Task-Based Language Teaching: the effects of pre-task explicit instruction on a focused task in oral performances

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of pre-task explicit instruction on the performance of a focused task. 14 EFL learners were assigned to two treatment conditions: Explicit Instruction + Task (EI) and Task-Only. Both groups performed an oral comparative task designed to provide opportunities for the production of cohesive devices and organisational patterns. The EI Group received a brief preparation lesson on linkers followed by 1 min of active assumption reading and planning prior to task performance (Ellis, Li & Zhu, 2019). The Task Only Group performed the same task but with no pre-task instruction nor planning. Each learners’ task was recorded, and all utterances of the target grammatical structure of each participant was noted down in order to compare the differences in number of utterances between both groups. In fact, comparison among different variables, in terms of complexity, accuracy and fluency, were taken into consideration. Further on, the EI Group was submitted to a questionnaire in order to analyse the learners’ responses towards pre-task explicit instruction. The results showed that pre-task instruction led to more instances of the target structure; the Task-Only Group outperformed more complex structures and was more fluent than the EI Group, though they did not carry out the task appropriately and used simpler lexis. Therefore, the learners’ overview on the efficiency of explicit pre-task instruction concludes in being beneficial as it was a useful and comfortable tool that led to natural performances and to a correct development of the task. The results are considered in relation to a key controversy in task-based instruction, precisely on whether or not to teach a grammatical structure before the performance of a focused task. Thus, further research in pre-task explicit instruction in cohesive devices in oral comparative tasks should be carried out so as to have enough data for conclusions to be compared.