Using Task-based Language Teaching to Tackle the New Spanish Curriculum: Possibilities, Challenges, and the Role of Technology

Abstract

[eng] The theoretical tenets of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) make it a potentially effective approach to consider to tackle the principles of the new Spanish curriculum. Thus, the following research opens with a theoretical background and literature review of the positive and negative pedagogical implications of TBLT. The study also examines the affordances and issues of technology in its synergy with tasks in what is known as Technology-Mediated Task-Based Language Teaching (TMTBLT). These explorations are complemented with discussions on the use of TBLT and TMTBLT in light of the new Spanish curriculum in general and the Catalan context in particular. To shed light on the possibilities and challenges of the approach(es), this research adopted a quantitative approach using a questionnaire to collect data on students’ perceptions on a technology-mediated task. Findings were complemented by the teacher/researcher’s observations. The sample population in the study included 48 students with different proficiency levels. The results found that TBLT may help in student motivation, in providing a competential and meaningful learning, and in fostering communicative skills. On the other hand, results identified several challenges, namely time constraints, overuse of L1, and teaching contexts that may resist new approaches. Finally, results pointed out at the affordances and issues of blending technology and tasks, namely promoting digital skills and engaging students in tasks. Nevertheless, students’ digital literacies must not be assumed given that adding the technology component may strongly affect task complexity.