Enhancing strategic planning through strategy instruction: the effect of two types of strategy instruction on learners’ oral planned performance

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the impact of two types of strategy instruction on Brazilian learners’ planned speech performance at the level of complexity, accuracy, fluency, and adequacy. In order to do so, three groups participated in the present study: (1) the integrated group received strategy instruction during their regular English classes; (2) the isolated group received strategy instruction in a separate course; and (3) the control group received no strategy instruction. The groups also performed two narrative tasks before and after treatment, preceded by 10 minutes of strategic planning. Learners’ oral performance was analyzed and the statistical results showed that (i) the groups that received treatment outperformed the control group; and (ii) the isolated group produced more adequate and accurate speech, while the integrated groups improved their performance in terms of adequacy solely. In conclusion, one can claim that, in spite of the type of treatment, strategic planning can be enhanced by strategy instruction, shedding light on both Language Pedagogy and strategic planning research.

The impact of collaborative planning of an oral task on learners’ language performance in an EFL context

“…Tables 2 presents the results of the independent t-test. These results were in line with Specht (2017) who also showed improvements in terms of adequacy in the groups with some type of treatment regarding planning.…”

“…Strategic planning, as presented above, based on Skehan's (1998Skehan's ( , 2009Skehan's ( , 2014 framework for working with tasks, has been the trigger to many studies investigating it mainly during the pre-task phase (D'ELY, 2006;GUARÁ-TAVARES, 2008;XHAFAJ;MUCK;D'ELY, 2011;SPECHT, 2017;ZACCARON, 2018aZACCARON, , 2018bXHAFAJ;. They have worked with it mostly in the sense of allowing learners a proper time to cater for focus on other aspects of language besides meaning which may result in an improved overall performance.…”

“…Research investigating Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has grown considerably during the last two decades to comprise studies involving different learning settings, study designs, and task designs ( VAN DEN BRANDEN, 2006;COOK, 2011;EAST, 2017; VAN DEN BRANDEN;NORRIS, 2009). In this context, studies focusing on planning, based on Skehan's (1998Skehan's ( , 2009Skehan's ( , 2014 framework for task design and implementation have become a major field of investigation, more specifically in relation to strategic planning in a pre-task phase (D'ELY, 2006;GUARÁ-TAVARES, 2008;XHAFAJ;MUCK;D'ELY, 2011;SPECHT, 2017;ZACCARON, 2018aZACCARON, , 2018bXHAFAJ;.…”

“…MOTA; BYGATE, 2019;SPECHT, 2017;SWAIN, 2000SWAIN, , 2001WANG, 2014). In the Brazilian context, according to Xhafaj, Muck and D'Ely (2011) as well as Zaccaron, Xhafaj and D'Ely (2019), studies focusing on collaborative work have been gaining attention since 1980.…”

Analyzing the oral performance of Portuguese as a Host Language speakers through the Outcome Achievement measure

“…The features' descriptions seen in TABLE 1 were inspired by the studies of Farias (2014Farias ( , 2018, Zaccaron (2017), Specht and D'Ely (2020), and Lima Terres, Torres, and Boeing Marcelino (2020), which have all devised descriptive scales for assessing English learners' performances in tasks in different modes. While Farias (2014Farias ( , 2018 worked with written narratives, Specht and D'Ely (2020) worked with oral narratives. In turn, Zaccaron, Xhafaj, and D'Ely (2019), Zaccaron (2017) and Lima…”