Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 35:1 (2012) ► pp.28–47
Researching task difficulty from an individual differences perspective
The case of goal orientation
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Published online: 1 January 2012
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.35.1.02ben
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.35.1.02ben
This paper reports on a study which highlighted goal orientation as an approachable individual difference (ID) variable which may further our understanding of foreign/second language learning experience. The study sought to (i) gauge the extent of goal orientation in foreign language learners' profile and (ii) examine how goal orientation affects their perception of task difficulty and motivation. Analysis of the findings revealed two distinct goal orientation levels which reflected two significantly different response types to task difficulty. Where one goal group responded positively to unfamiliar and cognitively demanding tasks, the other goal group did not. In light of these results, this paper calls for the necessity to revisit the reductionist research format that confines task variation to design and sequencing factors.
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