Showing papers on "Task analysis published in 2016"

An Interview Reflection on “Intelligent Tutoring Goes to School in the Big City”

Abstract: Our 1997 article in IJAIED reported on a study that showed that a new algebra curriculum with an embedded intelligent tutoring system (the Algebra Cognitive Tutor) dramatically enhanced high-school students’ learning. The main motivation for the study was to demonstrate that intelligent tutors that have cognitive science research embedded in them could have real impact in schools. This study was one of the first large-scale classroom evaluations of the integrated use of an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) in high schools. A core challenge was figuring out how to embed this new technology into a curriculum and into the existing social context of schools. A key element of the study design was to include multiple kinds of assessments, including standardized test items and items measuring complex problem solving and use of representations. The results were powerful: “On average the 470 students in experimental classes outperformed students in comparison classes by 15 % on standardized tests and 100 % on tests targeting the [course] objectives.” We suggested that the study was evidence “that laboratory tutoring systems can be scaled up and made to work, both technically and pedagogically, in real and unforgiving settings like urban high schools.” Since this study, many more classroom studies comparing instruction that includes an ITS against business as usual have been conducted, often showing advantages for the ITS-enhanced curricula. More rigorous randomized field trials are now more commonplace, but the approach of using multiple assessments in large-scale randomized field trials has not caught on. Cognitive task analysis will remain fundamental to the success of ITSs. A key remaining question for ITS is to find out how they can be used most effectively to support open-ended problem solving, either online or offline. Given all the recent excitement around Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), it is interesting to note that our field of Artificial Intelligence in Education has been making huge, less recognized, progress with impact on millions of students and with the majority of those students finishing the course!

A Shared Task on Multimodal Machine Translation and Crosslingual Image Description

Abstract: This paper introduces and summarises the findings of a new shared task at the intersection of Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision: the generation of image descriptions in a target language, given an image and/or one or more descriptions in a different (source) language. This challenge was organised along with the Conference on Machine Translation (WMT16), and called for system submissions for two task variants: (i) a translation task, in which a source language image description needs to be translated to a target language, (optionally) with additional cues from the corresponding image, and (ii) a description generation task, in which a target language description needs to be generated for an image, (optionally) with additional cues from source language descriptions of the same image. In this first edition of the shared task, 16 systems were submitted for the translation task and seven for the image description task, from a total of 10 teams.

Autonomous Learning through Task-based Instruction in Fully Online Language Courses

Abstract: Lina Lee, University of New Hampshire This study investigated the affordances for autonomous learning in a fully online learning environment involving the implementation of task-based instruction in conjunction with Web 2.0 technologies. To that end, four-skill-integrated tasks and digital tools were incorporated into the coursework. Data were collected using midterm reflections, postsurveys and final interviews from two online elementary language courses. The results indicate that the types of tasks and digital tools utilized fostered learner autonomy in different ways. Structured tasks enabled students to work independently to create content, whereas open-ended tasks allowed them more freedom in exploring the understanding of a particular topic through social interaction. Significantly, teacher scaffolding through modeling and timely feedback affected student self-regulated efforts in online learning. The study concludes that personal commitment to the coursework and cognitive engagement with the learning material contributed to the degree of learning autonomy and the level of social interaction in fully online language learning.

Measuring cognitive task demands using dual task methodology, subjective self-ratings, and expert judgments: A Validation Study

Abstract: This study explored the usefulness of dual-task methodology, self-ratings, and expert judgments in assessing task-generated cognitive demands as a way to provide validity evidence for manipulations of task complexity. The participants were 96 students and 61 English as a second language (ESL) teachers. The students, 48 English native speakers and 48 ESL speakers, carried out simple and complex versions of three oral tasks—a picture narrative, a map task, and a decision-making task. Half of the students completed the tasks under a dual-task condition. The remaining half performed the tasks under a single-task condition without a secondary task. Participants in the single condition were asked to rate their perceived mental effort and task difficulty. The ESL teachers provided expert judgments of anticipated mental effort and task difficulty along with explanations for their ratings via an online questionnaire. As predicted, the more complex task versions were found and judged to pose greater cognitive effort on most measures.

