Effects of task complexity on the complexity and accuracy of oral production in L2 Korean.

摘要

In task-based approaches to syllabus design and language teaching, tasks are used as a unit of analysis. Among various issues concerning task-based syllabus design, identification of objective criteria for grading and sequencing tasks has long been a major goal of research. One line of research has focused on identifying cognitive dimensions of the difficulty of tasks and assessing the effects of cognitive demands of task on learner language.; This paper reports on an experiment which examined Robinson's (2001a, 2001b) claims that more complex tasks would elicit less fluent, but more accurate and more complex, language in L2 oral production. 82 learners of Korean as a foreign language performed two picture description tasks in which complexity had been differentiated into three levels by manipulating various parameters of task design. It was found that the results did not support Robinson's claims, but further examination of the task structure and learner production data revealed a floor effect. However, "reasoning demands" was shown to be an important parameter in task complexity to be considered in sequencing pedagogic tasks. The identification of objective criteria for grading reasoning demands has yet to be explored. Methodological issues to be considered by future researchers in this area were also addressed.