Assessing Padlet and Virtual Walls in EFL Teaching at the Language Centre of the Universityof Naples Federico II (CLA)

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, language education has undergone dramatic changes, leaving EFL tutors with no alternative other than to go online, which pointed the way to the emergence of a new category defined as digital immigrants (Dudney and Hockly, 2007). A cause of concern about Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL) voiced by most language instructors is the risk of students becoming increasingly alienated from a real-life learning environment and consequently losing touch with reality (Frolova et al., 2021). While on the surface this may seem a valid objection to Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), on closer inspection, such assertions might prove untenable under certain circumstances. In light of this, the main aim of this pilot study is to demonstrate how helpful the integration of technology into regular feedback and writing practice sessions could be in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and how beneficial its effects may prove in the long run. This initial, yet empirical, analysis sets out to gainsay the former proposition, going as far as to argue that open online resources such as Padlet can significantly contribute to the removal of the affective filter (Krashen, 1985) and the establishment of genuine rapport between learners and educators. Padlet, an online platform developed to foster collaboration among users on colourful and tailor-made virtual walls, can be adopted as a form of Learning Management System (LMS) exploitable for a variety of purposes, not least the elicitation of authentic and anonymous feedback and opportunities to practise writing with more complex structures (i.e., inversion, conditionals, among others). Based on experience with Upper Intermediate (number of students: 30) and Advanced (number of students: 18) learners having attended English courses at the Language Centre of the University of Naples Federico II (CLA), this ongoing project points to the conclusion that one of the main advantages of using Padlet in language classes is the provision of further spaces devoted to writing, which is said to be the least practised of the four skills in Communicative Language Learning Methodology (CLLM) (Scrivener, 2011).