Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching with Technology

Michael Thomas BA (Hons) Cert. TESOL M.Ed. MBA Ph.D. FHEA is Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages and International Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He has held positions at universities in the UK, Germany and Japan. His research interests are in computer-assisted language learning (CALL), task-based language teaching (TBLT), online and distance education, and educational policy. He has recently completed a four-volume major work for Sage Publications entitled Online Learning. He is the Commissioning Editor of a new book series with Palgrave Macmillan USA entitled “Digital Education and Learning” and “Advances in Digital Language Learning and Teaching” (Continuum). Among his book publications are Handbook of Research on Web 2.0 and Second Language Learning (2009), Interactive Whiteboards for Education: Theory, Research and Practice (with Euline Cutrim Schmid) (2010), Task-Based Language Learning & Teaching with Technology (with Hayo Reinders) (Continuum, 2010), Digital Education: Opportunities for Social Collaboration (Palgrave, 2011), Deconstructing Digital Natives: Young People, Technology and the New Literacies (Routledge, 2011), Online Learning (Sage, 2011) and The Reception of Derrida: Translation and Transformation (Palgrave, 2006). He is editor of the International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, associate editor of the International Journal of Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, executive editor of Journal of Second Language Teaching & Research, and has guest edited special editions of the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, the International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, and Digital Education and Culture. He has organized numerous international conferences on digital technologies in education. This title examines widespread interest in new technology-enhanced learning environments and how they are being used to promote task-based learning. This edited collection considers the relationship between task-based language teaching (TBLT) and technology-enhanced learning. TBLT is concerned with a number of macro-tasks such as information gathering and problem-solving as well as evaluative tasks, all of which are increasingly available via online and Web-based technologies. "Technology Enhanced Learning" refers to a broad conception of technology use in the language classroom and incorporates a range of interactive learning technologies such as Interactive Whiteboards and mobile learning devices. The popularity of Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networking sites, podcasting, and virtual worlds), as well as practical applications of mobile learning, place a fresh emphasis on creating project-orientated language learning tasks with a clear real-world significance for learners of foreign languages. This book examines the widespread interest in these new technology-enhanced learning environments and looks at how they are being used to promote task-based learning. This book will appeal to practitioners and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and education studies. 1. Task-based language teaching : an overview / Michael Thomas & Gary Motteram -- "But is it a task?" : is it really TBLT that is being developed or something else? / Paul Knight -- Task design for virtual learning environments / Regine Hampel -- Intelligent CALL and task-based language teaching / Matthias Schulze -- Tasks in network-based CALL / Mark Peterson -- A technological framework for TBLT / Jozef Colpaert & Frederick Cornillie -- Synchronous and asynchronous modes of computer-mediated communication tasks / Glenn Stockwell -- Task-based teaching and interactive whiteboards / Michael Thomas -- Volume in task-based language teaching and learning technologies / Kenneth Reader -- Enhancing the role of the teacher in task-based language teaching / Thomas Raith & Volker Hegelheimer -- TBLT and Telecollaboration 2.0 / Sarah Guth & Francesca Helm -- Exploring task-based curriculum development / Yao Zhang Hill & Stephen L. Tschudi -- Future directions in TBLT and technology : research and practice / Gary Motteram