The Differential Effects of Three Types of Task Planning on the Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy in L2 Oral Production

The Distinctive Nature of Task Repetition in Writing. Implications for Theory, Research, and Pedagogy

“…Interestingly, issues of feedback are conspicuously absent in current discussions of TR, with the exception of analyses of the feedback and scaffolding provided during TR in collaborative situations, and also with the very notable exception of Ellis's (2009) crucial observations as to the potential combined effect of TR and feedback processing in bringing about learning via TR. This is certainly a path worth exploring in any examination of TR in the writing mode because, as Ferris and Hedgcock (2014) rightly note, "Both teachers and students feel that teacher feedback on student writing is a critical, nonnegotiable aspect of writing instruction" (pp.…”

“…Plough & Gass, 1993;Mackey et al, 2007). In addition, one study (Kim, 2013) looked into students' and teachers' perceptions of the usefulness of TR (a highly critical and relevant pedagogical concern), and three studies (Baleghizadeh & Derakhshesh, 2012;Hawkes, 2011;Sheppard, 2006, the latter studied here via Ellis, 2009) examined the combined effect of TR and some intervening manipulation of the learner's attention to language before the repetition of the task, be it a FonF session (Hawkes, 2011, a study in which TR is viewed as a form of post-task activity) or the provision of feedback (Baleghizadeh & Derakhshesh, 2012;Sheppard, 2006). It is worth mentioning that only Sheppard (2006) included a control group who engaged in TR without the availability of feedback and so the results of the other two studies mentioned in this group have to be taken with caution.…”

“…Repetition of the same task has systematically been found to have a positive effect on attention to language and most available studies have found an increase in measures of complexity, fluency and, to a lesser extent, accuracy as a result of engaging in some form of TR. However, no empirical evidence has been obtained on the carryover of effects of TR to a new (similar or identical) task, which led Ellis (2009) to problematize the purported benefits of TR for L2 acquisition and to wonder whether, as suggested by Bygate (2001), for TR to assist acquisition, the crucial variable may be 'massed' repetition practice, or the learner's access to "some kind of feedback on their initial performance of the task" (p. 477), as would otherwise be the norm in writing. These are empirical questions worthy of attention in future research agendas.…”

“…The study also provides empirical evidence to previous claims in the oral domain (cf. Bygate, 2001;Ellis, 2009) regarding the crucial role played by massed repetition in bringing about expected learning gains.…”

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“…Along with this, publishers almost everywhere are describing their new textbooks as task-based. There has also been a steady increase in the number of studies in which tasks are the organizing unit of learning activity (Ellis, 2003(Ellis, , 2009Wood, 2010). For example, Ellis (2009) believes that TBLT has drawn extensively on research into L2 acquisition.…”