“AUTHENTIC TASKS
AS A
MEANINGFUL AND RELEVANT
FRAMEWORK
FOR
TEACHING
CONTEMPORARY TARGET CULTURE”
BY
ELVIRA SANATULLOVA-ALLISON, PH.D.
State University Of New York College at Potsdam, New York, U.S.A.
sanatue@potsdam.edu
&
MARAT SANATULLOV, PH.D.
Wichita State University, Kansas, U.S.A.
marat.sanatullov@wichita.edu
AUTHENTIC TASKS:
DEFINITIONS
1.
2.
‘Authentic’ task is an assignment given to students designed to
assess their ability to apply standard-driven knowledge and skills to
real-world challenges.
In other words, a task that teachers ask students to perform is
considered ‘authentic’ when:
students are asked to construct their own responses rather than
select from ones presented;
the task replicates challenges faced in the real world.
As teachers, we are ultimately less interested in how much
information students can acquire than how well they can use it.
Thus, our most meaningful and relevant assessments ask students
to perform authentic tasks – ‘authentic’ assessment as compared to
‘traditional’ assessment.
(J. Mueller, 2003)
AUTHENTIC TASKS:
CHARACTERISTICS
TRADITIONAL
AUTHENTIC
selecting a response
performing a task
contrived
real-world
recall/recognition of knowledge
construction/application of
knowledge
teacher-structured
student-structured
indirect evidence
direct evidence
AUTHENTIC TASKS:
TYPES
CONSTRUCTED
RESPONSE
PRODUCT
PERFORMANCE
short-answer essay
questions
essay
conducting research
“show your work”
research reports
performance
concept map
portfolio
oral presentation
figural representation
poster
debate
COGNITIVE APPROACH
Promotion and use of learning and teaching strategies that reflect the
way knowledge is organized in the human brain should be a language
teacher’s major aim. Understanding specific processes of human
cognition helps the teacher understand the fundamentals of human
learning and, thereby, how to build and improve instruction. The interrelatedness of the processes of acquisition, transfer, and retention of
information in the mechanism of human learning emphasizes the
importance of the relationship between teaching and assessment,
language acquisition and language production, previous knowledge
and new information in the instructional practices.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Of
Cognitive Development
creativity
evaluation
synthesis
analysis
application
understanding
knowledge
Information Processing
SLA is seen as the building up of knowledge systems that can
eventually be called on automatically for speaking and understanding.
At first, learners have to pay attention to any aspect of the language
which they are trying to understand or produce. Gradually, through
experience and practice, learners become able to use certain parts of
their knowledge so quickly and automatically that the are not even
aware that they are doing it. This frees them to focus on other aspects
of the language which, in turn, gradually become automatic
(McLaughlin, 1987). ‘Practice,’ in this context, is not seen as something
mechanical, but rather as something involving effort on the part of the
learner.
Constructivism
It promotes the view of learning as a constructive and reconstructive
process. It emphasizes the learners’ active role in constructing their
own knowledge through both individual and social activity and
interactions. The aim of constructivist teaching is “not so much to
transmit information as to encourage knowledge formation and
metacognitive processes for judging, organizing, and acquiring new
information” (Bruning, Schraw, & Ronning, 1999). Vygotsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development as an example of his dialectical constructivism
is one of the most powerful concepts of mutual influence between the
cognitive and social aspects of human cognition.
Connectionism
It attributes great importance to the role of the environment in language
learning arguing that learners gradually build up their knowledge of
language through exposure to thousands of instances of the linguistic
features they eventually learn. Language is viewed as a complex
system of units which become inter-connected in the mind as they are
encountered together. The more units are heard or seen together, the
more likely it is that the presence of one will lead to the activation of the
other.
INTER-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Movement in the profession from the emphasis on particular methods of
language teaching toward a proficiency- and performance-oriented
instruction, curriculum, and assessment that define learners’ language
ability in terms of functions, contexts/contents, and accuracy (Buck,
Byrnes, & Thompson, 1989) helps language teachers to skillfully
organize their instruction based on what language learners should
know and can do with the target language on different levels of
proficiency, in the integration of skills of listening, speaking, reading,
and writing, and in different goal areas such as Communication,
Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities (Standards for
Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century, American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages).
OBJECT LESSON
What are its physical qualities? (shape, size, texture,
etc.)
How was it made? (by hand or machine, etc.)
Was it designed for a particular use?
What facts can we determine about the culture by
looking/touching/tasting/smelling/etc. the object?
SIX INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS
(H. N. Seelye Teaching Culture: Strategies for Intercultural Communication 3rd ed., 1994)
GOAL 1 – INTEREST
The student shows curiosity about another culture (or another segment
or subculture of one’s own culture) and empathy toward its members.
