Exploring “task talk”

Exploring “task talk” : Exploring “task talk” Tabletop displays to tweak task-based interaction Saad Almutairi

Slide 2 : - Typical desktop computers do not effectively support co-located, multi-user interaction because of their underlying one-user/one-computer design paradigm (Stewart et al., 1999) - A tabletop display is an multi-user, multi-touch interactive digital table What is a tabletop display? Why a tabletop? It combines face-to-face interaction with the full use of digital media. It also gives more room for innovative task designs and allow for imposing whatever constraints we need to affect certain aspects of an ongoing task for example.

Slide 3 : This is a problem to my students and to me. Interaction is central to learning (Van Lier 1996; Ellis 2000) and they have the right to have a rich interactive task talk. I would like to look into the types of interactions that occur in a task-based class. How students negotiate; how they exchange information; how they ask questions; how much they contribute to the talk; and how much should the teacher be involved in the talk. The problem:

Slide 4 : - Interaction is the most important element in the curriculum (van Lier, 1996: 5) - Verbal interaction is essential in language learning and development (Long, 1996; Gass, 2003) - Interaction helps in making the linguistic data more salient to the learner Ellis (1994) - Interaction among students does not always occur smoothly (Cohen, 1986; Cohen & Lotan, 1997; Foster, 1998; Foster & Ohta, 2005) Why?

Slide 5 : Tabletop displays serves this purpose very well. - An interactive multimedia learning environment is the one that allows: “the electronically integrated display and user control of a variety of media formats and information types, including motion video and film, still photographs, text, graphics, animations, sound, numbers and data. The resulting interactive experience for the user is a multidimensional, multi-sensory interweave of self-directed reading, viewing, listening, and interacting, through activities such as exploring, searching, manipulating, writing, linking, creating, juxtaposing, and editing”. (Wilson, 1992: 186) Interactive multimedia for task-based learning:

Managing “task talk” : Managing “task talk” What is task talk? What is a tabletop display? What is “your” problem? What an I gonna do? How? What changes will that make? Evaluation and reflection

Slide 7 : Action research “...a form of self-reflective inquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out”. (Carr & Kemmis, 1985: 220-1) Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)

Slide 8 : Data collection - Tabletop display data Tracks audio, object movement, learner input ... etc. - Video recording Students interactions will be video recorded while they perform the tasks. Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)

Slide 9 : Evaluation Tabletop tracking data and the video/audio transcripts will be analyzed qualitatively. Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)

How my practice might change : How my practice might change - The results of this inquiry will inform my teaching and the decisions I make with regard to designing tasks, and my involvement during the task process. - I will have a better understanding of the dynamics of my students task interaction. This is in turn will help me fine-tune my tasks and the way they are delivered to fit the needs and nature of my ‘little’ context.

Thank you! : Thank you!