Abstract:

Over the last decade, a small body of SLA research has examined the effects of task planning on L2 production.  Positive results have been revealed concerning the effects of pretask and online planning.  However, no studies to date have investigated the joint effects of pretask and online planning.  In addition, fewer studies have examined the effects of planning in the context of written synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) that has been argued to afford learners increased online planning time.  Accordingly, this study examined the joint effects of pretask and online planning in the environment of written SCMC.  Thirty ESL learners formed two groups to chat with the researcher individually on a picture-based narrative task, one group proceeded by strategic planning while the other without.  Chat production was coded and measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency.  Findings suggested that strategic planning had little effect in the context where learners had unlimited time to engage in online planning during text-chat performance.

Author: Hsiu-Chen Hsu