Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 9 Research Article Whatsapp Enabled English Language Teaching- Improving Speaking Skill through Language Tasks Beena Anil Assistant Professor of English SDNB Vaishnav College for Women, Chrompet, Chennai, India Email: pbeenanil@gmail.com Abstract Technology is a boon in learning a language especially English as a second language. Learning English is a difficult task for most second language learners (SLL). Introducing language tasks in the classroom help learners to develop competitive skill, collaborative learning, coordination, interactive skill, exploration and goal setting. In today’s world technology is synonymous with autonomous, collaborative and flexible learning. Tech- nology-based tasks bring color on multiple platforms to narrate, listen and understand the language usage in various playful ways as well as generate ideas and discussion for reflective thinking and writing. This paper explores the use of language tasks through whatsapp that are helpful for learners to develop their speaking skill and shares a few websites and applications for teachers of English to use for teaching purposes. Keywords: tasks, second language learning, technology, learner-centric, flexibility Introduction The dissemination of technology’s significance is unstoppable. Technology integrated education has encouraged users to think differently and innovatively. Technology-based language tasks are used by second language teachers in the classroom which echoes the idea of blended learning. Technology- based learning is synonymous with autonomous, collaborative and flexible learning. The paradigm shift in learning is infusing user-friendly technology based tasks. Educators are on the verge of understanding that what students study or how they study or where they study might be overboard or obsolete within a few years. In the fast-paced world, teachers should equip them with e-knowledge, as learners expect new knowledge from them. Learning English language is a skill and developing the skill of second language learners is challenging as today’s learners are techno-enabled users. Approximately, higher education learners in India use mobile phones more than three hours every day for leisure purposes. The addiction to mobile phones should be cashed on by converting their interest into a learning tool for learning English language. This paper has explored the possibility of using whatsapp on mobile phones to teach semi-rural second language learners of a college in Tamil Nadu, India. Literature Review There is sufficient literature available pertaining to learning English as a second language and for this paper it is Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 10 necessary to understand the literature of learning English through tasks. David Crystal (David Crystal, 2004, viii) in his book Language and the Internet mentions: An emphasis, which formerly was on technology, has shifted to be on people and purposes. And as the Internet comes increasingly to be viewed from a social perspective, so the role of language becomes central. Indeed, notwithstanding the remarkable technological achievements and the visual panache of screen presentation, what is immediately obvious when engaging in any of the Internet’s functions is its linguistic character. If the Internet is a revolution, therefore, it is likely to be a linguistic revolution. In today’s world, technology is knowledge and it is revolution. Using technology in educational arenas is one of its kinds as every teacher and every student nurtures its presence in the teaching and learning process. Technology has an attractive quotient even techno-cynic has a good say at one point of time. It is always a cognitive booster to teachers and learners due to its multimodal usages in the classroom. Brinton (2001, p. 461) supposed that media tools serve as an important facilitator in the language teaching development because “media materials can lend authenticity to the classroom situation, reinforcing for students the direct relation between the language classroom and the outside world”. There are voluminous studies conducted to prove the good use of technology in teaching especially in language teaching and learning processes. Bax (2003, p. 27) expresses: Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) finally becomes invisible, serving the needs of learners and integrated into every teacher’s everyday practice… It will require change in attitudes, in approach and practice amongst teachers and learners; it will require fuller integration into administrative procedures and syllabuses. Campbell (2003), Bax (2003), Godwin (2003), Johnson (2004) and Eastman (2005) explained the significance of technological advancement in the learning sector and the collaborative learning atmosphere prevailing among English Second Language Learners (ESLLs). Jackson et.al. (2006) say “students who used the internet more, got higher scores and grades’’. Chandrasegaran and Kong (2006) justify that argument forums on the internet would improve a learner’s challenging skills providentially. Ahmad (2012) statistically proved that English as a second language, learner’s reaction towards using media based learning had improved absolutely. Use of technology is extending its tentacles and enables new contexts for learning. In the world of uncertainty technology is very supportive in learning languages. Many online educational games are in the anvil for students to benefit as it creates mobile learning environments (Wong & Looi, 2011). Technology has empowered rural publics, information and rights cultures and democracy (Jeffrey & Doron, 2013). Technology