Invited Colloquia

Part 1

Introduction - Melissa Baralt

Paper 1:

Developing fair and functional digital reading tasks in Flemish K-12 settings: the impact of lexical support

Bart Deygers, Fauve De Backer, Sabine Dierick, University Ghent

This study addresses the development and validation of digital functional reading assessment tasks for the Flemish K12 education system, emphasizing fairness and equity. It explores the use of lexical support in reading comprehension tasks, focusing on differences in glossary use, its impact on comprehension scores, and which lemmas are consulted. A mixed-methods approach analyzed task performance data from 5th and 11th graders as well as click patterns and post-hoc cognitive interviews. The glossary proved to be a widely used and effective linguistic support, especially in secondary education. We conclude by discussing equitable testing practices and how lexical support is an effective means to promote fairness and level the playing field.

Paper 2:

US-North Africa virtual exchange: Virtual Reality immersion as a tool to foster friendship and Arabic and English-language learning

Melissa Baralt, Noha Elsakka, Florida International University

Virtual Tabadul fosters English and Arabic language learning while building friendships across borders between U.S. and North African college students. Using immersive VR simulations, it creates authentic, interactive environments where learners engage in real-world tasks, enhancing cultural exchange and mutual understanding. After sharing the curriculum and examples of tasks, we report on the outcomes of 600 students, showing how Virtual Tabadul provided them with an opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and participate in a meaningful exchange experience, regardless of geographical or financial barriers. We conclude by examining how virtual reality and virtual exchange offer dynamic, immersive experiences to foster world language learning.

Part 2

Paper 3:

Leveraging multimodal resources to promote awareness of Black languaging practices: A variationist approach to Spanish language instruction

Aris Clemons, University of Tennessee Knoxville

This presentation discusses multimodal resources to raise awareness about Black linguistic varieties in the Spanish-speaking world. Grounded in Hemispheric Black Language Pedagogies, the research incorporates diverse media to highlight the linguistic and cultural contributions of Black communities across the Spanish-speaking diaspora as part of the MI-BRIDGE task-based curriculum. By employing a variationist approach, the study emphasizes the importance of recognizing and integrating these varieties in Spanish language instruction, promoting more inclusive and culturally responsive teaching practices that reflect the linguistic diversity of Black speakers.

Paper 4:

Amplifying voices: Empowering incarcerated language learners through Spanish language writing and digital literacy

José Morcillo-Gómez, Melissa Baralt, Florida International University

Digital writing platforms offer a flexible, interactive learning environment where learners can practice writing, reading, and comprehension skills at their own pace. These tools can also play a critical role in providing educational access to an underrepresented group of learners—incarcerated individuals seeking to learn Spanish. This study explores the effects of a digital LMS on Spanish second language writing among incarcerated men. The study involved 10 participants, each equipped with an LMS writing tablet for their Spanish writing class. Before and at the end of one semester, pre- and post-assessments of Spanish writing as well as participant self-reflections on confidence and motivation in language learning were collected. We report on how this digital tool supported students’ language acquisition through tasks, and helped them to gain valuable skills for reintegration into society.

Discussion and Conclusion

Part 1

Introduction

Claudia R. Fernández, University of Illinois-Chicago, USA

Paper 1:

Task-Based Needs Analysis of English for Nursing Purposes

Dwi Nugroho, University of Leeds, UK

This paper discusses the initial findings of an ongoing task-based needs analysis in a hospital setting, a setting which is ethically sensitive. Interviews, surveys, roleplays, and simulated-recall interviews were employed to identify target tasks, task frequency, and task difficulty. The preliminary findings revealed inpatient nurses performing two types of tasks: face-to-face and telenursing tasks.

Paper 2:

Designing And Implementing Pedagogic Tasks Derived from Needs Analysis Research in the Chilean Context

Carolina Arias-Contreras, The University of Queensland, Australia

This study investigated how EFL teachers in Chile perceived the design and implementation of tasks derived from needs analysis and meeting Ellis’s criteria. Findings showed that teachers had favourable views of these types of tasks, but their design was challenging in practice. Teachers’ reflections led to changes in their views and practices.

Paper 3:

Black Empowerment and Liberation: A Task-Based Approach to Antiracism in the Spanish Language Classroom

L. J. Randolph Jr., University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

This paper draws upon transdisciplinary connections within research specifically relevant to Black empowerment and liberation in schooling to present a framework for enacting antiracist language learning via a TBLT approach in the Spanish language classroom. The paper explores theoretical and practical considerations for curricular design, instruction, and assessment.

