The Effects Of Task Planning And Task Type On Chinese EFL Learners' Oral Production

This paper reports on a study that investigated the effects of task planning (i.e., on-line planning/OLP, pre-task planning/PTP, and pre-task & on-line combined planning/PTP & OLP combined) and task type (i.e., a Picture-retelling task and an Exposition task), separately and in combination, on the speech performance of Chinese EFL learners. Three aspects of speech performance were examined, i.e., fluency, complexity, and accuracy.The results show that (1) pre-task planning enhances syntactic complexity while the PTP & OLP combined positively influences accuracy;the pre-task planners also produced more fluent language than the on-line planners, while the pre-task & on-line combined planners produced more fluent language than the on-line planners in Speech Rate B;(2) less demanding task, i.e., the Picture-retelling task positively influenced the complexity of the speech production, but such an effect was not found on either fluency or accuracy;(3) statistically significant interaction between planning and task type was found only for correct verb forms in accuracy, such that the effects of planning were greater with the cognitively more demanding task (i.e., the Exposition task) only on correct verb forms.These findings are discussed in the light of the attentional model of learning and performance, and Levelt's speech processing model. It is concluded that provision of both PTP and PTP & OLP combined could lead to the most balanced performance in terms of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. This study helps to further our understanding of interrelationship among task planning, task type, and L2 oral output and is also of obvious pedagogic relevance.