Abstract:

North American universities often organise informal 'language tables' where students congregate to improve their oral competency. However, it would be difficult to organise such face-to-face events at most universities due to conflicting schedules and logistical constraints. Furthermore, such events may be intimidating to reticent learners. To appeal to language learners, we propose a ‘Virtual Language Table’ (VLT) that taps on the strengths of cooperative e-learning - a smartphone app that is integrated with existing virtual learning environments/course management systems to facilitate language practice without reticence anytime, anywhere. VLT facilitates student-to-student online task-based learning via a video/text interface in the target language. Students form networks which will reinforce their productive and receptive skills around structured tasks en route to becoming confident users of the language. Preliminary findings show that learners are receptive to the smartphone app in task-based language learning and reported increased motivation to acquire the language.

Keywords:

e-learning, new technologies, foreign language learning, mobile application.