PETALL in action: latest developments and future directions of the EU-funded project Pan-European Task Activities for Language Learning

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) proposes Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as an important strategy to develop the learners’ linguistic competences along with their communicative skills. Since it is learner-centred and relies mostly on engaging learners in meaningful communicative interchanges in a foreign language, it allows for greater interaction and collaboration between them in the development of products, in problem-solving processes and in the construction of knowledge. Nevertheless, teachers have revealed some resistance to this approach. Pan-European Task Activities for Language Learning (PETALL) is a project involving ten countries and seeks to address these problems by constructing a transnational strategy for Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-based task design management. It aims to produce tasks that can be implemented in different educational contexts, and offer training courses to help teachers build their confidence in TBLT. This presentation seeks to offer an overview of the project, including its objectives, underlying principles and deliverables (samples of good practices, the website, the courses, and the international conference).