Part of
Second Language Task Complexity: Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of language learning and performanceEdited by Peter Robinson
[Task-Based Language Teaching 2] 2011
► pp. 267–286
Edited by Peter Robinson
[Task-Based Language Teaching 2] 2011
► pp. 267–286
Chapter 10. Working memory capacity and narrative task performance
This study investigated the link between working memory capacity and narrative task performance. The participants of the study were 44 secondary school students in their second academic year of an English-Hungarian bilingual educational program in Hungary. The backward digit span test was used to measure participants’ working memory capacity. The students performed two narrative tasks of different degrees of cognitive complexity: one with a given story line and another where the content of the narrative had to be invented. Four global aspects performance were measured: fluency, lexical complexity, accuracy, and grammatical complexity. Task-specific measures included the ratio of correctly used relative clauses, verbs, and past-tense verbs, as well as the ratio of relative clauses compared to the total number of clauses. Results showed that the effect of working memory capacity on students’ narrative performance was limited to one of the tasks, which involved narrating a picture story. Further results indicated that the linguistic variables that differentiated students with different working memory spans were the average length of clauses and the subordination ratio. These findings suggest that high working memory capacity might allow students to produce narratives with high clausal complexity, but it might not be conducive to directing learners’ attention to specific dimensions of the task such as subordination.
Cited by
Cited by 30 other publications
Albert, Ágnes
2022. The Task-Based Study: Investigating Learners’ Motivation, Emotions, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, and Flow State in Relation to Their Performance on Language Tasks. In Investigating the Role of Affective Factors in Second Language Learning Tasks [Second Language Learning and Teaching, ], ► pp. 91 ff. 
Awwad, Anas & Parvaneh Tavakoli
2022. Task complexity, language proficiency and working memory: Interaction effects on second language speech performance
. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
Brown Nielson, Katharine & Robert DeKeyser
2019. Working memory and planning time as predictors of fluency and accuracy. Journal of Second Language Studies 2:2 ► pp. 281 ff.
Brown Nielson, Katharine & Robert M. DeKeyser
2021. Working memory and planning time as predictors of fluency and accuracy. In Aptitude-Treatment Interaction in Second Language Learning [Benjamins Current Topics, 116], ► pp. 117 ff.
CHO, MINYOUNG
2018. Task Complexity and Modality: Exploring Learners’ Experience From the Perspective of Flow. The Modern Language Journal 102:1 ► pp. 162 ff.
Crossley, Scott A. & YouJin Kim
2019. Text Integration and Speaking Proficiency: Linguistic, Individual Differences, and Strategy Use Considerations. Language Assessment Quarterly 16:2 ► pp. 217 ff.
Cárdenas, Anderson Marcell
2018. Tackling Intermediate Students’ Fossilized Grammatical Errors in Speech Through Self-Evaluation and Self-Monitoring Strategies. Profile: Issues in Teachers´ Professional Development 20:2 ► pp. 195 ff.
Goo, Jaemyung
2019. Interaction in L2 Learning. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning, ► pp. 233 ff.
Granena, Gisela & Yucel Yilmaz
2019. Phonological short-term memory capacity and L2 oral performance. Journal of Second Language Studies 2:2 ► pp. 317 ff.
Granena, Gisela & Yucel Yilmaz
2021. Phonological short-term memory capacity and L2 oral performance. In Aptitude-Treatment Interaction in Second Language Learning [Benjamins Current Topics, 116], ► pp. 153 ff.
Greco, Gabriella, Boin Choi, Kasey Michel & Susan Faja
2023. Here’s the story: Narrative ability and executive function in autism spectrum disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders 101 ► pp. 102092 ff.
Hejazi, Zahra, Jungna Kim, Teresa Signorelli Pisano, Yasmine Ouchikh, Aviva Lerman & Loraine K. Obler
2019. Brain‐based Challenges of Second Language Learning in Older Adulthood. In The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism, ► pp. 408 ff.
