QIF Language Arts Pre-Service Teacher Education Development Programme

1. QIF Language Arts Pre-Service Teacher Education Development Programme Workshop 1: Day 3 Talk and Task-Based Learning 8th December, 2011

2. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret Before reading Think about the questions I ask and why I ask them. While reading As I read the story, 1 person from each group write the questions that I ask. Other members write answers to the questions I ask. Don’t tell your answers yet. Think about What kind of questions did I ask? What was the purpose of these questions?

3. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret After reading In your groups discuss these questions: In what way is Ahmed’s secret like a friend to him? What did Ahmed mean when he said the secret was so loud? Why didn’t he tell his secret before? What did Ahmed's father mean when he said, “hurry to grow strong but not to grow old”? Imagine you are Ahmed. How would you feel if you were him? List words to describe your feelings. What is your response to the story? Do you like it? Would this be a good story to use at school or with your own students? What can children learn from this story?

4. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret Discuss Why did I ask you to think of questions at the beginning? What types of questions did I ask before, while and after reading? What do you think was the purpose of these questions at each stage?

5. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret Task Now develop a follow-up task that involves pupils in one of the following: Writing Drama / role play Discussion Write a description of the task.

6. Using questions to activate and develop schema Teachers can activate or develop students’ schema through adopting a strategic approach to the types of questions we ask before, during and after reading: Teachers can ask range of questions including • literal, • prediction, • inference, • personal response, • critical, • creative We can also facilitate children’s questions before, during and after reading

7. Levels of comprehension Literal understanding ‘reading the lines’ - understanding the text as it is presented Inferential understanding ‘reading between the lines’ – using literal information presented in a text and connecting that with existing schema to construct a personal interpretation Critical understanding ‘reading beyond the lines’ - using literal information, inferences and knowledge of the world to inform the judgements that one makes about the value or worth of information in the text Creative understanding Using literal information, inferences and knowledge of the world to imagine how that applies to oneself, e.g. through empathy with characters’ situations, actions, motivations

8. Questioning to develop comprehension: “The Secret of Ahmed’s Day” Literal • What is Ahmed’s job? Prediction • What do you think Ahmed’s secret is? Inference • How do you think Ahmed felt when he told his secret to his family? What makes you think this? Personal response • Do you think Ahmed is a good son? Why / Why not? Critical • Do you think children like Ahmed should be working in such a job? Why / why not? Creative • How would you feel if you had to work like Ahmed? • If you had a secret would you tell anybody? Why / Why not? How would you decide?

9. Questioning When deciding which questions to ask, we need to consider the • Reader • Text • Purpose • Context A range of factors influences the effectiveness of questions and the kinds of meanings that are constructed: • Who formulates and asks the questions • The type of question • The content of the question • At what stage it is asked (before, during or after the reading task) We should also consider how to support children to ask questions.

10. Task-based learning and teaching: TBL, TBT What is it? An approach to language learning and teaching underpinned by the belief that the most effective way of learning a language is to engage in real language use, and that the most effective way of teaching a language is to provide tasks which allow learners to do this.

11. Some of the key proponents of TBL Prabhu, N.S. (1987) Language Teaching Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nunan, D. (1989) Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1998) A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Willis, J. (1996) A framework for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman. Ellis, R. (2003) Task-based learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nunan, D. (2004) Task-based language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Willis, D. and J. Willis (2007) Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

12. What is a task? Task: Looking at definitions Look at the various definitions of ‘task’ in the handout. From the definitions, select up to five key words or phrases that encapsulate what you understand by the term.

13. Key features of classroom language tasks They should: • have a primary focus on meaning • have an explicit outcome or goal beyond the practice of language for its own sake: language use is the mean to achieve the goal • involve the learners in purposeful communication among themselves • involve the learners in expressing their own meanings • focus on fluency before accuracy: focus on form (grammar) comes at the end of the process, after completion of the task

14. Identifying tasks in language teaching materials TASK: Look at the 4 examples of classroom activities, A, B, C and D provided in the handout. Which ones would you classify as ‘tasks’ according to the definitions we have discussed, and which ones would you not classify as tasks. Give reasons for your decisions.

15. Task Components Nunan (1989) identifies the following components of all tasks: Goals Teacher’s Role Input TASKS Learner’s Role Activities Settings

16. Different kinds of task (Willis 1996) • Listing, e.g. Listing qualities needed for a particular job; things found in particular places, e.g. Kitchen. • Ordering and sorting (Sequencing, ranking, categorising, classifying); e.g. Putting a set of instructions in the right order • Comparing (matching, finding similarities, finding differences): e.g. Matching words with their meanings; find differences between two pictures • Problem-solving, e.g. Giving advice for a real-life problem; case study tasks • Sharing personal experiences: narrating, describing, explaining experiences, attitudes, and opinions: exchanging personal information (e.g. Questionnaires), exchanging views about a TV programme, book, play etc. • Creative tasks: e.g. Make a model, then describe the process; write a text collaboratively

17. Task Components (cont.) Example: Ref.: Pre-listening task in Maley and Moulding: Learning to listen Goal: Exchanging personal information Input: Questionnaire on sleeping habits Activities: 1) Reading questionnaire 2) Asking and answering questions about sleeping habits Teacher role: Monitor and facilitator Learner role: Conversational partner Setting: Classroom/ pair work

18. Reflecting on tasks Think back to some of the tasks you have done during this workshop and try to classify them according to Willis’ s list of task-types. For example: • Making the bridge (Day 2) • Planning a training session from a case study (Day 2) • Identifying the purposes of a teacher’s questions from a lesson transcript (Day 2) • Selecting key words and phrases to describe what task-based learning is (Day 3)