Second Language Task Complexity
Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of language learning and performance
Editor
Understanding how task complexity affects second language learning, interaction and spoken and written performance is essential to informed decisions about task design and sequencing in TBLT programs. The chapters in this volume all examine evidence for claims of the Cognition Hypothesis that complex tasks should promote greater accuracy and complexity of speech and writing, as well as more interaction, and learning of information provided in the input to task performance, than simpler tasks. Implications are drawn concerning the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that tasks should be sequenced for learners from simple to complex during syllabus design. Containing theoretical discussion of the Cognition Hypothesis, and cutting-edge empirical studies of the effects of task complexity on second language learning and performance, this book will be important reading for language teachers, graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and cognitive and educational psychology.
[Task-Based Language Teaching, 2] 2011. xii, 345 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of contributors | pp. vii–viii
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Acknowledgements | pp. ix–x
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Series editors’ preface to Volume 2 | pp. xi–xii
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Part 1. Cognition, task complexity, language learning, and performance: Theoretical and methodological issues
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Chapter 1. Second language task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis, language learning, and performancePeter Robinson | pp. 3–38
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Chapter 2. Speech production and the Cognition HypothesisJudit Kormos | pp. 39–60
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Chapter 3. Corpus-driven methods for assessing accuracy in learner productionStefanie Wulff and Stefan Th. Gries | pp. 61–88
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Part 2. Researching the effects of task complexity across task types and modes of L2 performance
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Chapter 4. Task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing and speaking: The effect of modeFolkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder | pp. 91–104
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Chapter 5. Manipulating task complexity across task types and modesRoger Gilabert, Júlia Barón Parés and Mayya Levkina | pp. 105–138
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Part 3. Researching the effects of task complexity on L2 interaction, modified output, and uptake
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Chapter 6. Effects of task complexity and interaction on L2 performanceMarije C. Michel | pp. 141–174
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Chapter 7. Task complexity, modified output, and L2 development in learner–learner interactionAna-Maria Nuevo, Rebecca Adams and Lauren Ross-Feldman | pp. 175–202
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Chapter 8. Task complexity, uptake of recasts, and L2 developmentAndrea Révész, Rebecca Sachs and Alison Mackey | pp. 203–236
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Part 4. Researching the influence of learner characteristics and perceptions on simple and complex L2 task performance
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Chapter 9. When individual differences come into play: The effect of learner creativity on simple and complex task performanceAgnes Albert | pp. 239–266
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Chapter 10. Working memory capacity and narrative task performanceJudit Kormos and Anna Trebits | pp. 267–286
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Chapter 11. Task complexity, language anxiety, and the development of the simple pastYouJin Kim and Nicole Tracy-Ventura | pp. 287–306
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Chapter 12. Examining the influence of intentional reasoning demands on learner perceptions of task difficulty and L2 monologic speechTomohito Ishikawa | pp. 307–330
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Author index | pp. 331–336
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Subject index | pp. 337–346
“This collection documents a broad spectrum of recent work motivated by the CH [Cognition Hypothesis] that seeks to inform theory and practice in task-based language teaching.
Each section offers unique perspectives on task complexity, establishing its relevance to L2 instruction. These insights from a range of experts add to the volume’s overall quality. This book should therefore find a wide audience among graduate students, language teachers, and researchers.”
Each section offers unique perspectives on task complexity, establishing its relevance to L2 instruction. These insights from a range of experts add to the volume’s overall quality. This book should therefore find a wide audience among graduate students, language teachers, and researchers.”
Daniel O. Jackson, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, in Studies in Second Language Acquisition 34(4): 692-693 (2012)
“This book is a timely contribution to the debate on task complexity and it also provides empirical evidence for the importance of task complexity in predicting L2 development. Most of the results reported in the different chapters are in line with Robinson’s CH [Cognition Hypothesis]. However, when the findings do not follow the predictions of the CH, the authors provide a critical discussion of their results and open new questions to the debate on task complexity and its operationalization. This book is a key reading not only for researchers in the field of applied linguistics or cognitive psychology, but also for teachers and those interested in educational psychology.”
Raquel Serrano, Universitat de Barcelona, in The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes, 68(3): 345-347 (2012)
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Subjects & Metadata
Linguistics
BIC Subject: CFDC – Language acquisition
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General