collaborative tasks

Interaction

Collaborative Tasks

Providing input for students in a remotely taught class is relatively easy; getting them to use the L2 productively is more challenging. It depends largely on how well the lesson is planned, and to what degree students perceive the group as a community.

SLA research over the past few decades has shown conclusively that meaningful interaction in the L2 is a key factor to language development — not only in terms of learning to express oneself, but also promoting syntactic understanding, lexical knowledge, and cultural insight (Canto et al). Among native speakers, this interaction takes place naturally; but in a language class with novice or intermediate learners, it emerges only gradually as students engage in increasingly complex L2 tasks. And in a remote teaching environment, where these tasks are mediated by technology, they must be structured accordingly.

González-Lloret and Ortega (2014) recommend that technology-mediated tasks should be:

[adapted from González-Lloret and Ortega, 2014]

“Technology-mediated collaborative tasks can provide a sound design framework to implement structured learning activities that facilitate group interaction, a crucial component of successful online learning … as well as build a sense of community, essential for online learning.”

González-Lloret, p. 261


Collaborative tasks can be planned for almost every language level. For example, students can be sent in pairs or small groups (using Breakout Rooms) to pre-selected internet sites in order to find:

Or they can work together to make recommendations based on internet sources for

— all of which would require ongoing interaction with the instructor, who would join each Breakout Room periodically, so that students could ask questions: “Would you prefer mountains or beaches for this vacation?” “What kind of furniture do you like?” “Should we get you a Lamborghini or a Honda Civic?”


More elaborate tasks might require online research outside of class, coupled with internet searches and discussion with a partner during the instructional hour to propose:

Engaging in tasks like these requires not only a willingness to use the L2 with the partner — which must be emphasized as the task is explained and executed — but also the technical means of carrying it out successfully, i.e., stable internet connections, sufficient time and clear instructions.


References & Resources

Canto, S, de Graff, R, and Jauregui, I. (2014). Collaborative tasks for negotiation of intercultural meaning in virtual worlds and video-web communication. In M. González-Lloret and L. Ortage (Eds.), Technology-mediated TBLT: Researching Technology and Tasks (pp. 1-22). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins

González-Lloret, M. (2020). Collaborative tasks for online language teaching. Foreign Language Annals, 53, 260-269.

González-Lloret, M. and Ortega, L. (2014). Towards technology-mediated TBLT: An introduction. in M. González-Lloret and L. Ortega (Eds.), Technology-mediated TBLT: Researching Technology and Tasks (pp. 1-22). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins