Este trabalho tem por objetivo a reflexão sobre uma alternativa de ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Portuguesa no Fundamental II cujo foco esteja no desenvolvimento efetivo das habilidades de leitura, oralidade e escrita por meio de atividades lúdicas. Para tanto, pautou-se pela experiência bem sucedida com esse tipo de recurso no ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Inglesa, notadamente em cursos de idiomas, cuja orientação metodológica é a Abordagem Comunicativa, e, em especial, o Task-based Language Teaching. O conceito de jogo aqui empregado provém das obras de Huizinga (2004), Wittgenstein (1975) e Brougère (1995, 1999), enquanto a relação entre jogo e Educação foi discutida tendo em vista as considerações de Kishimoto (1992, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2007), Brougère (1995, 1999) e Macedo, Petty e Passos (2005), e entre jogo e língua estrangeira, por Crookall e Oxford (1990) e Bullards (1990). Discutiu-se as abordagens e metodologias mais difundidas no Brasil (FERRO, 1998; RODRIGUES, 2005; BERGO E GOMES, 1985) com a finalidade de se contextualizar a utilização do jogo no Task-based Language Teaching (ELLIS, 2003). A análise do que se compreende como tarefa central do ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Portuguesa privilegiou quatro pontos de vista distintos: o da tradição escolar, dos resultados das avaliações do ensino Fundamental, da perspectiva oficial (PCN) e dos estudos lingüísticos voltados à Educação. Partindo desse referencial teórico, realizou-se em duas etapas uma pesquisa de cunho etnográfico. A Primeira Entrada em Campo consistiu na observação de aulas de Língua Portuguesa e de Língua Inglesa extracurricular em um colégio particular em São Paulo. Objetivou-se verificar como tem sido a prática efetiva nessas disciplinas com relação ao uso de jogos em sala de aula, concluindo-se que 60% do tempo das aulas observadas de Língua Inglesa foram ocupados por atividades lúdicas, enquanto, a rigor, nenhuma atividade desse caráter ocorreu na de Língua Portuguesa. Na Segunda Entrada em Campo realizou-se um minicurso de leitura, oralidade e escrita, ministrado pela pesquisadora a alunos da rede pública de ensino, no qual verificou-se as possibilidades reais de sucesso de uma metodologia de Língua Portuguesa cuja prática considerasse as atividades lúdicas como uma alternativa ao excesso de atividades metalingüísticas revelados por estudos de Neves (2003) e Semeghini- Siqueira (1998, 2006a). O referencial metodológico para a elaboração das aulas do minicurso pautou-se pelos conceitos de Avaliação Diagnóstica e Formativa (SEMEGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1997, 2002) e Seqüência Didática (SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ; NOVERRAZ, 2007) como forma de estruturação para atividades lingüísticas e epilingüísticas (SEMGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1977, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006b, 2006c; FRANCHI, 1991; GERALDI, 1985, 1991, 2002; TRAVAGLIA, 1996; POSSENTI, 1996), organizadas em torno do gênero textual entrevista. A inserção de atividades lúdicas que privilegiaram diversas habilidades e diferentes formas de abordagem da língua resultou em um aprendizado mais significativo e eficiente do que aquele observado em aulas de Língua Portuguesa cujas atividades restringem-se apenas às metalingüísticas. / This dissertation aims at reflecting upon an alternative to Portuguese learning and teaching in Middle school1 in which the focus is the development of the proficiency in reading, writing and speaking by means of game-like activities. Therefore, it bears resemblance to the highly successful experience conducted by English courses in line with the Communicative Approach, specially, those of Task-based Language Teaching orientation. The concept of game hereafter presented comes from the works of Huizinga (2004), Wittgenstein (1975) and Brougère (1995, 1999), meanwhile the relationship between games and education relies upon the considerations of Kishimoto (1992, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2007), Brougère (1995, 1999) and Macedo, Petty e Passos (2005); as for games and second language learning and teaching, by Crookall and Oxford (1990) and Bullards (1990). Approaches and methodologies with a greater importance in the Brazilian context (FERRO, 1998; RODRIGUES, 2005; BERGO E GOMES, 1985) were discussed in order to provide background information on the usage of games in Task-based Language Teaching (ELLIS, 2003). Four points of view were privileged to the analysis of the main reasons for learning and teaching Portuguese: the schooling tradition, the results of the evaluation conducted to measure the performance of the students enrolled on the Middle school, the official perspective (PCN) and the linguistic studies related to Education. Having this theoretical scope in mind, two different pieces of ethnographic research were conducted. The first one consisted of the observation of both Portuguese and English (extracurricular) classes