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THE TBL FRAMEWORK: LAGUAGE FOCUS Willis, J. (1996) ByJulietaEdayFabiola
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Pre-Task Task Cycle Meaning Exposure and Communication Task Cycle Meaning Exposure and Communication Language Focus Form and Use Familiar Texts or Scripts Language Focus Form and Use Familiar Texts or Scripts Analysis Activities Critical Investigation of linguistic features Analysis Activities Critical Investigation of linguistic features Practice Activities Useful for consolidation and revision. Practice Activities Useful for consolidation and revision. Set Up Clear instructions, Examples, getting started Set Up Clear instructions, Examples, getting started Monitor Learner’s own discoveries based on previous knowledge Monitor Learner’s own discoveries based on previous knowledge Review Record of findings for further recognition Review Record of findings for further recognition Starting Points Starting Points Semantic Concepts (Themes, notions or functions) Semantic Concepts (Themes, notions or functions) Words or Parts of Words Words or Parts of Words Categories of meaning or use Several uses of a common word Categories of meaning or use Several uses of a common word Pronounce Memorize Expressions and patterns Pronounce Memorize Expressions and patterns Phonology Recognize tune units Stress. Able learners to cope with the flow speech Phonology Recognize tune units Stress. Able learners to cope with the flow speech Pedagogic Corpus Common source of examples for analysis Pedagogic Corpus Common source of examples for analysis Classification of grammar functions/meaning/ use Lexical repetition and cohesion Help to prepare revision activities. Match example to category Help to prepare revision activities. Match example to category Deeper understanding of meanings and uses Confidence to try new combinations
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THE TBL FRAMEWORK: LANGUAGE FOCUS The goal of this stage is to encourage students to focus their attention on forms of the language which they have already processed for meaning in the texts or transcripts used earlier in the task cycle. The aim is to get students to identify and think about particular features of language form and language use in their own time and their own level by Language Analysis Activities.
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LANGUAGE ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES These are also called consciousness – raising activities, language awareness activities or even meta – communicative tasks which give learners time to systematize and build on the grammar they know already, to make and test hypotheses about the grammar and to increase their repertoire of useful lexical items.
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For implementing this kind of activities in the classroom take into account... They should not consist of decontextualised presentation and practice of language items in isolation. If there are not sufficient examples of a particular language feature in the task cycle text or transcript, extra ones can be assembled from previously read ones of early recordings. Be aware of introducing examples which are not typical of natural language. It is better to collect examples that have actually occurred in sources familiar to the students, or look some up in a good learner’s monolingual o semi – bilingual dictionary
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Starting points for analysis activities There are three main starting points for this kind of activities: 1. Semantic concepts (themes, notions, functions). 2. Words or parts of a word. 3. Categories of meaning or use.
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1.- Semantic Concepts (themes, notions, functions ) The main themes in a text or transcript are revealed in the lexis; so, sometimes, identifying the theme words and phrases will help students to notice lexical repetition and how this can form cohesive ties through the text. In a spoken transcript of a problem solving task, there may be several ways of reaching agreement that would form a useful function focus. In an interview or discussion the functions of questions would be a good choice.
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Once students have identified the words and prases in the text that eco each theme or express each notion, you can help them to add to each category, explore shades of meaning and build up lexical sets. the text that eco each theme or express each notion, you can help them to add to each category, explore shades of meaning and build up lexical sets. Activities starting from the main themes, notions and functions are excellent for broadening students’ vocabulary and increasing their repertoire of lexical phrases.
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2.-Words or parts of words Analysing tasks starting from this point can involve learners in the following: Classifying according to grammatical function Exploring meaning and effects of alternative choices of form Identifying, from a set of examples, the odd one out, or what they have in common. This can be structural or semantic Exploring collocation. Collecting similar examples from learner’s previous knowledge or from a dictionary. Classifying according to meaning and use.
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3.- Categories of meaning or use Once the learners have met several uses of a common word, you can assemble a number of familiar examples to build a revision activity. Start by giving the common categories or use of the word or phrase and then ask learners to match each example to a category. To prepare these activities, you can look up word’s basic categories of meaning and use in a good learner’s dictionary or a reference grammar, with common words which tend to have many different meanings, you may need to be selective in your choice of categories, or conflate some to make more general categories.
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Phonology: Intonation, stress and sounds Phonology is another area worthy of analysis, and working from recordings and transcripts can be invaluable. Learners need practice in identifying the main message- bearing words in the flow of speech. This involves recognizing how spoken language is chunked, and hearing which word within each chunk carries the main stress. Exercises which focus on stress and intonation are more effective that those focusing on discrete sounds. However, at elementary level, some emphasis on discrete sounds will be both satisfying and helpful for learners in distinguishing words that sound similar to them.
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Some considerations It is a good idea to begin with an activity that focuses on the words and phrases expressing meaning related to the main theme running through the text. Then tackle two or three other activities using different starting points. Some can be set for homework, and reviewed next lesson. Try to select points that will catch the right kind of samples to stimulate a deeper investigation into grammar and meaning.
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IMPLEMENTING ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM
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SETTING UP ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES Ensure the focus and purpose of each activity is clear. Give and example or two and perhaps do the beginnig of the activity with the whole class. If the instructions in the textbook are clear, then ask learners to read them and get on with the activity in their own time. Make sure you have at least one good learner’s dictionary available.
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MONITORING ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES Go round and see how they are getting on. Help out if they are not sure what to do, but avoid the temptation of doing it for them. Let them think by themselves! Keep an eye on weaker learners, though, and perhaps give them a bit of extra attention. Be ready to handle individual questions. Remember that students will not necessarily notice the same things as you but will pick out things that are new to them and that they can fit into their own developing picture of the target language. You will also notice that individual learners find differnt ways of classifying the same examples.
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REVIEWING ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES Once most learners have finshed the activity, stop them all and go through it as a class. Ask different pairs for examples, and write them on the board. When the review is complete, ask the class for futher examples that they know, and add these to the categories. Give students time to select examples from the board to enter in their personal notebooks. Finally, suggest that they continue to look out for similar examples from what they subsequently hear or read.
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Some considerations when reviewing the analysis activities In the course of carrying out and reviewing the analysis activities, learners will have practised saying target words and phrases and hearing them reapeated in different contexts. However, you may feel you want to give the class some more orchestrated practice to pull the activity together at the end, or to add some variety, or speed things up. For example, you could get them to do a choral reading from the board, or, as you clean the board, do some progressive deletion. Such activities can be fun and often give weaker learners more confidence.
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CREATING A PEDAGOGIC CORPUS As language learners progress through a course, the texts they read and recordings they hear can form a similar corpus of language. This corpus can be called a pedagogic corpus because it is common to all students in the class. Whenever possible, it is this language that could be used as a source for examples. Keep copies of all the supplementary texts and task recordings you have done in a file for each class. This can be used as a resource for future language focus activities, and possibly for test items.
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CONCLUSION The aim of this stage and the use of analysis and practice activities is not to perfect learners’ production of the target language and make it automatic, but to draw their attention to the surface forms realising the meanings they have already become familiar with during the task cycle and so help them to systematise their knowledge and broaden their undrstanding; and also recognize similar words, phrases and patterns in future texts and exposure, so that they can carry on learning outside the classroom and after their course.
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