Paper 4:

Evaluating Outcomes and Fidelity in a Task-Based University Language Program

Matt Coss, Michigan State University, USA

This study examined TBLT implementation and outcomes across a multi-course, multi-instructor university Spanish program. Data included instructor interviews, observations, proficiency assessments, self-assessments, and questionnaires. Results showed robust strong-form TBLT implementation, proficiency outcomes meeting/exceeding non-TBLT programs, and a clear link between TBLT fidelity and student achievement.

Part 2

Paper 5:

Utilizing Needs Analysis Frameworks to Design Spanish for Specific Purposes Task-Based Courses

Mackenzie Coulter-Kern, Wabash County Diversity Coalition and Manchester University, Indiana, USA

Madison Wray, Indiana University-Bloomington, USA

Stacey Hanson, Indiana University-Bloomington, USA

This study details a needs analysis carried out to design a Spanish certificate program for a small, rural Midwestern university. The needs analysis included five phases that involved a survey of various stakeholders, creation of target tasks, implementation of tasks in a course, and evaluation of the course.

Paper 6

So, What Does a Technology-Mediated TBLT Curriculum Really Look Like?

Marta Gonzáles-Lloret, University of Hawai'i, Mānoa, USA

This presentation offers a step-by-step guide to developing a technology-mediated language learning curriculum based on Long’s (2015) TBLT model and the ADDIE educational technology model. It includes examples of pedagogic tasks to demonstrate task design sequencing, and implementation, as well as the provision of feedback and development of assessment tools.

Discussion and Conclusion

Koen Van Gorp, Michigan State University, USA

Part 1: Low- to high-tech solutions in TBLA

Paper 1:

Task-based (“Can-do” based) Self-Assessments: A Design Toolkit for Teachers

Paula Winke, Michigan State University

Task-based (“can-do” based) self-assessments with Likert-scale options are reliable for lower-stakes assessment, align with task-based language teaching theory, and promote self-regulation and learner autonomy. Thus, I review a self-assessment design toolkit for teachers that they can use to create self-assessments that (a) are tied to their course’s learning objectives, (b) track individuals’ growth, and (c) are linked to an external proficiency scale (e.g., CEFR or ACTFL). Student scores can be used as a diagnostic and, in addition to other measures of speaking, provide a fuller picture of student performance and growth.

Paper 2:

Assessment between learning process analytics and writing product characteristics: Does practice in an Intelligent Tutoring System transfer to writing tasks?

Kordula De Kuthy (University of Tübingen) & Detmar Meurers (IWM Tübingen)

While school children are relatively understudied in SLA research (Andringa & Godfroid, 2020), the increasing use of digital tools in schools provides new opportunities for data collection. While learning analytics in principle makes it possible to analyze the relationship between learning processes and outcomes, the latter are often limited to test items that were similar to the exercises used for practice. In this talk, based on data from several field studies with the Intelligent Tutoring System FeedBook in regular 7th grade EFL classes in Germany, we explore whether the learning gains found using such decontextualized assessment instruments transfer to more ecologically valid free writing task.

Paper 3:

Leveraging AI in the post-task phase: Automated feedback and focus on form in academic writing

Rosmawati Rosmawati, Karin Avnit, and Lim Li Siong, Singapore Institute of Technology

This presentation reports on the results of an action research project that leveraged on AI in the post-task phase to help students focus on form (rhetorical moves) and improve their academic writing skill in a TBLT class for first-year engineering students.

Part 2: Task-based assessment of speaking

Paper 4:

Designing a task-based English speaking diagnosis and learning system using AI technology and automated assessment

Jin-Hwa Lee (Chung-Ang University), Heyoung Kim (Chung-Ang University), YunDeok Choi (Chungnam National University), and Min-Chang Sung (Gyeongin National University)

This government-funded project in South Korea developed an English speaking diagnosis and learning system using AI technology and automated assessment. The system, aligned with the National English curriculum, features interactive assessment and learning sections with tasks designed for four proficiency levels, providing automatic feedback to enhance students’ speaking skills.

Paper 5:

A Probe into the Effectiveness of Mobile-assisted Speaking Continuation Tasks Based on Peer Feedback Analysis

Jian Li and Xiuqing Dong, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

The present study attempted to investigate into the effectiveness of the mobile-assisted speaking continuation tasks as based on analysis of peer feedback elicited from the tasks. In an audiovisual-based speaking continuation task, participants are asked first to watch a video and then to continue and complete a conversation or monologue based on the original video with the ending erased. The analysis of peer feedback records from 46 sophomore students at an English listening and speaking course in a university in southern China revealed that students predominantly provided positive feedback and suggestions to their peers, with little corrective feedback.

