Second Language Task Complexity: Researching the Cognition Hypothesis of language learning and performance

Understanding how task complexity affects second language learning, interaction and spoken and written performance is essential to informed decisions about task design and sequencing in TBLT programs. The chapters in this volume all examine evidence for claims of the Cognition Hypothesis that complex tasks should promote greater accuracy and complexity of speech and writing, as well as more interaction, and learning of information provided in the input to task performance, than simpler tasks. Implications are drawn concerning the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that tasks should be sequenced for learners from simple to complex during syllabus design. Containing theoretical discussion of the Cognition Hypothesis, and cutting-edge empirical studies of the effects of task complexity on second language learning and performance, this book will be important reading for language teachers, graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and cognitive and educational psychology.

Table of Contents:
1. List of contributors; 2. Acknowledgements; 3. Series editors' preface to Volume 2; 4. Part 1. Cognition, task complexity, language learning, and performance: Theoretical and methodological issues; 5. Chapter 1. Second language task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis, language learning, and performance (by Robinson, Peter); 6. Chapter 2. Speech production and the Cognition Hypothesis (by Kormos, Judit); 7. Chapter 3. Corpus-driven methods for assessing accuracy in learner production (by Wulff, Stefanie); 8. Part 2. Researching the effects of task complexity across task types and modes of L2 performance; 9. Chapter 4. Task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing and speaking: The effect of mode (by Kuiken, Folkert); 10. Chapter 5. Manipulating task complexity across task types and modes (by Gilabert, Roger); 11. Part 3. Researching the effects of task complexity on L2 interaction, modified output, and uptake; 12. Chapter 6. Effects of task complexity and interaction on L2 performance (by Michel, Marije C.); 13. Chapter 7. Task complexity, modified output, and L2 development in learner-learner interaction (by Nuevo, Ana-Maria); 14. Chapter 8. Task complexity, uptake of recasts, and L2 development (by Revesz, Andrea); 15. Part 4. Researching the influence of learner characteristics and perceptions on simple and complex L2 task performance; 16. Chapter 9. When individual differences come into play: The effect of learner creativity on simple and complex task performance (by Albert, Agnes); 17. Chapter 10. Working memory capacity and narrative task performance (by Kormos, Judit); 18. Chapter 11. Task complexity, language anxiety, and the development of the simple past (by Kim, YouJin); 19. Chapter 12. Examining the influence of intentional reasoning demands on learner perceptions of task difficulty and L2 monologic speech (by Ishikawa, Tomohito); 20. Author index; 21. Subject index