extension of the benefits of repeating the same task to performance of a new task. This article first provides an overview of the currently available research findings on task repetition and then presents the results of a six-month study which aimed to find out whether or not the effects of massed repetitions of the same task carry over to performance of a new task. Thirty intermediate EFL learners from two intact classes participated in this study. Participants in the experimental group were required to engage in a dialogic narrative task on Occasions 1 to 11 and then an interview task on Occasion 12, each occasion being two weeks apart. Participants in the control group, meanwhile, were only required to perform the oral narrative task at Time 1 and to engage in the interview task at Time 12. Results revealed that massed repetitions of the same task assisted subjects in the experimental group to outperform those in the control group in terms of complexity and fluency but not accuracy. In conclusion, it is claimed that the benefits of massed repetitions of the same task transfer to performance of a new task but not necessarily in all areas of performance.

Creativity and Narrative Task Performance: An Exploratory Study

Methods of communicative and task‐based language teaching often employ tasks that require students to use their imagination and to generate new ideas. These tasks might provide creative learners with more chance to practice and to produce more comprehensible output, which could lead to greater success in second language acquisition (SLA) (Swain, 1985). Therefore, creativity, which involves imagination, unconventionality, risk‐taking, flexibility, and creating new classifications and systematizations of knowledge (Sternberg, 1985a), might be a potential factor that affects language learning outcomes. Despite its potential relevance, creativity has been a neglected individual difference variable in the field of SLA. Our study is the first attempt to examine the role of creativity in second‐language oral task performance. Participants in the study were Hungarian secondary school learners of English whose creativity was measured with a standardized creativity test and who performed two versions of a narrative task. We examined the relationships among three aspects of creativity—originality, flexibility, and creative fluency—and different measures of task performance, which included the number of words and narrative clauses, subordination ratio, lexical variety, and accuracy. The findings suggest that creativity is best hypothesized as a multifaceted trait, as students scoring high on various components of creativity seemed to complete the same task in different ways. Students who invented a high number of solutions on a creativity test were found to engage in more talk; thus, in a foreign language setting, they might create more opportunities for themselves to use the language. The learners characterized by a higher level of originality tended to speak less and created more complex stories in terms of the narrative structure, but at the same time, they might deprive themselves of the beneficial effects of more output. No significant relationship among creativity and accuracy, complexity, and lexical variety was found. The magnitude of the correlations, however, indicates that creativity affects participants’ output in narrative tasks only moderately. The results of the study reveal that in addition to investigating the effects of individual variables on global measures of foreign language performance, it is also possible to study their influence on specific tasks. Based on our study, we conclude that different aspects of creativity might have an effect on the amount of output students produce but not on the quality of narrative performance. Nevertheless, further research involving more participants and using different types of tasks would be necessary to be able to generalize these findings to other contexts.

The role of individual and social variables in oral task performance

The role of individual and social variables in oral task performance

The role of individual and social variables in oral task performance

This paper reports on a data-based study in which we explored - as part of a larger-scale British-Hungarian research project - the effects of a number of affective and social variables on foreign language (L2) learners’ engagement in oral argumentative tasks. The assumption underlying the investigation was that students’ verbal behaviour in oral task situations is partly determined by a number of non-linguistic and non-cognitive factors whose examination may constitute a potentially fruitful extension of existing task-based research paradigms. The independent variables in the study included various aspects of L2 motivation and several factors characterizing the learner groups the participating students were members of (such as group cohesiveness and intermember relations), as well as the learners’ L2 proficiency and ‘willingness to communicate’ in their L1. The dependent variables involved objective measures of the students’ language output in two oral argumentative tasks (one in the learners’ L1, the other in their L2): the quantity of speech and the number of turns produced by the speakers. The results provide insights into the interrelationship of the multiple variables determining the learners’ task engagement, and suggest a multi-level construct whereby some independent variables only come into force when certain conditions have been met.