Paper 6:

The Effect of Immersive 360 Tasks on Aspects of L2 Speaking

Anna Zaffinelli, Paz Gonzalez, and Nivja De Jong, Leiden University

The project evaluates the effect of using immersive 360 videos as elicitation compared to speech elicited through the same tasks presented in two types of 2D formats. We first conducted a pilot study with eight Spanish learners, followed by a study in which thirty L2 learners of French carried out three similar information gap tasks in duos, with each task in one of the three conditions (3D, 2D-video, and 2D-cartoon). Various measures on acoustic aspects of speech naturalness (Hardy et al., 2021) and additional questionnaire data on learner enjoyment aid the evaluation of the worth of creating 360 videos for speaking tasks.

Part 1

Introduction: Digital Literacies and Student Learning

Paper 1:

Task Performance with Generative AI as an Interlocutor: Task Complexity, Task Type, and Student Perceptions

YouJin Kim, Daniel Dixon, Youngmeen Kim, Robin Cathey (Georgia State University)

The study examined the impact of input complexity and task type on the language production and task performance of English learners while interacting with an AI-chatbot as a task interlocutor. Forty ESL learners were assigned to either a simple or complex input group during task-based chatbot-learner interactions. They completed two task types, totaling ten tasks and perception surveys over three weeks. Task performance data were analyzed in terms of syntactic and lexical complexity. Findings suggest that generative AI has potential to be used as interlocutors in TBLT. Implications are discussed in light of future research using generative AI for TBLT.

Paper 2:

Assessing the potential of LLM-assisted TBLT for monological tasks in pre-intermediate Spanish L2 learners

Nicola Brocca and Rebeca Iniesta Jiménez, University Innsbruck

This paper investigates the effectiveness of Large Language Models (LLMs) in assisting pre-intermediate German-speaking adult learners of Spanish L2 with monological tasks (e.g., cancellations). Learners' responses to a WDCT developed with LLM support are compared to those produced using traditional textbook methods and those generated by native speakers. The pragmatic appropriateness of the responses was evaluated based on pragmatic criteria. Preliminary results suggest that LLMs can enhance task performance and pragmatic output compared to the control group. However, some LLM-generated texts exhibited negative transfer from ChatGPT suggestions, particularly in terms of inappropriate politeness and a lack of contextual adaptation.

Paper 3:

Learning to Chat with AI: A New Paradigm for Empowering Refugee Language Learners in TBLT

Negar Siyari, Georgetown University

AI-powered chatbots offer new learning opportunities for language learners, but their application by minoritized groups of learners like refugees are not studied sufficiently. This study explores using chatbots in TBLT classes with refugee English learners in the U.S. Two Afghan women participants learned how to use ChatGPT for employment and education needs. A new task, “conversing with AI agent," improved participants' prompt engineering skills and self-sufficiency. This research highlights TBLT's potential to address emergent, technology-mediated learner needs. By introducing AI chatbots to refugee language learners, this study advocates for and informs a new paradigm of AI-mediated task-based curricula to serve underrepresented language learners.

Part 2

Paper 4:

AI-Supported Material Design for an “Organizing a Consulate Event” Task

WeiHsuan Lo (University of Northern Colorado) and Kevin Fedewa (Michigan State University)

This presentation adopts Long’s (2014) strong version of TBLT and considers the linguistic, cultural, and functional authenticity of AI-generated texts in material design (Poole & Polio, 2024). It showcases two Chinese Language instructors’ use of AI in designing task-based materials for an “organizing a US consulate event” task, explores the instructors' modifications of AI-generated materials, shares students’ self-assessments, and discusses challenges and affordances of AI. This presentation adds to the discussion of how AI can be leveraged to address the most difficult part of material design in TBLT, “exposing students to realistic samples of language use” (Long, 2014, p. 249).

Paper 5:

AI promises for language teacher education: evidence from TBLT lesson plans

Constanza Tolosa, University of Auckland

This presentation reports on an on-going research project that investigates the possibilities and challenges of using generative AI to create lesson plans by pre-service teachers of languages. Framed by an understanding of lesson planning as the hallmark of pedagogical reasoning, this presentation will focus on the pre-service participants’ decisions about lesson plans created using AI. I will report on the analysis of the decisions made by two cohorts of pre-service teachers to (1) create prompts for lessons that followed TBLT principles; (2) examine the plans generated against the pedagogical requirements of the methods course; (3) identify cultural bias from AI; and (4) revise the output from AI to create the final version of the lesson plan.

Discussion and Conclusion: Professional Development with AI