| Task-based language teaching(TBLT)highlights the importance of tasks in favor of language learning and has been widely investigated since the 1980 s.Increasing attention has been paid to the underlying cognitive mechanism of language learners.Cognitive Load Theory points out that individual learners consume cognitive resources in the process of task completion,resulting in intrinsic cognitive load(ICL),extraneous cognitive load(ECL)and germane cognitive load(GCL),which further influence the results of learning and task performance.In order to further explore the impact of cognitive load(CL)on oral English production,this study investigated the effects of two widely researched factors in TBLT,namely topic familiarity and pre-task strategic planning,on learners' cognitive load and oral production.This study tries to answer the following questions:1)What are the effects of topic familiarity(familiar vs.unfamiliar)on learners' oral production and cognitive load?2)What are the effects of pre-task strategic planning(planned vs.unplanned)on learners' oral production and cognitive load?3)Are there interactive effects between topic familiarity and pre-task planning on oral production and cognitive load?4)Does oral productive performance correlate with cognitive load?120 English major sophomores were recruited from Jiangnan University.With pretask strategic planning and topic familiarity as two independent variables,a 2(familiar/ unfamiliar)× 2(planned/unplanned)experiment was conducted.A topic familiarity questionnaire was carried out to decide the familiar topic and the unfamiliar topic in the experiment.Without pre-task strategic planning for the task,the participants had only 30 seconds to read the topic for oral production.When the participants were given pre-task strategic planning time,they had additional 5 minutes to prepare.The participants were randomly divided into 4 groups comparable in language proficiency to complete both the primary and the secondary task.The primary task was an oral task based on the given topic,and the secondary task was letter color detection task which was used to capture total amount of cognitive load(TCL).Then,the participants were asked to complete a questionnaire for self-perception of cognitive load.Finally,the researcher randomly selected 5 participants from each group for a stimulated recall to delve their attentional allocation and thinking process.The major findings are the following:1)Effects of topic familiarity: the familiar topic helped improve the complexity(lexical variety)and global performance of participants' language production.As to CL,familiar topic reduced ICL.2)Effects of pre-task strategic planning: strategic planning helped improve fluency,accuracy and overall score of the participants' language production.As to CL,pre-task strategic planning had no effect on ICL,ECL,GCL or TCL.3)Interaction between topic familiarity and pre-task strategic planning: interactive effect was only found in terms of syntax complexity.As for CL,the interactive effects were found in ICL,ECL and GCL.Both topic familiarity and pre-task strategic planning helped to improve the overall score,but the effect sizes indicated that pre-task strategic planning was more effective in this regard.4)Correlation between oral performance and cognitive load: Significant negative correlations were found for ICL with lexical complexity and overall score,between ECL and lexical complexity,between GCL and lexical complexity,and between TCL and fluency and the overall score.Significant positive correlation was only found between ECL and accuracy.This study found that topic familiarity and pre-task strategic planning could improve learners' language production in different ways,and had an interactive effect on syntactic complexity.Learners' oral production was also closely related to CL.The results of this study are significant both theoretically and practically.Theoretically,task features should be considered from different perspectives.The results show that specific task variables affect different attentional allocation and language processing in L2 production.At the same time,it also provides some empirical support for cognitive load theory.Practically,it provides suggestions for teachers to manipulate task factors and make better use of task features to adjust learners' allocation of cognitive resources.With the help of investigation into learners' perception of task difficulty,teachers can better know learners' cognitive demands and difficulties of tasks,comprehend the complexity of L2 productive tasks,adjust the production processes,and help learners improve their second language. |
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