First Language Literacy and Second Language Oracy: A Partial Replication of Foster and Skehan (1996)

Abstract

This article responds to calls for greater inclusivity in second language acquisition research and, more specifically, to calls to explore further the impact of first language literacy on second language oracy (e.g., Tarone et al., 2009). We conducted a partial replication of Foster and Skehan's (1996) influential study of task complexity, planning time, and performance over measures of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The initial study and others had provided robust evidence to suggest that planning time had a positive impact on task performance, particularly for more cognitively demanding tasks. We conducted our replication with adult second language learners with low first language literacy, most of whom were former refugees. Contrary to previous studies, the findings indicate little to no evidence that planning time led to improved linguistic performance. It is not immediately clear why this should be so, and our findings highlight the need for further research with this underrepresented group.