STOP!!! BEFORE you sit down,

1. After the task, then what? From meaning to form in TBLT Jane Willis STOP!!! BEFORE you sit down, please find 2 or 3 other people working in a similar educational context, and sit with them.

2. After the task, then what? From meaning to form in TBLT... Jane Willis www.willis-elt.co.uk Honorary Visiting Fellow, Aston University, Birmingham

3. Outline Why TBL? and what counts as a task? Overview of a framework for task-based learning What kind of feed-back and when? Post-task activities: meaning focussed Post-task: focussing on grammar and lexis

4. Language Learning - optimum conditions: the goal of TBLT is to generate these... Essential Exposure Use Motivation & Engagement Beneficial Focus on Form

5. Some examples of tasks & task sequences • Memory challenge – objects on a tray (teacher led>pairs) • Write three ways to improve your school timetable • Predict stories from News headlines (eg Cat’s Feat) • Describe in detail how to make your favourite food; classify dishes, then compare recipes • Explore and debate the pros and cons of driverless cars • A teacher you remember well: share memories, then shape into advice for new teachers (two or three things.)

6. Characteristics of effective tasks: ask… • Would the activity engagelearners’ interest? • Is there a primary focus on meaning? Are learners free to use whatever language they can recall? • Does the task have a clear outcome for learners to achieve? • Is success judged in terms of outcome? Is completion a priority? • Will it relate to language use in the real world?

7. Seven types of task –three or four would make a task sequence (with a relevant text and/or recording) Listing Ordering & Sorting Matching Comparing Problem solving / Predicting TOPIC (e.g. Cats) Sharing personal experiences, story telling Projects and creative tasks

8. Text-based task? Give learners a purpose for reading or listening - within a task sequence Controversial topic? (eg Driverless cars) Plan a discussion task: for or against, or opinion survey; Narrative? (eg Cat’s Feat) Prediction task – based on title and / or clues from text, or ‘jigsaw’ / split information General knowledge topic? (eg North Pole/South Pole) Quiz or True / False statements by teacher OR learners (who research topic first)

9. YOUR ideas for ‘after the task’... 3 mins • Think of a task-like activity your students have done in class, or choose a task from the previous list • Tell your partner/group briefly 2 or 3 things you / your class could do straight after that task, & why. 3 mins • Choose 2 things to tellus all about: outline the task and what could follow it. Report back. • If you prefer not to report orally to the whole group, write 2 things on a slip of paper & pass it to me.

10. Some examples of tasks & task sequences • Memory challenge – objects on a tray (teacher led>pairs) • Write three ways to improve your school timetable • Predict stories from News headlines (eg Cat’s Feat) • Describe in detail how to make your favourite food; classify dishes, then compare recipes • Explore and debate the pros and cons of driverless cars • A teacher you remember well: share memories, then shape into advice for new teachers (two or three things.)

11. From Meaning to Form Tasks are most effective when used flexibly within a coherent Framework which offers opportunities for exposure, use of language and engagement: Priming & Preparation (exploring topic, useful words & phrases) Task Cycles Task(s) >> Planning >> Report of outcome + reading or listening tasks Form focus Analysis of familiar texts and practice of forms Evaluation

12. Why the ‘Report to class’? Tasks on their own are not sufficient for all round language development. Skehan: Learners may gain ‘fluency at the expense of accuracy’; Their research underlined the need for ‘pushed output’ and a focus on form; hence the task cycle within a wider framework:

13. After this text-based task – what next? How to maximise learners USE of language? News in brief Cat’s feat Task: what could this story be? What do you think the cat did? Learners share their stories – how? Then they read the news item and...? A sixteen-week-old kitten named Mor jumped 200 feet from a balcony of her 22nd floor apartment in British Columbia to the street and walked away ______ _ _______.

14. Reporting the outcome of the task – how?How to ‘engage’ the rest of the class?

15. During the Report stage -set a purpose for class to ‘engage’... • Take notes of the results for a survey. • Judge the most interesting three. • Compare – the one most like yours. • Plan a quiz on the findings for other groups. • Write a question to ask each group. • Guess whose ideas will be the closest to the text/recording they will read/hear next. • Other ideas?

16. Feedback– MEANING FOCUSSED Initial T. feed-back on content and ideas, how? Feedback on what they have presented - comments on content after each one (positive, what in common?) Evaluative feed-back on content? Goal achieved? Compare with other groups’ outcomes; evaluate outcomes. E.g. Whose was the most interesting / exciting/ unusual? (Groups could discuss and vote) If text-based; how well did they predict? Any surprises? (Teacher led > group discussion and feed-back)

17. Feed-back – FORM FOCUSSED Tip: From learners’ data at planning stages, note down good phrases and get class to repeat... 1. How and when would you correct, and why? 2. How can you make learners aware of their own language errors? 3 mins NB Correction – amount will depend on the level of confidence of the learners and their stage of development. (Do they need a confidence boost or a challenge?)

18. LEARNERS self correcting Learners record themselves reporting back, then play back and transcribe a 1 minute section.. (Turkey experiment – ‘can I correct my transcript?’ ) Phrases which need attention – write up with spaces instead of the error; get sts to suggest wordings Save complex points to cover in later lessons. Learners need to understand the difference between private talk (spontaneous) and public language (fluent and accurate) AND the conventions of private personal writing and more formal writing – different audiences.

19. Form Focus? Text plus recorded transcripts Cat’s feat A sixteen-week-old kitten named Mor jumped 200 feet from a balcony of her 22nd floor apartment in British Columbia to the street and walked away without a scratch. What language features could you focus on here, to get sts. to practise, personalise and extend...?

20. Form Focus: Analysis and Practice Cat’s feat A sixteen-week-old kitten named Morjumped 200 feet from a balcony of her 22nd floor apartment in British Columbia to the street and walked away withouta scratch. (30 words) Practise: Noun groups (personalise them) Complex sentence structure (unpack!) Phrases with without (dictionary use)

21. Extracts from spontaneous task recordings 1 I reckon it probably jumped out the window 2 Oh actually I think I read this somewhere… 3 But certainly it’s fairly common. 4 That’s funny actually because the other day… 5 Because I recently heard of a similar story Form Focus Where might you find these? Beginning or end? Words ending in –lyand their typical phrases, Intonation practice and ‘disappearing text’. 2

22. Can you read these examples out loud? 1 I reckon it ******** jumped out the window 2 Oh ******** I think I read this somewhere… 3 But ******** it’s ****** common. 4 That’s funny ******** because the other day… 5 Because I ******** heard of a similar story

23. Can you still read these examples out loud? 1 I reckon it ******** jumped *** *** ******. 2 Oh ******** I think I read this *********… 3 But ********* it’s ****** common. 4 That’s funny ******** because *** ***** ***… 5 Because I ******** heard of * ******* *****

24. And these? 1 I ****** it ******** ****** *** *** ******. 2 Oh ******** I think * ***** **** *********… 3 But ********* it’s ****** ******. 4 That’s ***** ******** because *** ***** ***… 5 *******I ******** ***** of * ******* *****

25. And who can remember these? 1 * ****** ** ******** ****** *** *** ******. 2 ** ******** * ***** * ***** **** *********… 3 *** ********* **’* ****** ******. 4 ****’* ***** ******** ******* *** ***** ***… 5 ******* * ******** ***** ** * ******* *****

26. Over to you! www.willis-elt.co.uk Which is colder – the North Pole or the South Pole? … Free TBL lesson plans, articles and useful links on www.willis-elt.co.uk

27. break

28. Advice from teachers on TBLT ‘Collaborate with your colleagues – it saves time – and it makes teaching much more rewarding…’ ‘Collaboration is the key’ ‘Don’t give up - it really works!’ www.willis-elt.co.uk