Research, design, implementation, and evaluation of CALL materials needs to be based on
sound SLA theories and research. A research agenda of CALL issues needs to be identified and investigated by
means of suitable methodology. I propose that a Sociocultural approach to language learning provides a useful
theoretical framework to investigate the process of collaborative activity in computer-mediated tasks. Following
a brief overview of Sociocultural theory in relation to its claims about the usefulness of collaborative activity
in the language classroom, I provide an account of issues to be addressed in task design. Finally,
I exemplify from a study currently taking place how collaborative activity in computer-mediated tasks can
be empirically studied, and I outline some of the methodological considerations underpinning such research
work.