at a private school in São Paulo, so that it would be possible to verify whether their delivery has really been taking into consideration the use of games or not. It was reached the conclusion that 60% of the time spent in the English classes observed were on game activities. On the other hand, none activity was observed during the Portuguese class. In the SECOND FIELD STUDY, there was a mini-course of reading, writing and speaking, taught by the researcher, in which students from a public school in São Paulo participated in. Its main objective was to access the real possibilities of success in teaching Portuguese by making use of game activities instead of the metalinguistic ones, pointed as the major resource for Portuguese classes by Neves (2003) and Semeghini-Siqueira (1998, 2006a). The methodological reference for the mini-course is based upon the concepts of \"Avaliação Diagnóstica e Formativa\" (SEMEGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1997, 2002) and \"Seqüência Didática\" (SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ; NOVERRAZ, 2007) as a means of structuring the linguistic and epilinguistic activities (SEMGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1977, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006b, 2006c; FRANCHI, 1991; GERALDI, 1985, 1991, 2002; TRAVAGLIA, 1996; POSSENTI, 1996) around the interview genre. As a result, the game activities carried out in the Portuguese classes held by the mini-course proved to be very effective, therefore the learning was enriched by the variety of approaches as well as the range of skills involved in performing the tasks.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo a reflexão sobre uma alternativa de ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Portuguesa no Fundamental II cujo foco esteja no desenvolvimento efetivo das habilidades de leitura, oralidade e escrita por meio de atividades lúdicas. Para tanto, pautou-se pela experiência bem sucedida com esse tipo de recurso no ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Inglesa, notadamente em cursos de idiomas, cuja orientação metodológica é a Abordagem Comunicativa, e, em especial, o Task-based Language Teaching. O conceito de jogo aqui empregado provém das obras de Huizinga (2004), Wittgenstein (1975) e Brougère (1995, 1999), enquanto a relação entre jogo e Educação foi discutida tendo em vista as considerações de Kishimoto (1992, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2007), Brougère (1995, 1999) e Macedo, Petty e Passos (2005), e entre jogo e língua estrangeira, por Crookall e Oxford (1990) e Bullards (1990). Discutiu-se as abordagens e metodologias mais difundidas no Brasil (FERRO, 1998; RODRIGUES, 2005; BERGO E GOMES, 1985) com a finalidade de se contextualizar a utilização do jogo no Task-based Language Teaching (ELLIS, 2003). A análise do que se compreende como tarefa central do ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Portuguesa privilegiou quatro pontos de vista distintos: o da tradição escolar, dos resultados das avaliações do ensino Fundamental, da perspectiva oficial (PCN) e dos estudos lingüísticos voltados à Educação. Partindo desse referencial teórico, realizou-se em duas etapas uma pesquisa de cunho etnográfico. A Primeira Entrada em Campo consistiu na observação de aulas de Língua Portuguesa e de Língua Inglesa extracurricular em um colégio particular em São Paulo. Objetivou-se verificar como tem sido a prática efetiva nessas disciplinas com relação ao uso de jogos em sala de aula, concluindo-se que 60% do tempo das aulas observadas de Língua Inglesa foram ocupados por atividades lúdicas, enquanto, a rigor, nenhuma atividade desse caráter ocorreu na de Língua Portuguesa. Na Segunda Entrada em Campo realizou-se um minicurso de leitura, oralidade e escrita, ministrado pela pesquisadora a alunos da rede pública de ensino, no qual verificou-se as possibilidades reais de sucesso de uma metodologia de Língua Portuguesa cuja prática considerasse as atividades lúdicas como uma alternativa ao excesso de atividades metalingüísticas revelados por estudos de Neves (2003) e Semeghini- Siqueira (1998, 2006a). O referencial metodológico para a elaboração das aulas do minicurso pautou-se pelos conceitos de Avaliação Diagnóstica e Formativa (SEMEGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1997, 2002) e Seqüência Didática (SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ; NOVERRAZ, 2007) como forma de estruturação para atividades lingüísticas e epilingüísticas (SEMGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1977, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006b, 2006c; FRANCHI, 1991; GERALDI, 1985, 1991, 2002; TRAVAGLIA, 1996; POSSENTI, 1996), organizadas em torno do gênero textual entrevista. A inserção de atividades lúdicas que privilegiaram diversas habilidades e diferentes formas de abordagem da língua resultou em um aprendizado mais significativo e eficiente do que aquele observado em aulas de Língua Portuguesa cujas atividades restringem-se apenas às metalingüísticas. / This