The majority of writing tasks assigned to second language (L2) learners tend to target an abstract audience and the writing generated is not meant for real or meaningful purposes. The emergence of Web 2.0 concepts has created a potential educational environment where students have access to a widely distributed, authentic audience with a simple click of the mouse. This study examines the impact that targeting an authentic audience within a task-based, computer-mediated environment may have on L2 learner motivation toward English as a second language (ESL) writing. Student perceptions on progress in writing and on motivation to improve their writing were assessed through a semi-structured interview, triangulated with student web-based project work and participant observation. Analysis of interview data reveals that students were motivated to focus on sentence complexity and variety and engaged in the autonomous learning of vocabulary in an effort to communicate information they perceived to be important. The qualitative results also indicate that the participants' awareness of audience and sense of ownership were raised through engagement in this task-based, computer-mediated approach.

Prior research on pre-task planning examines its effects on the quality of second language (L2) learners’ planned output. Planning mitigates the cognitive overload placed upon L2 learners’ oral performance, thus improving language production. Despite the pedagogical benefits, studies on pre-task planning on L2 learners’ oral output are conducted mostly in a lab or class setting. Whether or not similar effects of pre-task planning can be evidenced in three-dimensional (3D) multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), such as Second Life (SL), is still less explored. Hence, this study investigates whether pre-task planning could enhance the quality and quantity of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ task-oriented, voice-based outcomes in SL. Nine EFL learners worldwide participated in this 10-session virtual class. Data were collected through students’ oral presentations in performing real-life simulated tasks related to their home cultures and interests. Yuan and Ellis’s (2003) framework of T-units measures was adopted to analyze their linguistic performance measured by complexity and accuracy. Results indicated that EFL learners showed statistically significant improvement on grammatical complexity on the levels of syntactic complexity and variety (but not on lexical variety) and on linguistic accuracy across all measured levels (error-free clauses/T-units/verb forms). It is suggested that pre-task planning can be seeded in task-based instruction either in a classroom-based or 3D MUVE setting to optimize the quality of learners’ linguistic performance. Tasks that are real-world oriented and targeting learners’ cultural repertoires and world knowledge also positively impact their virtual learning experiences. These significant implications add new research and pedagogical dimensions to the field of computer-assisted language learning.

Driven by interactionist theory and operationalized by task-based interaction, this study aims to investigate EFL learners’ task-based negotiation in Second Life (SL), a 3D multi-user virtual environment (MUVE). A group of adult EFL learners with diverse cultural/linguistic backgrounds in L1 participated in this task-based virtual class. Learners used avatars to interact with peers in communication tasks via voice chat. Discourse samples were collected through their oral production to examine their language patterns during negotiated interaction. A framework of negotiation of meaning was employed to code and analyze the transcribed data. Two types of negotiation routine were identified: single-layered trigger-resolution sequence and multi-layered trigger-resolution sequence. Specifically, the interrelationship among task types, negotiation and strategy use was also established in the study: jigsaw task prompted the most instances of negotiation and strategy use, followed by information-gap and decision-making tasks, whereas opinion-exchange task triggered the least. This study suggests that two-way directed tasks with convergent, obligatory, single-outcome conditions will stimulate more cognitive and linguistic processes of negotiation involving interactional modifications – leading to more complex and lengthy negotiation routine. It is concluded that SL as a 3D MUVE is conducive to theoretically-driven, pedagogically-sound, task-based research in language acquisition.

Foreign language teaching in distance education is administratively and pedagogically challenging; research on the perspectives of novice practitioners’ online teaching is also relatively scarce. This study explores how a novice Japanese teacher navigated and negotiated her professional development in a two-way virtual practitionership during her first online teaching. Data were collected from ongoing dialogue journals between the novice and her mentor followed by a semi-structured interview. Qualitative results indicate that pedagogically-sound and personalized digital tools can not only reduce the psychological distance between the teachers and students, but facilitate online teaching and learning via a performance-driven, standard-based curriculum. Informed by Action Research, the study reveals how both practitioners de/reconstructed their teacher identities and achieved professional empowerment through robust supervision and reciprocal teacher evaluation in a virtual environment. It further demonstrates the extent to which this evidence-driven and research-oriented approach can better address the genuine concerns of a foreign language program in distance education. Specifically, this context-responsive study indicates the improvement of online course delivery, teacher training and program sustainability in its own right.