Analysing the oral performance of EFL learners in the testing and the laboratory contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi41.24590Keywords:
careful online planning, testing context, laboratory context, EFL, oral performanceAbstract
The differential effects of planning on the performance of English-as-a-second-language learners in the laboratory and the testing context have been discussed extensively. However, research which compares data from both contexts is scant. The present study aimed at examining and comparing the impact of the testing and laboratory contexts on learners' performance. For this purpose, two groups of Spanish intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (60 in total) were asked to narrate a story based on a sequenced set of pictures under a careful online planning condition, which is the condition that has received the least attention in the testing context. An analysis in terms of complexity, accuracy, lexis, and fluency revealed statistically significance differences just in the fluency parameter, specifically in long pauses. Nevertheless, a clear trend towards the testing context was observed in all dimensions. The research findings will be of particular interest to practitioners trying to design oral tasks that faithfully adhere to the existing requirements for EFL production in both contexts. The paper ends with a discussion of possible reasons for the findings and suggests avenues for further research.
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References
Ahmadian, M. J. (2012a). The effects of guided careful online planning on complexity, accuracy and fluency in intermediate EFL learners’ oral production: The case of English articles. Language Teaching Research, 16(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168811425433
Ahmadian, M. J. (2012b). The Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity and L2 Oral Performance Under Task‐Based Careful Online Planning Condition. TESOL Quarterly, 46(1), 165–175.
Anderson, J. R. (1995). Learning and Memory: An Integrated Approach. New York: Wiley.
Arnaiz, P., & Pérez-Luzardo, J. (2014). Anxiety in Spanish Efl University Lessons: Causes, Responsibility Attribution and Coping. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 49(1), 57–76.
Atai, M. R., & Nasiri, M. (2017). An Investigation into the Effects of Joint Planning on Complexity , Accuracy , and Fluency across Task. 20.
Audacity Team (2014). Audacity(R): Free Audio Editor and Recorder (Version 2.0.6) [Computer program]. Retrieved from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.
Bui, G., Skehan, P., & Wang, Z. (2018). Task Condition Effects on Advanced‐Level Foreign Language Performance. The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, March 2019, 219–237. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119261650.ch12.
Council of Europe. Council for Cultural Co-operation. Education Committee. Modern Languages Division (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1987). Interlanguage Variability in Narrative Discourse: Style Shifting in the Use of the Past Tense. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9(1), 1.
Ellis, R. (2005). Planning and Task-Based Performance. Benjamins.
Foster, P., & Skehan, P. (1996). The influence of planning on performance in task-based learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(3), 299–324.
Gursoy, E., & Arman, T. (2016). Analyzing Foreign Language Test Anxiety among High School Students in an EFL Context (Note 1). Journal of Education and Learning, 5(4), 190–200.
Hewitt, E., & Stephenson, J. (2012). Foreign language anxiety and oral exam performance: A replication of Phillips’s MLJ study. The Modern Language Journal, 96(2), 170–189.
Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154–167.
Horwitz, E. K. (2017). On the misreading of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) and the need to balance anxiety research and the experiences of anxious language learners. New Insights into Language Anxiety: Theory, Research and Educational Implications, 31–47.
Housen, A., Kuiken, F., & Vedder, I. (2012). Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency: Complexity, accuracy and fluency in SLA (Vol. 32). John Benjamins Publishing.
Huang, B. H., Chang, Y.-H. S., Zhi, M., & Niu, L. (2020). The effect of input on bilingual adolescents’ long-term language outcomes in a foreign language instruction context. International Journal of Bilingualism, 24(1), 8–25.
Iwashita, N., McNamara, T., & Elder, C. (2001). Can we predict task difficulty in an oral proficiency test? Exploring the potential of an information-processing approach to task design. Language Learning, 51(3), 401–436.
Javad Ahmadian, M., Tavakoli, M., & Vahid Dastjerdi, H. (2015a). The combined effects of online planning and task structure on complexity, accuracy and fluency of L2 speech. Language Learning Journal, 43(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2012.681795
Javad Ahmadian, M., Tavakoli, M., & Vahid Dastjerdi, H. (2015b). The combined effects of online planning and task structure on complexity, accuracy and fluency of L2 speech. The Language Learning Journal, 43(1), 41–56.
