Issues in Language Studies (Jun 2024)

LANGUAGE LEARNING THROUGH TASK-BASED SYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

  • Suhaila MUKHTAR,
  • Nik Aloesnita NIK MOHD ALWI,
  • Fatimah ALI ,
  • Nor Shidrah MAT DAUD,
  • Asiah KASSIM ,
  • Ainol Haryati IBRAHIM ,
  • Nuraihan MAT DAUD

DOI
https://doi.org/10.33736/ils.5866.2024
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1

Abstract

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A limited number of studies have been conducted on the influence of task features on language production in computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments despite the role of tasks on the language production of L2 students who are mostly non-native speakers (NNSs). Among the prominent hypotheses on the relationship between tasks and language production are the Cognition Hypothesis and the Trade-Off Hypothesis. The current study examined the effect of task structure on student language production in terms of syntactic complexity and fluency in CMC environments. A one-shot design study involved 46 NNS undergraduates in Malaysia and Japan. The respondents were divided into two groups: (1) respondents who performed the task with task structure (+TS) and (2) respondents who performed the task without task structure (-TS). The data were then analysed using a t-test. The present study supported the hypothesis positing that the utilisation of +TS contributes to an increase in syntactic complexity among NNSs, as well as the hypothesis proposing that the use of +TS results in improved fluency. The results also suggest examining additional variables related to task difficulty when designing tasks for CMC environments to assess their effects on fluency and syntactic complexity.

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