is a platform to encourage education, technology- enabled learning and technology mediated pedagogies Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 11 (Yadav, 2015 p.69) From a traditional classroom to a virtual classroom or from classroom to smart classroom, games based learning is appreciable for the development of an educational landscape (Selwyn, 2003, p. 2). Task assisted learning gives equal specification to both teacher and learner. Such collaborative learning activities uplift the learning qualities of learners according to the cultural and linguistic background (Lama, 2006). This paper focuses on the importance of using tasks in the learning process of English as a second language. The e- game based learning intends to develop both higher order skills and lower order skills (Scrivener, 2007) and teaching practices require collaborative efforts (Holmes, Preston, Shaw, & Buchanan, 2013). Technology provides a lot of opportunities for the personal and professional development of teachers and that was limited before the advent of web2.0 (Carpenter, 2015). Using techno- tools in the classroom makes teachers upgrade their techno-knowledge and they should be convinced that new technology is helpful for their professional development (Holmes et al., 2013). The potential of social media in higher education has been widely recognized (Alberth, Mursalim, Siam, Suardika, & Ino, 2018). Though studies have proved that technology is always considered to be a positive quotient, the ground value point is that users are highly benefited as most of the language tasks and electronic tasks (e-tasks) are motivating and interesting. Research questions Communication is very important for learners as they explore to deepen their knowledge and develop their insightful thoughts for their future prospects. Teachers play a predominant role in making them communicate in the classroom but, their academic compulsion to complete their syllabus handicaps them to spend ‘extra’ time to develop the communicative skills of students. E- tasks help students to develop LSRW skills. Technology has mesmerized adult learners as they are connected on social media wherever and forever. Teachers should convert students’ interest as an investment to make them learn English as a language rather than a subject. Whatsapp is helpful to students in diverse ways. Students are motivated to use any mode of presentation to be shown it to the group or the teacher. The time indicator in the message or video shows the participants’ agility. Teachers can create or design interesting topics or relevant discussing questions to make students involve and participate in the online or e-task based learning process. Based on this understanding, the researcher wanted to explore the following research question: Do participants’ level of speaking skills increase through tasks using Whatsapp? Developing English language learning speaking skill through Whatsapp based tasks Tasks make learners understand their social responsibility and to monitor their socio-psychological and emotional skills. Tasks evolve by themselves as they make students have good rapport with other students as well as with the Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 12 teachers. Tasks help learners to develop life skills along with their communicative skills. For ages, teachers create their own tasks and in this techno world they involve technology to entertain, inspire, learn and teach. Tasks make students to: • Get Feedback from teachers and co- learners • Encourage Collaborative learning • Have secure environmental learning • Appreciate autonomous learning • Reflect on one’s grammatical mistakes as well as on co- participants as corrective measures • Develop LSRW skills and help to explore and observe the learning processes There is no hard and fast rule to conduct or organize games in the classroom. How to use whatsapp for language tasks Whatsapp can be downloaded on a smartphone from google store. The contacts on the phone with whatsapp application could get connected and viewed. More than 250 participants can be added to form a whatsapp group. This application is used to send messages, video, audio, photos and it has a voice converter and video caller. This learning tool is all in one. While whatsapping, users can share their files in the group and receive the feedback from the co-participants and the teacher quickly. Whatsapp video calls can be done with four participants at a time. More than 100 participants can get connected for voice calls at a time. Voice to word conversion is an easy task for participants who struggle in text messages. With the help of whatsapp, relevant websites or URL links can be shared to be viewed on a public forum. Websites and Applications for English language learning As the researcher mentioned above there are many applications that create ripples by giving live streaming and group meetings, etc. YouTube is a very creative application in which students can create their own video and upload it on their YouTube channel and share it in the group to be viewed by their friends and classmates. Even the same can be done by teachers to make students understand the concepts in learning English as a subject as well as a skill. There are few websites and applications like TESOL Resource Center, British Council’s Learn English, DoodleSpell, FluentU, Enguru, Mondly, YouTube Kids etc., that can be used and examined by teachers for their teaching purposes. Method The study was conducted in an Arts and Science College in Chengalput district, Tamil Nadu. Total 60 respondents were taken for the study which lasted for four months. All respondents