Task design within virtual exchange: The case of institutionally integrated teletandem

Virtual Exchange is a pedagogical approach based on a sequence of tasks that are carried out collaboratively by groups of learners who are from different cultural backgrounds and geographical locations (O'DOWD, Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1, 1-23, 2018). The purpose of this chapter is to discuss, from a task-as-workplan perspective, the design of the text exchange task that is implemented in institutionally integrated teletandem (Aranha & Cavalari, Databank of oral teletandem interactions. In: Jager, S.; Kurek, M. (ed.). New directions in telecollaborative research and practice: selected papers from the second conference on telecollaboration in higher education. Dublin, 2014), a model of virtual exchange that aims at foreign language learning. The task was designed, firstly, to provide students with topics for conversation during teletandem oral sessions, since difficulties in finding topics to discuss could lead to learners' demotivation and discontinuity of partnerships. Secondly, it aimed at integrating teletandem practice into the foreign language syllabus. Last, but not least, it serves the purpose of promoting collaborative improvement of language and cultural aspects related to the topic/theme of the text. Our analysis associated the text exchange task with the features and requirements of a well-designed task proposed by Chapelle (Computer Applications in second language acquisition: Foundations for teaching, testing and research: Cambridge University Press, 2001) and González-Lloret and Ortega (Towards technology-mediated TBLT: An introduction. In M. González-Lloret & L. Ortega (Eds.), Technology-mediated TBLT: Researching Technology and Tasks (pp. 1-22). Johns Benjamins, 2014). The results reveal that the task design may allow teletandem participants to (i) engage in authentic language use, (ii) make choices according to their personal preferences and goals, (iii) focus both on meaning and on form, (iv) reflect on their learning, and (v) collaborate toward a reciprocal goal.