The effects of guided careful online planning on complexity, accuracy and fluency in intermediate EFL learners’ oral production: The case of English articles

The purpose of the study reported in this article was twofold: First, to see whether guided careful online planning assists intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in accurate oral production of English articles (an/a and the); and, second, to see whether guided careful online planning has any effects on global complexity and fluency of intermediate EFL learners’ oral language performance. Forty-five intermediate EFL learners were required to perform an oral narrative task under three planning conditions: guided careful online planning, unguided careful online planning, and pressured online planning (n = 15). Results pointed to the positive effects of guided careful online planning on the accurate production of English articles as well as the global complexity of language in learners’ speech. However, compared to pressured online planners, the global fluency of guided and unguided careful online planners was adversely affected.