Assessing video-mediated communicative tasks for vocabulary learning

The present study examines the effects of task output modality on vocabulary acquisition within a task-based language teaching (TBLT) framework. Sixty Chinese undergraduate EFL learners participated in a between-groups experimental design, completing a travel-themed decision-making task under three conditions: video-mediated production, oral presentation, and discussion-only. Vocabulary gains were measured using word-meaning recall and form-meaning recognition tests administered at pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test stages. Results from repeated-measures ANOVA and MANCOVA analyses revealed that the video-mediated communicative group significantly outperformed those in the other two groups on both vocabulary measures across time, with significant effect sizes. The findings suggest that the multimodal video production tasks, through scripting, rehearsal, and integration of verbal and visual elements, promote deeper lexical processing and stronger retention. However, the decline in scores from immediate to delayed post-tests highlights the challenge of sustaining retention, underscoring the potential value of task repetition and spaced retrieval. This study contributes to TBLT research and Littlewood’s idea on CLT framework by demonstrating that task output modality is a key pedagogical variable influencing vocabulary development through communicative tasks. Practical implications are offered for integrating multimodal output tasks into digital and hybrid EFL instruction to support both vocabulary recognition and productive use.