had smartphones with Whatsapp application. The researcher created a whatsapp group named, FUN WITH ENGLISH. The study was divided into three phases: 1. The first phase was a pre-test to understand the participants’ existing knowledge in English language 2. The second phase was the distribution of tasks 3. The third phase was to examine the level of improvement in English learning by conducting a post- test and to validate the research Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 13 question The Respondents The respondents for this study were second year undergraduate students from the departments of Economics and History (30 students from each department) from an Arts and Science Women’s College, Tamil Nadu. The respondents were selected based on their interest in learning the English language. The demographic data of 60 respondents has been presented in Table 2. Table 2: Demographic data of respondents Variable Variable F Variable Gender Female 60 100 Age 18-20 60 100 Educational level Under graduate II year 60 100 Duration of learning English as a subject 10-12 years 60 100 Engaged in Whatsapp for learning purpose Yes No 0 60 0 100 Techno-knowledge in using Whatsapp Medium High 60 0 100 0 Frequency of using mobile phone Rarely Sometimes often 0 5 55 0 5 95 Instruments Pre-test framework, performance of tasks and post–test framework were used to evaluate the research question and for the statistical calculations, SPSS software Version 17 was used. The pre-test framework Pre-test was conducted to understand the existing knowledge of the participants in English as a language. Two tests were conducted – paper based test and oral test. Paper based test was conducted to evaluate the grammatical aspects, use of vocabulary, and sentence formation of the participants. The topic ‘self-introduction’ was sent to the Whatsapp group and instructed the participants to write about themselves. Time was set and within the stipulated time the participants handed over the paper to the researcher. Oral test was conducted to test the speaking skill of the participants. This test was conducted to evaluate the participants’ attitude, confidence, choice of words and grammatical usage. For the oral test, 15 pictures (all the pictures were numbered from 1 to 15) were sent to the Whatsapp group for the participants to narrate and the participants were asked to select the picture by its number. Four participants Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 14 were asked to select one picture for narration making it 60 (15 pictures x 4) participants. The researcher selected simple 15 stories to avoid repetition while the participants performed their story. It is an individual task and all the participants narrated the picture in their own way and all the narration was recorded on a smartphone by the researcher. Pre-test was helpful for the researcher to understand the capacity and ability of the respondents and accordingly e-tasks were designed for the participants as given in table-3 and figure-1. Table-3: e-tasks designed for the participants Objective Tested items Task Paper based test: To test the writing skill of the participants in English language Grammatical aspects like Verb, Tense Sentence formation Vocabulary Self-Introduction Oral test: To test the speaking skill of the participants Choice of words, grammatical usage, attitude Story narration Sample of story narration included: 1. Boy who cried ‘Wolf’ 2. The thirsty crow 3. The greedy milk woman 4. The Ant and the Dove Analysis of Pre-task framework The participants performed e-tasks on whatsapp individually as well as in group. The purpose of using e-tasks was to give exposure to the participants in using English in various real-life situations. The attitude and motivational factor could be improved because their performance could be seen by them many times and it would lead them to improve themselves. Adding to this, their co-participants and well-wishers could analyze the progress of their positive attitude in learning English. The recorded videos are the testimonials of the participants. The assessment was done and it was categorized as weak, satisfactory, good and excellent. Table-3: Assessment of the performance Assessment item No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 20 weak Confidence and attitude 60 30 weak Improvement in speaking 60 30 weak The researcher felt that the participants’ level of using English while performing the tasks was weak but elicited their interest in learning English as a language. A Whatsapp application was used to motivate the participants to Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 15 learn English so as to improve their speaking skill. Distribution of Tasks The respondents were divided into small groups of three each and all the tasks were performed on Whatsapp video call. All the participants of each group had an opportunity to perform the task individually as well as in a collaborative way. Participants’ creativity and speaking skill were developed by performing the given tasks. The researcher used warm- up tasks and later, introduced tasks to the participants. Warm-up tasks were performed by all the participants as team work. These tasks helped them to accustom with the whatsapp-centric learning and presenting within a stipulated time. Two warm-up tasks were performed by the participants and the researcher only observed them and no score was given for the performance. The given tasks were: a. Click and explain in three sentences b. My friend is special because……......