Tasks Versus Conditions: Two Perspectives on Task Research and Their Implications for Pedagogy

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 34-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Skehan
Keyword(s):  
Time Perspective ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Major Section ◽  
The One ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Language Performance ◽  
And Task

ABSTRACTThis chapter explores the contrast between the effects on second language performance of tasks and task characteristics, on the one hand, and the conditions under which tasks are done, on the other. The first major section explores the evidence on this issue and proposes that the impact of conditions such as pretask planning, task repetition, and posttask activities is greater and more consistent than the impact of tasks and features such as time perspective or number of elements. The second major section explores the theoretical accounts that have been proposed regarding tasks and conditions. It is suggested that deductive accounts have, so far, only had limited success regarding the use of tasks, but that psycholinguistic models of speaking do provide a looser but more useful framework to account for the effects of conditions. It is also suggested that an important difference between tasks and conditions concerns the tension between constraint and flexibility in performance and that the flexibility provided by task conditions is an important component in the more dependable results they have generated. Finally, pedagogic implications are discussed linking task conditions to the methodological choices that are available to teachers.

scholarly journals Circadian rhythms and second language performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Kees De Bot ◽  
Fang Fang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Intraindividual Variation ◽  
The Hours ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Language Performance

Human behavior is not constant over the hours of the day, and there are considerable individual differences. Some people raise early and go to bed early and have their peek performance early in the day (“larks”) while others tend to go to bed late and get up late and have their best performance later in the day (“owls”). In this contribution we report on three projects on the role of chronotype (CT) in language processing and learning. The first study (de Bot, 2013) reports on the impact of CT on language learning aptitude and word learning. The second project was reported in Fang (2015) and looks at CT and executive functions, in particular inhibition as measured by variants of the Stroop test. The third project aimed at assessing lexical access in L1 and L2 at preferred and non-preferred times of the day. The data suggest that there are effects of CT on language learning and processing. There is a small effect of CT on language aptitude and a stronger effect of CT on lexical access in the first and second language. The lack of significance for other tasks is mainly caused by the large interindividual and intraindividual variation.

Participation in community-based free/libre open source software development tasks: the impact of task characteristics

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangning Wei ◽  
Kevin Crowston ◽  
U. Yeliz Eseryel
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Individual Participation ◽  
And Task ◽  
Development Tasks

PurposeThis paper explores how task characteristics in terms of trigger type and task topic influence individual participation in community-based free/libre open source software (FLOSS) development by considering participation in individual tasks rather than entire projects.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative study was designed using choose tasks that were carried out via the email discourse on the developers' email fora in five FLOSS projects. Choice process episodes were selected as the unit of analysis and were coded for the task trigger and topic. The impact of these factors on participation (i.e. the numbers of participants and messages) was assessed by regression.FindingsThe results reveal differences in participation related to different task triggers and task topics. Further, the results suggest the mediating role of the number of participants in the relationships between task characteristics and the number of messages. The authors also speculate that project type serves as a boundary condition restricting the impacts of task characteristics on the number of participants and propose this relationship for future research.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical support was provided to the important effects of different task characteristics on individual participation behaviors in FLOSS development tasks.Practical implicationsThe findings can help FLOSS participants understand participation patterns in different tasks and choose the types of tasks to attend to.Originality/valueThis research explores the impact of task characteristics on participation in FLOSS development at the task level, while prior research on participation in FLOSS development has focused mainly on factors at the individual and/or project levels.

The Impact of Task Characteristics on Display Format Effects

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 352-356
Author(s):  
David R. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Design Criterion ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Regression Equations ◽  
Display Format ◽  
The One ◽  
Format Effects ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Performance Research

A study was conducted to determine how well the display format effects described by Tullis (1983, 1984) and the resulting prediction equations could be generalized to other display situations. Task complexity and visual monitoring load were identified as task variables which could potentially moderate the format effects and, thus, were varied factorially. The current study also sought to extend Tullis's findings to tasks where the use of several pieces of information from predictable display locations is required. In general, the data indicate the need to study Tullis's format dimensions more fully before using his regression equations to evaluate display designs for use outside the task situation in which the equations were developed. Also, subjects were unable to evaluate their performance accurately under alternative display designs. Their evaluations seemed to be determined mostly by the perceived ease with which information was extracted from the display. This outcome should serve as a warning to system designers. That is, empirical human performance research should be conducted when performance is the paramount design criterion and a validated prediction system, such as the one developed by Tullis for search, is not available.