Is a ‘Complex’ Task Really Complex? Validating the Assumption of Cognitive Task Complexity

Abstract: In research on task-based learning and teaching, it has traditionally been assumed that differing degrees of cognitive task complexity can be inferred through task design and/or observations of differing qualities in linguistic production elicited by second language (L2) communication tasks. Without validating this assumption, however, it is unclear at best whether the designed or inferred difference in complexity, the key independent variable, is realized as intended. Accordingly, this study adopted diverse methods from cognitive psychology for independently measuring cognitive task complexity, including: dual-task methodology, time estimation, and self-rating. Fifty-three English-L2 speakers in Japan, representing distinct proficiency levels, narrated 4 picture sequences, each containing differing numbers of characters. While performing the primary story-telling task, participants simultaneously completed a secondary task of reacting to a color change. After each story-telling, they also estimated their time-on-task and rated their perceptions of task difficulty and mental effort. Results revealed that only large differences in the task design feature (i.e., number of elements) were detectable in terms of independent measures of cognitive complexity. This finding underscores the importance of validating the assumptions about the relationship between task design and its putative effects on cognitive complexity. Findings also indicated a potential interaction among proficiency, task designs, and measures of cognitive load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of driving environment complexity and dual tasking on drivers’ mental workload and eye blink behavior

Abstract: The goal of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of eye blink behavior in measuring drivers’ mental workload. Previous research has shown that when mental workload increases with the primary task difficulty, blink frequency drops. On the opposite, the number of blinks increases when a cognitive secondary task has to be performed concurrently. However, the combined effects of the primary task difficulty and dual-tasking on blink rate have not been investigated. The present study was thus designed to vary systematically both the primary driving task and the cognitive secondary task demand to examine their combined effects on blink rate. The driving task was manipulated by varying the complexity of a simulated driving environment. The cognitive load was manipulated using a concurrent simple reaction time task or a complex calculation task. The results confirmed that eye blink frequency was a sensitive measure to elicit increased mental workload level coming from the driving environment. They also confirmed that blink rate increased with the introduction of a cognitive secondary task while blink duration was not affected. However, eye blink behavior did not provide a clear mental workload signature when driving task demands and dual-task conditions were varied simultaneously. The overall picture goes against the suitability of eye blink behavior to monitor drivers’ states at least when external and internal demands interact.

The Impact of Different Teaching Approaches and Languages on Student Learning of Introductory Programming Concepts

Abstract: Learning to program, especially in the object-oriented paradigm, is a difficult undertaking for many students. As a result, computing educators have tried a variety of instructional methods to assist beginning programmers. These include developing approaches geared specifically toward novices and experimenting with different introductory programming languages. However, determining the effectiveness of these interventions poses a problem. The research presented here developed an instrument to assess student learning of fundamental and object-oriented programming concepts, then used that instrument to investigate the impact of different teaching approaches and languages on university students’ ability to learn those concepts. Extensive data analysis showed that the instrument performed well overall. Reliability of the assessment tool was statistically satisfactory and content validity was supported by intrinsic characteristics, question response analysis, and expert review. Preliminary support for construct validity was provided through exploratory factor analysis. Three components that at least partly represented the construct “understanding of fundamental programming concepts” were identified: methods and functions, mathematical and logical expressions, and control structures. Analysis revealed significant differences in student performance based on instructional language and approach. The analyses showed differences on the overall score and questions involving assignment, mathematical and logical expressions, and code completion. Instructional language and approach did not appear to affect student performance on questions addressing object-oriented concepts.

Why some teachers easily learn to use a new virtual learning environment: a technology acceptance perspective

Abstract: After a decade of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in higher education, many teachers still use only a minimum of its affordances. This study looked at how academic staff interacted with a new and unknown VLE in order to understand how technology acceptance and support materials influence (perceived and actual) task performance. In an experimental design, 36 participants were split into a control (online help) and experimental (instructor video) condition and completed five common teaching tasks in a new VLE. In contrast to most technology acceptance model research, this study found that perceived usefulness of the VLE was not related to (perceived) task performance. Perceived ease of use was related to intentions and actual behaviour in the VLE. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the two conditions, although the experimental condition led to a (marginal) increase in time to complete the tasks.

