Earticle

This study aims to investigate the comparative effects between simple and complex tasks on lexical diversity, lexical complexity, and syntactic complexity in learners’ English writing performance. Two task complexity dimensions are focused on: the amount of information (+/-Few element) and the use of tense (+/-Here-and-Now) in the task. For the data collection, thirty-one Korean college students were asked to perform four different narrative tasks based on a wordless cartoon. The results revealed that the complex task (-Few element & -Here-and-Now) showed a higher level of lexical diversity and lexical complexity than the simple task (+Few element & +Here-and-Now). In the case of syntactic complexity, the dimension of +/-Here-and-Now caused significantly different uses of the gerund and passive voice. The findings suggest that English language teachers need to control the complexity of narrative tasks when assigning English writing to university-level learners.

Despite the careful attention paid by managers and researchers to the effective administration of the S/W Development Project, there are cases where the project goes over-budget or misses deadlines. Existing research blames these problems on task complexity or mismanagement. In order to verify the results that varied according to the fitness between the Task Characteristics and the Project Management Types, a contingency model was employed. The verification of the contingency model demonstrated that the greater the task complexity, the greater the effectiveness of the project coordination, and the lesser the task complexity, the greater the effectiveness of project control. This research is theoretically important in that it develops a composite model to verify the relation between the three factors of Task Characteristics, Project Management Types, and Project Performance that compose the S/W Development Project.

This research examined the effects of pilot expertise on situation judgment and subsequent selection of actions as a function of situation complexity, flight element type, and control complexity respectively. Forty-seven certificated pilot participants were assigned to either a novice or an expert group based on their flight hours and experience. Each participant viewed flight goals and 54 flight scenarios that varied in complexity. Participants decided whether the flight scenario was consistent or inconsistent with the flight goal. Participants disclosed their selection of corrective flight control actions for the flight scenarios that they judged were inconsistent with the flight goal. The results suggested that novice performance consistently degraded as the flight situation complexity increased, whereas much less performance degradation was found for experts as the situation complexity increased. These findings were interpreted in the context of cognitive theories and potential applications of this research to analysis of pilot performance errors were discussed.

Although recent studies of L2 writing development have called for the inclusion of metrics that measure phrasal embedding as well as clausal embedding as indicators of syntactic complexity, taskbased research on L2 written performance still shows a heavy dependence on length-based measures and clausal subordination. In this study, the written performance of 81 Korean learners of English was examined using traditional syntactic measures that most task-based studies rely on, clausal complexity measures, and noun phrasal complexity measures. Participants were randomly assigned to either a Closed group that carried out closed tasks (i.e., tasks with a predetermined answer), or an Open group that carried out open tasks (i.e., tasks without a predetermined answer). Task complexity was manipulated in terms of the number of elements. Generally in line with Kyle and Crossley’s findings (2018), the study revealed that including more encompassing measures of syntactic complexity helped in the understanding of learners’ interlanguage development, especially when considering their level of L2 proficiency.

While the importance of task sequencing in task-based research and syllabus design has been emphasized, there is a gap in the literature regarding whether the order in which tasks are presented actually has a significant impact on L2 performance. The aim of the study was to investigate whether task sequencing actually had an effect on L2 written performance. A writing task with three levels of task complexity was given to 88 EFL learners, with one group carrying the three task versions out in the order of increasing task complexity (Simple-to-complex), and the other group in the order of decreasing task complexity (Complex-to-simple). It was found that the cognitive load of the task, as well as learners’ syntactic complexity and lexical diversity shown in their L2 writing, were significantly affected by task sequencing and its interaction with task complexity. Pedagogical implications are noted with regard to the differential effects that task sequencing has on L2 writing, as presenting tasks in the order of increasing task complexity resulted in greater syntactic complexity, while presenting tasks in decreasing task complexity led to greater lexical diversity.

This study examined the effects of task complexity and language proficiency on L2 written narrative production based on the analyses of 52 written narratives produced by Japanese high school students under different task complexity conditions. Task complexity was manipulated along the proposed task complexity dimension of Here-and-Now vs. There-and-Then in Robinson (2001a, 2006). Language proficiency was defined as scores on the Michigan English Placement Test (MEPT). In order to investigate the effects of task complexity and proficiency, four modes of production metrics were employed as dependent variables: accuracy, structural complexity, lexical complexity and fluency. The results showed that the effects of task complexity and language proficiency were largely independent; however, there were signs of interactions particularly in the cases of accuracy and lexical complexity.

