Early finishers: How EFL students bring tasks to early completion and what happens next

Abstract

In classrooms that use small-group tasks, some groups may finish earlier than others and there may be concern that early finishers will become disengaged. However, early finishing remains relatively under-examined. This paper uses conversation analysis to investigate how EFL students in a Japanese university finish tasks early. It describes a set of practices students use to finish tasks and reveals how students orient to the achievement of task outcomes. The study finds that students may have more to say on task topics than a task allows, and early finishers may develop these topics in post-task talk in the target language. The paper argues that early finishing may lead to useful language practice and teachers should therefore be cautious when assigning extra work to early finishers.