Qualitative differences in teachers’ approaches to task-based teaching and learning in ESL classrooms International Conference on task-based language teaching’ organised by the Centre for Language and Migration Katholieke Universitei Ms Sui Ping CHAN The Hong Kong Institute of Education

Background of the Study In 1994, a new curriculum reform called `Target-oriented Curriculum’ was introduced and Task-based approach to teaching and learning (TBTL) was recommended as a key teaching approach in the new curriculum. This approach has been recommended to teachers in Hong Kong for nearly ten years.

Teachers’ questions What is a task? What is the relationship between tasks and activities? How should we sequence tasks and activities? Should we just look at fluency? What is the place of grammar in developing accuracy? Can my pupils do tasks in English?

Literature Review View of language learning Constructivism- knowledge construction through social interaction, process-oriented How can teachers gauge the outcomes of learning to maximise the benefits of L2 learning in a task-based environment? Successful move to autonomous use of language in communication requires considerable mastery on the part of the teacher in engineering classroom activity which brings about language learning.

Thesis of the study A meaningful and purposeful language learning experience requires the presence of a careful scaffolding of both the linguistic and cognitive knowledge and skills building processes in which the linguistic and communicative properties of language are meaningfully presented, examined, practised, evaluated, reinterpreted and applied.

Scaffolding Scaffolding means providing a learner with a great deal of support during the initial stages of learning. Such support will be gradually reduced with the learner taking up more responsibility when they are ready. In scaffolding, the adult does not simplify the task, but the process of learning will be carefully supported through the graduated intervention of the teacher.

Scaffolding Create verbal and instructional scaffolds that enable students to practice the individual parts of a task within the context of full performance Modelling, questioning, explaining and making the critical features of the task explicit.

Critical issues in Task-based pedagogy Linguistic consideration- balanced development in accuracy, fluency, complexity (Bachman 1990; Skehan 1998) Interaction perspective- modified input, negotiation of meaning, focus on form, noticing the salient features of `input’ is incidental, non-predetermined. (Long 1998) Pyscholinguistic perspective- attention, practice, restructuring (McLaughlin 1990) ; noticing, consciousness-raising (Schmidt 1990) Learning involves the process of noticing the salient features of the target language to be acquired. In the process of restructuring, our current state of knowledge is challenged and refined.

Bringing about noticing Marton and Booth (1997), Marton and Tsui (2004) Theory of variation `By paying attention to the relevance structure of the learning situation and the way in which variation is designed, the teacher can be instrumental to the constitution of the learner’s awareness of the phenomenon being addressed. Learning is learning to experience. Being good at something is to be capable of experiencing or understanding it in a certain way.’ (Marton and Booth 1997; 210)

Bringing about noticing Based on the pyscholinguistic perspective of language learning, conscious attention to linguistic features in the input is a necessary condition and creation of conditions for consciousness raising, noticing, practice and restructuring is needed. Pyscholingustic perspective proposes what needs to be done in the learning process. Marton’s theory of variation explains how to do it.

An analytical framework Task Design: Dimension 1: Task demand Linguistic demands Cognitive demands Interactional demands Dimension 2: Task types Dimension 3: Task selection and sequencing

An analytical framework Task Implementation Dimension 1: Managing linguistic demands Dimension 2: Managing cognitive demands Dimension 3: Managing interactional demands

Dimension 1: Task demand Linguistic demand Judging ease and difficulty is no simple matter  question of learning rather than linguistics (White 1998) Nature of input- literature on vocabulary learning or grammar teaching suggests that new linguistic code can be made accessible to learners when one or more of the following conditions are created (Carter,1998; Johnson and Johnson, 1998; Nation, 1990)

Linguistics demands Nature of input Provision of visual support Presence of context Frequency of occurrence and recycling Familiarity of information

Nature of outcome Medium- visual, oral, written scope – closed or open linguistic outcomes Complexity- degree of precision Language demand inherent in a task is a function of the nature of input and outcome, but not code complexity, per se.

Cognitive demand Cognitive familiarity: familiarity of topic, predictability, discourse genre and task type Cognitive processing: types of cognitive processes involved; number of steps in operation Information type and information structure : static, dynamic, abstract; well structured or loosely structured

Interactional demand Interactional relationship : one-way or two -way Interactional requirement: optional or required Goal orientation : convergent or optional Outcome options: closed vs open

Dimension 2: Task types and task features Interactional perspective: different task types have impact on the opportunities afforded for negotiation of meaning Information processing perspective: implications for the task demand on the learners’ attentional resources The relationship between the task type and task demand is critical in the framework. Different task types make different demands on the learners Pedagogical activities and knowledge development

Dimension 3:Task selection and task sequencing Task selection: consideration of goal development (i.e. accuracy, fluency, complexity); incorporating a range of task types; focus on form Task sequencing: progressive development of declarative and procedural knowledge; enhancing scaffolding

Task implementation Dimension 4: Managing linguistic demands Making language accessible Progression in linguistic complexity

Task implementation Dimension 5: Managing cognitive demands Activating background knowledge foregrounding Noticing salient features of input: patterns of variation as learning strategies – contrast, generalisation, fusion, separation (Marton and Tsui 2004) Creating semantic fields Creating conditions for restructuring Task repetition

Task implementation Dimension 6: Managing interactional demands Teacher or Pupils as assessor Progression in interactional demands

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