This paper attempts to broaden our understanding on how cognitive task complexity (TC) contributes to L2 learners’ and language professionals’ perceptions of task difficulty (TD). This study was conducted to allow a deeper investigation of the extent to which manipulating TC can influence perceptions of TD, what TC-factors contribute to perceptions of TD, and whether there is a perceptual match between L2 learners and language professionals. The study employed a mixed-method design in which 68 students and 26 language professionals evaluated the TD of two video-based narrative tasks. The students, who were L2 learners of English at a Jordanian secondary school, performed two tasks with increased TC manipulated by intentional reasoning (IR) demands. Data on learners’ perceptions of TD were collected qualitatively and quantitatively using a retrospective questionnaire. The language professionals, who were researchers with a TESOL background, read the tasks instructions and watched the two clips before deciding which task would be considered more difficult and why. Results showed a match between learners and language professionals on their perceptions of TD. Both groups rated the more complex task (+IR) as more difficult. Two categories of higher cognitive demands imposed by IR requirement, i.e. task-induced and task-inherent, were found to be the major contributors to the perceptions of TD. The findings have significant implications for the development of an index of TD, which is considered a priority for language teaching, testing and syllabus design.

Although extensive task-based research has focused on how the manipulation of task complexity affects L2 performance, less attention has been paid to its combined effects with those of L2 proficiency. In this study, 41 Korean learners of English carried out a written task with two levels of task complexity, operationalized as number of elements. Participants were divided into three groups, based on their level of L2 proficiency. Performance was assessed by syntactic complexity, lexical diversity, and accuracy measures. Significant interaction effects between L2 proficiency and task complexity were found on lexical diversity and accuracy measures, especially in the high-proficiency group. Findings are discussed in relation to Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis and attentional resources available for task performance.

Most task-based research examined the effects of task complexity on various aspects of L2 production, and this study aims to perform an in-depth analysis of task complexity effects on error patterns observed in L2 writing in terms of morphological, lexical, syntactic, and mechanical errors. 39 learners of English carried out one written task with three levels of task complexity, operationalized as the number of elements. Results of a series of repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed that greater task complexity led to significant increases in the amount of all four error types and the numbers of morphological, lexical, and local syntactic errors per T-unit. It was also found that learners are more likely to make errors in terms of plurality, word choice, and article use when they need to mention more elements when carrying out complex tasks.

Motivated by different notion of task criteria in the Limited Attention Capacity Hypothesis and the Cognition Hypothesis, the purpose of this study is to investigate how planning and task complexity affect second language (L2) learners’ spoken performance. The study’s motivation is as follows: 1) the effects of online planning (as task condition) and task complexity (as task characteristics) and their interactions were examined; and 2) instead of repeated and redundant measures for complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF), multi-layered CAF measure indices were used to capture a careful performance. The study’s subjects were 77 undergraduates divided into four groups: no planning in simple task, no planning in complex task, online planning in simple task, and online planning in complex task. Online planning was modified from Yuan and Ellis’s (2003) and Wang’s (2009) studies, while task complexity was manipulated by [±elements] and [±reasoning]. The study employed 11 general and specific measure indices for CAF and found that no planning condition significantly enhanced overall accuracy and verb-related specific accuracy or speed and repair fluency regardless of task complexity. Meanwhile, task complexity significantly improved phrasal syntactic complexity regardless of planning. Based on these findings, the study explored two competing theories on L2 speaking.

SNS 사용과 성과의 관계에 관해서는 여러 연구가 있어 왔으나, 대부분의 선행 연구들은 작업 도중 SNS의 사용이 해당 작업의 성과에 미치는 영향을 연구하기 보다는 SNS 사용자와 비사용자의 평소 성과를 비교하여 긍정적, 혹은 부정적이라는 서로 상반된 결론을 내려왔었다. SNS의 사용이 공간과 시간의 제약 없이 일상화된 만큼, 본 연구에서는 이러한 기존 연구들을 보완하고자 실험 설계를 통하여 작업 도중 SNS의 사용과 해당 작업의 성과에 관한 탐색적 연구를 진행하였다. 이를 위해 휴식과 성과, 작업의 종류와 휴식의 종류에 대한 기존 문헌을 토대로 SNS의 역할을 긍정적, 혹은 부정적으로 단정 짓지 않고 다양한 상황에서 보다 구체적으로 살펴보려 하였으며, 그 방법으로 실험 참여자의 뇌파 해석, 자기 보고, 컴퓨터 기록 등 다양한 측정지표를 사용하였다. 그 결과, 간단한 작업 도중 SNS를 사용할 경우 단순 휴식을 취했을 때 보다 이후 성과가 개선되었으나, 복잡한 작업 도중 SNS를 사용한 경우에는 그 개선도가 단순 휴식과 비교했을 때 차이가 없었다. 추가 분석 결과 SNS 사용 후 성과가 개선된 참여자들의 경우, 간단한 작업을 수행한 참여자의 경우에는 SNS 사용 경험 및 몰입도가 성과에 긍정적인 영향을 미쳤으며, 복잡한 작업의 경우에는 자아 존중감 확인은 긍정적, 사회적 실재감은 부정적 영향을 미친 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

