Language learning activities in the Spanish L2 classroom related to a task-based framework: What types are the most commonly occurring according to Swedish learners?

Abstract

The present study investigates language learners’ perceptions of what types of language learning activities they carry out in the Spanish second language (L2) classroom and what activities are the most common ones. A further aim is to investigate how the activities align with a model based on task-based language teaching. The group studied are Swedish learners of Spanish as L2 in a Swedish setting, where out of class exposure to first language (L1) Spanish is generally limited. The activities carried out in class are therefore expected to have a high impact on learners’ L2 acquisition in Spanish. The participants were tested after finishing secondary school. The reported learning activities, which in the long run should lead to goal attainment according to the national curriculum, were ranked and classified. The activity types were then graded along the scale explicit/analytic – implicit/experiential, according to a model based on task-based language teaching, an approach that is closely related to the action-oriented view of language, central to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the Swedish syllabus. Ninety-nine learners were included in the study, which is based on quantitative data consisting in self-report questionnaires in which participants estimate what activities they have typically been involved in. Results show a dominance of activity types based on a structural view of language with focus-on-form rather than on meaningful communication, and a dominance of writing-based activities. The study also has direct implications for the classroom, where it points to the importance of including more communicative oral activities without the support from writing in the teaching.