ALAD – CELE UNAM
ACTIVITY 4.6 - OPTION 2
TASK-BASED LEARNING INSTRUCTION MODULE
BY: MA. SUSANA GARCIA AGUILAR
SEPTEMBER 2009
STATING A PROBLEM IN MY TEACHING CONTEXT WHICH COULD BE SOLVED
THROUGH TASK-BASED LEARNING INSTRUCTION
The teaching context which I am considering having a problem which could be solved through
TBL Instruction is related to the common case of Reading Comprehension. I have been
teaching English Reading Comprehension courses for about two years so far. I have done it
with large groups of about 30-40 people at Architecture (in UNAM), with groups of 20-25
university students who want to obtain their majors’ or postgrades’ requisites, at Cele’s private
schools . I have also taught dentists in smaller groups at FES Zaragoza for similar purposes.
At present, I have three of these groups.
The class development, during my experience in teaching Reading Comprehension in English
has been satisfactory; however, there are some harsh feelings of “lacking, passivity or
boredom” left. Students mostly take the role of receivers. They do their readings, answer the
exercises and questionnaires, use their dictionaries, etc., in and out of class. And I have been
long wondering - even before we started this fantastic ALAD course - if it could be possible to
offer reading comp students the chance to enjoy their classes more, being more
communicatively productive rather than just merely plunging into their readings to answer sets
of questions and a variety of grammar and vocabulary activities. I have had the feeling that
they are “being strategically prepared” to pass an exam rather than focusing on understanding
texts of different types related to their fields of knowledge to become more competitive both at
school and at work. It is pertaining to mention that these type of courses are conducted in
Spanish, traditionally, following the principles for the Grammar Translation Method (1).
As a matter of fact, with this concern in mind, I have decided to work on option – 2 of Activity
4.6 of this TBLI Module, bringing out a general question:
Can Task-Based Learning Instruction offer a solution to the boredom and passivity of
a traditional Reading Comprehension Course?
In the continuous search of the excellence in teaching and, mainly, of the learners’
achievements, and having learned better what TBL Instruction is and what it can offer both
teachers and learners, I think that it does have an attractive alternative of solution to the
problem learners face when taking a traditional Reading Comprehension instruction. I believe
that this problem comprises a set of minor difficulties. For the purpose of the present proposaI
I will basically mention two aspects: psychological factors and lack of real-life training.
The first one can be probably considered the more important of the two. If a learner believes
that he or she can not successfully reach understanding of a written text via a gradual
progressive training, he or she has probably lost chances to succeed. Reading is a very
isolated activity which occurs privately and independently within the reader’s self, within his or
her mind. Can teachers become a bit of psychologists to start prompting the change of
attitude and misconceptions that shadow the reader-learners’ understanding? I would say,
kind of this. In a way, teachers must bring out new ideas, new techniques, new approaches to
desuggest the negative factors that strongly influence the learners’ predisposal to the course,
to the activities and to the language itself. How about trying something more communicative,
more interactive and, thus, more motivating, in the Reading Comprehension Course? How
about implementing TBLT at different points of our reading course or, even more challenging,
throughout the course? I guess that TBLT can offer an important alternative to incentivating
learners’ attitude to reading and, subsequently, to promoting learners’ knowledge.
Hence, I present herewith an intended action plan to be followed at different points of the
training program in the Reading Comprehension Course. Echoeing Krashen and Terrel (2),
cited in Numa Markees (1997): The Input +1 Theory, level-accesible, comprehensible input,
can enhance psychological barriers into desuggestion, the selection of the types of texts from
simple to complex as learners gradually advance happen to be very important for the learner
to picture Reading Comprehension as an ccesible pyramid of tasks to be reached. When
students get a sense of security , low anxiety and self-achievement, they are willing to go step
by step into harder and more challenging tasks.
