A Comparative Analysis of Pre-task Planning Conditions and their Effects on Intermediate EFL Learners' Oral Performance

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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching ›› 2026, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (1) : 62-82.

A Comparative Analysis of Pre-task Planning Conditions and their Effects on Intermediate EFL Learners' Oral Performance

Alireza KHORAM

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Task planning has received substantial attention from researchers within task-based language teaching. However, there is some uncertainty regarding the impacts of different classroom organizations in pre-task planning on task performance. Accordingly, this research examines how various planning conditions affect students' L2 oral performance in task-based activities in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency. Sixty intermediate EFL students were divided randomly into three experimental groups and one control group. While the control group performed without planning, experimental groups completed a decision-making task under different planning conditions: individual, pair work, or guided (with content and language guidelines). Findings showed that individual and pair work planning significantly improved fluency compared to guided planning, but not accuracy or complexity. Individual planners achieved the highest complexity levels, followed by pair work and guided planners, whereas guided planning produced better accuracy than both individual and group-based conditions. The findings suggest that variation in classroom structure in pre-task planning is beneficial to different areas of language performance.

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Alireza KHORAM. A Comparative Analysis of Pre-task Planning Conditions and their Effects on Intermediate EFL Learners' Oral Performance[J]. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2026, 35(1): 62-82

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