Jane Willis

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IATEFL Cardiff 2009Designing, refining and
using communicative tasks
Jane Willis Honorary Visiting Fellow, Aston
University, UK
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Session Outline

• What counts as a task? What types of task are
  there?
• Using tasks to promote language development
• Workshop 1 From topic to task. Group
  reports
• Refining and improving tasks trouble shooting
• Workshop 2 Refining task instructions lesson
  planning
• Implementing and exploring TBL

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Characteristics of effective tasks

• Does the activity engage learners interest?
• Is there a primary focus on meaning?
• Does it have a clear outcome for learners to
  achieve?
• Is success judged in terms of outcome? Is
  completion a priority?
• Does it relate to real world activities?

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What a task is NOT

• Learners acting out a dialogue or a comic strip
• A free production activity to personalise a
  pre-taught structure
• e.g. Ask your partner what they are going to do
  this week-end.
• Role-play activities where learners are not being
  themselves (i.e. acting, not meaning what they
  say.)
• All these are perfectly viable practice
  activities,
• but would not count as tasks.

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• To learn a language, learners need opportunities
  to engage in lots of meaning-focused interaction
  using whatever language they have at their
  disposal. Use it to learn it.
• Tasks generate meaning-focused language use.

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Choose a TOPIC for your tasks

• In groups, agree on a topic that you will design
  a series of tasks around. Ideally, choose one you
  could use in class next term. 2
  minutes.
• Examples cell phones, after-school
  activities, an older person you remember, pets,
  your best holiday, your worst journey, local
  transport, business meetings, death in different
  cultures, rivers and other CLIL topics

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Tell others your topic and why you chose it.
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Using tasks to promote language development

• Tasks are most effective when used flexibly
  within a coherent Framework
• Priming Preparation
• Task Cycle
• Task gtgt Planning gtgt Report of outcome
• Form focus

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Seven types of task

• 1. Listing brainstorming and/or fact finding
• e.g. things, qualities, people, places,
  features, things to do, reasons.
• 2. Ordering and sorting sequencing, ranking,
  classifying
• e.g. sequencing story pictures, ranking items
  according to cost, popularity, negative or
  positive.
• 3. Matching e.g. Listen and identify, listen
  and do (TPR), match phrases/descriptions to
  pictures, match directions to maps.
• 4. Comparing finding similarities or
  differences
• e.g. comparing ways of greetings or local
  customs, playing Spot the Difference,
  contrasting two seasons.

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• 5. Problem-solving logic puzzles, real-life
  problems, case studies, incomplete texts e.g.
  logic problems, giving advice, proposing and
  evaluating solutions, predicting a story ending.
• 6. Projects and creative tasks e.g. doing and
  reporting a survey, producing a class newspaper,
  planning a radio show, designing a brochure.
• 7. Sharing personal experiences story-telling,
  anecdotes, reminiscences, opinions, reactions
  e.g. early schooldays, terrible journeys,
  embarrassing moments, personality quizzes.

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Workshop 1 From topic to task

• Spend 10 minutes using the list of seven task
  types to brainstorm possible tasks for your topic
  - but no need to cover all seven types if one or
  two prove unsuitable.
• Choose 1 or 2 that would be good introductory
  tasks for the priming stage (These could be
  teacher-led tasks, or start off as teacher led,
  or they could be prepared out of class, involve
  web research)
• Choose a set of 2 or 3 tasks that learners could
  do independently, in pairs or groups
• Prepare to report back to the whole class.

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Build a task sequence

• 1. Listing brainstorming and/or fact finding
• 2. Ordering and sorting sequencing, ranking,
  classifying, prioritising
• 3. Matching
• 4. Comparing finding similarities or differences
• 5. Problem-solving logic puzzles, real-life
  problems, case studies, incomplete texts
• 6. Projects and creative tasks
• 7. Sharing personal experiences story-telling,
  anecdotes, reminiscences, opinions, reactions.

