The role of task repetition in EFL contexts
Abstract
Different researchers have defended the use of tasks in language teaching because
they offer learners the opportunity to enhance their linguistic abilities by
interacting with others. Nonetheless, task-based language teaching has been
criticized because as an approach it seemed to ignore formal aspects of language.
Recently researchers have begun implementing task design variables, allowing
learners in communicative language learning courses to develop meaning in their
second language without disregarding form. Task repetition, the target of the
present paper, is one of those variables in task design.
The goal of this paper is to show that task repetition seems to allow language
learners to focus on the form of the language they are learning, thus developing
their overall proficiency. The paper will present the theoretical rationale for the
use of task repetition and will summarize several empirical studies that have
implemented it in foreign language contexts. The studies chosen were carried out
in English as a foreign language contexts, with both adult and child participants,
and they show that task repetition helps the learners’ foreign language acquisition
process by freeing up their attention capacities when producing language.
Moreover, the paper will showcase current lines of research on task repetition such
as the use of task repetition in written modalities, the simultaneous use of task
repetition and online planning, and learners’ perception of task repetition.