1. CHAPTER 2 : LEARNING LANGUAGE THROUGH TASKS AND ACTIVITIES TEACHING LANGUAGES TO YOUNG LEARNERS

2. OVERVIEW What task demands and support are How to balance task demands and support How to construct a task By the end of this presentation you will have an understanding about of We will look at the framework for analysing task from a learning perspective that takes account of young learners social and cognitive development. 3. This Presentation include of: The task as an environment of learning. Task demands Types of demand Task support. Balancing demands and support. The importance of language learning goals. Defining task for young learners classroom. Stages in a classroom task Hanis weekend: possible preparation and follow up. Task-as-plan and task-as-action 4. THE TASK AS AN ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING Task are used as a tool for checking how much pupils are understanding 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 understandings of the purpose and expectation of adults so that's way tasks can be quickly useful at classroom. Note: A warning with task is sometimes teachers may not notice that pupils get confusion because of the children 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. Here again, we see the importance of a learning perspective 5. TASK DEMANDS "The task demands will mean how hard and how long people will need to work to complete it." Activities should be carefully thought out and structure for a target audience. Task should have both structure and demands. 6. TYPES OF 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 Recognise the key action in each picture COGNITIVE (related to concept and understanding of the world) 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 teachers instructions LANGUAGE (related to using the foreign language and to uses of mother tongue in connection with foreign language learning) 7. TYPES OF TASK DEMAND COGNITIVE Deals with the contextualization of language, difficulty of concepts that are needed to do the task (e.g. use of graphics, colours, telling the time, etc) LANGUAGE Determining the language whether spoken or written Understanding the production Extended talk or conversation Genre Needed grammar and vocabulary INTERACTIONAL Type of interaction required e.g. pair work in participants in talk-adult/peers. Nature of interaction METALINGUISTIC The use of technical terms about language in production or comprehension INVOLVEMENT Degree of ease or difficulty with the task Links to the childs interest and concerns Novelty, humor, and suspense PHYSICAL How long can the child sit still Needed actions Needed motor skills 8. TASK SUPPORT Picture The grid Explanation and modelling 9. The Type of Task Support COGNITIVE From familiar formats of graphics From familiar topics and content LANGUAGE Re-use of language Moving from easier to difficult Using known vocabulary and grammar Use of L1 to support L2 development INTERACTION AL Type of interaction From helpful co-participants From the use of familiar routines METALINGUIS TIC From familiar technical terms to talk about new language Clear explanations INVOLVEMENT Can come from content and activity that is easy Mixing physical movement and calm, seated activities PHYSICAL Variation in sitting and moving Use familiar actions Match to fine motor skills development 10. HOW TO BALANCE DEMANDS AND SUPPORT We can here recall the idea of the zone of proximal development, or space for growth, that children need for their language and cognitive development. ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT + SPACE FOR GROWTH = what children need for their growth and development Note: The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the gap between what a learner has already mastered (the actual level of development) and what he or she can achieve when provided with educational support (potential development). 11. HOW TO STRIKE A BALANCE THE GOLDLILOCKS PRINCIPLE A task that is going to help the learner learn more language is one that is demanding but not too demanding, that provides support but not too much support 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 For example: She uses the example of lifting weights, if one starts off using too much weight (demands are too high), then injury may follow, but if the weights are too light (Too much support), then the weight lifter isnt 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 12. LANGUAGE LEARNING GOALS HOW CAN TEACHERS ENSURE THAT THE BALANCE OF DEMANDS AND SUPPORT PRODUCES LANGUAGE LEARNING? Set clear and appropriate language learning goals Provide scaffolding for the tasks breaking down into manageable steps with sub goals !!!too many demands will make children anxious, too few demands will make language learning boring. Thus teachers must be careful design of sub goals should help ensure success and achievement at each step and of the task as a whole. 13. DEFINING TASK FOR YOUNG LEARNERS FEATURES OF TASK USE : Coherent and unify for learners from topic, activity and outcome Have meaning and purpose Have clear language learning goals Have a beginning and an end Involve learners actively Aim for dynamic congruence age, socio-cultural appropriate 14. STAGES IN CLASSROOM TASKS Three stage are PRE-PARATION prepare learners to be able to complete core activities CORE ACTIVITY set up through language learning goals FOLLOW-UP builds on successful completion of the As an example of how the stages can combine to produce a task, we can see the Hani and his weekend, and place the production of oral sentences from the gird as the core activity in the center of the an imaginary task. We can 15. Hanis weekend: possible preparation and follow up. Core goals: Pupil saying sentence about each picture in the gird Preparation: 1. Activate the vocabulary that will be needed (actions, names of object in picture). 2. Help pupils understand the grammar (teacher speak about past tense). 3. Let pupils do exercises in pair. Follow up: The pupils write the sentence they have constructed 16. For example: 17. TASK AS PLAN vs TASK IN ACTION TASK AS PLAN The task is in plan. Teacher may not know what will happen when the activity is used. Cannot be fully evaluated o TASK IN ACTION When the task is used in a class 18. In this presentation, we have studied Those tasks are used as a tool for checking how much pupils understand. Those Activities shall be carefully thought-out and structure for a target audience. That task shall have both structure and demands. Different types of demand like language, interactional, involvement, physical demands, metalinguistics and cognitive. What task support is. How to balancing demands and support (Goldilocks principle) The importance of language learning goals. Stages in a classroom task (preparation, core activity and follow up) Hanis weekend (Angelicas weekend):