Chapter 9. When individual differences come into play
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Agnes Albert
Abstract
This paper investigates the connections between an individual variable, creativity, and performance on oral narrative tasks with different levels of cognitive complexity. Participants of the study were 41 Hungarian first-year English major university students whose creativity was measured with the help of a standardised test. They performed two oral narrative tasks: a cognitively less complex one where the story was given and a cognitively more complex one where they had to invent the story themselves. The task performance measures employed were accuracy, syntactic complexity, lexical variety, fluency, quantity of talk, and narrative structure. Findings of the study indicated that increasing cognitive complexity resulted in greater accuracy, less fluent performance, and less lexical variety in the case of the more complex task. Besides studying the effect of varying cognitive complexity, the relationships between three aspects of creativity, creative fluency, relative flexibility, and average originality, and the above described measures of task performance were also examined. Findings suggested that the role of creativity was different in the case of the less and more complex task, and that performance on the more complex task was affected more by this individual variable.
Abstract
This paper investigates the connections between an individual variable, creativity, and performance on oral narrative tasks with different levels of cognitive complexity. Participants of the study were 41 Hungarian first-year English major university students whose creativity was measured with the help of a standardised test. They performed two oral narrative tasks: a cognitively less complex one where the story was given and a cognitively more complex one where they had to invent the story themselves. The task performance measures employed were accuracy, syntactic complexity, lexical variety, fluency, quantity of talk, and narrative structure. Findings of the study indicated that increasing cognitive complexity resulted in greater accuracy, less fluent performance, and less lexical variety in the case of the more complex task. Besides studying the effect of varying cognitive complexity, the relationships between three aspects of creativity, creative fluency, relative flexibility, and average originality, and the above described measures of task performance were also examined. Findings suggested that the role of creativity was different in the case of the less and more complex task, and that performance on the more complex task was affected more by this individual variable.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Series editors’ preface to Volume 2 xi
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Part 1. Cognition, task complexity, language learning, and performance
- Chapter 1. Second language task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis, language learning, and performance 3
- Chapter 2. Speech production and the Cognition Hypothesis 39
- Chapter 3. Corpus-driven methods for assessing accuracy in learner production 61
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Part 2. Researching the effects of task complexity across task types and modes of L2 performance
- Chapter 4. Task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing and speaking 91
- Chapter 5. Manipulating task complexity across task types and modes 105
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Part 3. Researching the effects of task complexity on L2 interaction, modified output, and uptake
- Chapter 6. Effects of task complexity and interaction on L2 performance 141
- Chapter 7. Task complexity, modified output, and L2 development in learner–learner interaction 175
- Chapter 8. Task complexity, uptake of recasts, and L2 development 203
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Part 4. Researching the influence of learner characteristics and perceptions on simple and complex L2 task performance
- Chapter 9. When individual differences come into play 239
- Chapter 10. Working memory capacity and narrative task performance 267
- Chapter 11. Task complexity, language anxiety, and the development of the simple past 287
- Chapter 12. Examining the influence of intentional reasoning demands on learner perceptions of task difficulty and L2 monologic speech 307
- Author index 331
- Subject index 337
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Series editors’ preface to Volume 2 xi
-
Part 1. Cognition, task complexity, language learning, and performance
- Chapter 1. Second language task complexity, the Cognition Hypothesis, language learning, and performance 3
- Chapter 2. Speech production and the Cognition Hypothesis 39
- Chapter 3. Corpus-driven methods for assessing accuracy in learner production 61
-
Part 2. Researching the effects of task complexity across task types and modes of L2 performance
- Chapter 4. Task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing and speaking 91
- Chapter 5. Manipulating task complexity across task types and modes 105
-
Part 3. Researching the effects of task complexity on L2 interaction, modified output, and uptake
- Chapter 6. Effects of task complexity and interaction on L2 performance 141
- Chapter 7. Task complexity, modified output, and L2 development in learner–learner interaction 175
- Chapter 8. Task complexity, uptake of recasts, and L2 development 203
-
Part 4. Researching the influence of learner characteristics and perceptions on simple and complex L2 task performance
- Chapter 9. When individual differences come into play 239
- Chapter 10. Working memory capacity and narrative task performance 267
- Chapter 11. Task complexity, language anxiety, and the development of the simple past 287
- Chapter 12. Examining the influence of intentional reasoning demands on learner perceptions of task difficulty and L2 monologic speech 307
- Author index 331
- Subject index 337
