Delivering task instructions in multimodal synchronous online language teaching

Abstract

Multimodal synchronous online language teaching is an area of growing interest for research and practice. Emerging research investigates online language teachers' semio-pedagogical skills and competencies, which includes giving instructions to inform learners how to complete the task. However, the few studies that exist have explored trainee teachers' instruction-giving practices, while other work on instructions is grounded in face-to-face classroom settings. Using a qualitative design, this paper investigates experienced teachers' delivery of task instructions for the same task in small group multimodal synchronous online language teaching via videoconferencing. Employing grounded theory and multimodal interaction analysis, we depict both a comprehensive overview and a detailed micro-analysis of higher-level and lower-level actions that comprise task instructions-as-process. Our findings identify 13 higher-level actions and propose a framework for understanding the nature of instructions-as-process in online language teaching. We offer multimodal interaction analyses of selected higher-level actions (communicating key task information, suggesting ways into task, launching the task) to illustrate the multimodal elements (lower-level actions) utilised by the teachers. In our conclusions, we offer pedagogical and research directions and discuss challenges in identifying success and best practice in delivering task instructions.