The Impact of Task Complexity on L2 Learners’ Written Narratives

Rahimpour, Massoud; Hosseini, Pakhshan

doi:10.5539/elt.v3n3p198

Cited by 18 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…And independent clause is defined as the clause that can stand on its own (Richards and Schmidt, 2002). a) Accuracy measurement: The accuracy of written performance of the participants was measured by calculating the percentage of error free T-units to the total number of T-units (the same measurement used by Rahimpour (1997Rahimpour ( , 2008, Errasti, 2003;Larsen-freeman, 2006;Storch, 2009;Storch and Wigglesworth, 2009;Rahimpour and Nariman, 2010;Rahimpour and Hosseini, 2010). b) Complexity measurement: Complexity of the texts produced by the participants in this research was measured by calculating the percentage of dependent clauses to total number of clauses (following Storch and Wigglesworth, 2009).…”

Section: Accuracy Complexity and Fluency Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of On-line and Pre-task Planning on Descriptive Writing of Iranian EFL Learners

Rahimpour

Safarie²

2011

IJEL

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this paper was to investigate the effects of pre-task planning (PTP) and on-line planning (OLP) on descriptive writing of EFL learners. It is discussed extensively that planning factor influences task performance of language learners. Thirty seven learners of English as a foreign language, aged between 19 and 24, were recruited and randomly assigned into two groups with pre-task and on-line planning conditions. The participants in PTP group were given 10 minutes to plan their performance before the main task performance, while the participants in OLP group had to begin writing immediately but they could take as much as time they liked. The collected data was then coded and analyzed using independent samples test statistical procedure. The results of data analysis showed planning time had no effect on complexity and accuracy of participants' performance but it influenced positively the fluency of PTP group. Keywords: Task-based language teaching, Planning, Writing, Accuracy, Complexity, Fluency 1. Introduction As early as 1970s, the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach became popular among second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and second language teachers (Skehan, 2003). Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a realization of communicative language teaching. It is indeed the strong version of CLT, as tasks provide the foundation for an entire language program (Ellis, 2004). Foster and Skehan (1999) state that there are some pre-mid-and post task activities that can be utilized to help language learner pay a balanced attention to both form and meaning simultaneously and improve the quality of learner language. Planning is one of the task condition factors that affects second language production and has been of both theoretical importance to second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and of practical importance to language teachers (Ellis, 2005). Due to the importance of task planning factor in learners' task performance there have been plenty of studies that have focused on the interaction of planning and task performance of language learners (Ellis, 1987;Foster and Skehan, 1996; Ortega, 1999;Robinson, 1995; Foster, 1997, 1999;Yuan and Ellis, 2003;Mochizuki and Ortega, 2008). The studies mentioned above mainly concern oral task performance and only a few studies have concentrated on written task performance (e.g. Ellis and Yuan, 2004). This fact highlights that further studies are needed to explore written performance of learners and task planning in a more extensive area and on different task types. Consequently this research focused on finding the effects of pre-task and on-line planning on descriptive writing of language learners, since no study has touched this writing task type before. Literature ReviewVariety of design factors (such as planning) and how they influence the language produced by learners regarding accuracy, complexity and fluency have been main focus of studies of many researchers (Ellis, 2009;Foster and Skehan, 1999; Housen and Kuiken, 2009;Wigglesworth ...

show abstract

Section: Accuracy Complexity and Fluency Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of On-line and Pre-task Planning on Descriptive Writing of Iranian EFL Learners

Rahimpour

Safarie²

2011

IJEL

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the level of methodology, they used experimental research and emphasized the quantitative method, which utilizes the oneshot case study design. Rahimpour and Hosseini (2010) collected the quantitative data and interpreted their findings. The results of their study show that the participants produced more fluently written narratives when tasks were cognitively more complex and challenging; however, they could not compose narrative texts which showcase more accurate and complex language.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, we point out that Ellis and Yuan's (2004) study was the only mixed-methods study that used two independent theoretical perspectives in order to collect both quantitative and qualitative data and interpret their results. Out of approximately 40 articles, we focused on only 11 articles which were very close to the concept of cognitive task complexity and L2 written performance including Ellis and Yuan (2004), Farahani andMeraji (2011), Heidari-Shahreza et al (2011), Kim (2009), Philip et al (2006, Ong and Zhang (2010), Rahimpour and Hosseini (2010), Salimi et al (2011), Sasayama (2011), Tavakoli (2009), and Wigglesworth and Storch (2009. Other studies were not considered for further analysis because the research questions addressed in other studies were not relevant to those we designed to answer in the current study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a growing body of research on the effects of cognitive task complexity on linguistic performance in second language (L2) writing such as Ellis and Yuan (2004), Farahani andMeraji (2011), Heidari-Shahreza, Dabaghi, andKassaian (2011), Kim (2009), Vedder (2007, 2008), Ong and Zhang (2010), Philip, Oliver, and Mackey (2006), Rahimpour and Hosseini (2010), Salimi, Dadaspour, and Asadollahfam (2011), Wigglesworth andStorch (2009), andSasayama (2011). These studies use quantitative experimental design to interpret their findings, while very little research, giving priority to participants' perceptions and feelings, employs qualitative experimental design (Tavakoli, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cognitive task complexity effects on L2 writing performance: An application of mixed-methods approaches

