Microevaluating Learners’ Task-specific Motivation in a Task-based Business Spanish Course

Abstract

Scholars of task-based language teaching (TBLT) advocate for the identification of learners' communicative needs to inform syllabus design, particularly in language for specific purposes contexts (e.g., Long 2015). However, little research has applied TBLT principles in designing Spanish for specific purposes curricula. Moreover, despite the relationship between learners' task-specific motivation and task performance (e.g., Dörnyei & Kormos 2000; Yanguas 2011), it is unclear how learners respond to the design of tasks derived from a needs analysis. To address this issue, this classroom-based study employed a needs analysis to derive five major exit tasks for syllabus design and measured students' perceptions of exit tasks through microevaluations following Ellis (2011). Adult heritage and second language learners of Spanish (N = 26), enrolled in upper-level university Business Spanish courses in two institutions, rated high levels of motivation for all tasks, but a post-hoc analysis revealed a significantly lower degree of motivation for a task involving the evaluation of a case study. Results imply that conducting a needs analysis and designing exit tasks following TBLT principles appears to be a useful tool to design engaging and relevant tasks, but learners' level of interest and satisfaction can compromise their task-specific motivation.

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