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Article published In:
TASK
Vol. 1:2 (2021) ► pp.196–226

Impact of task preparedness on L2 oral performance and strategy use

The case of Chinese EFL learners

| KU Leuven , Belgium

The present study sets out to explore the effects of pre-task planning and unpressured on-line planning on L2 learners’ oral performance and their choices of planning strategies in a dialogic task condition. Forty-eight intermediate Chinese EFL learners were invited to perform the task and were then assigned to four groups, each with a different planning condition. Complexity, accuracy, and fluency of their oral production were measured. Results indicated that in the dialogic task condition, unpressured on-line planning raised syntactic complexity. Strikingly, pre-task planning did not improve L2 performance in all dimensions. Additionally, a trade-off effect was found between complexity and accuracy. Retrospective interviews were conducted to explore strategies employed by the participants and their perceptions of task preparedness. Results showed that the participants preferred to use metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies in the dialogic task. Both advantages and limitations were identified by the participants regarding different planning conditions.

Keywords: pre-task planning, on-line planning, CAF measures, planning strategy
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Planning and task performance
    • Planning and strategy use
  • Research questions
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Design of the study
      • Coding scheme
    • The task
    • The procedure
    • Measures
      • Complexity
      • Accuracy
      • Fluency
  • Results
    • Complexity
    • Accuracy
    • Fluency
    • Trade-off effect
    • The retrospective interviews
  • Discussion
    • Effects of task planning on L2 performance (RQ 1)
    • Trade-off effect occurred in the current study (RQ 2)
    • Strategies employed during pre-task planning (RQ 3)
    • Strategies employed during on-line planning (RQ 4)
    • Learners’ perceptions of task preparedness (RQ 5)
  • Conclusion
  • Limitations and future directions
  • References
Published online: 16 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/task.20020.gu
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