TASK - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023

With the release of ChatGPT, the use of AI in language teaching has become an issue that we cannot ignore. In this commentary, we argue that AI tools, including ChatGPT, are now among the digital resources available to students and teachers. We therefore need to be aware of the challenges and affordances of their uses in teaching and learning and that helping students understand these issues is part of the language teacher’s role in promoting digital literacy. We first discuss the history of AI in teaching writing and then highlight three issues related to its use: authorship, authenticity and accuracy, and digital literacies. Next, we provide examples of three tasks illustrating how AI can be used to promote language learning, genre awareness, and digital literacy. We conclude by suggesting some areas for further exploration.

We explored the extent to which academic English teachers from an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context held beliefs that aligned with Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) principles, as well as their levels of receptiveness to using tasks in the classroom. In this mixed methods study, 41 tertiary-level EFL teachers from Bangladesh were invited to take a survey on TBLT and participate in follow-up interviews. We used convergent mixed methods analysis to triangulate the data and verify the findings. Results showed that participants agreed with TBLT principles from a moderate to high level, and consistently favored use of tasks over traditional activities, which included audio-lingual and form-based instruction. Moreover, teacher beliefs and practices seemed to have become further aligned with TBLT tenets in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequential shift to online teaching.

Across China, English language teaching curricula have advocated for task-based language teaching (TBLT) for more than 20 years. Yet, there is reason to believe that practice varies widely. As such, this multiple case study sheds light on two Chinese teachers’ understandings and implementation of TBLT in a public primary school in Chongqing, southwest China. Data collection consisted of eight semi-structured interviews and eight classroom observations. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis indicated that the teachers had basic understandings of TBLT, but their teaching was incongruent with its principles. Few tasks were observed in their lessons. Three main factors affected the teachers’ implementation of TBLT: (1) classroom management issues; (2) preparation and teaching resources; and (3) the teachers’ own tacit reluctance.

In Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), there is clearly a need for a balanced and flexible view of L1 use. Considering this, a matter of concern in TBLT is that learners might overuse their first language (L1) while performing complex tasks. To test this speculation, the present study investigated the effects of manipulating task complexity along resource-directing variables (+/− reasoning demands) of the Cognition Hypothesis on L1 use and its functions. Further it aimed to test the impacts of task type on L1 use and its functions. To do so, the interaction of 24 intermediate EFL learners while completing two different task types with two levels of task complexity was analyzed. The analysis of L1 words and turns indicated that both task complexity and task type affected L1 use significantly. The results further indicated that L1 was employed for a variety of purposes which were mainly affected by task complexity.