Task complexity and SL development: Does task complexity matter?

Over the past two decades, studying task design and performance conditions have become a burgeoning area of research within task-based language teaching, learning, and assessment. Research on SLA concentrated on tasks and investigated task difficulty, task complexity, task design, performance condition, and the effects they have on language learning and language performance (Foster & Skehan, 1996; Samuda & Bygate, 2005; Tavakoli, 2009; Gilabert, 2009; Ahmadian & Tavakoli, 2011; Salimi et al. in press). Among the factors one of the central issues in task-based language teaching concerns the influence of cognitive load of a task on oral and written linguistic performance in three domains of accuracy, fluency, and complexity. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the results of the studies done on the topic and present the implications of knowledge of task complexity and cognitive load of a task for syllabus and task designers as well as language teachers as one of the most important factors that should be taken into account in selection, gradation, and sequencing of the material. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu