Task analysis

About: Task analysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10432 publications have been published within this topic receiving 283481 citations.

Developmental Changes In Switching Between Mental Task Sets: The Influence Of Verbal Labeling In Childhood

Abstract: Age-related changes in the use of verbal processes for the efficient switching between tasks were investigated in 5-year-old children (N = 32, M age = 5.9 years) and 9-year-old children (N = 32, M age = 9.4 years). Task switching was assessed by means of a cued switching paradigm to examine two switching components: (a) to maintain and select and (b) to switch between task sets. The aim of this study is to determine (a) developmental changes in both switching components during childhood, (b) whether age-related changes in these components are influenced by verbalizations in terms of “thinking aloud” (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) during task performance, and (c) age changes in the content of the self-verbalizations. Results show an age-related impairment of the 5-year-old group on the level of task-set maintenance and selection. Children mainly verbalized the response labels. However, whereas 5-year-olds more often labeled their perceptions (Zelazo, 1999), 9-year-olds used language to maintain the currently rel...

The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Abstract: The effects of different operationalizations of the path-goal theory's leader behavior constructs are examined. The results indicate that some of the inconsistent and non-supportive research findin...

Simulating conversations in oral proficiency assessment: A conversation analysis of role-plays and non-scripted interviews in language exams.

Abstract: Several recent studies have investigated the nature of interaction in oral proficiency exams and have concluded that the interview format obscures differences in the conversational competence of the candidates. The present paper examines what opportunities test takers have to display their knowledge of managing conversations in the L2 in two types of tasks: non-scripted interviews and guided role-play activities. The data for the study consists of 30 interviews and 30 role-play activities between near-native examiners and intermediate learners used in language exams in Hungary. The interviews and role-plays have been analysed for the number of topics introduced and ratified by the examiner and the candidate respectively, as well as for the number of interruptions, openings and closings produced by the examiner and the candidate. The findings show that the conversational interaction is more symmetrical in the guided role-play activity with the candidates introducing and ratifying approximately the same number of topics as the examiners. In addition, the examinees have the opportunity to interrupt and hold the floor more effectively during the role-play activity and can demonstrate their knowledge of how to open and close a conversation. These findings suggest that guided role-play activities used in the study exhibit several characteristics of real-life conversations and therefore can be used for assessing the candidates’ conversational competence.