Task Completion and its Effects on Linguistic Complexity/Accuracy in a 3D World

• Main Author: Karina Collentine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de Costa Rica 2020-02-01
• Series: Revista de Lenguas Modernas
• Online Access: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rlm/article/view/40875

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) researchers argue that tasks’ outcomes and efficacy should not only consider learners’ performance (e.g., linguistic complexity, accuracy, and fluency) but also task completion (i.e., if learners attain a task’s ‘communicative objectives’), since the two processes operate symbiotically (Kuiken et al. 2010; Pallotti, 2009). This study provides insights into the relationship between the production of linguistic complexity and accuracy and the attainment of communicative objectives in a task entailing instant messag- ing. Third-year L2 learners of Spanish (N = 66) participated in two tasks, each containing a 3D world exploration segment and a subsequent synchronous computer-mediated communi- cation (SCMC) segment. Quantitative and qualitative analyses assessed the relationship be- tween learners' production of four variables representing linguistic complexity and accuracy in the SCMC segment and whether they completed the tasks. The analysis indicates that the extent to which learners attain a task’s communicative goals interacts with their production: learners who achieved the tasks' communicative objectives produced discourse containing numerous clauses per c-unit but with numerous errors. Conclusions address the importance of considering complexity/accuracy and task completion as interacting constructs, sugges- tions for future CALL research, and pedagogical implications.