Tabari

Ivey

2015

LACLIL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

RESUMENThis paper provides a methodological review of previous research on cognitive task complexity, since the term emerged in 1995, and investigates why much research was more quantitative rather than qualitative. Moreover, it sheds light onto the studies which used the mixed-methods approach and determines which version of the mixed-methods designs was frequently used. The results reveal that many studies in the field of cognitive task-based research used quantitative rather than qualitative experimental design to collect and interpret their findings. These studies were more oriented to post-positivism supported by an objectivist epistemology. However, limited studies utilized mixed-methods approach to consider the effects of cognitive task complexity on linguistic performance in L2 context. The theoretical perspective behind these studies was pragmatism. The mixed-methods studies only used the explanatory sequential design to collect data and interpret their findings while other versions of the mixed-methods research designs were left undefined. To conclude, the paper identifies the current gap in methodology of the studies and offers recommendations for how to obtain more comprehensive and generalizable findings by utilizing other versions of the mixed-methods studies.Este artículo ofrece una revisión metodológica de investigaciones previas sobre la complejidad de tareas cognitivas, desde que surgió término en 1995, e investiga por qué tanta investigación era más cuantitativa que cualitativa. Por otra parte, arroja luz sobre los estudios que utilizaron el enfoque de métodos mixtos y determina cuál versión de los diseños de métodos mixtos se utilizaba con frecuencia. Los resultados revelan que muchos estudios en el campo de la investigación basada en la tarea cognitiva usaban un diseño experimental cuantitativo más que cualitativo para recoger e interpretar sus resultados. Estos estudios se orientan más al postpositivismo apoyado por una epistemología objetivista. Sin embargo, pocos estudios utilizaron el enfoque de métodos mixtos para considerar los efectos de la complejidad de la tarea cognitiva en el desempeño lingüístico en contexto de L2. La perspectiva teórica detrás de estos estudios fue el pragmatismo. Los estudios de métodos mixtos sólo utilizan el diseño secuencial explicativo para recoger datos e interpretar sus resultados, mientras que otras versiones de los diseños de investigación de métodos mixtos se quedaron sin definir. Para concluir, el documento identifica la brecha actual en la metodología de los estudios y ofrece recomendaciones sobre cómo obtener resultados más amplios y generalizables mediante la utilización de otras versiones de los estudios de métodos mixtos.

show abstract

“…In task-based language teaching and learning the main unit of analysis is task and there have been different studies to examine its role in Second Language Learning (SLL) (Gilabert, 2005(Gilabert, , 2007Rahimpour,1995Rahimpour, ,1997Rahimpour, , 2001Rahimpour, , 2002Rahimpour, , 2005Rahimpour, ,2007Rahimpour, , 2008Rahimpour, , 2010Robinson, 1995Robinson, , 2001Robinson, , 2005 to name a few. A central issue in TBLT deals with the impact of task conditions on L2 learner's performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learners' Performance in Doing Task with and without Teacher’s Presence

Rahimpour¹,

Zakeri²

2011

ELT

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently task-based language teaching has attracted many researchers', testers' and syllabus designers' attention and consequently a lot of studies are carried out in this field. This study was conducted in the task-based realm too. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of teacher's presence on learners' performance in doing task with and without teacher presence. The participants of this were forty (40) EFL intermediate male and female English learners who were chosen randomly. The results of statistical analysis of the collected data revealed that teacher's presence affected the participants' oral performance in terms of fluency but not their accuracy and complexity. The findings of this study have implications for language teaching, testing and syllabus design.

show abstract

The Impact of Task Complexity on L2 Learners’ Written Narratives

Cited by 18 publications

References 22 publications

The Effects of On-line and Pre-task Planning on Descriptive Writing of Iranian EFL Learners

The Effects of On-line and Pre-task Planning on Descriptive Writing of Iranian EFL Learners

Cognitive task complexity effects on L2 writing performance: An application of mixed-methods approaches

Learners' Performance in Doing Task with and without Teacher’s Presence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About