– five sentences Table-4: Options for click and explain in three sentences Aim To break the reluctance Preparation time 2-5 minutes Resource Smartphone camera (some of the participants were reluctant to perform but managed to do the tasks) This warm up task made participants talk for two minutes about a picture that they clicked with their smartphone. Participants were divided into a group of three each. Each participant was asked to click a photo and asked to explain in three sentences. A Whatsapp video group call was made and the researcher randomly added three participants for the performance. On the group video call three participants along with the researcher were made to perform the task and the response was average. Table-5: My friend is special because Aim To break the reluctance Preparation time 2-5 minutes Resource Smartphone with internet Another warm up task (table-5) made participants feel better and they could talk on a topic that was very close to their heart. This task too was performed as a team. The researcher connected a Whatsapp video call randomly with three participants and asked them to perform the task. The response was satisfactory. After the warm-up session, six tasks were introduced to the participants for assessment. All the participants got connected on Whatsapp and these six tasks were performed with the help Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 16 of group video calls. The respondents were saved as number 1, 2 3…. and not by their names. The researcher had the list of students with the number so that she could make note of the graph of their performance. The six tasks were: • E-play with emojis • Meaning the memes • Questions please • Act an advertisement • Narrate a story –spin the yarn • Movie review • E-play with emojis Emojis are very interesting elements on Whatsapp and most of the users use emojis to express their feelings. It is a psychological assistance as many who never want to express themselves in words always use emojis. Emojis exist in living and nonliving forms like facial expression, weather, fruits, vegetables, figurines, objects, animals. Table-5: My friend is special because Aim To enhance speaking skill To encourage critical thinking Preparation time Flexible Resource Smartphone with internet Procedure • Researchers instructed the participants to copy more than three emojis of their choice to create a story. • Asked the participants to draw the emojis on a paper and describe the select emojis after due preparation. The researcher instructed them to show the paper while narrating their story on Whatsapp video call. • Later connected three participants on video call Whatsapp randomly and asked them to narrate the story using emojis. The interest to speak in English was improved among the participants. The assessment (table-6) was done and it was categorized as weak, satisfactory, good and excellent. The table below shows the assessment components. Table-6: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 30 Weak Confidence and attitude 60 40 Satisfactory Improvement in speaking 60 40 Satisfactory Connecting to real life sit-uations 60 60 Good Meaning the memes A meme is used or spread on social media with macro images fusing with concept and catchphrase. Most of the memes are created with misspellings and usage of incorrect grammatical aspects. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 17 Table-7: Aspects used in memes exercise Aim To enhance speaking skill Preparation time Flexible Resource Smartphone with internet Procedure • Researcher numbered all 20 memes that was collected from Whatsapp messages • 20 memes with numbers were shared on the Whatsapp group and instructed participants to select one meme of their choice • Time was given for preparation and whatsapp voice call was connected with random three participants • Each participant presented her choice of memes by referring to its number The assessment can be summarised as given in table-8. Table-6: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 40 Satisfactory Confidence and attitude 60 45 satisfactory Improvement in speak-ing 60 40 Satisfactory Connecting to real life situations 60 40 Satisfactory Questions please In this task the participants were asked to frame questions for no answers. The participants were advised to frame wh-type questions and yes or no type questions (the summarization of the questions can be seen as in table-9). The same teams were formed but, all the participants performed individually and watched their teammates perform on group video call. Table-9: The summarization for Question Please task Aim To enhance speaking skill Preparation time Flexible Resource Smartphone Procedure • The participants were divided into a group of three each • Instructed each participant to frame 10 questions 5 wh type question and 5 yes or no type questions • Though performed individually other team members were watching their teammate perform • Corrective measures were done at the end of each video group call The assessment of performance can be summarised as given in table-10. