This study investigates the impact of cognitively task complexity (+/- intentional reasoning) and communication mode (face-to-face vs. synchronous text-chat) on the efficacy of recasts for acquiring the Spanish past subjunctive.  Intermediate learners completed interactive oral story retell tasks either face-to-face or via synchronous text-chat and received recasts on their past subjunctive errors. Learning was measured with two production tasks and a multiple-choice receptive test. Findings show that the most learning resulted from the +complex task in face-to-face mode. However, in the synchronous text-chat tasks, the simple task led to the most learning.

*The tasks and accompanying task instructions available below to download are for research purposes. For questions on instructions adaptation (e.g., for teaching), please email Dr. Baralt at mbaralt@fiu.edu

Baralt, M. (2013). The impact of cognitive complexity on feedback efficacy during online versus face-to-face interactive tasks. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35, 689-725.