ENG Departmental Seminar – How Do L2 Learners Understand Functional Adequacy in TBLT?
The Department of English cordially invites you to join our departmental seminar, How Do L2 Learners Understand Functional Adequacy in TBLT?, to be organized on 20 March 2025 (Thursday).
Date: 20 March 2025 (Thursday)
Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Venue: Room A310, S H Ho Academic Building
Speaker: Dr Gavin Bui, Associate Professor and Associate Head of Department of English
Registration: Complete the online registration form to reserve a seat. Available on a first-come first-served basis.
Remarks: 1 iGPS unit will be awarded to undergraduate students who attend the seminar
Abstract
In Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), second language (L2) task performance has traditionally been assessed through metrics of complexity, accuracy, lexis, and fluency (CALF; Bui & Skehan, 2018). However, these criteria focus solely on linguistic features, overlooking pragmatic competence in task performance. To address this limitation, the concept of functional adequacy (FA) has been proposed (Kuiken & Vedder, 2016, 2018), encompassing content, task requirements, comprehensibility, and coherence/cohesion. To date, research on FA has predominantly examined quantitative outcomes, with limited exploration of learners’ qualitative perceptions of FA. Furthermore, scant attention has been paid to how learners’ backgrounds shape their understanding and demonstration of FA. This study addresses these gaps by analysing post-task interviews with eight university students, alongside their preparatory notes (compiled before and during tasks) and the researcher’s observational field notes. Findings revealed that while learners’ perceptions of FA broadly aligned with Kuiken and Vedder’s current FA framework, discrepancies emerged in their interpretations of content and task requirements. Additionally, the study identified cultural sensitivity and creativity as potential dimensions requiring integration into a robust FA framework. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.
Bio
Dr Gavin Bui is an Associate Professor and Associate Head in the English Department at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, where he also serves as the Director of the MA in English Language Teaching and Assessment programme. He is the co-editor of the Asian Journal of English Language Teaching and served as the President of the Hong Kong Association for Applied Linguistics from 2021 to 2023.
For enquiries, please feel free to contact us at eng@hsu.edu.hk.