dissertation aims at reflecting upon an alternative to Portuguese learning and teaching in Middle school1 in which the focus is the development of the proficiency in reading, writing and speaking by means of game-like activities. Therefore, it bears resemblance to the highly successful experience conducted by English courses in line with the Communicative Approach, specially, those of Task-based Language Teaching orientation. The concept of game hereafter presented comes from the works of Huizinga (2004), Wittgenstein (1975) and Brougère (1995, 1999), meanwhile the relationship between games and education relies upon the considerations of Kishimoto (1992, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2007), Brougère (1995, 1999) and Macedo, Petty e Passos (2005); as for games and second language learning and teaching, by Crookall and Oxford (1990) and Bullards (1990). Approaches and methodologies with a greater importance in the Brazilian context (FERRO, 1998; RODRIGUES, 2005; BERGO E GOMES, 1985) were discussed in order to provide background information on the usage of games in Task-based Language Teaching (ELLIS, 2003). Four points of view were privileged to the analysis of the main reasons for learning and teaching Portuguese: the schooling tradition, the results of the evaluation conducted to measure the performance of the students enrolled on the Middle school, the official perspective (PCN) and the linguistic studies related to Education. Having this theoretical scope in mind, two different pieces of ethnographic research were conducted. The first one consisted of the observation of both Portuguese and English (extracurricular) classes at a private school in São Paulo, so that it would be possible to verify whether their delivery has really been taking into consideration the use of games or not. It was reached the conclusion that 60% of the time spent in the English classes observed were on game activities. On the other hand, none activity was observed during the Portuguese class. In the SECOND FIELD STUDY, there was a mini-course of reading, writing and speaking, taught by the researcher, in which students from a public school in São Paulo participated in. Its main objective was to access the real possibilities of success in teaching Portuguese by making use of game activities instead of the metalinguistic ones, pointed as the major resource for Portuguese classes by Neves (2003) and Semeghini-Siqueira (1998, 2006a). The methodological reference for the mini-course is based upon the concepts of \"Avaliação Diagnóstica e Formativa\" (SEMEGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1997, 2002) and \"Seqüência Didática\" (SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ; NOVERRAZ, 2007) as a means of structuring the linguistic and epilinguistic activities (SEMGHINI-SIQUEIRA, 1977, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006b, 2006c; FRANCHI, 1991; GERALDI, 1985, 1991, 2002; TRAVAGLIA, 1996; POSSENTI, 1996) around the interview genre. As a result, the game activities carried out in the Portuguese classes held by the mini-course proved to be very effective, therefore the learning was enriched by the variety of approaches as well as the range of skills involved in performing the tasks.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The purpose of this study is to apply relevant and up-to-date theories concerning language learning and acquisition to the specific needs of second-language learners of isiXhosa in the field of health sciences through microanalysis of doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. This study explores a task-based approach to language learning and teaching that differs from traditionally applied methods. In this approach, the performance of a task is regarded as the key feature in the language-learning process. This is in accordance with the central aim of the task-based approach to language learning and teaching, which is to transform the prescribed roles of teachers and learners in the classroom context so that learners move from being passive observers to being actively involved in their own learning processes, and teachers become facilitators and not presenters of the language.In an endeavour to exploit the possibilities of tasks in the teaching and learning of isiXhosa for health sciences needs, this study investigates the various components that comprise a task as well as the possible effects that these components may have on language learning and use. The results of the study could then provide teachers of second-language courses with specific notions and strategies, which, when successfully applied, could ensure optimal language learning and acquisition for language learners. To expand the study, an analysis is conducted regarding the presence and nature of cognitive complexity and syntactic complexity in authentic doctor-patient dialogues in isiXhosa. The classification of these conversations will serve to inform the manner in which tasks could be sequenced in a task-based language teaching course for second-language learners.