GOAL 2 – WHO
The student recognizes that role expectations and other social variables
such as age, sex, social class, religion, ethnicity, and place of
residence affect the way people speak and behave.
GOAL 3 – WHAT
The student realizes that effective communication requires discovering
the culturally conditioned images that are evoked in the minds of
people when they think, act, and react to the world around them.
GOAL 4 – WHERE & WHEN
The student recognizes that situational variables and convention shape
behavior in important ways.
GOAL 5 – WHY
The student understands that people generally act the way they do
because they are using options their society allows for satisfying basic
physical and psychological needs, and that cultural patterns are
interrelated and tend mutually to support need satisfaction.
GOAL 6 – EXPLORATION
The student can evaluate a generalization about the target culture in
terms of the amount of evidence substantiating it, and has the skills
needed to locate and organize information about the target culture from
the library, the mass media, people, and personal observation.
LICENSE PLATES
GOAL #1: INTEREST
Bring in and display as many license plates as you have available. (R)
Ask if anyone knows what they are and where they have seen them
before. (LS)
Ask if anyone drives and how many of them like/would like to drive a
car.
Have students read all of the information on the license plate and then
explain its meaning.
Lead into the importance of driving in U.S. culture and how it is similar
and/or different from their native cultures.
GOAL # 2: WHO
Ask students where people drive cars in the United Sates. Brainstorm
different types of roads in this country.
Talk about American “free spirit” and America’s obsession with driving
automobiles all over the country.
Show several advertisements of various vehicles (cars, trucks, RVs,
SUVs, etc.). Focus on images of wide open America and the freedom
of movement in this country. Have students pick out the
advertisements that represent the American driver the best in their
minds.
Connect the previous to the importance of knowing how to drive in this
country/state (Driver’s Manual).
GOAL #3: WHAT
Bring out a large road map of the United States or a road atlas. Pass
out U.S. road maps or road atlases to each student or break class into
small groups. Going around the class or around small groups have
students take turns reading each of the states’ names.
Display a large poster containing cut out pictures of each state’s license
plate. As a class (one student at a time) match each license plate with
the corresponding state by taping them up on the large road map in the
front of the room.
GOAL #4: WHERE AND WHEN
Break class into small groups. Give each group a large picture of
different state license plates. Have each group discuss together the
symbols they find on the license plate. Have the group write down the
following:
What the symbols mean to each member of the group.
What the symbols make them think about the state they are representing.
Bring class back together and have each group read to the class what
they wrote down in their group discussions.
GOAL #5: WHY (conclusion)
Discuss the purpose of license plates. Discuss the use of so many
different symbols on plates. Talk about different parts of the United
States. How are they different? What do symbols mean to different
people across the country? Focus on Nebraska’s license plate.
GOAL #6: EXPLORATION
Pass out to each student a piece of paper with a blank rectangle
shaped like a license plate. Have students design a license plate for
their native country/province/state/city/town/etc. On the back, have
students write down what symbols they used and what those symbols
mean in their own culture.
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES
Furthermore, research and practice have shown that teacher’s
knowledgeable use of educational technologies in the language
classroom can contribute to enhance input processing by bringing
context into language teaching (Shrum & Glisan, 2000). Moreover,
according to Garrett (1991), technology enhanced language learning
and teaching allows for further integration of language, literature, and
culture. In our second/foreign language methodology courses we use
PowerPoint and HyperStudio multimedia programs as well as a web
design program Dreamweaver 4 and Inspiration software in order to
create activities and materials that relate language learning to other
disciplines, academic content, and to the world at large. These
programs have become common tools in language learning and
language teacher preparation programs (Pusack & Otto, 1997).
Dreamweaver 4
Dreamweaver 4 – a program for Professional Web Site Design of
Macromedia Web Design Studio – enables the language teacher to
create interactive web activities developing students’ skills of searching,
selecting, and using information on the web in relation to the target
language and culture. A WebQuest is an example of such activities.
WebQuest
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the
information used by learners is drawn from the Web” (Website of the
College of Education at San Diego State University, the WebQuest
Page). WebQuests are designed to support learners' thinking at the
higher levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation that Bloom’s
Taxonomy of thinking processes emphasizes. In “French Foods” (K-6
level) and “French Olympic Games 2012” (K-12 level) – two bilingual
WebQuests that we have built – inquiry-based approach is
complimented with proficiency- and group-oriented learning: individual
and group rubrics enable students to evaluate their own and others’
performances according to the specific tasks assigned and web
resources analyzed. In these activities learning a foreign language is
also integrated in studying the content area of social studies:
geography, lifestyle, and eating traditions are closely addressed by the
instruction. Authenticity of resources, increased visual input, structural
organization of materials and their availability are definite advantages
of WebQuests.
Please, feel free to visit our instructional website
http://www.msanatullov.com
to explore how these task-based technologies and activities work
for teaching contemporary French culture.