TEACHING TASK-BASED TEACHING: APPROPRIATION THROUGH IMITATION Anne Feryok University of Otago TBLT Conference Hawaii 2007

Sociocultural theory and second language teacher development ‘The sociocultural turn’ (Johnson 2006) Participatory appropriation (Singh & Richards 2006) How does this occur?  Means of mediation are appropriated (object/other/self regulation of the means)  Imitation is a key means of appropriation (Vygotsky, 1986; Tomasello, 1999; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006) Distinct from mimicry and emulation Imitation involves recognizing not only the goal of an activity but also understanding the means employed to achieve that goal

Context and Programme Context of the study  Malaysia adopts English medium for math and science instruction  Recognizes content teachers may lack language skills  Sends master teachers for programme Design of the programme  10 weeks in New Zealand: teaching content through English  10 weeks in Malaysia: designing a teacher development workshop  Opportunities for participatory appropriation  25% lectures, 75% experiential activities

Research Questions Did the teachers learn to use language teaching practices, particularly tasks? If so, did they learn to use them through imitation?  Did their tasks resemble task exemplars?  If so, how?

Research Design 4 teachers, 4 curriculum areas Notes, peer microteaching videotapes & lesson plans Compared early and late microteaching of tasks  Part 1: language teaching practices (tasks & criteria) Focus on meaning Gap Choice of language resources Clearly defined outcome  Part 2: imitation (design features of task exemplars) Input: medium of information presented to students (eg text cloze) Operations: what students do with the information(eg, complete) Conditions: how information is presented and used (eg, shared, two-way) Participation structures: how students (& teacher) are organized (eg, pairs)

Reliability Task? Inter-rater reliability  Tape 1: 100% Tape 2: 95% Task criteria? Inter-rater reliability  Tape 1: 81% Tape 2: 80% Imitation of design features? Intra-rater reliability  Tape 1: 100% Tape 2: 84%

Findings: Trying Tasks Peer microteaching 1: 3/4 try tasks Peer microteaching 2: 4/4 try tasks Key belief: value of experiential ‘learning by doing’  Teachers believed tasks were useful for learner language ‘While doing activities the learners have to communicate using language, the more they communicate the more they improve their language’ (Biology) ‘The students will indirectly learn language while they are doing tasks’ (Physics)  Teachers believed tasks were useful for teacher development ‘For the teacher training module, I will have to include workshop sessions so as to give time and practice to design task-based activities.’ (Physics) ‘Gather everything that we have learn here and put as a model for our training programme’ (Maths)  Teachers believed one of their own ‘tasks’ was to consider their context ‘Modification can be made to suit with Malaysian curriculum’ (Chemistry)

One Task Exemplar Original: Modify an individual exercise on biological classes Input: Graphic organizer Operations: Assemble parts into whole Option 1  Conditions: split information, two-way interaction  Participation: social Option 2:  Conditions: split information, one-way interaction  Participation: social

Biology Teacher Peer microteaching 1: used input type, did not use same operations, did not address conditions, participation Peer microteaching 2: used input type, operations, conditions, participation  Chart: split information, one way interaction  Graphic organizer: split information, two way interaction

BIOLOGY: achieving success Types of Nutrition MICRO 1MICRO 2 TASK 1 MICRO 2 TASK 2 INPUT +++ OPERATIONS ?++ CONDITIONS ?++ PARTICIPATION ?++

CHEMISTRY: struggling with success Atomic Structure MICRO 1MICRO 2 TASK 1 MICRO 2 TASK 2 MICRO 2 TASK 3 INPUT +??+ OPERATIONS ?+?+ CONDITIONS ?+__ PARTICIPATION ?+_?

IMITATION OF FEATURESMICRO 1 (N = 3) MICRO 2 (N = 10) INPUT +100%50% INPUT ?0%40% INPUT -0%10% OPERATIONS +66%60% OPERATIONS ?0%30% OPERATIONS -33%10% CONDITIONS +0%40% CONDITIONS ?100%30% CONDITIONS -0%30% PARTICIPATION +33%50% PARTICIPATION ?66%40% PARTICIPATION -0%10%

Discussion: Making progress Early  accepted goal of promoting language use: try tasks  had difficulty with means of promoting language use: how tasks stimulate language use Late  became better at means of promoting language use

Possible explanations Tasks design features of inputs and some operations were familiar from content teaching  Easy to recognize, easy to emulate Task features of conditions and participation structures were less familiar  Not so easy to recognize, not so easy to imitate  Require understanding of how design features work to stimulate interaction

Progress through SCT imitation? Object regulation: emulating goals  Focus on input and operations: materials for task Other regulation: recognizing means for interactions  Focus on conditions and participation: interactions for task Self regulation: imitating means for achieving goals  Establishing the connection between materials + interactions Data shows discontinuous nature of learning  Gaining, losing, regaining control over object/other/self regulation  Evidence of teachers learning within their ZPD

Implications: Opportunities Opportunities for imitation (materials design, being ‘students’, microteaching) acknowledged need to develop skills, get feedback, revise Cyclical approach with lots of support effective for developing confidence to face major change to entrenched practices SCT imitation broadens understanding of teacher development processes

LIST OF (CITED) REFERENCES Johnson, K, E. (2006). The sociocultural turn and its challenges for second language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly 40, Lantolf, J. P. and Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: OUP. Singh, G. and Richards, J. C. (2006.) Teaching and learning in the language teacher education course room: A critical sociocultural perspective. RELC 37/2, Tomasello, M (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge, Mass: MIT. Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, Mass: MIT.