Drawing upon the writing literature and the task-based language teaching literature, the study examined two cognitive complexity dimensions of L2 writing tasks: rhetorical task varying in reasoning demand and topic familiarity varying in the amount of direct knowledge of topics. Four rhetorical tasks were studied: narrative, expository, expo-argumentative, and argumentative tasks. Three topic familiarity tasks were investigated: personal-familiar, impersonal-familiar, and impersonal-less familiar tasks. Specifically, the study looked into the effects of these two cognitive complexity dimensions on L2 writing quality scores, their effects on complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of L2 production, and the predictive power of the CAF features on L2 writing scores for each task. Three hundred and seventy five Chinese university EFL students participated in the study, and each student wrote on one of the six writing tasks used to study the cognitive complexity dimensions. The essays were rated by trained raters using a holistic scale. Thirteen CAF measures were used, and the measures were all automated through computer tools. One-way ANOVA tests revealed that neither rhetorical task nor topic familiarity had an effect on the L2 writing scores. One-way MANOVA tests showed that neither rhetorical task nor topic familiarity had an effect on accuracy and fluency of the L2 writing, but that the argumentative essays were significantly more complex in global syntactic complexity features than the essays on the other rhetorical tasks, and the essays on the less familiar topic were significantly less complex in lexical features than the essays on the more familiar topics. All-possible subsets regression analyses revealed that the CAF features explained approximately half of the variance in the writing scores across the tasks and that writing fluency was the most important CAF predictor for five tasks. Lexical sophistication was however the most important CAF predictor for the argumentative task. The regression analyses further showed that the best regression models for the narrative task were distinct from the ones for the expository and argumentative types of tasks, and the best models for the personal-familiar task were distinct from the ones for the impersonal tasks.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第22540号 / 人博第943号 / 新制||人||224(附属図書館) / 2019||人博||943(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)准教授 高橋 幸, 教授 谷口 一美, 教授 STEWART Timothy William, 准教授 笹尾 洋介, 教授 田地野 彰 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has attracted a great deal of interest since its inception, as reflected in a large body of relevant literature; most of the literature deals with TBLT in in-person (IP) settings and a small number of TBLT applications in online settings. The shift from the traditional IP mode to the virtual classroom caused by COVID-19 has made the effective application of TBLT a concern. However, most of the past studies have been conducted from the researcher’s perspective, which cannot meet the urgent needs of language teachers from a practical standpoint. This study examined TBLT in virtual Chinese classroom from the perspectives of teachers and students. The action research was conducted to observe the challenges students encountered in online TBLT sessions. Surveys and interviews were conducted to collect data from participants to understand the students’ viewpoints towards online TBLT. The data were analyzed to determine how teachers made actions to improve the TBLT learning and whether these actions were effective. After six weeks of research, the data from the participants revealed that students encountered many problems in online TBLT session, such as difficulties of applying online TBLT including student’s lack of media literacy and the limitedness of Zoom affordance; the challenges of designing tasks for online L2 TBLT class such as teacher’s lack of attention on taking students’ task preferences, grouping methods and targeted prompts into consideration; as well as the challenges of peer collaboration in virtual TBLT for example the dis-connectivity, peer communication, and response distribution issues. In response to challenges that I observed in my study, I integrated and analyzed the following teacher actions to help improve students’ performance and the effectiveness of online TBLT sessions. I rewrote the prompts to provide students with multiple perspectives on the context and appropriate vocabulary in terms of the pre-task materials. Also, I selected relevant grouping patterns for each task type and grouped them appropriately. Moreover, I reduced the power imbalance between the teacher and students, intervened in the in-task discussions appropriately, provided students with guidance on specific Zoom classroom functions, and effectively managed the time spent on each cycle of the TBLT. Last but not least, I enhanced student meta-cognition, provided students with complete information about the TBLT process, explained the benefits and purpose of the assignment, encouraged interaction and collaboration among the students, and attempted to provide a safe and comfortable learning environment for students. To conclude, both students and teachers encounter challenges in this new online learning model environment; thus, we all need to adapt and learn how to learn and teach in this new situation. In this study, I tried different approaches to improve the observed problems and promote the effectiveness of teaching and the learning experience of students through a teacher action research approach. Feedback from participants indicated that the actions were effective. The study revealed that teacher should take the students’ needs into consideration when designing and implementing online TBLT in the future and make a difference through teacher actions. It is hoped that this study can offer some implications on applying TBLT in the virtual setting.

