Digitally yours: TBLT through the lens of digital competence

by Joanna Baumgart , Martin Koch & Kristin Kersten (University of Hildesheim, Germany)

________________________________________________________________________

Project Cu2RVE, led jointly by the Centre of Teacher Education and the Faculty of Education at the University of Hildesheim, aims to explore and promote digitisation in schools and across different teacher education programmes. As a partner in project Cu2RVE, we focus on the convergence of technology and TBLT in a foreign language classroom. Technology-mediated TBLT (TMTBLT) offers many affordances in language learning in terms of task authenticity, motivation, higher engagement etc. (González-Lloret 2017, Ortega 2017, Ellis et al 2020, Smith & González-Lloret 2021). More specifically, research shows that implementation of TMTBLT with young language learners leads to increased collaboration, joint co-construction of output, peer scaffolding as well as improved fluency and comprehension skills (Alhinty 2015, Pellerin 2014, Pinter 2019). 

This paper reports on a study conducted within project Cu2RVE where technology-mediated TBLT was implemented in two primary schools in Lower Saxony, Germany, in the spring of 2022. The aim of the pedagogic intervention was twofold: to examine how the integration of digital skills and subject content impacts on learning in those two competence areas, and to evaluate the effect of digital competences on pupil language acquisition in a TBLT context. This study employs experimental design where a seven-lesson unit “In town” was delivered in two primary schools in two 4th grade cohorts (N=40) culminating in a task-based final class. Both experiment groups used Google Maps to plan a sightseeing tour of London while the control groups covered the same content using a traditional “pen and paper” approach. L2 competences relating to the topic as well as digital competences were elicited using a pre- and post-test. In order to minimise the impact of external variables, the class English teachers delivered the material in each setting. Furthermore, lessons were video recorded and instructional differences were controlled for using Teacher Input Observation Scheme. Data was analysed statistically using a mixed factorial ANOVA with time as within-subject factor and group as between-subject factor. Based on the literature review of similar studies, we expect that the use of digitisation strategies predicts higher L2 and content scores at the end of the unit. 

Keywords: technology-mediated TBLT, primary school 
______________________________________________________________________

References:

Alhinty, M. (2015). Young language learners’ collaborative learning and social interaction as a motivational aspect of the Ipad, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 10(2), 24–29. 
 
Ellis,  R.,  Skehan,  P.,  Li,  S.,  Shintani,  N.,  and  Lambert,  C.  (2020).  Task-Based  Language Teaching. Theory and Practice, Cambridge: CUP. 
 
González-Lloret, M. (2017). “Technology and task-based language teaching”, In Thorne, S. & May, S. (Eds.), Language and Technology. Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 1–13). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 

Ortega, L. (2017). New CALL-SLA research interfaces for the 21st century: Towards equitable multilingualism, CALICO Journal, 34, 285–316. 
 
Pinter, A. (2019). Agency and technology-mediated task repetition with young learners: Research and implications for primary classroom practice, Language Teaching for Young Learners, 1(2), 139-160. 
 
Pellerin, M. (2014). Language tasks using touch screen and mobile technologies: Reconceptualising task-based CALL for young language learners. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 40(1), 1–23. 
 
Smith, B., & González-Lloret, M. (2021). Technology-mediated task-based language teaching: A research agenda, Language Teaching, 54(4), 518-534.