Although the relationship between social networking sites (SNS) use and performance has been widely studied, most of these studies have focused on comparing the SNS users’ overall performance with that of non-SNS users instead of examining how using SNS midway of a task affects one’s task performance. To address this research gap, an experiment was conducted to examine SNS use during a task and its influence on the performance of that task. In this experiment, the role of SNS in various situations was examined by reviewing the literature on break and performance as well as the types of breaks and tasks. Owing to its exploratory nature, this study used various types of data, such as electroencephalography interpretation data generated from a brain–computer interface, self-reported data, and data recorded by a computer. Those participants who used SNS showed an improved performance compared with those who took a short break while doing a simple task. Further analysis showed that the degree of SNS usage and engagement with SNS had positive effects on the participants’ simple task performance, while social presence and reassurance of self-worth had negative and positive effects on the participants’ complex task performance, respectively.

The present study examines the effects of manipulating cognitive task complexity on high school English learners’ narrative and persuasive writing. Participants were 156 high school students. They were divided into four groups. Each group was given one of four different types of writing that were classified based on their genres (narrative vs. persuasive writing) and dimensions of task complexity (resource-directing vs. resource-dispersing). All participants completed both simple and complex writing tasks for their assigned type of writing. Participants’ written products were measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The results revealed that increased task complexity, along with the resource-directing dimension, somewhat positively affected the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of both narrative and persuasive writing. However, increased task complexity, along with the resource-dispersing dimension, showed differential effects of cognitive complexity on participants’ written products between the genres. It resulted in decreased scores in fluency and accuracy, and had no significant impact on the complexity of narrative writing. As for persuasive writing, on the other hand, it lowered the fluency, increased the complexity, and had no impact on the accuracy. The pedagogical suggestions drawn from the results are provided along with the limitations of the study.

In this paper, we present an experiment conducted to examine how the web site's architecture, content quantity and the user task complexity affect its usability. The experiment was performed in two phases on college students to visit existing web sites which are readily accessible via the Internet. The results of experiment show that the web site's architecture significantly affects the efficiency and the effectiveness interactively with its content quantity and the user task's complexity. On the other hand, none of the above three factors show significant effects on the satisfaction and the learnability. In particular, the web site's content quantity does not have any statistically significant effects on the satisfaction and the learnability. It implies that the factors affecting the satisfaction and the learnability are different from those affecting the efficiency and the effectiveness. The analysis reassures that it is essential to consider the context of use in designing a web site.

This present study examined effects of task complexity based on task structure for Korean university students' narrative writing performance. Robinson's Cognition Hypothesis (2001a, 2001b 2005, 2007, 2011) argued that if tasks are sequenced on the basis of their relative complexity, task performance from language learners should be influenced by the complexity of the task with regard to accuracy, complexity, and fluency. In this study, task complexity is manipulated by task structure with +/- reasoning which was presented as one of resource-directing elements in the task complexity features by Robinson (2001). Sixty-nine Korean university students participated in this study. They performed two narrative writing tasks each with +/- reasoning structure based on two different picture stories. The learners' written performance was coded by T-unit, S-nodes, errors, and the number of words to measure the accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The result showed that cognitively more demanding task demonstrated more positive effects on syntactic complexity with no significant difference on fluency while cognitively less demanding task led to increases on accuracy measure with also no significant difference on fluency.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to introduce a task complexity model combining task design aspects and complexity dimensions and to explain an approach to identifying and organizing task complexity factors based on the model. Background: Task complexity is a critical concept in describing and predicting human performance in complex systems such as nuclear power plants(NPPs). In order to understand the nature of task complexity, task complexity factors need to be identified and organized in a systematic manner. Although several methods have been suggested for identifying and organizing task complexity factors, it is rare to find an analytical approach based on a theoretically sound model. Method: This study regarded a task as a system to be designed. Three levels of design ion, which are functional, behavioral, and structural level of a task, characterize the design aspects of a task. The behavioral aspect is further classified into five cognitive processing activity types(information collection, information analysis, decision and action selection, action implementation, and action feedback). The complexity dimensions describe a task complexity from different perspectives that are size, variety, and order/organization. Combining the design aspects and complexity dimensions of a task, we developed a model from which meaningful task complexity factors can be identified and organized in an analytic way. Results: A model consisting of two facets, each of which is respectively concerned with design aspects and complexity dimensions, were proposed. Additionally, twenty-one task complexity factors were identified and organized based on the model. Conclusion: The model and approach introduced in this paper can be effectively used for examining human performance and human-system interface design issues in NPPs. Application: The model and approach introduced in this paper could be used for several human factors problems, including task allocation and design of information aiding, in NPPs and extended to other types of complex systems such as air traffic control systems as well.