‘I’m still not sure what a task is’: Teachers designing language tasks

Abstract: Ellis (2003) identifies four key criteria that distinguish a ‘task’ from the types of situational grammar exercises that are typically found in the more traditional language classroom. This study investigates how well teachers were able to design tasks that fulfilled these four criteria (Ellis, 2003) at the end of a year-long professional development programme in which TBLT figured prominently. Forty-three tasks designed by the teachers for use in their own foreign language classrooms are analysed against Ellis’s four criteria in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the professional development programme, on the premise that adequate understanding of the construct of task underpins successful implementation of TBLT. The findings show that some aspects of task-design were difficult for teachers. Implications for professional development programmes that focus on TBLT, such as the one whose effectiveness is evaluated here, are discussed.

Using task features for zero-shot knowledge transfer in lifelong learning

Abstract: Knowledge transfer between tasks can improve the performance of learned models, but requires an accurate estimate of the inter-task relationships to identify the relevant knowledge to transfer. These inter-task relationships are typically estimated based on training data for each task, which is inefficient in lifelong learning settings where the goal is to learn each consecutive task rapidly from as little data as possible. To reduce this burden, we develop a lifelong reinforcement learning method based on coupled dictionary learning that incorporates high-level task descriptors to model the intertask relationships. We show that using task descriptors improves the performance of the learned task policies, providing both theoretical justification for the benefit and empirical demonstration of the improvement across a variety of dynamical control problems. Given only the descriptor for a new task, the lifelong learner is also able to accurately predict the task policy through zero-shot learning using the coupled dictionary, eliminating the need to pause to gather training data before addressing the task.

Autonomously constructing hierarchical task networks for planning and human-robot collaboration

Abstract: Collaboration between humans and robots requires solutions to an array of challenging problems, including multi-agent planning, state estimation, and goal inference. There already exist feasible solutions for many of these challenges, but they depend upon having rich task models. In this work we detail a novel type of Hierarchical Task Network we call a Clique/Chain HTN (CC-HTN), alongside an algorithm for autonomously constructing them from topological properties derived from graphical task representations. As the presented method relies on the structure of the task itself, our work imposes no particular type of symbolic insight into motor primitives or environmental representation, making it applicable to a wide variety of use cases critical to human-robot interaction. We present evaluations within a multi-resolution goal inference task and a transfer learning application showing the utility of our approach.

Effects of task repetition on learners’ attention orientation in L2 oral production

Abstract: Task repetition facilitates learners’ performance, at least temporarily: Since learners are already familiar with the content of the task at the initial enactment, they are capable of focusing their attention on linguistic form during the following enactment. However, the analysis in previous studies treated various aspects of ‘form’ as one package. This study examined learners’ attention shifts during repeated task engagement by methodological triangulation. The experiment required 28 Japanese learners of English to perform narrative tasks twice. Learners’ performance was analysed, and the protocol data elicited by stimulated recall were coded along their attention orientations. The result partially supported the form-focused effects of task repetition: learners focused more on the syntactic encoding process and less on the conceptualizing process at the second task enactment when they engaged in the same task twice. Possible theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.

Task repetition and its impact on EFL children’s negotiation of meaning strategies and pair dynamics: an exploratory study

Abstract: Little research has been carried out on the effect of task repetition on young learners’ negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies and on pair dynamics. The present study aims to fill this gap by analysing the interaction of 60 dyads of third- and fourth-year primary English as a foreign language learners (8–9, 9–10 years old, respectively) while they perform communicative tasks and assessing whether task repetition has an impact on those constructs. The participants, with a beginner proficiency level established by standardised tests, completed different tasks in dyads at two testing times: at Time 1, all participants completed a spot-the-difference task. At Time 2, 21 dyads repeated exactly the same task, 16 dyads completed a similar task with a different content (procedural repetition group) and the last 23 dyads completed a guessing game. The video-recorded oral production was transcribed and codified for NoM strategies (clarification requests, confirmation and comprehension checks, self- and other-repe...

