1. TASK DESIGN CHALLENGES
Pilar Munday & Jaya Kannan ~ Sacred Heart University,CT,USA
XVIII International CALL Research Conference
Tarragona, Spain : July 6-8 2015
The meta task of building PLNs for
foreign language acquisition
3. “A task is a holistic activity which engages
language use in order to achieve some non-
linguistic outcome while meeting a linguistic
challenge, with the overall aim of promoting
language learning, through process or product
or both.
Samuda, V., & Bygate, M. (2008). Tasks in second language learning. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
5. THE ONLINE COURSE
Learning objectives:
➢ to achieve a higher level of proficiency in Spanish by
reviewing advanced grammar topics, which were
practiced via social media
➢ to be able to reflect on both the advanced grammar as
well as the social and cultural aspects learned throughout
the course in a personal, public blog
➢ to identify some key concepts related to digital citizenship,
such as digital footprint, content curation, privacy and
ethics and develop their own personal learning
network to be used to augment their knowledge of the
culture and language of the Spanish speaking world
14. Need Analysis Model
Technology
tasks
Language
tasks
Gonzalez-Lloret, M (2014) The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated TBLT. In
Gonzalez-Lloret, M. & Ortega, L. (Eds.) Technology and tasks: Exploring technology-mediated
TBLT (pp. 23-50). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins
15. Need Analysis throughout the course
Activities Tool Rationale
Survey to establish
knowledge and participation
about Social Networks
Google form
Gauge student interest,
mastery about these networks
in native language
Discussion about different
websites
Google Plus
Communities
Students can start learning
about their own interests
Video interviews with
instructor and students to
discuss activities to be
completed
Google
Hangouts
Students can ask questions
about elements of activity
which are not clear. Video
can be posted on class
website to clarify activities
17. ASSESSMENT
Continuous loops of:
➢ Query from instructor to verify learning
➢ Response from student through the task of
communication within the Google Plus communities or
demonstration of learning through the task submission
➢ Feedback from the instructor to clarify, provide
intervention, or guide the student forward in the process of
developing the PLN
20. CHALLENGES
➢ Emotional response to
technology based
networked learning
➢ Difficulty of students to
see links between mini
tasks and vision of meta
task
➢ Comprehension of task
instructions
➢ No continuity of
feedback
21. CHALLENGES & POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
➢ Emotional response to
technology based
networked learning
➢ Difficulty of students to
see links between mini
tasks and vision of meta
task
➢ Comprehension of task
instructions
➢ No continuity of
feedback
→
➢ Be flexible
➢ Make the PLN
not the final task
➢ Be mindful of
continuity
➢ Give more value
to “responses” in
discussion
boards or blog
posts
