Information-Gap Spoken Activities In English Classrooms

Abstract

Information-gap speaking activities (also called information-exchange tasks) are a widely used instructional technique in communicative and task-based approaches to language teaching. This review synthesizes empirical and review literature to (1) define information-gap tasks and their theoretical rationale, (2) summarize evidence about their effects on oral production (fluency, accuracy, complexity, interactional competence), (3) identify key design and implementation variables that mediate outcomes (task structure, planning, feedback, participant pairing, proficiency), and (4) highlight gaps and pedagogical recommendations for classroom practitioners and researchers. Across the reviewed studies, information-gap tasks reliably increase opportunities for meaningful interaction and have positive effects on measures of fluency and communicative engagement; effects on accuracy and complexity are conditional on task design, time-on-task, and pre-/post-task support. Recommendations include careful task sequencing, inclusion of pre-task planning and focus-on-form support, and systematic assessment using multi-dimensional speaking measures. Key directions for research include longitudinal classroom studies, clearer operationalization of “information-gap” across contexts, and exploration of learner variables (motivation, anxiety, proficiency)