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The image of classroom EFL learners sharing a common L1 but attempting to communicate meaningfully with each other in an L2 suggests there is a substantial need to increase the opportunities for authentic and meaningful communication in EFL classrooms. Otherwise known as online intercultural exchange, telecollaboration requires learners to communicate, either orally or graphically, with learners located in foreign countries or cultures. This presentation reports on the trials, tribulations and successes experienced in a task-based telecollaboration project conducted between an EFL writing class (n=36) at a Japanese university and an EFL class (n=36) in a Chilean university. The 6-week project used the ePals.com platform as a conduit and consisted of a series of outcome-seeking tasks which engaged beginner level students in asynchronous email exchanges with partners who did not share their L1.

This workshop shall demonstrate how an EFL writing class (n=36) at Osaka Shoin Women's University conducted a telecollaborative task project with an EFL class (n=36) in a Chilean university. The 6-week project consisted of a series of outcome-seeking tasks which engaged beginner level students in asynchronous email exchanges with partners who did not share their L1, demonstrating how suitably designed telecollaborative task projects can bring authenticity into beginner level EFL classrooms.

Videopaper builder is free, downloadable video editing software specifically designed by teachers for teachers who wish to record, reflect on and improve their teaching. This presentation shall train teachers how to best access and use the software when embarking on collaborative teacher professional development (PD) projects with like-minded colleagues. It shall also detail the procedures followed and insights gained through both presenters' own PD project.

This workshop contends that the next great pedagogical leap in EFL development in EFL teaching will be the widespread implementation of task-based telecollaboration. To date, telecollaboration has been viewed in EFL circles as a resource almost exclusively appropriate for advanced language learners. In reaction to the needs of beginner-level learners, this workshop firstly, outlines the telecollaboration program between students at Osaka Shoin Women's University and Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile.

This presentation reports on the synergised teacher development project conducted by two teachers at Osaka Shoin Women's Universiy. The project design required each teacher to videotape each other’s lessons before engaging in critical self-reflection and peer feedback. In addition to the dual input that varied perspectives provide, this two-pronged approach enabled not merely a means for reflection on each teacher’s classroom performance but also a means for each teacher to raise his own awareness regarding his ability to competently self-reflect. The lessons themselves were grounded in a task-based learning (TBL) framework, which subsequently became the point of departure for each critique.