Det här examensarbetet utformas inom TBLT forskningsområdet, dvs. uppgiftsbaserad språkundervisning (Task-based Language Teaching) och utvecklingen av inlärares skriftliga målspråksperformans. TBLT-forskning har bevisat att kognitiv uppgiftskomplexitet manipulation har en tydlig påverkan på inlärares produktions. Detta visas i specifika aspekter i målspråksproduktionen. TBLT-forskning präglas dock av motstridiga studieresultat när det gäller hur den kognitiva manipulationen påverkar lingvistiska dimensioner. I syfte att undersöka effekten av uppgiftskomplexitets manipulation, presenteras detta examensarbete med empiriskt fokus på de lingvistiska dimensionerna korrekthet, komplexitet och flyt (CAF dimensions) i skolelevers skriftliga produktioner. Dessutom undersöker examensarbetet hur elevernas språkliga kompentens ytterligare kan påverka effekten av manipulationen. Examensarbetets bakgrund, diskussion och slutsats grundas på två teoretiska modeller, Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson, 2003, 2005, 2007) och Trade-off Hypothesis (Skehan, 1998, 2015). Dessa förklarar manipulationseffekten i uppgiftskomplexitet på olika och kontrasterande sätt. I detta examensarbete undersöks 72 svenska gymnasieelevers skriftliga produktioner i engelska genom två versioner (enkel vs. komplex) av en argumenterande uppgift. Resultaten visar att den komplexa versionen bara har få skillnader och inom dessa visas en större effekt i lexikalisk komplexitet. Manipulationen av uppgiftskomplexitet visar ytterligare större effekt bland elever med högre språklig kompetensnivå. Sådana resultat innefattar betydelsefulla pedagogiska tillämpningar för klassrummets praktik, för uppgiftsutformning och val, samt för lärares arbete.

Thesis (MA (African languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and properties of communication tasks employed in generic communication in isiXhosa on a university campus in South Africa within the framework of current second language theories of task-based language learning and teaching, and syllabus design for analysing those tasks, taking into account the needs of second language learners of isiXhosa in the context of campus communication. The study aims to explore questions relating to how meaning-based approaches to language teaching such as Task-based language learning and teaching have contributed to the teaching and learning of a second language in regard to the performance of the learner. One of the main aims of the task-based language learning and teaching (TBL and T) approach is to provide learners with input that are relevant to their everyday life in and outside of the language learning classroom. The aim is to further provide teachers with theorectical principles of teaching in order to influence the second language development and performance of the learner in an optimal manner. Thus the concern of TBL and T is to promote the motivation of the learner, negotiations of meanings among the learners and teacher in the classroom and optimal language development. The performance of the learners are thus positively influenced because they are now in more control of their own learning and the teacher no longer has to be the only provider of information and interaction to the language learning classroom. In order to explore the various possibilities that exist in the designing of tasks for the context of a university campus in regards to learning isiXhosa as a second language or additional language, this study investigates several components of tasks relating to cognitive and linguistic complexity, the effects the manipulation of these components might have on the language learning and elements and components of designing a syllabus, and how they influence the teaching and learning of the second language. Furthermore analyses regarding various complexity properties are conducted on the isiXhosa dialogues in order to determine criteria for syllabus designers on how tasks can be graded and sequenced within a task-based language learning and teaching syllabus for second language learners of isiXhosa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sentrale fokus van hierdie studie behels die ondersoek in die natuur en eienskappe van kommunikasietake wat gevind word in generiese kommunikasietake in isiXhosa by ’n universiteit kampus in Suid-Afrika, binne die konteks van hedendaagse tweede taal teorieë van taakgebasseerde taalleer en onderrig sowel as syllabus ontwerp en die analisering van daardie take aan die hand van die behoeftes van tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa in die konteks van kampus kommunikasie. Die studie beoog om vas te stel hoe betekenis-gebaseerde benaderings tot taal onderrig soos byvoorbeeld taakgebaseerde taalleer en onderrig bydra tot die onderrig en leer van ’n tweede taal in verband met die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder. Die taakgebaseerde benadering tot die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beoog om die leerders toe te rus met relevante en alledaagse temas wat leerders binne en buite die klaskamer ervaar. Verder beoog hierdie benadering om opvoeders toe te rus met die nodige teoretiese beginsels van onderrig sodat tweede taal ontwikkeling sowel as die prestasies en werkverrigtinge van die leerders in ’n optimale en positiewe wyse beinvloed word. Hierdie benadering tot die leer en onderrig van taal is veral gemoeid met die positiewe bevordering van die motivering van die leerder sowel as die interaksies en vrae van betekenis tussen die leerders en die opvoeders binne die omgewing van die klaskamer sodat optimale taal ontwikkeling plaasvind. Die werkverrigtinge en prestasies van die leerder word dus positief beinvloed omdat die leerder in beheer is van sy/haar eie leer en die opvoeder is nie meer die enigste bron van inligting en interaksie in die klakamer nie. Verder ondersoek hierdie studie verskeie komponente van take wat verband hou met kognitiewe en linguisities kompleksiteit, die effek van manipulasie op hierdie komponente met betrekking tot die taalleer en die elemente en komponente van sillabus ontwerp asook hoe hierdie komponente die leer en onderrig van ’n tweede taal beinvloed. Hierdie insigte op die komponente van take skep verskeie moontlikhede vir die ontwikkeling van take in die konteks van ’n universiteit kampus met betrekking tot die leer van isiXhosa as ’n tweede taal of additionele taal. Verder verskaf die studie ook ontledings met betrekking tot die kompleksiteitseienskappe van verskeie isiXhosa dialoeë sodat ’n kriteria vir sillabus ontwerpers geskep word waarvolgens hulle take kan gradueer en in volgorde plaas binne die taakgebaseerde leer en onderrig sillabus vir tweede taal leerders van isiXhosa.