Negotiation of Meaning Strategies in Child EFL Mainstream and CLIL Settings

Abstract: Research on child English as a second language (ESL) learners has shown the benefits of task-based interaction for the use of different negotiation of meaning (NoM) strategies, which have been claimed to lead to second language learning. However, research on child interaction in foreign language settings is scarce, specifically research on a new prevalent methodology in Europe, content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The present study focuses on mainstream and CLIL English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' oral interaction while they completed a guessing game and a picture placement task. The researchers analysed the oral production of seventy-two 9- to 12-year-old children (in age- and proficiency-matched dyads) to examine the conversational strategies that were employed in both tasks. Findings indicated that younger learners negotiated for meaning more, and mainstream learners resorted to more conversational strategies than CLIL learners. Furthermore, task-based differences in the NoM strategies seemed to depend on age and instructional setting. The results seem to indicate that age, instructional setting, and the tasks in which these EFL learners were engaged had an impact on the NoM strategies they employed in task-based interaction.

Task-based language teaching: An empirical study of task transfer:

Abstract: Since the 1980s, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has enjoyed considerable interest from researchers of second language acquisition (SLA), resulting in a growing body of empirical evidence to support how and to what extent this approach can promote language learning. Although transferability and generalizability are critical assumptions for TBLT, there is little empirical evidence that task-related language abilities are indeed transferable. The current study was conducted to address this need for empirical research on generalizability and transfer critical for the planning of teaching and assessment of learning by specifically investigating whether or not transfer occurs between two similar pedagogic tasks. Fifty-three randomly assigned low-level adult second language learners were trained in a computer lab to complete one of two pedagogic tasks or no task, after which all participants were tested on two transfer tasks. Although the results of a MANCOVA did not provide statistically significant eviden...

Linguistic Proficiency Assessment in Second Language Acquisition Research: The Elicited Imitation Task

Abstract: This study investigated the elicited imitation task (EIT) as a tool for measuring linguistic proficiency in a second/foreign (L2) language, focusing on French. Nonnative French speakers (n = 94) and native French speakers (n = 6) completed an EIT that included 50 sentences varying in length and complexity. Three raters evaluated productions on five scales: meaning, syntax, morphology, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Participants also completed a cloze test and a language background questionnaire. Results from regression and principal component analyses showed a strong relationship between EIT performance and cloze test scores and significant relationships between EIT performance, sentence length, and learners’ knowledge of and experience with French. Ratings were internally consistent, and all test items discriminated well between lower- and higher-level learners. We argue that this EIT exhibits good validity and reliability, discriminates among French learners of different proficiencies, and is a practical tool for L2 proficiency assessment.

Relationships among Individual Task Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulated Learning Strategy Use and Academic Performance in a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Environment.

Abstract: This study investigates relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance. Participants were 96 undergraduate students working on projects with three subtasks (idea generation task, methodical task and data collection) in a blended learning environment. Task self-efficacy was measured with self-reports administered during each subtask. Learning strategies were assessed by counting each instance of strategy use as it occurred in peer-to-peer conversations typed into a computer software system. Results showed that for each subtask, learners with higher task self-efficacy had higher task performance. Those who used more learning strategies on each subtask also had higher performance. In turn, high performance was associated with high self-efficacy on subsequent subtasks. Surprisingly, results showed that task self-efficacy and learning strategy use were not significantly related during any subtask. Overall, results imply that task self-efficacy, learning strat...

