English abstract
The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how different task types and
complexities influence the oral performance of EFL ninth-grade students. Additionally, the study
sought to investigate students' perceptions of utilizing different task types and complexities and
how these factors contribute to their speaking abilities. To achieve the above goals, 37 students
were selected to participate in this investigation. Participants were asked to perform three speaking
tasks throughout the experimentation phase: picture descriptions, discussions, and storytelling at
varying degrees of complexity, classified as easy, moderate, and complex. As the primary tool for
the study, the researcher used speaking tasks extracted from the grade nine curriculum. In addition, the researcher administered a perception questionnaire with 18 items to explore students' perspectives on how task types and complexities influenced their oral production. The study measured grade nine students' oral performance using the Massachusetts English Language Assessment-Oral rubric along with more detailed measurements to analyze Accuracy and Fluency.
Findings revealed that students were more proficient in discussion tasks with easy and moderate
complexities, displaying fluent yet less accurate speech. While complexity had a minimal impact
on outcomes across tasks, students demonstrated more engagement and efficiency in cognitively demanding tasks. However, the study's scope was limited to grade nine female students and three task types, potentially affecting the generalizability of the findings. Recommendations for future research were provided to address these limitations and explore a broader range of complexities and task types in authentic language learning environments.
