This study investigates the influence of two task implementation features, thelevel of task structure and the use of language support, on learner languageproduction during task-based text synchronous computer-mediated communication(text-SCMC) interactions. The study draws on two theoretical sets of claimsconcerning the process of second language acquisition (SLA). The first, broadlydescribed as cognitive accounts of language learning, the Cognition Hypothesis(Robinson, 2001b, 2003b, 2005) and the Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 1998,2009), has generated a large body of research on the role of implementation features(a means of varying task complexity) in influencing learner language production.The second, the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) has also claimedthe facilitative role of interaction in promoting second language production. Most ofthe studies in both these areas were conducted in face-to-face settings (e.g. Gilabert,2007b; Michel, Kuiken & Vedder, 2007; Robinson, 2007b; Tavakoli & Foster,2008; Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005). Because SCMC is growing more pervasive inacademic and professional communication, it is timely for empirical research intothe effect of task complexity on interaction and language production to be conductedin this setting (Lee, 2008; Smith, 2008). It is this gap that the current study aims toaddress.The participants were 96 engineering learners at a technical university inMalaysia in an English for Professional Communication course. Using a 2x2experimental design, the learners were placed in one of four experimental groupsdefined by high or low task structure (+TS or -TS), and with or without languagesupport (+LS or -LS). Each group was subdivided into teams of four. In each team,the students engaged in a 45-minute chat session performing a simulation of adecision-making task on an engineering problem. The chat exchanges were capturedand then analyzed to determine the role of these task implementation features on theoccurrence of focus on form sequences and on the accuracy, complexity, andquantity of language produced during the tasks.Results showed that the two task implementation features (+/-TS and +/-LS)influenced the occurrence of language-related episodes (LREs), accuracy,complexity and quantity of output. The findings on the effects of task structure (TS)revealed that the learners engaged in more LREs and their output was more accuratewhen task performance was highly structured (+TS). However, task structure didnot have a significant effect on the structural and lexical complexity of the outputnor on the amount of language produced and equality of participation.The findings on the effects of language support (LS) demonstrated that theparticipants engaged in more LREs and their language use was more accurate whenperforming the task with language support (+LS) than without it (-LS). In contrast,they produced more complex language when performing the task without languagesupport (-LS). Without language support (-LS), the learners were also found toproduce fewer turns but with more words per turn. The finding for equality ofparticipation was non-significant which suggests that participation was not affectedby language support.To summarize, the current study lends qualified empirical support to theInteractionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) and the trade-off effects proposedby Skehan (1998, 2009) in that cognitively simple tasks promoted more accurate,but less complex production than cognitively complex tasks as they apply to taskbasedinteractions in a text-SCMC context. Additionally, the finding demonstratespartial support for the Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2001b; 2003b, 2005) in thatincreasing task complexity along the resource-dispersing dimension decreased theaccuracy of language production. The visual salience of language in a text-SCMCsetting may be an important explanatory factor in accounting for this finding. Thestudy, therefore, provides evidence that the nature of text-SCMC may be facilitativeto L2 learning, particularly as a medium for learning of form during communicativepractice.
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