Do Input Text Length and Presentation Mode Affect Speaking Performance in Retelling Tasks?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to observe the effects of text length and input mode on speaking performances in retelling tasks. A total of 53 participants performed their speaking skills for four different task condition test sets. Their performances were analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency; in addition to those data, the score of objective evaluations were compared. The results revealed that the participants could perform more words-that is to say, the number and length of utterances-under the reading input condition. On the other hand, under the listening condition, the participants could perform their speaking skills more fluently. The factor of text length partially affects the number and length of utterances and fluency, and basically the participants could not perform well under the Long Listening condition. The indices of accuracy and complexity do not have an interaction, except the Guiraud index, but overall the text length and input modes do not affect the accuracy and complexity.