Learning Language Through

Tasks and Activities

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 Outline
The Task as an Environment for Learning
Task Demands
Task Support
Balancing Demands and Support
The Importance of Language Learning Goals
Defining ‘Task’ for Young Learner Classrooms
Stages in a Classroom Task
Hani’s Weekend: Possible Preparation and Follow-Up Activities
Task-as-plan and Task-in-action
The Task as an Environment Classroom tasks and activities are
for Learning seen as the ‘‘environment’’ or
‘‘ecosystem’’ in which foreign
language skills are improved.
Even the most motivated child can have problems making
sense of some of the activities.
Demands on Pupil
Cognitive Demands
-Understand the way the grid works to show
times of actions
-Work left to right across columns and top to
bottom from one row to next
-Understand that Hani appears in each picture
-Understand that the pictures show past
actions recognise the key action in each
picture
Language Demands

-Find the vocabulary to describe each action

-Find the past tense ending for each verb
-Put the words together in the right order
-Pronounce the words
-Give correct stress and intonation to words
and sentence
-Understand teacher’s instructions and
explanation, and feedback
Interactional Demands

Interactional demands vary with the type

of interaction required; with the
participants in talk; with the nature of
interaction.
Metalinguistic Demands

Metalinguistic demands may include the

use of technical terms about language in
production or comprehension.
Involvement Demands

Involvement demands vary with ease or

difficulty the learner has in engaging with
the task; links to the child’s interest and
concerns; novelty.
Physical Demands

Physical demands vary with how long the

child must sit still for; with actions
needed; with fine-motor skills needed.
TASK SUPPORT

Cognitive
Language
Interactional
Metalinguistic
Involvement
Physical
 Balancing Demands and Support

Demands

Support
Zone of Proximal Development
Too high demand Too difficult

Too much support Too easy

 ‘‘A task that is going to help the learner
learn more language is one:
Goldilocks Principle that is demanding but not too demanding,
that provides support but not too much
support.’’
Lifting Weight Analogy

Task demands and support should be balanced.

‘‘How can teachers ensure that the balance of demands and
support produces language learning?’’
The Importance of Language Learning Goals
Set clear and appropriate language learning goals!
Too many demands make learners anxious and too few
demands make language learning seem boring, to select
and grade language learning goals carefully is key tool
for teacher to build success into learning.
When ideas are transferred, they need to be
adapted for the new aim of the language learning.
Defining ‘Task’ for Young Learner Classrooms
Tasks are adopted as a unit to try to bring the classroom and
real life closer together.
Dynamic Congruence: Choosing activities and content that
are appropriate for children’s age, socio-cultural experience
and language that will grow up with the children.
 TASK ACTIVITY

An activity can be any kind of event that children participate in, but
tasks require some further features.
Classroom task for children learning a foreign
language
Have unity and coherence for learners

Have a clear beginning and end

Have a clear purpose and meaning

Have clear language learning goals

Involve the learners actively

Stages in Classroom Task

Teaching reading skills

The reading activities have been commonly practiced for many
years divided into three stages;

Pre-Reading Reading Post-Reading

The three-stage format has been applied to listening, to

mainstream task-based learning and to activity-based language
learning in primary classrooms.
Also adopted as;

Preparation Core Activity Follow Up

Hani’s Weekend: Possible preparation
and follow-up activites
TASK Say sentences about Hani’s weekend
PREPARATION
Language Activate previously learnt lexis
learning goals Practise past forms of verbs
Activities Teacher-led:
(1)Use of single pictures to prompt recall of lexis
(2)Divide board into two and recall/practise past forms
(3)Pairs practise with single pictures
Demands on learners To recall lexis, or to re-learn
To understand the idea of past events and use of tense to
express this
Support for learning Pictures of familiar events
Teacher modelling of lexis and forms
Pair work
TASK Say sentences about Hani’s weekend
CORE ACTIVITY
Language Oral production of sentences from grid.
learning goals
Activities (1)Whole class introduction of grid and teacher modelling of
sentences.
(2)Pair production of sentences: e.g. P1 points to a box and
P2 says a sentence.
Demands on learners To recall lexis and verb forms from preparation stage.
To ‘read’ the grid.
Support for learning Familiar pictures.
Addition of dates to grid.
Preparation stage practice of forms.
Teacher modelling.
Pair work.
TASK Say sentences about Hani’s weekend
FOLLOW UP
Language Written production of Hani sentences.
learning goals Composition of own sentences.
Activities (1)Teacher writes key words on board, next to pictures.
(2)Teacher models writing sentence from grid.
(3)Pupils write sentences.
(4)Pair checking of accuracy.
Demands on learners Writing in English.
Remembering words and forms from core.
Finding words for own activities.
Support for learning Teacher modelling.
Key words on board.
Teacher feedback while writing.
Teacher provides new words for pupils’ own sentences.
 If teachers have repertoires of small changes (e.g. adding
dates to the grid, using seperated pictures singly) they can use
them to adapt and adjust tasks found in coursebooks to suit
particular learners.
The analysis of the structure, demands and the support provided to
meet those demands for ‘Hani’s weekend’ is an unrealistic
exercise.

 Who are the specific pupils and teachers that

might use the grid?
 How will the teacher introduce the grid?
 What language will pupils bring to make sense
of it?
 Task-as-plan what is planned

Task-in-action what happens in practice

Until the task is turned into action, it cannot be fully

evaluated for its usefulness or effectiveness.