Abstract While genre-related second language (L2) research has primarily focused on written production and isolated linguistic dimensions, limited attention has been paid to how genre modulates task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 oral contexts. Grounded in two theoretical frameworks—the limited attentional capacity model and the cognition hypothesis—this study investigates how expository and narrative genres influence the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of L2 oral performance. College-level English learners completed two 60-second speaking tasks: one expository and one narrative. The results showed that expository responses exhibited higher lexical diversity, more sophisticated vocabulary, and greater syntactic complexity compared to narrative responses. However, these gains in complexity were accompanied by trade-offs, including reduced accuracy in segmental pronunciation and grammar, as well as diminished prosodic fluency. While these findings align with previous research on genre effects in L2 writing, the pronounced trade-offs observed in speaking highlight how real-time processing demands exacerbate cognitive constraints.
Kim et al. (Fri,) studied this question.