TBLT and individual differences

Abstract

There is now ample evidence that individual difference (ID) variables have profound impact on whether and how pedagogical interventions affect L2 acquisition. In fact, as Ellis (2008) suggests, no account of L2 acquisition and teaching will be complete without taking into account ID variables. TBLT research is no exception: in order to understand how different tasks work, due consideration of individual differences would be necessary. This proposed colloquium intends to shed further light on how such important ID variables as working memory capacity (WMC), Language Aptitude (LA), and Language Proficiency (LP) mediate the effects of different tasks, task design features and task­based implementation conditions on L2 performance and acquisition. Five novel and robust empirical task­based studies will address the role of these ID variables focusing on different skills (writing and speaking) and taking into account different aspects of L2 production and acquisition (i.e. formulaic sequences, pragmatics features, complexity, accuracy, lexis, and fluency). XXXXX and XXXXX’s the effects of degree of Intentional Reasoning in oral narrative tasks on L2 performance and the interaction between these effects and learner working memory and proficiency level. XXXXX, XXXXXX & XXXXX’s study looks into pausing and revisions behaviours of L2 writers, and investigate whether the pausing and revision indices correlated with individual differences in phonological short­term memory and executive functioning. The next research, by XXXXX, examines the impacts of learners’ prior knowledge, L2 proficiency and pre­task planning time on L2 lexical performance. XXXXX’s study investigates the differential effects of using focused and unfocused tasks on the acquisition of refusal strategies and refusal adjuncts in English language. It also explores whether and how WMC and LA mediate the impact of these two types of task. Finally, XXXXXX’s research attempts to elucidate the relationships between two cognitive aptitudes, i.e., language analytical ability (as measured by MLAT’s ‘Words in Sentences’) and working memory (as measured by a complex span task) focusing on formulaic sequences. The colloquium will close with a discussion by an expert in the field of TBLT and SLA on the pedagogical and theoretical implications of these studies for both TBLT and SLA.