Kawauchi, C. (2005). The effects of strategic planning on the oral narratives of learners with low and high intermediate L2 proficiency. Planning and Task Performance in a Second Language, 143–164.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. ACL.
Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 1–38.
Li, L., Chen, J., & Sun, L. (2015). The effects of different lengths of pretask planning time on L2 learners’ oral test performance. TESOL Quarterly, 49(1), 38–66.
Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical diversity and language development. Quantification and Assessment.Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mehnert, U. (1998). The Effects of Different Lengths of Time for Planning on Second Language Performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(1), 83.
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian, & Tavakoli, M. (2011a). The effects of simultaneous use of careful online planning and task repetition on accuracy, complexity, and fluency in EFL learners’ oral production. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 35–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383329
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian, & Tavakoli, M. (2011b). The effects of simultaneous use of careful online planning and task repetition on accuracy, complexity, and fluency in EFL learners’ oral production. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 35–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383329
Newell, A., Simon, H. A., & others. (1972). Human problem solving (Vol. 104, Issue 9). Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Nielson, K. B. (2014). Can planning time compensate for individual differences in working memory capacity? Language Teaching Research, 18(3), 272–293.
Nitta, R., & Nakatsuhara, F. (2014). A multifaceted approach to investigating pre-task planning effects on paired oral test performance. Language Testing, 31(2), 147–175.
O’Grady, S. (2019). The impact of pre-task planning on speaking test performance for English-medium university admission. Language Testing, 36(4), 505–526.
O’Sullivan, B. (2012). A brief history of language testing. The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment, 9–19.
Ortega, L. (1999). PLANNING AND FOCUS ON FORM IN L2 ORAL PERFORMANCE. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(01). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263199001047
Panahzadeh, V., & Asadi, B. (2019). On the Impacts of Pressured vs. Unpressured On-line Task Planning on EFL Students’ Oral Production in Classroom and Testing Contexts. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 341–352.
Pérez Castillejo, S. (2019). The role of foreign language anxiety on L2 utterance fluency during a final exam. Language Testing, 36(3), 327–345.
Saeedi, M. (2020). Task Condition and L2 oral Performance: Investigating the Combined Effects of Online Planning and Immediacy. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 8(32), 35–48.
Salehi, M., & Marefat, F. (2014). The Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety and Test Anxiety on Foreign Language Test Performance. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 4(5).
Santana-Perera, B., & Arnaiz-Castro, P. (2018). The Effects of Three Planning Conditions on the Complexity, Accuracy, Lexis, and Fluency in Spanish Adult EFL Learners’ Oral Production. The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum, 25, 1–18.
Santana-Perera, B. (2020). El impacto de la planificación de la tarea en la producción oral de aprendices españoles universitarios de inglés como lengua extranjera. Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Skehan, P. (2009). Modelling Second Language Performance: Integrating Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency, and Lexis. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 510–532. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amp047
Skehan, P. (2014). Limited attentional capacity, second language performance, and task-based pedagogy. Processing Perspectives on Task Performance, 211, 260.
Skehan, P., & Foster, P. (2007). Complexity, accuracy, fluency and lexis in task-based performance: A meta-analysis of the Ealing research. Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in Second Language Use, Learning, and Teaching, 207–226.
Soars, J., & Soars, L. (1993). Headway: Advanced Student’s Book. Oxford University Press.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. Input in Second Language Acquisition, 15, 165–179.
Tavakoli, P., & Foster, P. (2008). Task design and second language performance: The effect of narrative type on learner output. Language Learning, 58(2), 439–473.
Tavakoli, P., & Skehan, P. (2005). Strategic planning, task structure, and performance testing. Planning and Task Performance in a Second Language, 11, 239–273.
VanPatten, B. (1990). Attending to form and content in the input: An experiment in consciousness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12(3), 287–301.
VanPatten, B. (2002). Processing instruction: An update. Language Learning, 52(4), 755–803.
Wang, Z., & Skehan, P. (2014). Structure, lexis, and time perspective. Processing Perspectives on Task Performance, 5, 155–185.
Wigglesworth, G. (1997). An investigation of planning time and proficiency level on oral test discourse. Language Testing, 14(1), 85–106.
Wigglesworth, G., & Elder, C. (2010). An investigation of the effectiveness and validity of planning time in speaking test tasks. Language Assessment Quarterly, 7(1), 1–24.
Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003a). The E ects of Pre-Task Planning and On-Line Planning on Fluency , Complexity and Accuracy in L2 Monologic Oral Production.
Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003b). The effects of pre‐task planning and on‐Line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in L2 monologic oral production. Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 1–27.
Zhang, X. (2019). Foreign language anxiety and foreign language performance: A meta-analysis. The Modern Language Journal, 103(4), 763–781.
Ahmadian, M. J. (2012b). The Relationship Between Working Memory Capacity and L2 Oral Performance Under Task‐Based Careful Online Planning Condition. TESOL Quarterly, 46(1), 165–175.
Anderson, J. R. (1995). Learning and Memory: An Integrated Approach. New York: Wiley.
Arnaiz, P., & Pérez-Luzardo, J. (2014). Anxiety in Spanish Efl University Lessons: Causes, Responsibility Attribution and Coping. Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 49(1), 57–76.
Atai, M. R., & Nasiri, M. (2017). An Investigation into the Effects of Joint Planning on Complexity , Accuracy , and Fluency across Task. 20.
Audacity Team (2014). Audacity(R): Free Audio Editor and Recorder (Version 2.0.6) [Computer program]. Retrieved from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.
Bui, G., Skehan, P., & Wang, Z. (2018). Task Condition Effects on Advanced‐Level Foreign Language Performance. The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, March 2019, 219–237. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119261650.ch12.
Council of Europe. Council for Cultural Co-operation. Education Committee. Modern Languages Division (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (1987). Interlanguage Variability in Narrative Discourse: Style Shifting in the Use of the Past Tense. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 9(1), 1.
Ellis, R. (2005). Planning and Task-Based Performance. Benjamins.
Foster, P., & Skehan, P. (1996). The influence of planning on performance in task-based learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(3), 299–324.
Gursoy, E., & Arman, T. (2016). Analyzing Foreign Language Test Anxiety among High School Students in an EFL Context (Note 1). Journal of Education and Learning, 5(4), 190–200.
Hewitt, E., & Stephenson, J. (2012). Foreign language anxiety and oral exam performance: A replication of Phillips’s MLJ study. The Modern Language Journal, 96(2), 170–189.
Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154–167.
Horwitz, E. K. (2017). On the misreading of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) and the need to balance anxiety research and the experiences of anxious language learners. New Insights into Language Anxiety: Theory, Research and Educational Implications, 31–47.
Housen, A., Kuiken, F., & Vedder, I. (2012). Dimensions of L2 performance and proficiency: Complexity, accuracy and fluency in SLA (Vol. 32). John Benjamins Publishing.
Huang, B. H., Chang, Y.-H. S., Zhi, M., & Niu, L. (2020). The effect of input on bilingual adolescents’ long-term language outcomes in a foreign language instruction context. International Journal of Bilingualism, 24(1), 8–25.
Iwashita, N., McNamara, T., & Elder, C. (2001). Can we predict task difficulty in an oral proficiency test? Exploring the potential of an information-processing approach to task design. Language Learning, 51(3), 401–436.
Javad Ahmadian, M., Tavakoli, M., & Vahid Dastjerdi, H. (2015a). The combined effects of online planning and task structure on complexity, accuracy and fluency of L2 speech. Language Learning Journal, 43(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2012.681795
Javad Ahmadian, M., Tavakoli, M., & Vahid Dastjerdi, H. (2015b). The combined effects of online planning and task structure on complexity, accuracy and fluency of L2 speech. The Language Learning Journal, 43(1), 41–56.
Kawauchi, C. (2005). The effects of strategic planning on the oral narratives of learners with low and high intermediate L2 proficiency. Planning and Task Performance in a Second Language, 143–164.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. ACL.
Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 1–38.
Li, L., Chen, J., & Sun, L. (2015). The effects of different lengths of pretask planning time on L2 learners’ oral test performance. TESOL Quarterly, 49(1), 38–66.
Malvern, D., Richards, B., Chipere, N., & Durán, P. (2004). Lexical diversity and language development. Quantification and Assessment.Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mehnert, U. (1998). The Effects of Different Lengths of Time for Planning on Second Language Performance. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(1), 83.