Ishikawa, Tomohito
2014. The Influence of Intentional Reasoning on EFL Fluency Using Tasks. In Exploring EFL Fluency in Asia, ► pp. 143 ff.
Kim, Shinyoung, Jia Han & Dongsun Yim
2021. Relationship between Executive Function and Narrative Skills in Preschool Children. THE KOREAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 34:2 ► pp. 61 ff.
Kim, YouJin, Caroline Payant & Pamela Pearson
2015. THE INTERSECTION OF TASK-BASED INTERACTION, TASK COMPLEXITY, AND WORKING MEMORY. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 37:3 ► pp. 549 ff.
Kormos, Judit & Anna Trebits
2012. The Role of Task Complexity, Modality, and Aptitude in Narrative Task Performance. Language Learning 62:2 ► pp. 439 ff.
Malicka, Aleksandra
2020. The role of task sequencing in fluency, accuracy, and complexity: Investigating the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing. Language Teaching Research 24:5 ► pp. 642 ff.
Manchón, Rosa M.
2014. The internal dimension of tasks. In Task-Based Language Learning – Insights from and for L2 Writing [Task-Based Language Teaching, 7], ► pp. 27 ff.
Ortiz-Neira, Ramón Antonio
2019. The Impact of Information Gap Activities on Young EFL Learners’ Oral Fluency. Profile: Issues in Teachers´ Professional Development 21:2 ► pp. 113 ff.
Qiu, Xuyan
2022. Picture or non-picture? The influence of narrative task types on lower- and higher-proficiency EFL learners’ oral production
. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60:2 ► pp. 383 ff.
Rezaei, Amir & Antonella Valeo
2022. Investigating the impact of task complexity on uptake and noticing of corrective feedback recasts. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 0:0
Russak, Susie & Elena Zaretsky
2021. Cognitive and Linguistic Skills Associated With Cross-Linguistic Transfer in the Production of Oral Narratives in English as a Foreign Language by Arabic- and Hebrew-Speaking Children: Finding Common Denominators. Frontiers in Psychology 12
Skorobogatova, Aleksandra S., Anna Smirnova Henriques, Svetlana Ruseishvili, Irina Sekerina & Sandra Madureira
2021. Verbal working memory assessment in Russian-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals. Cadernos de Linguística 2:4 ► pp. e572 ff.
Sletova, Natalia & Ludmila Isurin
2023. Relationship between written and spoken text recall in L2. Foreign Language Annals 56:1 ► pp. 102 ff.
Son, Myeongeun
2022. The role of modality and working memory capacity in L2 production. Language Teaching Research ► pp. 136216882211352 ff.
Veraksa, A.N., E.S. Oshchepkova, D.A. Bukhalenkova & N.A. Kartushina
2019. The Relationship of Executive Functions and Speech Production in Senior Preschool Children: Working Memory and Storytelling. Clinical Psychology and Special Education 8:3 ► pp. 56 ff.
Veraksa, Aleksander, Daria Bukhalenkova, Natalia Kartushina & Ekaterina Oshchepkova
2022. Language Development and Executive Functions in Russian 5–7-Year-Old Children: A Longitudinal Study. In Child Development in Russia [Early Childhood Research and Education: An Inter-theoretical Focus, 3], ► pp. 37 ff.
Wen, Zhisheng (Edward) & Shaofeng Li
2019. Working Memory in L2 Learning and Processing. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning, ► pp. 365 ff.
Xing, Jiaxin & Shaoqian Luo
2019. Chapter 7. The effects of reasoning demands on Chinese EFL learners’ oral performance and cognitive processes. In Researching L2 Task Performance and Pedagogy [Task-Based Language Teaching, 13], ► pp. 153 ff.
Zalbidea, Janire
2017. ‘One Task Fits All’? The Roles of Task Complexity, Modality, and Working Memory Capacity in L2 Performance. The Modern Language Journal 101:2 ► pp. 335 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 june 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.