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Task readiness: Theoretical framework and empirical evidence from topic Familiarity, strategic Planning, and proficiency levels


Author : Bui Hiu Yuet Gavin
Category : Book Chapter
Department : English
Year / Month : 2014
ISBN : 9789027207258
Source : In P. Skehan (Ed.), Investigating a processing perspective on task performance (pp. 63-93), John Benjamins Publishing Company

Abstract

    This study explored a joint dataset of some published and in-review studies (Skehan, Bei, Li & Wang, 2012, Bui, 2014, in review) with two parallel tasks so as to achieve mutual corroboration. 160 task performances from 80 Hong Kong undergraduate students were analyzed in terms of their accuracy, complexity, fluency and lexis (including lexical density, sophistication and diversity) under both task-internal (content familiarity) and task-external (strategic planning) readiness. The participants were equally divided into two proficiency levels, which constitutes a third independent variable. Correlations were performed to assess whether areas of performance would vary in the predicted direction of either of the two task performance theories (Skehan Vs. Ronbison). The results in general showed very subtle yet quite clear variation of performance areas at different proficiency levels. Specifically, on the whole CAF were not correlated except in the unfamiliar tasks, with accuracy correlated with complexity on unfamiliar topics by high proficiency learners. This seems to suggest that trade-off does occur, but only with lower to intermediate learners. Then, it was also found that lexical aspects were largely irrelevant to either fluency or accuracy, indicating a separate construct of performance to the traditional CAF concepts. However, complexity slightly correlated with lexical density and lexical sophistication in the unfamiliar topics. Comparing this result with Skehan (2009b) where lexical sophistication and complexity were negatively correlated in (low proficiency) L2 learners yet positively in native speakers, an intriguing pattern appears: with higher enough proficiency, trade-off effects seem to be eased between structural complexity and lexical complexity. Thirdly, the independence between lexical diversity and lexical sophistication, as well as their common association with lexical density, at different familiarity levels and proficiency levels is worth our attention in understanding this relatively new area of task outcomes. These findings, among a few others, will be linked to Skehan’s Processing Approach and Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis to lay bare the multi-faceted nature of task performance, and to try to contribute to our understanding of TBLT from a wider perspective.