This document discusses the role of tasks in language teaching. It defines tasks as activities given to learners to further language learning. It examines different components and interpretations of tasks, including inputs, activities, roles, and goals. It also discusses factors that influence task difficulty, such as linguistic demands, context provided, and assistance given. Different types of tasks can generate different kinds of learner interactions and outputs. Tasks aim to engage cognitive processing and can be used to teach both language and thinking skills.

1. THE PLACE OF TASKS
IN THE LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM
CHAPTER 8

2. TASKS IN FOREIGN
LANGUAGE TEACHING

3. BASICALLY..........
A TASK is anything that learners are
given to do (or choose to do) in the
language classroom to further the
process of language learning.

4. SPECIFIC INTERPRETATIONS OF TASK
Teachers’ view of
teaching-learning
process
Teachers’ belief about
SLA
Language Teaching
approaches
Any activity that learners
engage in to further the
process of learning a
language
A forum within which
such meaningful
interaction between two
or more participants can
take place
Procedural syllabus
an activity which required learners
to arrive at an outcome through
some process of thought, and which
allowed teachers to control and
regulate

5. TASK COMPONENTS (NUNAN, 1989)
Input data
activiities
Roles of teachers
goals
Roles of learners
A setting

6. TASK COMPONENTS (LAGUTKE AND
THOMAS, 1991)
--THEME-CENTRED INTERACTION--
All that the individual learners
and the teacher bring to the
learning situation
Learning take place within the
framework of the group
A dinamic element taking shape
in an interactional process
which mediates learners’
interests, with the interests and
preferences of the teacher
I
Dimensio
n
We
Dimensio
n
Theme

7. GRADING TASKS
AND TASK DIFFICULTY

8. NUNAN, 1989
Input
activity
Learners’
factor
Task
Difficulty

9. INPUT
Grammatical complexity
Propositional density
Vocabulary used
The genre, discourse structure,
sequencing of items
Explicitness of the information
Supporting pictures, tables etc.
Speed of listening text and
Number of people involved
Length of the text

10. ACTIVITY
A piece of text
Sequencing pieces of the text
Transfering information to chart
Agreeing and disagreeing
aUsing the text as the basis of
discussion

11. LEARNER FACTORS
confidence
motivation
Prior
experience
Culture
awareness
Capability and
knowledge

12. PRABHU, 1987
Task
Difficulty
The amount and type of information
provided;
The amount of reasoning or cognitive
operation needed
The precision needed
The learners’ knowledge of the world and fami
liarity with the purposes and constraints of the
task
The degree of abstractness of the conc
epts
dealt with in the task.

13. BRINDLEY, 1987
Task
Difficulty
Relevance to the learner
Complexity
Amount of context provided a
nd
knowledge of the world requir
ed
Linguistic demands
Accuracy required
Assistance given
Time available.

14. It can be seen that different people have approached
the question of task difficulty in a variety of ways.
There is however, one further imortant influence on
task difficulty that has recieved considerable attention,
that is, the different kinds of interaction generated by
different types of tasks.

15. INTERACTIONAL FEATURES OF
TASKS
 different tasks produce different types of interaction
and output
 different factors affect the quality and quantity of
the communication generated
 The amount and type of negotiation

16. activity ParticipantsInteraction
In Task
Amount and
type of
collaboration
Information
exchange
Size of group
Familiarity with
the task
Proficiency
level
Language
background
Learning style

17. A COGNITIVE PROCESSING
APPROACH
Feuerstein’s
cognitive map
a model that represents the
significant factors involved
in the performance of
any mental act.

18. ELEMENTS OF FEUERSTEIN’S
COGNITIVE MAP
The universe of
Content
The modality or
language Level of efficiency
The Cognitive
operations
Phase of cognitive
functions
Complexity
Level of abstraction
1
3
4
5
6
7
2

19. 3 ASPECTS OF LEARNING PHASES
Input
elaboration
output
Selecting, gathering, and taking in
appropriate information
Processing and using the input in
some way
Expressing meaning arising from
the processing that has occured

20. LITZ’S DEVELOPMENT OF FEUERSTEIN’
S THEORY
arousal, sensation, attention
and perception
short- and long term memory,
processing skills and executive sy
stems
the execution of some kind of
response or performance which
may involve verbal,
written, gestural, or figural comm
unication
Input
elaboration
output

21. Instrumental enrichment
A series of some 400
cognitive tasks constructed
by Feuerstein and his co-
workers by means of the
cognitive map to teach the
skills of thinking, problem-
solving and learning-how-
to-learn
These range from the simple
organisation of our
thoughts, through
orientation in time and
space, making comparisons,
categorisation, establishing
logical relationships,
through to inductive and
deductive reasoning.
Specific aspects of cognitive
functioning

22. THUS.....
Instrumental enrichment tasks can be
used to teach both language and thinking.
Learners are then engaged in using the
target language for a purpose to develop
their thinking ability and it is through this
that their language competence develops.

23. AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
ON TASKS
 Tasks can be seen as a manifestation or
embodiment of the theories of learning subscribed
to by teachers and their perceptions of the whole
spectrum of the teaching-learning process.
 Teachers will select tasks which reflect their beliefs
about teaching and learning, including beliefs about
such aspects as co-operation or competition,
learners’ roles, learning style, independence, level of
challenge and so on.
 The ways in which teachers mediate in their
presentation of tasks is a crucial aspect of any
debate on learning tasks.
 The learners make sense of the activities or experien
ces provided for them.

24. A SUMMARY ABOUT TASKS
 Tasks are seen as pivotal in the interaction between teachers
and learners.
 They provide one of many routes through which teachers
and learners convey attitudes and messages about the
learning process to each other, as well as providing a vehicle
within which learning takes place.
 Besides, a consideration of the way in which tasks are
presented, mediated, carried out and evaluated is also
important.

25. REFERENCE
Williams, M.; and Burden, R.L. 1997. Psychology for Language
Teachers: A Social Constructivist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press