The Comparative Effect of Different Task Processing Conditions and L2 Decision Making Oral Production

This paper examined the effects of post task activity on L2 learnersʹ task-based performance. The article investigated the effect of choosing one type of task, as well as, different implementation conditions, on fluency, accuracy and complexity of the language which is produced when the task is carried out. Subjects were three groups of EFL learners (ninety in total) performing a decision making task. The two experimental groups and the control group had four minutes of planning time available since according to previous researchers, planning had clear effects on almost all measures of speaking (Foster &Skehan, 1997; Mehnert, 1998). Two post-task conditions (plus or minus knowledge of a post-task) were implemented as well. Performance was assessed through the number of pauses (as a measure of fluency), the percentage of error-free clauses (as a measure of accuracy) and the level of subordination (as a measure of complexity). The second experimental group who had the foreknowledge of a post-task activity performed better in the measure of accuracy in their speaking posttest. But the study revealed no significant differences for the effect of post task activity on fluency and complexity of the task.