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 18 Table-10: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 50 Good Confidence and attitude 60 50 Good Improvement in speaking 60 50 Good Connecting to real life situations 60 50 Good Act an advertisement Using advertisements in teaching English is an interesting way to make learners engage in learning. The respondents were divided into a group of three each. The Names of the products were posted in the group and instructed each team to select a product to create an advertisement and act on whatsapp video call. The idea behind it can be summarised as given in table-11. Table-11: The idea behind Act an advertisement activity Aim To enhance speaking skill To enhance creativity Preparation time Flexible Resource Smartphone Procedure • The class was divided into small group of three • 20 names of the products-1. Television, 2.mobile phone, 3.cement, 4.noodles, 5.car, 6.bike, 7.computer, 8.furniture, 9.chocolate, 10.hair oil, 11.tiles, 12.soft drinks 13.health drinks 14. Face cream, 15.detergent soap, 16. Washing powder, 17. Dhotis 18. Shirt 19. Saree 20.toys-shared on the whatsapp group • Each team had to select a product indicating the number and time was set for preparation • Researcher made a Whatsapp group video call and connected all the three members of a team and the performance duration was given as 5 minutes • Each member performed her part with the available limited resources The assessment of performance can be summarised as in table-12. Table-12: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 50 Good Confidence and attitude 60 50 Good Improvement in speaking 60 50 Good Connecting to real life situations 60 50 Good Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 19 Narrate a story – spin the yarn Story narration develops one’s creativity as well as communicative skill. This task helped the participants to unleash their creativity while narrating their story in free style. The idea behind this activity can be summarised as given in table-13. Table-13: Idea behind Narrate a story – spin the yarn activity Aim To enhance speaking skill To enhance creativity Preparation time Flexible Resource Smartphone Procedure • The participants were divided into small group of three (random ) • Each participant was asked to click two pictures with clarity and post it to the group • The researcher selected thirty pictures and numbered them • Each participant was asked to narrate a story using the selected picture • Though it was an individual performance, each participant presented on Whatsapp group voice call along with other two teammates Table-12: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 50 Good Confidence and attitude 60 70 Excellent Improvement in speaking 60 60 Excellent Connecting to real life situations 60 50 Good Movie review Today’s youth watch movies with an integrated interest to analyze and review it beyond merely watching. Binge watching is an entertaining quotient for many. Reviewing a movie is a challenging task but this made participants comfortable to share their views about their favorite movie. The plan behind this activity can be summarised as given in table-13. Table-15: The plan behind Movie review activity Aim To enhance speaking skill Preparation time Flexible Resource A movie Procedure • The participants were divided into small group of three and were made to select their favorite movie • Each participant was instructed to review her favorite movie and Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 20 was advised to use single tense – present or past or future tense- to review the movie The assessment results for this activity can be seen in table-16. Table-16: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 50 Good Confidence and attitude 60 70 Excellent Improvement in speaking 60 65 Excellent Connecting to real life situations 60 50 Good Data Analysis of tasks All the respondents learnt English as a subject till class X and their medium of instruction was English in class XI, XII and at the college level. As their exposure to English language was limited, the researcher used them for the study to understand how Whatsapp applications could be used to enhance their speaking skill. Whatsapp application is a very common tool used by college-students in Tamil Nadu. Converting the popular platform to teach English language as well as boosting the confidence of semi- rural students in learning English as a skill language was a worthy attempt. The researcher analyzed all the performances of 60 participants by recording the presentations on her mobile cloud and maintained a reflective diary to understand the progress of participants in learning English language. The study was conducted to understand the importance of e-tasks using Whatsapp mobile application. The study also helped the researcher to have an insight into the participants’ learning behaviour i.e. they could perform well in pairs. Curiosity is the key motto of learning English through techno- enabled tasks. All the respondents were zealous while performing the tasks. Initially, the respondents were showing the high frequency level of memorization of vocabulary. But, later regular practice of using e-games with meta cognitive factors encouraged them to show good interest in English language learning process. All the respondents were in unison to acknowledge that tasks were helpful for them to learn English as a language without any pressure or stress. The Whatsapp group acted as the platform for all the respondents to react and learn from their co-participants. They were made to share their doubts, accept their mistakes, interact, think and create avenues to learn while performing tasks. The researcher observed that the respondents were: • Learning as well as playing not bothering about others as they perform in a small group • Interacting with Whatsapp facilitated collaborative learning without inhibitions • Attempting hands-on for better communication • Understanding their level of knowledge in performing tasks and tried increasing their level of speaking skill Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 21 The post-test framework In this post-test, the researcher examined the development of the participants’ speaking skill in English. As in the pre-test, the researcher used the same 15 stories and the participants narrated the same