Repeating a Monologue Under Increasing Time Pressure: Effects on Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy

Abstract: Studies have shown that learners' task performance improves when they have the opportunity to repeat the task. Conditions for task repetition vary, however. In the 4/3/2 activity, learners repeat a monologue under increasing time pressure. The purpose is to foster fluency, but it has been suggested in the literature that it also benefits other performance aspects, such as syntactic complexity and accuracy. The present study examines the plausibility of that suggestion. Twenty Vietnamese EFL students were asked to give the same talk three times, with or without increasing time pressure. Fluency was enhanced most markedly in the shrinking-time condition, but no significant changes regarding complexity or accuracy were attested in that condition. Although the increase in fluency was less pronounced in the constant-time condition, this increase coincided with modest gains in complexity and accuracy. The learners, especially those in the time-pressured condition, resorted to a high amount of verbatim duplication from one delivery of their narratives to the next, which explains why relatively few changes were attested in performance aspects other than fluency. The findings suggest that, if teachers wish to implement repeated-narrative activities in order to enhance output qualities beyond fluency, the 4/3/2 implementation is not the most judicious choice, and opportunities for language adjustment need to be incorporated early in the task sequence.

Teachers' Perspectives on Second Language Task Difficulty: Insights From Think-Alouds and Eye Tracking

Abstract: The majority of empirical studies that have so far investigated task features in order to inform task grading and sequencing decisions have been grounded in hypothesis-testing research. Few studies have attempted to adopt a bottom-up approach in order to explore what task factors might contribute to task difficulty. The aim of this study was to help fill this gap by eliciting teachers’ perspectives on sources of task difficulty. We asked 16 English as a second language (ESL) teachers to judge the linguistic ability required to carry out four pedagogic tasks and consider how they would manipulate the tasks to suit the abilities of learners at lower and higher proficiency. While contemplating the tasks, the teachers thought aloud, and we also tracked their eye movements. The majority of teachers’ think-aloud comments revealed that they were primarily concerned with linguistic factors when assessing task difficulty. Conceptual demands were most frequently proposed as a way to increase task difficulty, whereas both linguistic and conceptual factors were suggested by teachers when considering modifications to decrease task difficulty. The eye-movement data, overall, were aligned with the teachers’ think-aloud comments. These findings are discussed with respect to existing task taxonomies and future research directions.

Are Infants’ Theory-of-Mind Abilities Well Integrated? Implicit Understanding of Intentions, Desires, and Beliefs

Abstract: The development of theory of mind (ToM) in infancy has been mainly documented through studies conducted on a single age group with a single task. Very few studies have examined ToM abilities other than false belief, and very few studies have used a within-subjects design. During 2 testing sessions, infants aged 14 and 18 months old were administered ToM tasks based on the violation-of-expectation paradigm which measured intention, true belief, desire, and false-belief understanding. Infants’ looking times at the congruent and incongruent test trials of each task were compared, and results revealed that both groups of infants looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the intention and true-belief tasks. In contrast, only 18-month-olds looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial of the desire task and neither age group looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the false-belief task. Additionally, intertask comparisons revealed only a significant relation between performa...

Twelve tips for medical curriculum design from a cognitive load theory perspective

Abstract: During their course, medical students have to become proficient in a variety of competencies. For each of these competencies, educational design can use cognitive load theory to consider three dimensions: task fidelity: from literature (lowest) through simulated patients (medium) to real patients (highest); task complexity: the number of information elements in a learning task; and instructional support: from worked examples (highest) through completion tasks (medium) to autonomous task performance (lowest). One should integrate any competency into a medical curriculum such that training in that competency facilitates the students' journey that starts from high instructional support on low-complexity low-fidelity learning tasks all the way to high-complexity tasks in high-fidelity environments carried out autonomously. This article presents twelve tips on using cognitive load theory or, more specifically, a set of four tips for each of task fidelity, task complexity, and instructional support, to achieve that aim.

Infusing Physical Activities Into the Classroom: Effects on Preschool Children's Geography Learning

Abstract: In this intervention study, we investigated the effects of physical activities that were integrated into a geography task on preschool children's learning performance and enjoyment. Eight childcare centers with 87 four-to-five-year-old children were randomly assigned across an integrated physical activity condition, an unintegrated physical activity condition, and a control condition without physical activity. Children learned the names and a typical animal from each of the six continents using a floor-mounted world map with soft toy animals. Both learning conditions with physical activities showed higher performance than the learning condition without physical activities on an immediate retention test, and on a delayed retention test administered five weeks later. In addition, children in the physical activity conditions (integrated and nonintegrated) enjoyed their learning method the most. Infusing task-relevant physical activities into the classroom and the learning task is discussed as a promising way to improve children's learning, enjoyment, and health.

