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- Volume 2, Issue 1, 2022
TASK - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2022
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2022
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Measurement of functional adequacy in different learning contexts
Author(s): Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedderpp.: 8–32 (25)More LessAbstractLinguistic performance elicited by language tasks has generally been operationalized in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF). However, this study argues that assessment of L2 proficiency is impossible without taking into account the adequacy and efficacy of L2 performance. To that end, we developed a rating scale for measuring functional adequacy (FA). In order to investigate the validity, reliability, and applicability of the rating scale, a number of studies are reviewed in which FA was assessed by both expert and non-expert raters, in different learning contexts, for L2 and L1, involving various source and target languages, proficiency levels, task types and modalities. We discuss perspectives and challenges for the use of the FA rating scale, particularly with regard to task-based language assessment (TBLA).
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The role of pausing in L2 oral task performance
Author(s): Monika Ekiert, Andrea Révész, Eivind Torgersen and Emily Mosspp.: 33–59 (27)More LessAbstractStudies of L2 oral task performance report fluency as critical for functional adequacy, with pausing behaviors emerging as strong predictors of functionally adequate speech. The present study investigated the extent to which the type and location of pausing is related to functional adequacy. Oral performances on two tasks by 40 L2 speakers of English at four proficiency levels were rated on a functional adequacy scale and analyzed for type of pausing, silent and filled at mid- or end-clause location. The study found significant relationships between functional adequacy and the frequency of end-clause pauses in L2 speech. We interpreted this finding as suggesting that breakdowns in message conceptualization play a role in how the functional adequacy of L2 speech is construed by the listeners.
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Assessing writing development during study abroad
Author(s): Carola Strobl and Kristof Batenpp.: 60–84 (25)More LessAbstractIn research about second language (L2) development during study abroad (SA), writing is underrepresented. This is partly due to the difficulty of designing adequate tasks and measures to gauge writing development during a short immersion period. Our study explores the applicability of a narrative task assessed in terms of both linguistic complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) and functional adequacy (FA), a novelty in SA writing research. Texts written by 30 advanced students of L2 German before and after SA were analysed. The results show moderate correlations between the measures for fluency and lexical variation and two FA dimensions. This suggests that, in the SA context, CAF and FA develop together to a certain extent, although the constructs are conceptually different.
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Holistic and analytic assessment of functional adequacy
Author(s): Gabriele Pallottipp.: 85–114 (30)More LessAbstractThis study looks at the correlation between functional adequacy (FA), holistically assessed, and analytic linguistic measures, in a corpus of texts written by Italian monolingual and multilingual primary school pupils. Texts were first evaluated using the FA rating scales by Kuiken and Vedder (2017, 2018), plus one for Coherence & Cohesion from the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001′). They were then coded for a number of features directly bearing on FA and its subdimensions. Results show correlations between holistic scores and analytic measures, such as those between Content and the number of words or secondary idea units (r = .59 / .65). Others were less strong, yet going in the expected direction, e.g. more ambiguous referential expressions were negatively correlated to Comprehensibility. Correlations were generally stronger for monolingual than for multilingual children.
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Exploring the pedagogical use of the rating scale for functional adequacy in L1 writing instruction
Author(s): Elena Nuzzo and Giuseppe Bovepp.: 115–136 (22)More LessAbstractThis study aims to investigate whether a short training, during which a group of native Italian university students used the scale for Functional Adequacy (FA) developed by Kuiken and Vedder (2017) to assess texts written by their peers and their own texts, lead them to improve their L1 writing skills. The participants were assigned to an experimental (N = 15) and a control group (N = 15). A pre-test / treatment / post-test design was adopted. Results showed that the participants in the experimental condition benefited from the instructional treatment, but the gains they had in comparison to the control group were not statistically significant.
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Functional adequacy, task-based language teaching and instructed second language acquisition
Author(s): Shawn Loewenpp.: 137–145 (9)More LessAbstractThis commentary synthesizes the five articles in Kuiken and Vedder’s special issue on functional adequacy in linguistic performance. The commentary considers the different scales that were used to measure functional adequacy, as well as the relationship between functional adequacy and other measures of linguistic performance such as complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The commentary also considers how functional adequacy might be usefully incorporated more frequently into studies from a task-based language teaching or instructed second language acquisition perspective, both as pedagogical instruction and as a means of measuring linguistic development.
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The present and future of functional adequacy
Author(s): Marta González-Lloretpp.: 146–158 (13)More LessAbstractThe concept of Functional Adequacy (FA) proposed by Kuiken and Vedder, and the research conducted by the authors in this special issue is pushing the field of Task- Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Task-Based Language Assessment (TBLA) towards a more inclusive understanding of what it means to perform a task successfully. In addition, the idea of FA is an important contribution not just for assessment but for research on L2 pragmatic learning through tasks. As demonstrated by the authors in this special issue, the FA rating scale is a reliable and easy-to-use tool. And as I argue, the rating scale can be expanded to assess interactional tasks and tasks mediated by technology, and that has repercussion for practice in the language classroom as well as for research in the fields of TBLT, TBLA, and L2 Pragmatics.
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Self-Determination theory and tasks
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