The influence of task complexity on second language (L2) writing performance has been researched near-exclusively in relation to the linguistic complexity of the learners’ written products, while only limited attention has been paid to the online writing processes. In order to fill this gap, the present study focused on the effects of task demands on writing processes as reflected in keystrokes. Forty-four L1 Korean speakers were randomly assigned to either simple or complex condition, and asked to write an argumentative essay. For the simple condition, content support was provided, whereas no such additional information was provided for the complex condition. During the writing task, participants’ entire keystroke loggings were recorded, and analyzed in terms of fluency, pausing, and revision behaviors. The lexical and syntactic complexity of the written products was also analyzed and compared between the two task conditions. The results indicated that greater task demands significantly increased the number of pauses and revisions, while having negative influence on fluency. Also, lexical rarity and phrasal complexity decreased under the complex condition. The results are discussed with respect to fuller understanding of the task-based approach to L2 writing.

This study investigates the effects of the cognitive complexity of tasks and pair proficiency on task production in Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication. In particular, this study explores whether task complexity and EFL learners’ proficiency have an effect on the accuracy, the fluency, and the use of strategy of task production in SCMC. 90 Korean high school EFL learners collaboratively completed the cognitively simple and complex tasks, using a browser-based chat program. Based on learners’ English proficiency, each dyad was composed of three different sets: High-High pair, High-Low pair, and Low-Low pair. The data were analyzed by a 2 X 4 analysis of variance (ANOVA). Error-free C-units, words per C-unit were served as dependent variables. Results show that the cognitive complexity of a direction-giving map task significantly affects task production. Pair composition also significantly affects the number of error-free C-units, words per C-unit and the use of strategy. This study confirms a previously reported increase in quantity of strategy used by students of the pairs with different English proficiency levels, compared to other pairs with similar English proficiency levels. The findings offer pedagogical implications for designing task-based synchronous interaction to facilitate Korean EFL learners’ accuracy, fluency and the use of strategy.

The study of task complexity has been a focal point among researchers in the domain of task-based language teaching since the proposal of models by Skehan and Robinson. The present study examined how learners' writing performance varies in terms of lexical and syntactic complexity, contingent on task complexity, and the relationship between these two subsystems. The narrative writing task was utilized, and task complexity was manipulated through the use of reasoning. A total of 67 participants, all university students, were divided into two groups: simple and complex. In the simple task, participants described the given pictures, while in the complex task, they created an additional story based on the modified version of the same pictures. The results for the simple task showed a higher frequency of infrequent words and longer sentences, whereas the complex task resulted in more frequent words and a greater number of dependent clauses. The investigation further revealed positive and negative correlations between lexical and syntactic complexity measures, underscoring the intricate interplay between these two subsystems in the context of L2 writing. The outcomes of this study are discussed in the context of previous research on L2 writing.

The present study examined the effect of task complexity and task condition for Korean adult EFL learners’ interlanguage performance. Both Skehan (1998, 2009) and Robinson (2001, 2005, 2011) predicted that complex task induces complex language but regarding its effect on learners’ language accuracy, Skehan proposed that complexity and accuracy compete with each other whereas Robinson proposed that they accompany each other. Robinson additionally proposed that two-way interaction condition promotes the accuracy of learner language particularly for the complex task. Forty Korean university students participated in the experiment and the results showed that language complexity increased both by complex task and one-way task in support of Robinson but that language accuracy was not affected by task complexity but by two-way interactional condition. Also, the effect of two-way interactional task condition for language accuracy was significant only in the simple task against Robinson’s prediction. The findings are interpreted that language complexity has been confirmed to be a function of task complexity but that the accuracy of learner language neither accompanies language complexity nor competes with it. Language accuracy was interpreted as external to task content or complexity and as a function of active two-way interactional features that promotes attention and noticing.

This research was conducted to examine whether the manipulation of cognitive task complexity affected the written performance of language learners. Participants were divided into two groups: Low and High. Each of them was involved in two different experimental conditions: Simple cognitive tasks and Complex cognitive tasks. The linguistic accuracy was measured as the total number of errors per T-unit. Total words and the number of words per T-unit were analyzed for the linguistic fluency. Coh-Metrix 2.0 was used for the analysis of the linguistic complexity. The result showed that when cognitive task complexity increased, language learners made more output on the complex tasks than on the easy tasks, but they did not become more accurate and use more complex linguistic structure. Also, language learners’ proficiency did not affect the linguistic accuracy and complexity; however, the fluency was increased in the low as well as in the high proficiency group.