The impact of group composition and task design on foreign language learners’ interactions in mobile-based intercultural exchanges

ReCALL ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Juhee Lee ◽  
Jayoung Song
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Group Composition ◽  
Task Design ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Contact Frequency ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Task

AbstractThis study examines the impact of group composition (one-on-one vs. multiple-to-multiple) and task design (student-selected vs. teacher-assigned) on undergraduate foreign language learners’ interactions in a mobile-based intercultural exchange. The participants, 27 Korean students learning English as a foreign language and 27 American students learning Korean as a foreign language, interacted in pairs and groups via mobile phones to complete weekly tasks for eight weeks. This study used mixed methods to analyze the data from mobile chat scripts, questionnaires, and interviews. The results indicated that the one-on-one and multiple-to-multiple groups did not differ significantly regarding contact frequency or number of written chats. However, one-on-one and multiple-to-multiple interactions did differ with regard to the quality of the interactions, reflecting the unique nature of each group composition. A one-on-one relationship promoted a higher level of intimacy and friendship, thus rendering it appropriate for providing linguistic and emotional support in learning foreign languages. In contrast, multiple-to-multiple communications were found to be more beneficial for learning about different perspectives on the target cultures. In terms of task design, teacher-assigned tasks guided students to engage in productive interactions effectively, whereas student-selected tasks elicited their personal investment in the tasks. Supporting social interdependence theory (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 2009), we argue that the establishment of intimate relationships among group members may be the key to quality interactions in mobile-based intercultural exchanges.

scholarly journals The impact of the verbal instruction and task characteristics on effect-based action control

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-285
Author(s):  
Diana Vogel ◽  
Matthias Rudolf ◽  
Stefan Scherbaum
Keyword(s):  
Action Control ◽  
Task Characteristics ◽  
Verbal Instruction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Task

scholarly journals The Influence of Planning and Task Type on Second Language Performance

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Foster ◽  
Peter Skehan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Based Instruction ◽  
Task Based Instruction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second Language Performance

This study focuses on the impact of different variables on the nature of language performance in the context of task-based instruction. Characteristics of tasks are discussed, and then a framework is offered that can organize the nature of task-based instruction and relevant research. The framework is used to generate predictions regarding the effects of three different tasks (Personal Information Exchange, Narrative, and Decision-Making) and three different implementation conditions for each task (unplanned, planned but without detail, detailed planning) on the variables of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. The study reports strong effects of planning on fluency and clear effects also on complexity, with a linear relationship between degree of planning and degree of complexity. However, a more complex relationship was discovered between planning and accuracy, with the most accurate performance produced by the less detailed planners. In addition, interactions were found between task type and planning conditions, such that the effects of planning were greater with the Narrative and Decision-Making tasks than with the Personal Information Exchange task. The results are discussed in terms of an attentional model of learning and performance and highlight the importance of tradeoff effects between the goals of complexity and accuracy in the context of the use of limited capacity attentional resources. The study contributes to the development of cognitive models of second language performance and addresses a number of pedagogic issues.

scholarly journals Impact of Concatenating fMRI Data on Reliability for Functional Connectomics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Wook Cho ◽  
Annachiara Korchmaros ◽  
Joshua T Vogelstein ◽  
Michael Milham ◽  
Ting Xu
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Data Aggregation ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Golden Rule ◽  
Aggregate Data ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Global Signal ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Task

AbstractCompelling evidence suggests the need for more data per individual to reliably map the functional organization of the human connectome. As the notion that ‘more data is better’ emerges as a golden rule for functional connectomics, researchers find themselves grappling with the challenges of how to obtain the desired amounts of data per participant in a practical manner, particularly for retrospective data aggregation. Increasingly, the aggregation of data across all fMRI scans available for an individual is being viewed as a solution, regardless of scan condition (e.g., rest, task, movie). A number of open questions exist regarding the aggregation process and the impact of different decisions on the reliability of resultant aggregate data. We leveraged the availability of highly sampled test-retest datasets to systematically examine the impact of data aggregation strategies on the reliability of cortical functional connectomics. Specifically, we compared functional connectivity estimates derived after concatenating from: 1) multiple scans under the same state, 2) multiple scans under different states (i.e. hybrid or general functional connectivity), and 3) subsets of one long scan. We also varied connectivity processing (i.e. global signal regression, ICA-FIX, and task regression) and estimation procedures. When the total number of time points is equal, and the scan state held constant, concatenating multiple shorter scans had a clear advantage over a single long scan. However, this was not necessarily true when concatenating across different fMRI states (i.e. task conditions), where the reliability from the aggregate data varied across states. Concatenating fewer numbers of states that are more reliable tends to yield higher reliability. Our findings provide an overview of multiple dependencies of data concatenation that should be considered to optimize reliability in analysis of functional connectivity data.

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