A Journey Through Online
Language Learning
Resources > Task Chains
Mode of Delivery
Wholly Online Learning
The Task Chains don’t comprise a course but were designed as stand-alone chains of activities based around 2 (semi) authentic texts that deal with the same topic. The idea is that the Task Chains be used as a self-study resource by students to complement their more ‘formal’ study of the language. There is scope, however, for integrating these task chains into a course – perhaps as an ‘online component’ – as part of a blended-learning approach.
Topics include current issues (e.g. ‘Whaling’ (Japanese)), profiles of famous people (e.g. ‘Emiliano Zapata’ (Spanish; see below), descriptions of important events (e.g. ‘Vestmannaeyjagosið’ (Icelandic)) and of important places (e.g. ‘Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum’ (Japanese)). The task chains are only available online.
Example of task chain from Initiatives: Gérard, un entrepreneur français à Londres - French
Course Types
Specific Skills
The Task Chains are not a course but are designed to help students develop their listening and reading comprehension skills in the foreign language. They are hosted on the UCL Language Centre website
Syllabus Types
As the Task Chains are not a course, they don’t include a specific syllabus. However, each Task Chain comprises activities based around specific topics (see above).
Activities
The Task Chains promote the development of listening and reading comprehension skills through the following activity types:
Prediction activities (examples 1 (prediction activity for listening (Forest Fires – English)) and 2 (Prediction activity for reading (shopping for the over 50s – German))
Comprehension questions (example 3 (Listening comprehension activity (Initiatives – French))
Noticing / practice of lexis from text:
Example of task chain: noticing / practice of lexis
Practice in non-Roman script (example 5 (Practising non-Roman script (Whaling – Japanese))
Consolidation of lexis (example 6 (Consolidation of lexis (Parejas del mismo sexo – Spanish))
Levels
The Task Chains are aimed at students with a proficiency described as B2 or C1 according to the Common European Framework.
Progression
The Task Chains were designed as stand-alone activities.
Assessment
The individual activities within the Task Chains are all self-correcting. There is also a ‘help’ feature designed to scaffold the student in case s/he needs further support in accomplishing the activity. This ‘help’ feature is available for the activities for noticing/practice of lexis as well as skills comprehension (examples 9 (Example of HELP option for noticing/practice of lexis. The ‘help’ option reveals extra letters to help the student to identify/infer the correct word. (Forest Fires – English) and 10 (Example of HELP option for reading comprehension. Roll-over feature reveals extracts of text plus a question to help support student in deciding whether the information is actually contained within the text or not. (Forest Fires – English)). The idea is that the task chains don’t just ‘test’, but also have a pedagogical dimension.
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