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian, & Tavakoli, M. (2011a). The effects of simultaneous use of careful online planning and task repetition on accuracy, complexity, and fluency in EFL learners’ oral production. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 35–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383329
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian, & Tavakoli, M. (2011b). The effects of simultaneous use of careful online planning and task repetition on accuracy, complexity, and fluency in EFL learners’ oral production. Language Teaching Research, 15(1), 35–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168810383329
Newell, A., Simon, H. A., & others. (1972). Human problem solving (Vol. 104, Issue 9). Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Nielson, K. B. (2014). Can planning time compensate for individual differences in working memory capacity? Language Teaching Research, 18(3), 272–293.
Nitta, R., & Nakatsuhara, F. (2014). A multifaceted approach to investigating pre-task planning effects on paired oral test performance. Language Testing, 31(2), 147–175.
O’Grady, S. (2019). The impact of pre-task planning on speaking test performance for English-medium university admission. Language Testing, 36(4), 505–526.
O’Sullivan, B. (2012). A brief history of language testing. The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment, 9–19.
Ortega, L. (1999). PLANNING AND FOCUS ON FORM IN L2 ORAL PERFORMANCE. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(01). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263199001047
Panahzadeh, V., & Asadi, B. (2019). On the Impacts of Pressured vs. Unpressured On-line Task Planning on EFL Students’ Oral Production in Classroom and Testing Contexts. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5(3), 341–352.
Pérez Castillejo, S. (2019). The role of foreign language anxiety on L2 utterance fluency during a final exam. Language Testing, 36(3), 327–345.
Saeedi, M. (2020). Task Condition and L2 oral Performance: Investigating the Combined Effects of Online Planning and Immediacy. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 8(32), 35–48.
Salehi, M., & Marefat, F. (2014). The Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety and Test Anxiety on Foreign Language Test Performance. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 4(5).
Santana-Perera, B., & Arnaiz-Castro, P. (2018). The Effects of Three Planning Conditions on the Complexity, Accuracy, Lexis, and Fluency in Spanish Adult EFL Learners’ Oral Production. The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum, 25, 1–18.
Santana-Perera, B. (2020). El impacto de la planificación de la tarea en la producción oral de aprendices españoles universitarios de inglés como lengua extranjera. Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Skehan, P. (2009). Modelling Second Language Performance: Integrating Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency, and Lexis. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 510–532. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amp047
Skehan, P. (2014). Limited attentional capacity, second language performance, and task-based pedagogy. Processing Perspectives on Task Performance, 211, 260.
Skehan, P., & Foster, P. (2007). Complexity, accuracy, fluency and lexis in task-based performance: A meta-analysis of the Ealing research. Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in Second Language Use, Learning, and Teaching, 207–226.
Soars, J., & Soars, L. (1993). Headway: Advanced Student’s Book. Oxford University Press.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. Input in Second Language Acquisition, 15, 165–179.
Tavakoli, P., & Foster, P. (2008). Task design and second language performance: The effect of narrative type on learner output. Language Learning, 58(2), 439–473.
Tavakoli, P., & Skehan, P. (2005). Strategic planning, task structure, and performance testing. Planning and Task Performance in a Second Language, 11, 239–273.
VanPatten, B. (1990). Attending to form and content in the input: An experiment in consciousness. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12(3), 287–301.
VanPatten, B. (2002). Processing instruction: An update. Language Learning, 52(4), 755–803.
Wang, Z., & Skehan, P. (2014). Structure, lexis, and time perspective. Processing Perspectives on Task Performance, 5, 155–185.
Wigglesworth, G. (1997). An investigation of planning time and proficiency level on oral test discourse. Language Testing, 14(1), 85–106.
Wigglesworth, G., & Elder, C. (2010). An investigation of the effectiveness and validity of planning time in speaking test tasks. Language Assessment Quarterly, 7(1), 1–24.
Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003a). The E ects of Pre-Task Planning and On-Line Planning on Fluency , Complexity and Accuracy in L2 Monologic Oral Production.
Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003b). The effects of pre‐task planning and on‐Line planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in L2 monologic oral production. Applied Linguistics, 24(1), 1–27.
Zhang, X. (2019). Foreign language anxiety and foreign language performance: A meta-analysis. The Modern Language Journal, 103(4), 763–781.
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Published
2024-01-31
How to Cite
Santana Perera, B., & Arnaiz Castro, P. (2024). Analysing the oral performance of EFL learners in the testing and the laboratory contexts . Porta Linguarum An International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, (41), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.vi41.24590
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