The role of tasks in promoting intercultural learning in electronic learning networks

This paper focuses on the role of tasks in promoting intercultural learning in learning networks and is based on qualitative research from three e-mail projects between English as a foreign language (EFL) high school classes (years 11 and 12) in Germany, and English and Social Studies classes in the United States and Canada.The joint reading of literary texts formed the basis for discussion on the networks.A comparison between intercultural learning in the actual reading process and the negotiation of meaning in the network phases shows a close resemblance in the structure and use of tasks.Task properties, such as activity, setting, and teacher and learner roles, as well as the personal level (i.e., non-thematic exchange of information) in the asynchronous e-mail exchange, proved to be especially influential for intercultural learning in the design and management of task structure.1. communicate appropriately with native speakers of the language; 2. get to understand others;