The Effects of Task Practice and Task Type on L2 English Oral Performance

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of task type and task practice, while considering English proficiency and speaking anxiety to be mediating factors. A total of 32 Korean high school students participated in three task practice sessions with a weekly interval. In each session, they performed one narration and one description task in English, using different materials every time. The learners’ performances were analyzed in terms of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. Their English proficiency and speaking anxiety were further measured by an inhouse English exam and a questionnaire. A significant effect for task type was found with regard to the fact that the learners’ performances on the descriptions were more fluent, but less accurate and less complex. Their performance, however, did not improve with task practice for both types of tasks. However, correlations revealed that the relationship between the mediating factors and the task performance varied, along with the task practice. As the learners continued to practice, their English proficiency became related to more aspects of performance (particularly in narration), while the influence of speaking anxiety disappeared. These results indicate that, although the task practice did not result in the improvement of the L2 performance, per se, it made learners with different levels of English proficiency focus on different aspects of performance under less influence of anxiety.