What and When Second-Language Learners Revise When Responding to Timed Writing Tasks on the Computer: The Roles of Task Type, Second Language Proficiency, and Keyboarding Skills.

Abstract: This study contributes to the literature on second language (L2) learners' revision behavior by describing what, when, and how often L2 learners revise their texts when responding to timed writing tasks on the computer and by examining the effects of task type, L2 proficiency, and keyboarding skills on what and when L2 learners revise. Each of 54 participants with 2 levels of L2 proficiency (low vs. high) and 2 levels of keyboarding skills (low vs. high) responded to timed independent and integrated writing tasks on the computer. A keystroke logging program recorded each participant's writing activities. Keystroke data were coded in terms of participants' revision behavior (e.g., orientation, linguistic domain, and temporal location of revisions) and then compared across tasks and learner groups. The findings suggest that the participants tended to revise form more often than content and that L2 proficiency and, to a lesser extent, task type, but not keyboarding skills, affected participants' revision behaviors during the timed writing tasks. Overall, the participants made more precontextual (that is, at the point of inscription) revisions than contextual revisions (that is, revisions of already written text), made considerably more typography and language revisions than content revisions, revised more frequently at the phrase and word level than at higher levels, and tended to make precontextual revisions more frequently in the first two thirds of the writing process and contextual revisions most frequently in the last third of the writing session. The findings and their implications for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overview of NTCIR-12 Lifelog Task

Abstract: In this paper we review the NTCIR12-Lifelog pilot task, which ran at NTCIR-12. We outline the test collection employed, along with the tasks, the eight submissions and the findings from this pilot task. We finish by suggesting future plans for the task.

Collaborative Dialogue in Learning Pragmatics: Pragmatic-Related Episodes as an Opportunity for Learning Request-Making

Abstract: This study examined the effects of collaborative dialogue in learning the speech act of request. Seventy-four second-grade girls' junior high students were divided into three groups. The ‘collaborative group’ (n = 25) received explicit metapragmatic information on request (request head act and modifications) followed by a dialogue construction task in pairs. The ‘individual group’ (n = 25) received the same information but completed the same task individually while thinking aloud. The last group, control group (n = 24), did not receive instruction. During-task interaction in the collaborative group and think-aloud protocols in the individual group were audio-recorded. Instructional effect was measured by a discourse completion task (DCT). Target request head acts in DCT were scored, and request modifications were analyzed for frequency. The collaborative group outperformed the individual group on the production of the head act at immediate post. No group difference was found in request modifications. Analysis of interaction and think-aloud data showed that the collaborative group produced the target head act more successfully than the individual group, but no group difference was found in the use of modifications.

Modeling Task Complexity in Crowdsourcing

Abstract: Complexity is crucial to characterize tasks performed by humans through computer systems. Yet, the theory and practice of crowdsourcing currently lacks a clear understanding of task complexity, hindering the design of effective and efficient execution interfaces or fair monetary rewards. To understand how complexity is perceived and distributed over crowdsourcing tasks, we instrumented an experiment where we asked workers to evaluate the complexity of 61 real-world re-instantiated crowdsourcing tasks. We show that task complexity, while being subjective, is coherently perceived across workers; on the other hand, it is significantly influenced by task type. Next, we develop a high-dimensional regression model, to assess the influence of three classes of structural features (metadata, content, and visual) on task complexity, and ultimately use them to measure task complexity. Results show that both the appearance and the language used in task description can accurately predict task complexity. Finally, we apply the same feature set to predict task performance, based on a set of 5 years-worth tasks in Amazon MTurk. Results show that features related to task complexity can improve the quality of task performance prediction, thus demonstrating the utility of complexity as a task modeling property.