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Refining tasks and improving tasks four
parameters you can adjust

• Goal / outcome Devise a final goal / outcome
  that is clear to students. Make it specific! Or
  break it down into stages (with opportunities for
  exposure and output) so learners know (precisely)
  how to achieve it.
• Pre-task preparation time Individual learners
  can think ahead how to do the task (strategic
  planning) and plan the language they need. This
  helps to stimulate engagement and lengthens
  speaking turns.
• But sometimes let them do a task without
  preparation, spontaneously (involves different
  skills).
• Interaction patterns individuals, pairs,
  groups, whole class.
• Individual roles chairperson, spokesperson,
  secretary, editor, language advisor.

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4. Post-task activities

• planning and giving a report of the task
• reflecting, then repeating the task with other
  partners
• comparing with recordings of same task done by
  others
• form focused study, noting useful words, phrases,
  patterns
• learners recording themselves summarising or
  repeating the task transcribing one minutes
  worth of their interaction
• reflecting and evaluating on the process, writing
  feed-back.

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Trouble shooting

• Making time for tasks in class
• When to work on language form?
• When to allow L1 use?

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How to make time for tasks in class?

• Devote class time to activities that give
  experience of real language in use, experience
  that learners might not get outside class,
  especially spontaneous and planned spoken
  interaction.
• Outside class
• Some text book activities are best done at the
  learners own pace set these for homework, to
  be checked quickly at start of next lesson.
• For example, learners can
• prepare topic and task related vocabulary at home
  prior to the task,
• do form-focused exercises (grammar, vocabulary)
  for homework,
• do the listening / reading and follow up
  activities in their own time.
• Encourage independent vocabulary learning and out
  of class projects and surveys.

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When to work on language and focus on form?

• Priming Preparation
• Key lexis useful phrases
• Task gtgt Planning gtgtgtgt Report of outcome
• Language extension gtgt Prestige language use
• Form focus
• Analysis practice
• of language features from
• texts written or spoken that learners have read
  or heard

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When to allow L1 use?

• Priming Preparation
• Task Cycle
• Task gtgt Planning gtgt Report of outcome
• Form focus
• Analysis practice

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Workshop 2 refining task instructions

• With a partner, go through your set of tasks
  again, and
• Refine your task instructions (be specific about
  outcome, roles and what to report on.) Try them
  out on another pair.
• Plan a lesson outline (Can learners prepare at
  home?)
• Include a purpose for the Report stage.
• Share your plan with others in your group.

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So why Task-based Learning?

• TBL provides learners with natural exposure
  (input), chances to use language to express what
  they want to mean (output), to focus on improving
  their own language and to analyse and practise
  forms.
• TBL is more likely to keep learners motivated
  since it builds on whatever language they know in
  a positive way. Learners are actively engaged
  throughout the task cycle, and get chances to
  think for themselves and express themselves in
  the security of their group.
• Learners become more independent and feel
  empowered, gaining satisfaction from successfully
  achieving things through English.

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Implementing and exploring TBL

• Aim at richer interactions in class focus on
  meaning first, form later.
• Use your text-books flexibly taskify them.
• Explore what happens when you use tasks get
  learner feed-back, adapt tasks and try again.
• (Edwards and Willis (eds) Teachers Exploring
  Tasks)

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Teachers advice on TBL

• Collaborate with your colleagues it saves time
  and it makes teaching much more rewarding
• Collaboration is the key
• Dont give up - it really works!
• www.willis-elt.co.uk

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www.willis-elt.co.uk

• References
• Edwards C. and J. Willis (eds) 2005. Teachers
  Exploring Tasks in ELT. Palgrave MacMillan.
  British Council ELT Innovations Award 2006
• Willis D. 2003. Rules, Patterns and Words
  Grammar and Lexis in English Language Teaching.
  Cambridge University Press
• Willis D. and Willis, J. 2007 Doing Task-based
  Teaching OUP
• Useful websites
• An excellent introductory article on TBL by
  Richard Frost
• http//www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/a
  -task-based-approach
• Four articles on TBL by Jane Willis can be found
  at
• http//www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/c
  riteria-identifying-tasks-tbl
• Free sample task-based lesson plans at
  http//www.willis-elt.co.uk/taskbased.html