Integrating technology and tasks: a language-focused needs analysis for EFL learners

The task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach has become increasingly popular in secondary education around Europe, including Italy, as it is learner-centred and offers students a way to learn English by performing real life tasks. However, the con- stant changes in learning and language use, such as the massive use of technologies inside and outside the lan- guage classroom, is generating new language education needs and therefore new challenges for language teach- ers in response to these developments (González-lloret & Ortega, 2015). This paper looks at how to conduct a language-focused needs analysis (NA) with secondary EFL learners to inform the design and sequencing of English technology-mediated tasks. The example study included an investigation of learners’ language needs, but also of the technological tools needed to perform the tasks and the digital literacies required of teachers and learners.