The impact of task complexity and task repetition on L2 lexical complexity
The impact of task complexity and task repetition on L2 lexical complexity

Summary/Abstract: Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has become a mainstream research area in second language acquisition studies. Yet, integrating it into school curricula remains problematic. One of the underexplored research areas is task design and task implementation. While most of the research into task design focused on learners performing a single task type once, one of the promising lines of investigation is how task repetition may also be conducive to L2 acquisition. Also, task complexity, the cognitive burden placed on a learner performing a task, is another interesting avenue of inquiry. In particular, the influence of task repetition and task complexity on learners’ L2 lexical complexity has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The current study is embedded in a real instructional context with an under-researched population, that is, teenagers. These learners of English as a foreign language (N = 24) performed altogether four differently designed oral communicative tasks: (1) a simple picture description task with an element of negotiation (N = 6), (2) the same simple task repeated immediately twice in decreasing time periods (N = 6), (3) a complex task requiring of learners an element of creative thinking (N = 6), and (4) the same complex task repeated immediately twice in decreasing time periods (N = 6). Task repetition improved learner fluency, but the simple task repetition, contrary to expectations, resulted in producing more frequent and more familiar words. A significant improvement in L2 lexical complexity was observed in the group which performed the complex task three times.

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