Task-based pedagogy in technology mediated writing

With the ever-growing incorporation of technology in second language teaching across various educational contexts in recent years, the need for teachers to evaluate the learning opportunities through technology has been emphasized by exponents of technology-enhanced language learning. While Chapelle (2003) affirms that changes in information and communication technologies have expanded dramatically the options for English language learning and teaching, Warschauer (2007) highlights the profound effect that information technologies are having on written communication. On one hand, language educators are exploring the potential of technology with a readjustment of existing pedagogies in second language teaching. On the other, the potential links between technology and task-based language teaching (TBLT) along with a growing awareness of the centrality of tasks in technology-mediated environments, are giving rise
to completely new pedagogies. The current study thus explores the reciprocal relationship between technology and TBLT (Lai and Li 2011), by evaluating the effectiveness of a technology-enhanced writing program designed within a task-based pedagogic framework for English as Second Language (ESL) learners at a university in Hong Kong.