The current study explored whether language proficiency mediates the perception of task difficulty and whether intended task complexity differences are reflected in the language production (i.e., fluency, accuracy, and complexity) of learners of different proficiency levels in English. 37 participants (20 advanced and 17 pre-intermediate learners of English) took part in the experiment, all of them undergraduate students at a Spanish university, aged between 18 and 25. They were provided with two tasks of hypothetically differing cognitive complexity levels manipulated along ± few elements and ± spatial reasoning dimensions. Two kinds of instruments were used to measure participants’ perceptions of task difficulty: self-reported difficulty ratings and time estimation of task completion. Complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures were used to analyze participants’ speech production on the two tasks. As far as the perception of complexity is concerned, no significant differences between the high and low proficiency groups were found. Regarding performance measures, in the high proficiency group the complex task triggered greater lexical and structural complexity and accuracy, to the detriment of fluency. In the low proficiency group, on the complex task, fluency was boosted while the other areas remained intact irrespective of cognitive task complexity. These results are discussed in terms of Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis and Skehan’s Trade-off Hypothesis.
2024. Collaborative writing in an EFL secondary setting: the role of task complexity. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 62:2 ► pp. 325 ff.
2023. The interplay of task complexity (± Here-and-Now) and proficiency in shaping written narratives in Spanish as a foreign language. System 112 ► pp. 102949 ff.
Sánchez, Laura & Malin Sunesson
2023. Grasping the effects of storyline complexity, task structure and proficiency in narrative writing performance. Journal of Second Language Writing 60 ► pp. 100986 ff.
Awwad, Anas & Parvaneh Tavakoli
2022. Task complexity, language proficiency and working memory: Interaction effects on second language speech performance. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
Qiu, Xuyan & Hong Cheng
2022. The effects of task types on L2 oral production and learner engagement. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60:4 ► pp. 1063 ff.
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian & Michael H. Long
2021. The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching,
Lee, Jongbong
2021. Using corpus analysis to extend experimental research: Genre effects in L2 writing. System 100 ► pp. 102563 ff.
2021. Task Complexity and Language Proficiency: Its Effect on L2 Writing Production. In Task-Based Language Teaching and Assessment, ► pp. 139 ff.
Aguilar-Pérez, Marta & Elisabet Arnó-Macià
2020. “He's a Good Lecturer in Any Language”. In Teacher Training for English-Medium Instruction in Higher Education [Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development, ], ► pp. 153 ff.
Malicka, Aleksandra
2020. The role of task sequencing in fluency, accuracy, and complexity: Investigating the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing. Language Teaching Research 24:5 ► pp. 642 ff.
Qiu, Xuyan
2020. Functions of oral monologic tasks: Effects of topic familiarity on L2 speaking performance. Language Teaching Research 24:6 ► pp. 745 ff.
Qiu, Xuyan
2022. Picture or non-picture? The influence of narrative task types on lower- and higher-proficiency EFL learners’ oral production. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60:2 ► pp. 383 ff.
Qiu, Xuyan & Man-Kit Lee
2020. Regulated learning and self-efficacy beliefs in peer collaborative writing: An exploratory study of L2 learners’ written products, task discussions, and self-reports. System 93 ► pp. 102312 ff.
2017. TASK-BASED PRONUNCIATION TEACHING AND RESEARCH. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 39:2 ► pp. 381 ff.
Révész, Andrea, Marije Michel & Roger Gilabert
2016. MEASURING COGNITIVE TASK DEMANDS USING DUAL-TASK METHODOLOGY, SUBJECTIVE SELF-RATINGS, AND EXPERT JUDGMENTS. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 38:4 ► pp. 703 ff.
Révész, Andrea
2014. Task‐Based Learning: Research Methods. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, ► pp. 1 ff.
2021. Methodological Approaches to Investigating Task-Based Language Teaching. In The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching, ► pp. 605 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
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