Circadian rhythms and 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.

The Effect of Computer Literacy on the Participants’ Writing Ability in TOEFL iBT

One major concern in language testing relates to computer based and Internet based tests of second language. Performance on these tests is influenced by many different factors other than language ability. One of these factors relates to the participants’ speed to use the Internet. This study investigated the effect of computer literacy on TOEFL-iBT scores by comparing a paper-based and internet based test. The comparison of groups’ performance on both TOEFL-iBT and pBT revealed that computer literacy significantly affects writing performance on the exam. Writing skill of candidates with higher computer literacy was significantly better than those with lower computer literacy. Both groups’ performance was equally the same when they took the paper based type of test. Participants who lack proficiency in computer skills often might use most of their mental power and cognitive resources on working with the computer rather than focusing on what they are actually being tested on. This would lead to inability to perform fully on the language test and consequently to lower scores.

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

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.