Research-based tasks

by the learners, for the learners

Dr. Florencia HenshawDirector of Advanced Spanish

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

What do we want our students

to be able to do?

We want students to perform

communicative tasks

Communicative tasks

• Tasks that promote facilitate acquisition through the interpretation, expression, and negotiation of meaning.

• Tasks that have a tangible, meaningful outcome in mind.

Hearing their voices does not guarantee communication…

The “misunderstood”

cousin of CLT• Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

• The most common comment:– “It’s too much work for the instructor to

create the tasks!”

Task characteristics, according to TBLT

A task involves a primary focus on meaning.

A task has a clearly defined, non-linguistic outcome.

The participants choose the linguistic resources needed to complete the task.

Learner-initiated attention to form

• Attention to language is driven by communicative need.

• Language has a concrete, immediate and meaningful purpose.

• It becomes personally relevant. – It goes beyond what the textbook

prescribes.

Tasks commonly usedin SLA research

Two-way information-gap tasks Spot-the-differences Crossword puzzles

One-way information-gap tasks Picture reconstruction

Decision-making tasks Dictogloss Text/story reconstruction

Meanwhile, in the classroom…

Interview based on a list of questions and summarize Oftentimes following a list of questions

But… is it really communicative?And is it really a task?

The classroom-research gap

Tasks commonly used in SLA research are rarely used in the classroom.If they are, they tend to be either

too structured or too open.

Adapting research-based tasks to the FL classroom

For a more personalized learning experience, tasks must be designed with:Greater learner autonomyGreater focus on meaning

Learner-made picture recreation

task• Step 1: Draw the floor plan of your

house/apartment and its contents.

Learner-made picture recreation

task• Step 2: Describe the whereabouts of the

items in this space to a classmate. They will draw your room as they understand it.

• Step 3: Compare the drawings of your room to verify.

• Step 4: Switch roles. • Step 5: Compare drawings to verify. (Step 6: Write a paragraph comparing your bedrooms)

Spot-the-differences task

• Example 1: Use the apartment floor plans they created for the picture recreation task!

• One group gives their 2 drawings to another group, and they interact to find all differences. – Are there two bedrooms?– Is the bathroom between the two bedrooms?

Learner-made Spot-the-differences

task

• Example 2: Students label the characters/people in a picture – Use pictures in the textbook – Instructors gives them a list of names;

students decide who is who– Good activity for prepositions, present

progressive

Learner-made Spot-the-differences

task

• Example 3: Students label the buildings in a city map.

Learner-made Spot-the-differences

task

Traditional dictogloss

• The instructor reads a short passage.• Students listen and try to remember

as much as possible.• Students work in groups to

reconstruct the text word-for-word.

But… is it meaningful to the students?

Learner-made dictogloss

• At home (or online): Write a 100-word narration.

• Students work in groups of 4. One person reads his/her narration to the group twice.

• The group must later recreate the story word-by-word from memory.

• The “readers” form a new group, share and compare their stories, and select the easiest and the hardest story to remember.

• The “readers” join their groups again. Everyone verifies that the two versions match.

• Follow-up / Conclusion: (1) Which group did best? (on a scale of 1-10: how similar were the 2 versions?)(2) Were the predictions of the readers correct?

Learner-made dictogloss

Learner-made two-way crossword

puzzle• Students create their own puzzles using

online crossword puzzle makers.– Vocabulary words– Verb forms

• They delete half of the words in one puzzle; the other half in the other puzzle.

R

R E G A L A R

C

L

A

A M

L O G O T I P O C A R T E L

M

A

C V A L O R

É E

N S

T

U

A

R

I

O

M E R C A N C í A

• They give it to another group.• They must help each other to complete

the crossword by defining the words.

Learner-made two-way crossword

puzzle

Learner-made story reconstruction

task• At home: In groups of 2 – 3, students

select 5 pictures and write a story based on them. – Group wikis

• In class: They give the pictures to another group (not in order, and not the written story).

• The group collaborates to put the pictures in a logical order and write their version of the story.

• Compare the stories (e.g., scope, sequence, events, details).

Learner-made story reconstruction

task

But what about interviews?

A typical interview activity

Step 1: Ask a classmate about his/her weekend plans. Write down his/her answers.

Step 2: Interview another classmate.

Step 3: Write a paragraph comparing their plans.

A more personalized, meaningful interview

• Frame the activity• STEP 1: Write down predictions (what

someone does over the weekend, what their last summer was like, what they were like in high school, etc.)

• STEP 2: Create questions to gather necessary information to confirm or refute your predictions.

• STEP 3: Interview • STEP 4: How accurate were your

predictions?

My predictions were…a) Entirely correct.b) Partially correct.c) Entirely incorrect.

A more personalized, meaningful interview

What is the role of the instructor?

You design and facilitate the activity sequence.

Students create the

content of the activity.

LET

STUDENTS

TAKE RISKS

When designing tasks, keep your students

–and not the vocab or grammar– in mind

Thank you!henshaw2@illi

nois.eduhttp://www.pinterest.com/drhenshaw/