Mohammad Hossein Yousefi - Assistant Professor of TEFL, Department of English Language, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran
Farzad Rostami - PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language, Bonab Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran
Davoud Amini - Assistant Professor of TEFL, Department of English Language and Literature, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

The present study investigated the effects of cognitive complexity of pedagogical tasks on the learners’ uptake of salient features in the input. For the purpose of data collection, three versions of a decision-making task (simple, mid, and complex) were employed. Three intact classes (each 20 language learners) were randomly assigned to three groups.  Each group transacted a version of a decision-making task in dyadic condition. The results of the statistical analysis (one-way ANOVA) revealed significant differences among the groups. The participants in complex group tended to produce more uptakes. The results of the present study revealed that manipulating cognitive complexity of pedagogical tasks led to more uptake of the linguistic items made salient by the teacher and triggered much interaction between the participants.  The study, also, has a number of theoretical and pedagogical implications for SLA researchers and syllabus designers. 

Task Complexity, The Cognition Hypothesis, Learner Uptake, Interlanguage Development