Research on mathematics teachers as partners in task design

Abstract: Mathematical tasks and tools, including tasks in the form of digital tools, are key resources in mathematics teaching and in mathematics teacher education. Even so, the ‘design’ of mathematical tasks is perceived in different ways: sometimes seen as something distinct from the teaching and learning process, and sometimes as integral to it. Whilst task design has often been carried out by designers or mathematicians (perhaps as textbook authors), the focus for this review article is research that has involved mathematics teachers as partners in the design of tasks. The article provides a state-of-the-art review of relevant literature and is presented under three headings that consider, in turn, the role of mathematical ‘tasks’; the nature of ‘task design’; and the notion of ‘partnerships for task design’ in mathematics education. Subsequently, we present current research that is providing new insights into tasks, task design, and task design partnership. Based on this, we argue that ‘task design’ needs to pay particular attention to what to design, which tools are necessary or beneficial, and under what conditions; digital tools and task resources offer particular affordances that traditional resources cannot provide; and not only do teachers benefit from being partners in task design (in terms of their professional learning) but without their involvement some aspects of task design would most likely be neglected.

The Role of Inhibitory Control in Second Language Phonological Processing

Abstract: This study investigated the role of inhibition in second language (L2) learners’ phonological processing. Participants were Spanish learners of L2 English and American learners of L2 Spanish. We measured inhibition through a retrieval-induced inhibition task. Accuracy of phonological representations (perception and production) was assessed through a speeded ABX categorization task and a delayed sentence repetition task. We used a measure of L2 vocabulary size to tease out L2 proficiency effects. Higher inhibitory control was related to lower error rate in segmental perception. Inhibition was also related to consonant but not to vowel production accuracy. These results suggest a potential role for inhibition in L2 phonological acquisition, with inhibition enhancing the processing of phonologically relevant acoustic information in the L2 input, which in turn might lead to more accurate L2 phonological representations.

Oral-performance language tasks for CSL beginners in second life

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different types of language tasks performed in Second Life (SL) on the oral performance of beginners of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL), focusing on oral accuracy. The 30 CSL beginners who participated in this study were randomly divided into two groups (n = 15 per group), required to perform two different types of language tasks: information-gap and reasoninggap. During the study, both the Mandarin oral accuracy and the learning motivation of both groups were measured and analyzed to determine to what extent performing the two different task types could contribute to the two dependent variables (i.e., accuracy and motivation). All the learners improved significantly in oral communication competence, with those performing the reasoning-gap task improving significantly more than those performing the information-gap task. It was also found that almost all the learners exhibited positive learning motivation and appreciated the task-based learning activities designed in SL. Both groups made significant improvement in the affective dimension. Furthermore, the reasoning-gap group received significantly higher scores in the educational-context-related dimension (attitude toward SL as the Mandarin Chinese learning environment) than the information-gap group did.

Microevaluating Learners' Task-specific Motivation in a Task-based Business Spanish Course

Abstract: Scholars of task-based language teaching (TBLT) advocate for the identification of learners’ communicative needs to inform syllabus design, particularly in language for specific purposes contexts (e.g., Long 2015). However, little research has applied TBLT principles in designing Spanish for specific purposes curricula. Moreover, despite the relationship between learners’ task-specific motivation and task performance (e.g., Dornyei & Kormos 2000; Yanguas 2011), it is unclear how learners respond to the design of tasks derived from a needs analysis. To address this issue, this classroom-based study employed a needs analysis to derive five major exit tasks for syllabus design and measured students’ perceptions of exit tasks through microevaluations following Ellis (2011). Adult heritage and second language learners of Spanish ( N = 26), enrolled in upper-level university Business Spanish courses in two institutions, rated high levels of motivation for all tasks, but a post-hoc analysis revealed a significantly lower degree of motivation for a task involving the evaluation of a case study. Results imply that conducting a needs analysis and designing exit tasks following TBLT principles appears to be a useful tool to design engaging and relevant tasks, but learners’ level of interest and satisfaction can compromise their task-specific motivation.