Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language

This study aims to investigate the effects of task complexity on the oral performance of Chinese learners of European Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL). In the current investigation, the cognitive task demands were manipulated along the resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions of t...

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Main Author: Sara Santos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: White Rose University Press 2018-08-01
Series:Journal of the European Second Language Association
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.euroslajournal.org/articles/40
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author Sara Santos
author_facet Sara Santos
author_sort Sara Santos
collection DOAJ
description This study aims to investigate the effects of task complexity on the oral performance of Chinese learners of European Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL). In the current investigation, the cognitive task demands were manipulated along the resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions of the Triadic Componential Framework (Robinson, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2015). The variables chosen were respectively ±few elements and ±planning time. Using a 2 . 2 design, 39 university learners of PFL performed two monologic information-giving oral tasks: a simple task (two elements) and a complex task (six elements). Half of the learners ('n' = 19) were given pre-task planning time, but for the other half ('n' = 20) the planning time was removed. The order of the tasks was counterbalanced. The participants’ output was analysed by general and specific measures of syntactic complexity and accuracy, lexical diversity and fluency (CALF). Pre-task planning time had significant effects on accuracy. Increasing the number of elements of the task led to greater accuracy and lexical diversity and longer clause length. There were no significant effects on fluency. These findings partially support Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first CALF study to measure the oral performance of learners of PFL. These results provide new insights for research and learning in the field of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA).
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spelling doaj.art-5d011c3ba2784355a627a3ae34ab290c2022-12-22T01:11:57ZengWhite Rose University PressJournal of the European Second Language Association2399-91012018-08-0121496210.22599/jesla.4021Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign languageSara Santos0Department of Portuguese, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of MacauThis study aims to investigate the effects of task complexity on the oral performance of Chinese learners of European Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL). In the current investigation, the cognitive task demands were manipulated along the resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions of the Triadic Componential Framework (Robinson, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2015). The variables chosen were respectively ±few elements and ±planning time. Using a 2 . 2 design, 39 university learners of PFL performed two monologic information-giving oral tasks: a simple task (two elements) and a complex task (six elements). Half of the learners ('n' = 19) were given pre-task planning time, but for the other half ('n' = 20) the planning time was removed. The order of the tasks was counterbalanced. The participants’ output was analysed by general and specific measures of syntactic complexity and accuracy, lexical diversity and fluency (CALF). Pre-task planning time had significant effects on accuracy. Increasing the number of elements of the task led to greater accuracy and lexical diversity and longer clause length. There were no significant effects on fluency. These findings partially support Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first CALF study to measure the oral performance of learners of PFL. These results provide new insights for research and learning in the field of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA).https://www.euroslajournal.org/articles/40task complexityoral performancePFL learners
spellingShingle Sara Santos
Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
Journal of the European Second Language Association
task complexity
oral performance
PFL learners
title Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
title_full Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
title_fullStr Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
title_full_unstemmed Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
title_short Effects of task complexity on the oral production of Chinese learners of Portuguese as a foreign language
title_sort effects of task complexity on the oral production of chinese learners of portuguese as a foreign language
topic task complexity
oral performance
PFL learners
url https://www.euroslajournal.org/articles/40
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