Open AccessThe Influence of Task Type on Perceived Fluency
Author(s) -
Mirjana Matea Kovač
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
study in english language teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2372-9740
pISSN - 2329-311X
DOI - 10.22158/selt.v4n2p241
Subject(s) - fluency , task (project management) , perception , variety (cybernetics) , cognitive psychology , psychology , narrative , foreign language , linguistics , computer science , mathematics education , artificial intelligence , engineering , philosophy , systems engineering , neuroscience
In foreign language teaching it is necessary to employ a variety of tasks with a different degree of narrative structure to influence learners’ performance in anticipated ways, thus enhancing overall fluency as a significant aspect of successful communication. This study examines how different task types influence the perceived fluency of EFL learners. The obtained results confirm that the perception of speakers’ fluency varied across tasks. The worst perception of fluency was achieved in the task based on the formulation of unrelated utterances, that is, the most unstructured task led to the least fluent performance. A frequent introduction of new topics demands a great amount of attention. Therefore, in foreign language teaching emphasis should be laid on tasks including frequent introductions of new topics, due to the observed decrease in perceived fluency.