The Influence of Affective Variables on the Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in L2 Oral Production: The Contribution of Task Repetition

Abstract

The main purpose of the study reported in this paper was to examine the interrelationships between L2 risk-taking, English learning motivation, L2 speaking anxiety, linguistic confidence, and low-proficiency English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). A secondary purpose was to test whether task repetition can influence the level of the mentioned affective variables as well as to study its effects on the development of CAF in L2 oral production. To this end, a questionnaire designed to measure the affective variables was given to 142 Iranian female pre-intermediate EFL learners. Then, they were randomly assigned to one of two groups: task repetition or control. The participants in the task repetition group were required to do an interactive story telling task on five occasions, each one week apart. Meanwhile, the participants in the control group were required to perform the task only on occasions one and five at an interval of three weeks. The questionnaire was given to them at the end of the study too. The findings suggest that: (1) learner variables influence the development of L2 proficiency components (CAF) and (2) task repetition can help EFL learners work on their language problems in a familiar setting and hence help them develop their interlanguage.

Keywords

• affective variables
• task repetition
• complexity
• accuracy
• fluency