Language Learning Through Tasks & Activities

Language Learning Through
Tasks & Activities
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By: Bishara Adam

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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Task Demand Task Support
COGNITIVE
 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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INVOLVEMENT
 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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PHYSICAL
 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.

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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As An Example Of How The Stages Can Combine To Produce A Task
Task: Saying sentences about Hani’s Weekend
Language Learning Goals
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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.

Activities
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 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.

Demands on Learners
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 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.

Support for Learners
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 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.

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.
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Language Learning Through Tasks & Activities

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