3. The impact of increasing task complexity on L2 pragmatic moves

Gilabert, Roger; Barón Parés, Júlia

doi:10.1075/lllt.34.06ch3

In:Second Language Interaction in Diverse Educational Contexts
Edited by Kim McDonough and Alison Mackey
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 34] 2013
► pp. 45–70

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3. The impact of increasing task complexity on L2 pragmatic moves

Roger Gilabert | University of Barcelona

Júlia Barón Parés | University of Barcelona

Published online: 28 February 2013

https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.34.06ch3

The study measures the impact of increasing cognitive task demands on the use of L2 learners’ pragmatic moves. L2 Spanish/Catalan learners of English (n = 36) were grouped into pairs and performed two types of problem-solving tasks. Task complexity was independently measured by means of a learners’ perceptions questionnaire, time on task, and time estimation. Interactions were analyzed for the use of requests and suggestions. Results showed an impact of task complexity on the number of moves for one of the tasks, indicating a clear task effect. No differences in terms of the variety of moves were found between the simple and complex versions of tasks. Results showed a clear task effect with some moves being exclusively associated with some tasks but not others.

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