TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH CHAT: A TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL CHAT FOR EFL/ESL

Chat are synchronic communicative spaces which are incorporated into online activities, especially in EFL/ESL courses, due to the possibilities to intera ct with native and non-native speakers of the L2 th ey offer participants. Teachers interested in using ch at for educational purposes should know the characteristics of different chat tasks according to the objective, role of moderator, and structure of the interaction to be generated, in order to plan their activities accordingly. This paper introduces a taxonomy for educational chat which was designed ba sed on the author’s experience using chat with language learners and in-service teachers.