story as in the pre- test. For the evaluation process, the researcher used the same storyboard. This test was conducted in person similar to that of the pre-test. All the 15 stories were simple and known stories to the participants and the stories boosted their morale too. The points examined in the post-test are given in table-17. Table-17: Points examined in the post-test Objective Tested items Task Oral test: To test the speaking skill To examine the presentation skill Choice of words, grammatical usage, attitude Story narration The story narration had these stories: The Hare and the Tortoise, 2. The Fox and the Stork 3. The Fox and the Grapes Analysis of the post-test The researcher felt that the participants’ level of using English got improved and their interest in learning English also got enhanced satisfactorily. The assessment was categorized as: weak, satisfactory, good and excellent. Table-18 shows the assessment components Table-18: Assessment of the performance Assessment items No. of respondents Percentage Level Choice of vocabulary 60 70 Good Confidence and attitude 60 80 Excellent Improvement in speaking 60 80 Excellent Result analysis of pre-test and post- test In this study, tasks were used to enhance the speaking skill of participants. To evaluate the existing knowledge a pre-test was conducted using story narration. 60 participants were given 6+2 tasks to improve their speaking skills. After this phase, a post-test was conducted using the same storyboard. The post-test task was used to test the speaking skill of the participants and the scores were analyzed for correlation to check whether the participants’ scores were increased in the post-test result. The result has been given in table-19, 20, 21and 22. Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 22 Table-19: Results of tests Correlations Pre-test Post-test Pretest Pearson Correlation 1 .354** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 60 60 Posttest Pearson Correlation .354** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 60 60 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Table-20: Results of tests Paired Samples Statistics Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Pair 1 Pretest 2.0100 60 .81023 .08102 Posttest 4.4600 60 1.21788 .12179 Table-21: Results of tests Paired Samples Correlations N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Pre-test & Post-test 60 .354 .000 Table-22: Results of tests Paired Samples Test Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Pair 1 Pretest - Posttest -2.450 1.20080 .12008 -2.68826 -2.21174 -20.403 99 .000 The correlation coefficient strength shows that the pre-test and post-test output are correlated (SPSS software Version 17). The result of the output of the participants is high as it shows that the respondents speaking skill got developed using tasks on Whatsapp application. Discussion Language is one of the sources of expression as most of the human beings are e-communicators and the Indian Journal of Educational Technology Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2021 23 level of proficiency in engaging effective verbal performance by the speaker is notable and appreciable. Good exposure time to the language improves learners’ communicative competence. In a densely populated classroom, evaluating the language skills of each student is not practically possible. Technology integrated tasks are the source of opportunity with positive reflection. These tasks help learners of all levels to update and improve their knowledge for their professional and social inclusive situations. Conclusion This paper has explored how Whatsapp based tasks help learners to integrate classroom and virtual learning. In this techno advanced world, learners themselves are good at designing their own e-tasks or as part of a small team of students with similar interest. Teachers should encourage students to familiarize themselves with both the strength and weakness of tasks (e-tasks) and ensure that technology is important in making a good learning atmosphere and improve intervention outcomes. Despite this assurance, students should know that in the absence of technology, it is possible to work collaboratively and innovatively to improve their learning. Tasks develop competition and collaboration. Competition may be a motivating factor for some of the learners and for some, competition may be a stressful and de-motivational factor. Sometimes competition leads to learners’ intention to win the game rather than learning from it. Therefore, collaboration can be built as a prime factor in task based learning. Language tasks enhance subject knowledge and problem solving skills of learners. Teachers who introduce tasks to students should consider a few important points. Teacher should: • Consider tasks that support language learning • Check the level of graphical quality relevant to learners • Understand the support system provided for students to learn using tasks • Understand the mechanism of tasks and check the content • Check the collaboration opportunities for learners that come in the way of developing language skills There are many task based websites that are in the market purely for commercial purposes. Facilitators should support learners on selecting appropriate tasks for learning in higher education. Teachers can spend 20-30 minutes looking for good websites which offer language games or try to search on websites so that everyday learning becomes interesting to learners as well as for the teachers. References Ahmad, J. (2012). English language teaching (ELT) and integration of media technology. 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