ACTION PLAN
The implementation of TBL in the language instruction in a Reading Comprehension Course as
an innovation can propose two sides:
a) An intermitent presence of TBLI in the traditional teaching system of a reading course,
where tasks in their three full stages (pre-reading task , during reading cycle and
language focus plus a follow-up), can take place periodically in two or three different
moments of a traditional course. This is intended to moderately give presence to the
innovation of TBL in the tradition inducing its acceptance. In this way, both teachers
and learners may try and taste what TBLI approach is and what it can offer. This will
also trigger motivation and high expectancies during the course, renewing interest
towards reading and learning.
b) A thorough adaptation of the existing materials or the creation of new ones for a course
fit into the TBLI model, which enables this flexibility of adaptation or creation to satisfy
any type of need, by keeping track on the three-stage+1 planning mentioned above. In
any of the cases, the three-stage model of TBLI can be used, with an extra final plus: a
follow –up attachment.
STAGES
According to Patrick Howard, from Spain, reading can be communicative as far as there is a
dialog between readers and writer, but it can be also enhanced by collaborative work, keeping
it all through the process, when possible. (3)
PRE-READING TASK
DURING READING CYCLE
LANGUAGE FOCUS +1
Pre-Reading Task Phase – Looking at the text as a TAVI (Text as a vehicle for information),
(4), the information becomes more important than the language. The focus must be centered
in activities which motivate the learner into reading, at the time that desuggests probable
language comprehension barriers by feeding the topic and its lexicon. Such activities can be
held in pairs or triads to reduce fear to the unknown and to enhance self-confidence, as
follows:
-
Predicting the context of the text.
Discussions that elicit new vocabulary
Exposing hypothesis about the story-picture of the content
Guessing the content details kind of game-winning situation
Listing words related to the semantic field (s) evident in the text
Using their general previous knowledge on the topic to exchange information.
Skimming the beginning and predicting the middle and the end of the text; or the end to
predict the middle and the beginning.
Evaluation on this section can be informal and self-monitored or peered by students.
During Reading Cycle
As we have mentioned before, reading is mostly a solitary activity, but it is possible to make it
collaboratively active and enjoyable. The suggested activities for achieving this goal must
always have a final task or product which will definitely become the jointure between the
reading purpose and the reading process.
AN EXAMPLE
-
PROCEDURE
- A jigsaw activity: divide the text in specific fragments (2-5).
Each student reads his/her corresponding part of it. Learners
with the same fragment make small teams to compare what
they have or have not understood. They may need to re-read
their fragments to confirm their comprehension.
Next, forming new teams (now 2-5 people), each of the members
with a different fragment explains the text to the team in his/her
own words to get the whole picture of the text.
PRODUCT
a list of definitions
completing a diagram
writing questions
a graphic
a summary
memory game
a glossary
creating a blog
a slide presentation
While the teacher supports each team with guidance, language use and ideas, the learners
collaborate in the production of the task. Dictionaries are allowed and linguistic forms are
corrected if necessary.
I must mention that my reading comp groups are allowed to communicate and make their
products in Spanish or in English according to their preference.
Final products are presented and/or exchanged for the other teams reading or answering. This
moment also brings out one more chance for reading in teams.
We do not set aside the original strategies to effective reading, and learners are invited to
apply them while reading and preparing their product, such as scanning, skimming, selective
reading, integrating prior knowledge, skipping unimportant words or phrases, contextualizing,
ordering or unscrambling, paraphrasing, infering meaning, etc.
Evaluation at this stage could be designed through rubrics for self, peer and teacher’s
evaluation.
Text Language Focus Phase
Activities in this phase can cover two different purposes:
a) A personal reflection about the activities perfomed all through the process of the TBLI
And stating an objective for analyzing the products:
Praising, concluding, comparing, voting for the best, for the most creative, and mainly,
reflecting about their own learning, such as recognizing their own difficulties and abilities
during the process (done in Spanish if prefered).
b) Language analysis in related, relevant forms within text, depending on the topic.
Developing structural exercises to review or consolidate linguistic forms and vocabulary:
Listing, underlining, re-writing, copying, drilling, writing, playing word/phrases games,
lottos in the style of DARTs (directed activities related to the text)
Evaluation here, in the first part, is highly subjective and can be done informally via a scale of
traits in the product and in a free self reflection like in a “diary” style. Second part, can be
peer evaluated by students and teacher.
