QIF Language Arts Pre-Service Teacher
Education Development Programme
Workshop 1: Day 3
Talk and Task-Based Learning
8th December, 2011
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret
Before reading
Think about the questions I ask and why I ask them.
While reading
1. As I read the story, 1 person from each group write the
questions that I ask.
2. Other members write answers to the questions I ask. Don’t
tell your answers yet.
Think about
1. What kind of questions did I ask?
2. What was the purpose of these questions?
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret
After reading
In your groups discuss these questions:
1. In what way is Ahmed’s secret like a friend to him?
2. What did Ahmed mean when he said the secret was so loud?
3. Why didn’t he tell his secret before?
4. What did Ahmed's father mean when he said, “hurry to grow
strong but not to grow old”?
5. Imagine you are Ahmed. How would you feel if you were
him? List words to describe your feelings.
6. 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?
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret
Discuss
1. Why did I ask you to think of questions at the beginning?
2. What types of questions did I ask before, while and after
reading?
3. What do you think was the purpose of these questions at
each stage?
The Day of Ahmed’s Secret
Task
1. 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.
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





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literal,
prediction,
inference,
personal response,
critical,
creative
We can also facilitate children’s questions before, during and
after reading
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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
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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?
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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
Identifying tasks in language teaching
materials
TASK:
1. Look at the 4 examples of classroom activities, A, B, C
and D provided in the handout.
2. Which ones would you classify as ‘tasks’ according to
the definitions we have discussed, and which ones
would you not classify as tasks.
3. Give reasons for your decisions.
Task Components
Nunan (1989) identifies the following components of all
tasks:
Teacher’s Role
Goals
Input
Activities
TASKS
Learner’s Role
Settings
Different kinds of task (Willis 1996)
1.
Listing, e.g. Listing qualities needed for a particular job; things
found in particular places, e.g. Kitchen.
2.
Ordering and sorting (Sequencing, ranking, categorising,
classifying); e.g. Putting a set of instructions in the right order
3.
Comparing (matching, finding similarities, finding differences): e.g.
Matching words with their meanings; find differences between two
pictures
4.
Problem-solving, e.g. Giving advice for a real-life problem; case
study tasks
5.
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.
6.
Creative tasks: e.g. Make a model, then describe the process;
write a text collaboratively
Task Components (cont.)
Example:
Ref.: Pre-listening task in Maley and
Moulding: Learning to listen
Goal:
Input:
Activities:
Exchanging personal information
Questionnaire on sleeping habits
1) Reading questionnaire
2) Asking and answering questions
about sleeping habits
Monitor and facilitator
Conversational partner
Classroom/ pair work
Teacher role:
Learner role:
Setting:
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)