Second Language Anxiety and Task Complexity
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Throughout history there has been tremendous debate about what comprises the best methods and approaches to foreign or second language (L2) teaching and learning, without any decisive universal conclusions. Since the 1980s, however, task-based approaches to language teaching have offered what theoretically appears to be the most efficient option for adapting to the plethora of learner needs that may affect second language acquisition (SLA). Task-based syllabi have been based on the premise that task design should initiate from the learners’ ‘needs- analysis’ of which ‘real-life’ tasks are the most applicable to their situation (Long & Crookes, 1992; Long 2005). Once the needs are determined, pedagogic tasks and syllabi are subsequently designed and progressively sequenced a in more cognitively demanding manner which should lead to SLA.\n\n\t\t\t\t However, the ongoing debate in task-based research and pedagogy has been the lack of a collective standard to effectively and systematically determine the best way to design, select and implement pedagogic tasks in order to best facilitate L2 language learning and acquisition. SLA researchers have rigorously attempted to address this issue, and as a result, there have been promising findings. The task-based sequencing frameworks proposed by Robinson (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007,; Robinson and Gilabert, 2007; Robinson 2011, 2015) and Skehan (1996, Skehan & Foster, 1999; Skehan & Foster, 2001; Skehan, 2009) have both posited important theoretical and practical methods of selecting and implementing L2 tasks in order to promote SLA. As a result, their models have gained much attention in SLA research throughout the last decade.\n\n\t\t\t\t This dissertation describes some of the main tenets of these models, which include giving importance to the effects that L2 task design features, contextual factors, and learner factors have on successful SLA. However, the main focus will be on how they define task design features and the effects on learner factors. Furthermore, it will be highlighted here that neither model has fully clarified how to address foreign language anxiety (FLA) as affected by task design features. FLA has been a widely researched variable in SLA, most frequently focusing on the impact that it has on L2 performance and acquisition, yet there are few studies conducted specifically in the task- based context. Therefore, the experimental study described in this dissertation set out to contribute to this gap in the research.\n\n\t\t\t\t Thus, the aim of this study was twofold. First, to explore the effects of whether the sequencing of L2 tasks in terms of task-type and task complexity, had any effect on the participants’ state anxiety levels. Second, to explore whether state anxiety could be identified during task-based oral performance by using a scale designed for the current study. There were 108 EFL participants from the University of Barcelona who took part in this mixed-methods design study. First, the overall general FLA scores were determined through a widely used instrument: the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Next, the state anxiety levels were rated through the use of two Likert scales that were adapted and designed for this study: The Anxometer and the Task Anxiety Reflection Scale (TARS). The TARS also included open-ended questions to add qualitative support to the findings. The results indicated that the state anxiety scales were successful at analyzing how the students felt during L2 oral task performance that had been manipulated in terms of task-type, task complexity, and sequencing. Additional results indicated that the FLCAS scale only mildly predicted the state anxiety ratings. These results have extended the study of how L2 task\n\n\t\t\t\t features, based on sequence and complexity, affect learners’ state anxiety levels. Further studies are needed to see what effects these findings have on task-based performance.
Author: Kerry Anne Brennan
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2613449380