[Webinar] Pre-Task Preparation and Second Language Speech Production

A pre-task preparation stage (i.e., planning content and language to be used in a future classroom task) has long been considered an important part of task-based language teaching (Skehan, 1996; Willis, 1996) and one that can be manipulated or “easily acted upon by teachers” (Ellis, 2018, p. 92). However, when choosing to prepare students for an L2 speaking task, teachers are faced with a number of implementation choices, each potentially impacting students’ task performances differently. This talk will report on a recently completed experimental study conducted with Japanese EFL learners that investigated four forms of pre-task preparation: same task repetition, parallel task repetition, collaborative L1 planning, and collaborative L2 planning. Drawing on an analysis of task performance transcripts, I will first show the relative impact of each preparation condition on the fluency of L2 speech processing (overall speed, conceptualization, encoding and monitoring). Secondly, using data from learners’ planning discussions, I will discuss in more detail the process of collaborative planning in the L1 and L2 conditions, how learners in each condition conceptualize ideas for their problem-solution discourse, and the extent to which those ideas transfer to individual L2 task performances. Pedagogical implications will be discussed in terms of options for implementing tasks and the possibilities for productively incorporating the L1 during task implementation in foreign language contexts.

Scott Aubrey, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently the Deputy Coordinator of the BA (English) and BEd (English Language Education) programme. His research interests include L2 motivation, task-based language teaching, and L2 writing instruction. His publications have appeared in such journals as TESOL Quarterly, Modern Language Journal, Language Teaching Research, and RELC Journal.