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Language Learning Through Tasks & Activities

By: Bishara Adam

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The Tasks As An Environment For Learning

Activities at school

Activities at home

Tasks should be used as a tool for children in learning language.

For checking how much learners understand.

Tasks and activities are seen as the environment or ecosystem of learning.

Tasks should be a tool for evaluation of the learners.

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The Tasks As An Environment For Learning

Children are active learners that urge to find meaning and purpose for activities that are presented to them and try to complete the tasks.

Young learners will work hard to make sense of what teachers ask them to do and come with their own understandings of the purpose and expectation of adults which is a way tasks can be quickly useful at classroom.

Sometimes teachers may not notice that learners get confusion as the they are anxious to please the teacher.

They may act as if they understand and complete the task, but may not understand or learn from it.

Hence, it is important for a learning perspective that will go beyond a superficial evaluation of classroom activity, and give teacher tools for really checking on how much learners are understanding and learning.

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Task Demands & Task Support

1. Task Demands

- Demand On Learners

2. Task Support

- Support For Learners

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Task Demands

Task demands mean how hard and how long people will need to work to complete it.

Activities should be carefully thought out and planned for a target audience.

Task should also have both structure and demands.

Types of Demand

1. Cognitive Demand:

Related to concept and understanding of the world.

2. Language Demand

Related to using the foreign language and to uses of mother tongue in connection with foreign language learning.

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Cognitive Demand

Understand the way the grid works to show times and actions.

Work left to right across columns and top to bottom.

Understand that the pictures show past actions.

Recognize the key action in each picture.

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Language Demand

Find the vocabulary to describe each action.

Find the past tense ending for each verb.

Put the words together in the right order.

Pronounce the words.

Give correct stress and intonation to words and sentences.

Understand teacher’s instructions and explanations, and feedback.

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Types of Task Demand & Task Support

Cognitive

Language

Interactional

Metalinguistic

Involvement

Physical

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Types of Task Demand & Task Support

Task Demand Task SupportCOGNITIVE

Deals with the contextualization of language, difficulty of concepts that are needed to do the task (e.g. use of graphics, colors, telling the time, etc.)

From familiar format and graphic. From familiar topics and content.

LANGUAGE Determining the language whether

spoken or written. Understanding the production. Extended talk or conversation. Genre. Needed grammar and vocabulary.

Re-use of language. Moving from easier to difficult. Using known vocabulary and grammar. Use of L1 to support L2 development.

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Types of Task Demand & Task Support

Task Demand Task SupportINVOLVEMENT

Degree of ease or difficulty with the task.

Links to the child’s interest and concerns.

Novelty, humor and suspense.

From easy content and activities that are easy.

Mixing physical movement and calm, seated activities.

INTERACTIONAL Type of interaction required (e.g.

pair work in participants in talk-adult/peers).

Nature of interaction.

Type of interaction. From helpful co-participants. From the use of familiar routines.

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Types of Task Demand & Task Support

Task Demand Task SupportPHYSICAL

How long can the child sit still. Needed actions. Needed motor skills.

Variation in sitting and moving. Use familiar actions. Match to fine motor skills

development.

METALINGUISTIC The use of technical terms about

language in production or comprehension.

From familiar technical terms to talk about new language.

Clear explanation.

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Balancing Task Demand & Task Support

Goldilocks principle – A task that is good to help the learner learn more language is one that is demanding but not too demanding, that provides support but not too much support.

Too high demand - too difficult

Too much support – too easy

Language learning is a repeated process of stretching resources slightly beyond the current limit/ability, learning new skills and moving on to the next challenge.

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Balancing Task Demand & Task Support

An Example Of Lifting Weights

If one starts off using too much weight (demands are too high), then injury may follow.

If the weights are too light (too much support), then the weight lifter isn’t gaining anything (not learning).

So, the trick is to start off with something just slightly above your current level (slightly above your ZPD) and then “raise the bar” every time the new weight has become the norm.

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The Importance Of Language Learning Goals

How can teachers ensure that the balance of demands and support produces language learning?

Language learning goals is a step to ensure that the balance of demands and support produce language learning.

Set clear and appropriate language learning goals.

When students are clear about their learning goal, a goal that describes the intended learning, they perform significantly better than those who are given goals that focus on task completion.

Provide scaffolding for the tasks- breaking down into manageable steps with sub goals.

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The Importance Of Language Learning Goals

Too many demands will make children anxious.

Too few demands will make language learning boring.

Thus, teachers must be careful while designing sub goals in order to help to ensure the success and achievement at each step of the task and of the task as a whole.

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Defining ‘Tasks’ For Young Learners Classrooms

FEATURES OF TASK

Have coherent and unity for learners (from topic, activity and outcome).

Have meaning and purpose for learners.

Have clear language learning goals.

Have a beginning and an end.

Involve the learners actively.

Aim for dynamic congruence – age, socio-cultural appropriate.

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Stages In Classroom Task

Preparation

Prepare learners to be able to complete core activities.

Core activities

Set up through language learning goals.

Follow up

Builds on successful completion of the core activities.

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Stages In Classroom Task: Example Preparation

Activate the vocabulary that will be needed (actions, names of object in picture).

Help learners to understand the grammar (teacher speak about past tense).

Let learners do exercises in pair.

Core activities

Learners saying sentences about each picture in the gird.

Follow up

The learners write the sentence they have constructed before.

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Stages In Classroom Task: ExampleAs An Example Of How The Stages Can Combine To Produce A Task

Task: Saying sentences about Hani’s Weekend

Language Learning Goals

Preparation Core Activity Follow up Activate

previously learnt lexis. Oral production of

sentences from grid.

Written production of sentences about Hani’s Weekend.

Practice past forms of verbs.

Composition of own sentences.

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Stages In Classroom Task: ExampleActivities

Preparation Core Activity Follow up

Use of single pictures to prompt recall of lexis.

Whole class introduction of grid and teacher modelling of sentences.

Teacher writes key words on board, next to pictures.

Teacher models writing sentences from grid.

Divide board into two and recall / practice past forms.

Pair production of sentences.

Learners write sentences.

Pair checking of accuracy. Pairs practice with single pictures.

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Stages In Classroom Task: ExampleDemands on Learners

Preparation Core Activity Follow up To recall lexis, or

to re-learn. To recall lexis and verb forms from preparation stage.

Writing in English.

To understand idea of past events and use of tense to express events.

Remembering words and forms from core activities.

To read the grid. Finding words for own activities.

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Stages In Classroom Task: ExampleSupport for Learners

Preparation Core Activity Follow up Pictures of

familiar events. Familiar pictures. Teacher modelling. Addition of dates to the

grid. Key words on board. Teacher

modelling of lexis and forms.

Preparation stage practice of verb forms.

Teacher feedback while writing.

Teacher modelling. Teacher provides new words for learner’s own sentences.

Pair work. Pair work.

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Task as Plan & Task as Action The Task as Plan

The task is in plan.

Teacher may not know what will happen when the activity is used.

Cannot be fully evaluated.

The Task as Action

When the task is used in a class based on what actually happened.

Task for the particular class.