The Effect of Cognitive Load of a Task on Interaction and Speaking with Primary English Learners

This study aimed to analyze the effect of cognitive load of a task on Elementary students’ learning speaking. For this purpose, four tasks were designed and applied to 6th grade elementary English classes, where the cognitive load level was specified by language and meaning-processing demands. The students’ interaction was analyzed to evaluate cognitive engagement and orientation, and the speaking ability improvement was also measured to access the meaning- and form-focused speaking abilities. As the tasks required more language and meaning-processing demands, the cognitive engagement was increased with more interactions. However, the excessive meaning-processing load decreased interaction and speaking ability improvement. This results concluded that appropriate level of cognitive load induces learner’s engagement in language use and facilitates learning speaking. On the other hand, cognitive overload negatively affects in learning while inducing cognitive orientation. Furthermore, the performance of the same task was different in terms of learner’s proficiency level. For upper level learners, the task with more cognitive load was more effective in interaction and speaking ability improvement. However, for lower level learners, the task with less cognitive load was the more effective. The findings of current research imply that the proper cognitive load level should be considered with language and meaning-processing demands. Moreover, learner’s proficiency level also should be crucial factor in application of tasks.