Does reducing pressure in online planning through slowed videos affect L2 learners’ oral production in terms of Fluency and Complexity?

Abstract

Within the context of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) (Skehan, 2009), this study aims to investigate how the availability of increased time for online planning can have an impact on fluency and complexity in L2 oral production. Twenty Saudi students who study at the University of Reading were asked to do a storytelling task after watching a video. They were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group, and were given. different planning conditions. The control group, who were given less online planning time, were shown a 90-second video where the story evolved at a normal speed. The experimental group saw the same video at a slower speed (120 seconds), and therefore had more time for planning. The participant performances were recorded, transcribed, coded and analysed to measure both fluency and complexity. Breakdown and repair fluency and the syntactic complexity of the participants’ speech were measured using the software of PRAAT. T-tests results reveal a clear positive influence on fluency and a negative influence on the complexity of the participants’ speech. The study concludes by determining that by decreasing the processing load for formulating content, online planning could influence real time fluency and complexity. Finally, it suggests further, more systematic and controlled trials are required to measure L2 fluency and complexity.