The Combined Effects of Online Planning and Task Structure on Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency of L2 Speech

This study investigates the combined effects of task-based careful online planning condition and the storyline structure of a task on L2 oral performance (complexity, accuracy, and fluency). 60 intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 15). Participants were asked to perform two tasks with different degrees of storyline structure (structured and unstructured) under two different planning conditions (pressured online planning and careful online planning). Analysis of the narrations and the results of a series of one-way ANOVA revealed that the participants who performed the structured task under careful online planning condition produced reasonably more complex, accurate, and fluent language. However, those who performed the unstructured task under pressured online planning condition obtained the lowest scores in terms of all three areas of oral production. The findings add support to the view that selecting appropriate task-based implementation conditions and task design features could induce language learners to produce the kind of output which enjoys complexity, accuracy, and fluency at the same time.