Examining the language learning potential of a task-based approach to synchronous computer-mediated communication

This study investigates the influence of two task implementation features, the
level of task structure and the use of language support, on learner language
production during task-based text synchronous computer-mediated communication
(text-SCMC) interactions. The study draws on two theoretical sets of claims
concerning the process of second language acquisition (SLA). The first, broadly
described as cognitive accounts of language learning, the Cognition Hypothesis
(Robinson, 2001b, 2003b, 2005) and the Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 1998,
2009), has generated a large body of research on the role of implementation features
(a means of varying task complexity) in influencing learner language production.
The second, the Interactionist Approach (Gass & Mackey, 2006) has also claimed
the facilitative role of interaction in promoting second language production. Most of
the studies in both these areas were conducted in face-to-face settings (e.g. Gilabert,
2007b; Michel, Kuiken & Vedder, 2007; Robinson, 2007b; Tavakoli & Foster,
2008; Tavakoli & Skehan, 2005). Because SCMC is growing more pervasive in
academic and professional communication, it is timely for empirical research into
the effect of task complexity on interaction and language production to be conducted
in this setting (Lee, 2008; Smith, 2008). It is this gap that the current study aims to
address.
The participants were 96 engineering learners at a technical university in
Malaysia in an English for Professional Communication course. Using a 2x2
experimental design, the learners were placed in one of four experimental groups
defined by high or low task structure (+TS or —TS), and with or without language
support (+LS or —LS). Each group was subdivided into teams of four. In each team,
the students engaged in a 45-minute chat session performing a simulation of a
decision-making task on an engineering problem. The chat exchanges were captured
and then analyzed to determine the role of these task implementation features on the
occurrence of focus on form sequences and on the accuracy, complexity, and
quantity of language produced during the tasks.
Results showed that the two task implementation features (+/—TS and +/—LS)
influenced the occurrence of language-related episodes (LREs), accuracy,
complexity and quantity of output. The findings on the effects of task structure (TS)