A Follow-up attachment (+)
I added this stage as an important part of my teaching experience, which I consider of
relevance. This is what I called “The Follow-up attachment”. It refers to a specific demand on
re-cycling everything related to the TBLI experience, from pre to while and post reading
activities. Learners must keep on working with the materials they have found out, they have
learned. Activities in this section are a bit of an extension to any of the three stages in the
TBLI framework:
- Using the internet at home, at school or at any other place, to work on links that support
their prior and build their new knowledge, again as DART’s (directed activities related to text)
(5) by the teacher’s or students’ suggestions.
- Attending Mediateca services that provide supervised, enriching support and enhances
autonomous learning.
-Working on blogs created especifically by the teacher or students teams, keeping an eye on
his/her learner’s difficulties and weak areas.
Evaluation can be achieved automatically by on-line self corrected systems and both informally
or formally via Mediateca `s services.
TASK DEFINITION
The definition of task that I adhere my proposal to reads as follows: “A task is a set of
activities performed within a real-life context. Students have to achieve a goal through the use
of cognitive and affective strategies during a process that results in a product, evidence of the
comprehension- learning process.”
This proposal to innovate traditional reading courses, in my particular context, offers very little
rejection risk and on the contrary, it has a wide range of opportunities to be adopted. I work
for UNAM, and it is our freedom to teaching which prevails. Therefore, the teacher proposes,
designs, implements, performs, monitors, evaluates and re-designs his/her action plan back
again, without any difficulty. So, Numa Markee’s set of questions to promote the changing
environment can be answered the following way:
1. WHO? The main changing agent is the teacher as an internal follower; however,
students and coordinators are also basical agents accepting or rejecting the innovation.
2. WHAT? TBLT materials and methodological basis, course designs and programs. Either
for fully adopting or partially adapting co-work with the traditional approaches.
3. WHERE? This sociological aspect refers to the cultural acceptance to change teachers’ ,
learners’ and coordination’s beliefs and expectancies. In my context, I find it easy if the
teacher is willing to accept the challenge. Usually, if teachers welcome change, students
do too.
4. WHEN? The demand of change in my context is immediate. The moment has arrived to
recover learners’ motivation to reading, in general, and to reading courses, as well.
5. WHY? Because the educational system is in search of a solution to the problem. The
reasons are varied, but my own are high motivation and constant learning.
6. HOW? With social change, research, development and diffusion (RD&D) and teacher’s
involvement in taking much greater pesonal risks.
IN CONCLUSION
Innovations have always found rejections and adoptions, and the followers must face with
strength any kind of disturbances that new challenges carry along with.
I had been looking for an interesting topic to approach my teaching experience in Reading
Comprenhension courses. The motivational aspect and the effectiveness in my students’
learning was my motto and, since I want to develop a nice proposal in my major’s thesis, I feel
that with TBLI, I have found a good target to aim at it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) Grammar Translation Method still in used since long ago, during the beginnings of the
20th century, would take a literary text into the class for translation purposes, compare
differences and similarityes in both languages use, dependent use of dictionary
throughout the classes and at home, together with vocabulary lists, as cited in
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/text-language-classrooms-talo-tavitasp, consulted on August 26, 2009.
(2) Numa Markees research: Second Language Adquisition Research: A research for
Changing Teachers’ Professional Cultures?, in the Modern Language Journal, Urbana, IL,
1997.
(3) Patrick Howarth’s article Making reading communicative, at
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/making-reading-communicative,
consulted on August 26, 2009.
(4) Article Text in Language Classrooms TALO, TAVI AND TASP, at
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/text-language-classrooms-talo-tavitasp, consulted on August 26, 2009.
(5) Cheron Vester’s article Interacting with Texts. DART’s at
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/interacting-texts-directed-activitiesrelated-texts-darts, consulted on August 27, 2009
(6) Based on his article on-line, Making Reading Communicative at
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/making-reading-communicative.