What makes a task difficult?

Abstract Two conceptual models of Task Complexity, Cognition Hypothesis ( Robinson, 2001 , 2007 ) and Limited Attentional Capacity ( Skehan, 1998 , 2003 , 2018 ) have been proposed and widely debated in the task-based language teaching (TBLT) literature. However, little empirical evidence exists to suggest either of the models is based on teacher input or being used by teachers for classroom use. Drawing on pre-service teacher analysis of task difficulty, the study aimed to develop an in-depth understanding of task features they consider when evaluating task difficulty. Participants, 127 pre-service teachers at the end of their one-year MA TESOL program in Ontario, Canada, evaluated two sets of sample tasks, ranking them according to their degree of difficulty and identifying the features that contributed to this difficulty. 727 pieces of raw data, extracted from the task difficulty analysis, were categorized. Five main categories of task difficulty were identified, namely (1) linguistic demand, (2) cognitive operational demand, (3) design features, (4) informational demand, and (5) communicative demand. Learner related factors, external to task design, were also suggested as issues related to difficulty. We propose a set of task difficulty features that can be used in replication and validation studies to help with the development of a teacher evidence-based model of task difficulty.