Christine Appel

Motivation and task performance in a task-based web-based tandem project

The objective of this paper is to describe a task-based project in tandem via e-mail, and to discuss the effects of motivation on task performance. In this project, a group of Irish students and a group of Spanish students are asked to carry out a series of tasks in collaboration with their tandem partners via e-mail by means of a web page especially designed for the project. Half the message is meant to be written in the student’s native language and half in the target language, and students are also encouraged to correct one another. The goal behind our research is to discuss the effects of motivation on task performance. We argue that resource directing (such as reasoning demands) and resource depleting factors (such as prior knowledge) which belong to task complexity in Robinson’s model (Robinson, 2001) are closely connected to affective variables which, as is the case with motivation, belong to task difficulty. Motivational factors like interest in the meanings to be exchanged, involvement in the decision-making process, students’ expertise in the topic, media and materials used, and the diffusion of outcomes among others have strong effects on task performance, and should therefore be considered together with complexity variables.

A new tool for teachers and researchers involved in e-mail tandem language learning

This paper presents a new teacher interface for the Electronic Tandem Resources (ETR) site, the student interface described in Appel & Mullen (2000), and a new version of the site designed specifically for research purposes. The main features of the original site geared towards the language learner were the creation of a virtual environment for tandem language learning and the provision of tools and data intended to help foster the development of learner autonomy. The new teacher interface supports the integration of tandem language learning activities in the foreign language classroom and addresses the difficult issue of performance assessment and task evaluation. Computer-mediated communication activities between students in different countries are notoriously difficult for teachers to monitor. Nevertheless, there is evidence that in certain situations it is beneficial for the teacher to be able to monitor these activities. The teacher interface of the ETR site offers a user-friendly interface which requires only basic computer skills, and gives teachers access to data such as the date of the most recently sent messages, the number of words sent by students and the percentages of text written by each student in their respective L1 and L2, without giving teachers access to the content of the messages, thus preserving students’ privacy. Furthermore, a slightly different version has also been designed for evaluation of the learning by the researcher investigating second language learning in an electronic tandem environment. This interface has been designed for setting up experiments and some of its features allow for control over variables related to the experiment. The interface records time stamps for sent and received messages.

Finding Common Ground in LSP: A Computer-Mediated Communication Project

In this chapter, a collaborative tandem e-mail project in an LSP environment has been outlined. The central issue of finding common ground between two diverse teaching enviroments has been addressed. We have argued that an approach like task-based learning, both from a task design and a methodological point of view, stands out as a flexible framework for task implementation in an environment where communication is computer-mediated and the L2 is being learned for specific purposes. The chapter has presented the results of a quantitative study in which two tandem groups wrote to each other under different conditions, one group with set tasks to perform and the other without them. The results of comparing the two groups have been analyzed, and a series of pedagogical implications have been drawn.

A framework for learner agency in online spoken interaction tasks

Learner agency, the capability of individual human beings to make choices and act on these choices in a way that makes a difference in their lives (Martin, 2004), is instrumental in second language learning because attainment is only arrived at by learner choice (Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000). If attainment is understood as learner engagement in synchronous, collaborative, spoken interaction which is thought to lead to gains in second language acquisition (SLA), then design considerations that harness learners’ agency towards that end is important. This study explores the relationship between learner agency and two different task types, namely an information-gap task and an opinion-sharing task in two peer-to-peer synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) spoken interaction events. Students’ choices and how students act on these choices during tasks are analysed using a discourse analysis approach. Audio recordings of four dyads as cases were examined using three analytical dimensions: language functions of verbal interaction, cognitive processing and social processing. The results show that most learners used their agency to reconfigure the tasks from spontaneous to planned interaction, with some choices and actions relating to technology impacting detrimentally on interaction time in the target language. The different tasks were found to filter and channel different types of agency that learners could exercise, namely representational, organisational, and strategic agency as speech acts, and directional agency as a physical act. These types consisted of different natures and purposes and are presented as a framework. The information-gap task supported strategic agency and an opinion-sharing task supported personalisation and identity construction or representational agency.

Designing the online oral language learning environment SpeakApps

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on SpeakApps, a major collaborative computer-assisted language learning project, developed based on an open source techno-pedagogical solution to facilitate online oral language production and interaction. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method approach was incorporated as part of the development process which included a comprehensive literature and practice review, user requirement survey of 815 learner, 61 pilot studies with 7,180 students, construction of qualitative teaching scenarios and a Delphi analysis. Findings – Language learners have limited experience of using synchronous communication tools within language learning contexts. Improving usability features within the Open Educational Resources supported the notion of sustainability and that the provision of the mechanism to indicate quality were vital to support the integrity of open content. Originality/value – The paper provides an overview of the operationalisation of an action-oriented a...