سیدعباس منصوری

Repeating a task is a common pedagogical practice for task implementation, which entails asking learners to repeat a task multiple times. Repeating a task could be operationalized either with learners’ awareness of the later performance(s) of the same task (i.e., task rehearsal) or without such awareness (i.e., task repetition). Accordingly, task rehearsal and task repetition are two distinct constructs; however, previous research has construed them synonymously. The present study, using a concurrent embedded (nested) mixed-methods design, investigated the differential effects of task rehearsal and task repetition on second language (L۲) performance across language modalities (oral versus written) from two different perspectives (i.e., the Psycholinguistic approach and the Personal Investment approach). The former investigates task performance in terms of measures of syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (i.e., CALF), and the latter explores task performance in terms of learners’ engagement and beliefs. The participants were ۱۰۴ intermediate Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, who were randomly assigned to four groups, each with a different readiness condition (rehearsal versus repetition) and a different mode of performance (oral versus written). They performed a video-based monologic narrative task twice with a one-week interval, either with anticipation of the subsequent performance of the task before their first performance (rehearsal groups) or without such awareness (repetition groups) in speaking or in writing. After the second performance, in order to explore their beliefs about task rehearsal and task repetition and to unravel whether they did any between-performance activity in relation to the task during the interval, the participants were asked to take part in semi-structured interviews. The participants’ performances were assessed in terms of a wide range of syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) measures, as well as one measure of behavioral engagement. Results of this performance assessment stage were then analyzed using a series of mixed between-within analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE) procedures. In addition, the interview data were analyzed through thematic analysis (TA). The findings showed that task rehearsal and task repetition led to different effects on task performance, with the former resulting in significantly improved syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency in the repeated performance of the task. Moreover, task modality was proven to mediate the positive influences of task rehearsal, in that, while rehearsal led to significant development in CALF of performance across both modalities, it was more effective in writing mode. Furthermore, task rehearsal and task repetition were found to have differential impacts on the participants’ behavioral engagement in the task across the two task modalities. In other words, only the participants under the task rehearsal condition, who performed the task in writing were behaviorally engaged in the task. The results of qualitative research questions, explored through semi-structured interviews, indicated that task repetition did not induce the participants to take any actions in relation to the task during the one-week interval between the two performances of the task; however, the participants under the rehearsal condition took advantage of the interval to reflect on their initial performance and to practice the task in order to progress their repeated performance. Furthermore, analyzing interview data revealed that the participants in the task rehearsal groups believed that this condition had facilitative effects on all dimensions of their performance in terms of CALF, as well as on improving their motivation and self-confidence and reducing their anxiety in the repeated performance. They also held that the initial task performance in task rehearsal functioned as an opportunity for them to explicitly prepare themselves for the second performance of the task. Finally, the participants in the task repetition groups believed that although task repetition had positive influences on their lexical complexity and fluency, it did not change the syntactic complexity and accuracy of their production. These participants found task repetition detrimental to their motivation and the second performance in task repetition as a factor that deprived them of prepared self-correction of their errors. Both the quantitative and qualitative results were in alignment with one another. In light of these results, theoretical and pedagogical implications for task research and task implementation, including the roles of learners’ awareness and mode of performance in language learning and teaching, are discussed.