An Expanded Framework for Facilitating Learner Autonomy and Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation Through Specifically-Designed Online Tasks

Abstract

This chapter addresses the research gap in providing an extended framework for facilitating learner autonomy and enhancing intrinsic motivation through specifically-designed online tasks to enhance the development of reading skills in higher education. The approach to designing the reading tasks was informed by the comprehensive expansion of Chapelle's model explicitly to provide a theoretical framework for task design to assess the impact of the iPad-enhanced task design on the development of learner autonomy and motivation. Data collection and processing followed an exploratory case study approach applying mixed-method design. The differences in median scores for pre- and post-data were statistically tested using a Mann-Whitney U test. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and report themes in qualitative data collected for this study. Analysis of the results suggests that changing the culture of instruction and preparing university students for the realities of the digital age seem to be both positive and necessary.