A scoping review of oral task repetition: Evolving concepts for speaking skills development

Over the past three decades, oral task repetition has been extensively investigated in second language acquisition (SLA) research. While this growing body of research is characterized by diverse conceptual and methodological foci, few reviews have systematically examined the relationship between them. Using a scoping review methodology—which aims to explore the breadth, depth, and nature of prior research—this paper synthesizes 74 empirical studies and maps the field’s conceptual landscape by analyzing the research questions ( what aspects of task repetition have been studied and how researchers have operationalized their interests in oral task repetition) and related methodological features ( how it has been studied). The analysis revealed four primary research domains: (1) task repetition effects, (2) additional interventions, (3) mediating/moderating variables, and (4) learner/teacher perceptions. Importantly, while many earlier works tended to frame task repetition as a “planning” tool for immediate performance gains on the same task, recent studies increasingly regard it as a form of “practice” for long-term speaking skills development, which can be transferred to new tasks. We argue that clarifying one’s position and aligning research methods with these perspectives can facilitate more refined research designs in future task repetition research.