Author:

Abstract:

While pre-task planning has been extensively researched in the field of task-based language teaching, less attention is paid to on-line planning. By far, on-line planning studies have been based upon the same definition proposed by Yuan and Ellis (2003), and they have operationalized on-line planning similarly by manipulating the time limit for task performance. However, it is unknown whether on-line planning only concerns the formulation and monitoring of linguistic elements, as argued by Yuan and Ellis (2003). Furthermore, it might be useful to seek for other options to operationalize on-line planning. More fundamentally, there is a lack of qualitative approach that investigates whether on-line planning did occur during task performance. Drawing upon cognitive psychology, this dissertation proposed a revised definition of on-line planning. Three empirical studies were carried out based on the definition. Study 1 introduced two different methods of operationalizing on-line planning: providing students with listener's feedback between two consecutive rounds of task performance, and providing them with criteria for successful task performance. Their effects on L2 narrative task performance and the students' use of on-line planning strategies were investigated with 90 Chinese EFL learners. To assess the quality of task performance, complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) measures were utilized. In addition, a measure of story completeness was included to evaluate the quality of the delivered content. Post-task interviews were conducted to collect on-line planning strategies employed by the participants. Results from the quantitative and the qualitative analyses suggest that utilizing listeners' feedback can elicit an increased number of on-line planning activities. This method also has beneficial effects on the complexity and accuracy of L2 task performance. Building on study 1, the second study adopted the feedback method and examined its effects on L2 oral performance and strategy use when time pressure was removed. Participants' performance under a pressured condition and an unpressured condition was compared with the same CAF measures and the measure of story completeness. The study revealed that there was no statistically significant difference regarding the CAF measures between the two groups. Qualitatively, participants' use of on-line planning strategies exhibited a similar pattern between the two groups. These results indicate that time may not be the only factor that influences on-line planning behaviors, which is in contrast to the claim made by earlier on-line planning research. Building on the findings of study 1 and study 2, the third study adopted a pretest-posttest design to explore the effects of on-line planning strategy instruction on L2 oral development and strategy use. It worked with two groups: the comparison group and the experimental group. The intervention in the experimental group consisted of the implementation of on-line planning and explicit teaching of on-line planning strategies. Students' performance in the pretest and the posttest was analyzed with respect to the CAF measures and two content-wise measures. Stimulated-recall interviews were carried out to investigate the use of the target on-line planning strategies. The results revealed positive effects of on-line planning strategy instruction on the linguistic and content quality of the performance produced by the experimental group in the posttest, indicating a facilitative role of on-line planning strategy instruction on L2 oral development. The students' use of the target on-line planning strategies also improved in both quantitative and qualitative terms.