The Effects of Task Repetition on Language Teaching and Learning: A Review
Mansor Fahim, Sadegh Shariati, Zahra Masoumpanah, Iran
Mansoor Fahim is currently an associate professor of TEFL at Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. He runs Research Methods, Psycholinguistics, Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Seminar classes at M.A. level, in addition to First Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics, and Discourse Analysis at Ph.D. level. E-mail: Dr.man.Fahim@yahoo.com
Sadegh Shariati is currently a Ph.D student. He is also an instructor of TEFL at Farhangiyan University, Khorramabad, Iran. E-mail: Shariati1352@yahoo.com
Zahrah Masoumpanah is currently a Ph.D student. She is also an instructor of TEFL at Farhangiyan University, Khorramabad, Iran. E-mail: Zmasoumpanah1356@yahoo.com
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Abstract
Introduction
Studies on task repetition
Concluding remarks and pedagogical implications
References
This study is a review of the studies conducted on the effects of task repetition on L2development. The results of these studies show that task repetition has positive effects on improvement of different aspects of language with various degrees. These studies suggest that teachers provide practice in task repetition in task-based language teaching and learning classrooms to improve students’ language learning.
Task is defined by Ellis (2003) as “a work plan that requires learners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has been conveyed. To this end, it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may predispose them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in language use that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world. Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive, and oral or written skills and also various cognitive processes" (p. 16). A number of factors affect the outcome of tasks in Task-Based Language teaching (TBLT). One of the factors that have been found to influence task performance is task repetition –giving learners the opportunity to repeat a task (Ellis, 2003).Task repetition involves asking language learners to repeat the same or slightly altered tasks at intervals of one or two weeks (Bygate & Samuda, 2005). Second language acquisition (SLA) researchers consider task repetition as a kind of planning which is particularly promising for manipulating and channeling learners’ limited attentional resources There is also some good evidence suggesting that task repetition positively affects oral production in general (Ahmadian, 2011;Ahmadian & Tavakoli, 2011;Bygate,1996,1999, 2001; Bygate & Samuda, 2005; Hawkes, 2012; Skehan, 2007).
The effects of task repetition on L2performance have been investigated in a number of studies. Hawkes (2012) investigated the effectiveness of having learners repeat tasks as a post-task activity to focus attention on form. Recordings were made of participants performing the tasks both before and after a form-focus stage. The results showed that the participants appeared to turn their attention towards form in the repeat performance, suggesting that this model of task repetition could be a useful option for teachers practicing TBLT in their classrooms.
Bygate (1996) has argued strongly for the value of task repetition. In his study, 11 participants orally retold a video story and then retold the same story 10 weeks later. After reviewing participants’ comments, he argued that task repetition has a beneficial impact on performance, with the repeated performance producing a more syntactic engagement. As Bygate (1996) suggests, learners are likely to initially focus on message content and subsequently, once message content and the basic language needed to encode it has been established, to switch their attention to the selection and monitoring of appropriate language. He suggests that repetition may afford learners the extra processing space they need to integrate the competing demands of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. Building on insights provided by his previous study (Bygate 1996), Bygate (2001) compared the performances of 48 learners on two sets of tasks: a narrative set and an interview set. After 10 weeks , Bygate investigated three issues: (a) the second performance of the same tasks that they had performed 10 weeks earlier; (b) performance of a new version of the type of task that participants had practiced over the 10 weeks and one they had not practiced; and (c) participant s’ overall performance across the two task types. He found that task repetition had a significant effect on fluency and complexity of learners’ performances. Gass, et al. (1999) demonstrated that task repetition results in improvement in overall proficiency, selected morpho-syntax, and lexical sophistication.
Sheppard (2006, cited in Ellis 2009) investigated the effects of task repetition accompanied by input or feedback on complexity, accuracy and fluency. The input and feedback were designed to draw subjects’ attention to linguistic form between the first and second performances. Over all, Sheppard’s results indicate that task repetition accompanied by either input or feedback positively affects the complexity, accuracy and fluency in different degrees.
Xiaoyue Bei (2013) conducted an investigation into the immediate effects of oral narrative task repetition by two adult EFL learners of intermediate and high proficiency. Two participants performed a narrative speaking task after watching a cartoon video clip and repeated their performance three times, followed by a retrospective report in an interview. The results showed that repetition of narrative tasks increased fluency and accuracy, while complexity was the least sensitive to the practice effect. Similarly, Ahmadian and Tavakoli (2011) investigated the effects of the simultaneous use of task repetition and careful online planning on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of EFL learners. They asked intermediate EFL learners to repeat an oral narrative task after a one -week interval. Results revealed that task repetition positively impacts on complexity and fluency. Ahmadian (2011) conducted a research to see if the benefits of massed repetitions of the same task transfer to the performance of the new task. Results revealed that massed repetitions of the same task assisted subjects in the experimental group to outperform those in the control group in terms of complexity and fluency but not accuracy. He claimed that the benefits of massed repetitions of the same task transfer to performance of a new task but not necessarily in all areas of performance.
Hulstijn and Hulstijn (1984) cited in Ellis ( 2003) have proposed that when tasks are repeated learners can be instructed to pay attention to different features, for example, grammar, pronunciation, rate of speech, and completeness of information.
Lynch and Maclean (2000) conducted a study on the benefits of building repetition into a communicative task in an English for Specific Purposes course. They compare the performances of two learners at markedly different levels of English proficiency and find that both benefited from the opportunity to recycle communicative content as they repeated complex tasks. Lynch and McLean (2001) made use of a unique task that involved repetition. In the context of an English for specific purposes course designed to prepare members of the medical professions to give presentation in English, they designed a “poster carousel task”. This required students to read an academic article and prepare a poster presentation based on it. Students then stood by their posters while other members of the group visited and asked questions. Altogether, each “host” had six “visitors”. Given that visitors tended to ask the same questions, there was substantial opportunity for retrial. They revealed that recycling had positive effects on both accuracy and fluency in an English for Specific Purposes context. However, they noted that different learners appeared to benefit in different ways with level of proficiency the key factor. They reported that a learner with low proficiency appeared to benefit most in terms of accuracy and pronunciation, and a learner with higher proficiency used the opportunity for retrial to improve the clarity and economy of her/his explanations of a complex idea.
Nemeth and Kormos ( 2001) investigated the effects of task repetition on the quality of argumentation in opinion gap tasks by Hungarian learners of English. They found that repeating a task influenced the number of supporters the participants provided for their claims but it had no effect on the frequency with which lexical expressions of argumentation were used. In other words, when given the chance to repeat a task, the learners attended to the content of their arguments rather than the means of expression.
With beginner-level students learning Spanish, two studies by Platt and Brooks (1994) and Brooks et al. (1997) showed that task repetition even at lower levels of competence led to students being able to gain better control of the tasks by using less L1 and less overt statements of self-regulation. Similarly, Pinter (2005) explores the changes that occurred in the performances of 10-year-old children when they repeat two popular interactive tasks in pairs. Both the learners’ feedback and the recorded data suggest that this type of systematic repetition is beneficial for children’s language learning and boosts their confidence in using English.
These studies suggest that it is important to provide practice in task repetition in task-based language teaching and learning classrooms. This also suggests that task repetition may be a useful pedagogic procedure and that the same task can help different learners develop different areas of their interlanguage. Systematic task repetition can also develop children’s confidence in using the language at a low level of proficiency and can help them improve various aspects of their language use. The concept of task repetition has clear implications for pedagogy. Research into task repetition provides insights into how teachers might develop them pre-, while-, and post-task phases of lessons. Research also explores the ways in which tasks might be linked within lessons to provide learners with opportunities to work repeatedly with similar linguistic content. Thus, instead of focusing upon the performance of tasks in isolation, the concept of task repetition moves the focus of debate clearly towards the pedagogic use of tasks within lessons.
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Brooks, F. B., Donato, R.,& McGlone, J. V. (1997). When are they going to say it right? Foreign Language Annals, 30, 524–41.
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