The purpose of this study was to deepen the knowledge about factors that influence students’ willingness and ability to oral interaction in a target language, in this case French. It also aimed to achieve a clearer picture of the tasks the students work with and would like to work with in classroom situations. The study was based on two theoretical frameworks, Willingness to Communicate, which looks into the social and affective factors enhancing the will to communicate, and Task Based Language Teaching investigating how tasks can be designed to promote oral interaction between students in a classroom or in a digital environment. Based on the purpose of the study three research questions were formulated. The first question was about the importance of cognitive factors to promote oral interaction. The second focused on the role Willingness to Communicate and other affective factors play to make students willing to communicate in the target language. The third question aimed at investigating to what extent task-based language teaching occurs in teaching to create opportunities for students to interact in the target language. The design of the study was made up of qualitative personal interviews with students from upper secondary schools in the Stockholm area. In total seven students were interviewed, six of them studying French 4, one of them French 3.  All students highlighted cognitive and linguistic factors as being the most important to interact orally, foremost vocabulary and pronunciation and also the ability to express themselves orally. The students did not consider grammar as an important factor to their willingness and ability to communicate in French. Self-confidence, self-efficacy and the teacher’s attitude are the most important social and affective factors influencing the willingness to communicate. The ones that were considered the least important were anxiety, knowing your speaking partner and the topic of the conversation. The students’ opinion of the least important factors differed from research and empirical studies, which rate these factors higher. The students reported that the teaching did not include Task Based Language Teaching as defined in the theory and that limited use of computer mediated communication was used in the classroom. All students express a desire to communicate and interact with each other more than they do at present as well as to work with tasks and tools both face-to-face and digital enabling this to happen.

This study is a longitudinal study that investigated the development of English oral proficiency—complexity, accuracy, and fluency—under the pre-task and on-line planning conditions with task repetition among Japanese high school students. This study is unique because it is longitudinal and includes qualitative data. The participants were 15 Japanese high school students whose English proficiency level is categorized as low proficiency. Narrative tasks, post-task questionnaires, journals, and interviews were used in this study. In the narrative tasks, they were asked to describe a four-picture story three times with two minutes planning time, when they were allowed to listen to an ALT (assistant language teacher) tell the story and take notes. They completed a post-task questionnaire and a journal after completing the task. Interviews were conducted two times to further investigate their questionnaire responses and what they wrote in their journal entries. The results showed that low proficiency learners increased oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy through repeating the same task within a single session, and syntactic complexity and lexical complexity through repeating the same type of task during the academic year. The aural input between the first, second, and third performance can lead them to draw their attention to form-meaning connections, resulting in increased oral performance. In addition, low and intermediate beginners benefited in increasing oral fluency, syntactic complexity, and syntactic accuracy, while high beginners benefited in improving oral fluency and lexical complexity under pre-task and on-line planning conditions with repetition during the academic year. The study suggests that the combined use of pre-task planning, on-line planning, and task repetition have a cumulative effect and can facilitate the development of oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy for low proficiency high school learns of English. If learners are given the opportunity to plan before and during task performance with repetition, and to make the condition that draws their attention to both form and meaning, it is the most effective strategy to improve oral fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and syntactic accuracy in task-based teaching in the classrooms. / Language Arts