Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning

María del Pilar García Mayo received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Iowa (U.S.A). She is Full Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Her research interests are second language acquisition (in particular the acquisition of syntactic aspects of English as a second/foreign language from a generative perspective and input and interaction in formal language learning contexts) and second language research methodology. Her recent publications have focused on the acquisition of syntactic aspects of English as a third language and on issues related to interaction and focus on form in the foreign language classroom.

• Introduction - María del Pilar García Mayo1. Criteria for Classifying and Sequencing Pedagogic Tasks - Peter Robinson2. Information Distribution and Goal Orientation in Second Language Task Design - Craig P. Lambert and Steve Engler3. The Simultaneous Manipulation of Task Complexity along Planning Time and [+/- Here-and-Now]: Effects on L2 Oral Production - Roger Gilabert4. Tasks, Negotiation and L2 Learning in a Foreign Language Context - Marisol Fernández García5. Attention to Form across Collaborative Tasks by Low-proficiency Learners in an EFL Setting - Ana Alegría de la Colina and María del Pilar García Mayo6. Cognitive Task Complexity and Linguistic Performance in French L2 Writing - Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder7. The Effect of Manipulating Task Complexity and the [+/- Here-and-Now] Dimension on L2 Written Narrative Discourse - Tomohito Ishikawa8. Writing Tasks: The Effects of Collaboration - Neomy Storch and Gillian Wigglesworth9. L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension: The Influence of Task Complexity - Elke Peters10. Task-effect on the Use of Lexical Innovation Strategies in Interlanguage Communication - Elsa González Álvarez11. Fostering EFL Learners’ Awareness of Requesting through Explicit and Implicit Consciousness-raising Tasks - Eva Alcón Soler12. Interactive Task Design: Metachat and the Whole Learner - Marie-Noëlle Lamy Index

The book provides a much needed examination of options in classifying and sequencing language learning tasks. Framed by Robinson's insightful overview of competing theoretical claims in the area, eleven new data-based studies elucidate relationships between pedogic task types and accuracy, complexity and fluency in L2 speech and writing, and between task types and acquisition. Garcia-Mayo's book advances the international research agenda on task-based language teaching.