The role of task design in students'L2 speech production

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the impact of different task types with different task features – a decision making task, a problem solving task and a role play with planning time – have upon eight L2 learners’ oral performance, in terms of accuracy, fluency, and complexity at Preparatory School of Celal Bayar University. The data gathered by audio recording, were submitted to both qualitative and quantitative analysis by the researcher. In order to measure accuracy, fluency and complexity, three different criteria were decided on. Errors per a hundred words, the number of self-corrections and target-like use of plurals were used as measures of accuracy. The number of repetitions, reformulations and false starts were used in order to measure fluency. Lastly, complexity was measured by using amount of subordination, frequency of conjunctions and hypothesizing statements. In terms of quantitative data, the numerical data obtained from transcriptions were computed as frequencies and percentages. Results revealed that task 1, a decision making task (a convergent task) whose topic was not familiar to the students and no planning time was given to the participants , yielded more complex speech. Task 2 , a problem solving task (a convergent task) with a specific problem and in which the topic was familiar to the students , on the other hand, fostered more accurate speech. Task 3, a role play in which the participants were given 10 minutes planning time, yielded more fluent speech. Findings revealed the existence of two trade-offs operating in the participants’ speech samples. The first trade-off is that between accuracy and complexity, whereas the second trade-off is that between fluency and complexity. The results from the present study may call teachers’attention to the value of the design of oral task, so that teachers can evaluate learners’ oral production successfully.