The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

1-14

Authors: Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad

Task-based research has eclipsed the role of individual differences (IDs) in the evaluation of task difficulty and task motivation for reasons related to pedagogically-driven quests to design task impervious to variation. The present article underscores the ID variable of goal orientation which may advance our understanding of some aspects of variation related to task engagement. After implementing one goal-elicitation questionnaire and another questionnaire to measure difficulty and motivation following the performance of assigned narrative tasks, psychometric results revealed two distinct goal orientation levels echoing two significantly different response types to task difficulty and motivation. Whereas one goal group responded positively to unfamiliar and taxing tasks, the other goal group did not. Overall, this article points to the need to rethink the reductionist research agenda that confines task variation to task sequencing conditions and task design features. Keywords: Individual differences, task, motivation, perceived difficulty, goal orientation.

33-44

Authors: Arif Sarıçoban, Arif Bakla

Learner autonomy and critical thinking skills seem to be essential learning attainments for foreign language learners. As an attempt to integrate these with the productive language skills, this study outlines a three-week project carried out to discover how class surveys designed by learners themselves contribute to the development of writing and speaking skills of a group of elementary EFL learners in a state school (n=24). In groups of six, the learners followed a number of steps ranging from group formation to task allocation and from peer correction to self-evaluation. These steps gradually helped each group build a survey on a chosen topic, administer it to peers, analyse and report the results, and evaluate the overall process and the video-recorded presentations, thereby giving the group the chance to account for a real-life problem. It was observed that learner-generated surveys significantly facilitated the development of writing and speaking skills. The process of preparing the questions, editing them and commenting on the results broadened the students’ horizons. Despite these valuable contributions, some problems pertaining to affective domain emerged. That is, during these task-based lessons, emergence of such restricting affective factors as the fear of being observed or the challenge to express oneself in front of others seemed to persist. In the light of these observations, this study not only provides the reader with strong points of such instruction, but also makes some suggestions for possible solutions to the aforementioned problems that may persist in prospective in-class practices. Keywords: Learner-generated surveys, productive language skills, project-based learning, learner autonomy

59-75

Authors: Ehsan Rassaei, Ahmad Moinzadeh, Manijeh Youhannaee

The current study explored the effects of recasts and metalinguistic feedback on the acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge of English by Persian EFL learners. Three intact EFL classrooms were assigned to three groups: two experimental and one control group. Learners in one experimental group received recasts whenever they made an error during task-based interactions with their interlocutors while learners in the second experimental group received metalinguistic corrective feedback for their errors while performing the same tasks. Learners in the control group also performed the same tasks but received no corrective feedback for their errors. Learners’ achievements as a result of the treatments were investigated via timed and untimed grammaticality judgment tests and also via an elicited oral imitation test. The results indicated that metalinguistic corrective feedback is more effective than recasts in promoting the acquisition of both implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. Key words: Recasts, metalinguistic feedback, corrective feedback, implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge.