March 20, 2013, A.M.: Task Based Learning/Community involvement

Above: no,these aren't your typical TESOL attendees -but the whole collection, with over 40 head of longhorns and two cowboys, all cast in iron, set the right tone in a small city park near all the proceedings. What follows are task based sessions, as well as a presentation on community involvement. Mary Christianson's is the most extensive - read on, for an excellent summary!

TASK-BASED LEARNING
Increasingly, our Centers are asking how to accommodate a few General English learners when the majority of other students are EAP.  Two sessions in particular raised some useful pointers about how to teach a course that is task-based, rather than traditional and test-based.

TASK BASED LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: Components, Development, Implementation.  By: Ali Shehadeh, Department of Linguistics, UAE University, with Mohammed Mouhanna, University General Requirements Unit, UAE University. Handout available from smatson@els.edu.  For more information, write Ali.Shehadeh@uaeu.uc.ae   (scm)

Dr. Shehady gave definitions for TBLA (Task Based Learning Assessment):in the past 14-20 years there has been increasing interest in this area. The idea of a "task" is that the activity must be goal oriented, have a real outcome, be content focused, and be authentic- reflecting real life needs. Tasks must be the major course focus. The task itself is the focus, not vocabulary or grammar. Tasks are  the device that provide learners with the data they need for learning. (Ellis, 2000). 

There are strong rationales for task based learning: there is a discourse/interaction analysis basis, as well as a cognitive, sociocultural, and pedagogical basis.  Vygotsky and others hint at the value of this kind of learning. Task-based lanuage teaching (TBLT) incorporates the principles of collaborative pair and group work in the L2 classroom, in a communicative context. The concept has brought learners and researchers together as never before, making the learning more principled and authentic.  Examples of some common classroom task typesare jig saw learning, information gap, decision making tasks, and opinion-exchange (examples of these at ELS are Contact America-type inteviews with Americans).            

Assessment uses the task as the fundamental unit, and the student's performance in a real-world context is key.  Ideally, the assessment should be a formative assessment and incorporated into an instructional program. We need to see not only ability (the student can elicit an appropriate response in a Contact America interview, for example) but use of this ability in the right context in the right way (does the interview have to be carefully planned and scripted in advance? Could the student do this on his/her own? Spontaneously? How can we measure this ability?) Other considerations: the assessment must be direct (on the spot), and authentic. Important: we will measure outcomes (we'll see notes that a student has written up from an interview, and hear him/her conducting the interview) - but we, as observers, are still left inferring the ability that produced the outcome.  In other words - this kind of assessment may not narrowly define a student's abilities as well as a traditional, standardized paper-and-pencil test: what we are focusing on is performance.

Planning time plays a major role. You will do the task better if you are given enough time. Also the interlocutor. To get the best performance you may want to have the students interact with another Non-native speaker rather than a native-speaking examiner. Also relevant – whether person is familiar or unfamiliar. Idea: practice CA interviews in the classroom with classmates before going to the farmer's market; similarly, if you are running a Business English class, keep in mind that a class role play simulates the work environment but is a sheltered milieu.

TASK-BASED LEARNING; USING TASKS FOR RESULTS  Staff from Unviersidad del Norte - Insituto de Idioms, Colombia (scm)

This session covered many of the theoretical ideas discussed above, in the context of a language institute in Columbia where many employers send staff for English language training. An analysis in 2008 had determined that students weren't making the progress that administrators had been claiming to employers.  Thus, administration and staff worked closely to create very specific rubrics for task-based learning. At each of four levels, students had to complete two complex tasks in order to pass the course. One was a written report, and the other was a verbal presentation.  The rubrics created to evaluate the student's performance were very detailed - in fact, not much different from ELS writing rubrics in that respect! One conclusion from the presentation: be very clear about all aspects of the performance you want, and make sure they are measurable. Then, working in a group, create a rubric that includes all the aspects and which works to differentiate performance.

USING INTEGRATED TASK-BASED PROJECTS TO SCAFFOLD LEARNING ACROSS ALL SKILLS.  Heather Weger and Sigrun Biesenbach-Lucas, Georgetown University. Submitted by Tammy Johnson, LaVerne.

The presenters demonstrated two projects used for their "Bridge" class--which prepares students to transfer to university classes after their ESL program. The tasks have a primary focus on meaning rather than form, although they also lend themselves to study of form. They are carefully scaffolded nad sequenced. The outcome of the projects was for an authentic audience, and both projects have a reading/writing/research and a listening/speaking component. Briefly:

Project 1: Business Proposal. Students read articcles, do research about web design, look at other language program websites, learn how to write a proposal, and then write a proposal to redesign their website aimed at program administrators. The end product is a business pitch to a live audience.

Project 2: Audit Class Project.  Students research how to integrate into American classrooms and then audi classes. Throughout the semester they take notes, conduct interviews and complete questionnaires about the classes. Results go into a newsletter which is presented in panel form for all program participants, teachers, and administrators. These projects have proved very helpful for the students involved, especially as they are in a high-stakes environment.
 

OPENING HEARTS AND MINDS:  ETHNO PROJECTS. By Patrick Randolph, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo (scm)

The presenter discussed projects that build several skills, as well as cultural knowledge. Basic concepts:  There should be a “WOW” factor. Can you do a 5 page paper? A ten minute presentation?  Have them do two observations – then brainstorm – then come up with a hypothesis.  Then come up with a list of ethnographic questions. Sex religion, age, religion, political party, country of origin, marital status. Example: core questions like: "When someone sneezes do you say bless you? Do you know the history behind it? If you don’t say it do you think there will be consequences? How did you learn this behavior?"  In class they practice asking the questions.  This helps class see which questions are offensive. Establish other rules: for example, male students may not ask girls for their phone numbers.    How many people should be interviewed? 3-30. Students should get as much information as possible to support the hypothesis. Then have class on analyzing the data. For example, elderly lady knew history and young person didn’t. “Based on this…maybe…(hypothesis) They need to look at the data. Project paper: explains parts of paper. Each number is a paragraph. Title page, methodology page, results page, discussion page, appendix (interview results).  (could do research related to the question). Some students will “bake” the information.  If your hypothesis is denied, then you’ve learned! Should be message from teacher. It’s not about confirming the hypothesis.  Discussion – how does this compare to their own culture? What would they do differently if they had to do it again? They learn a lot by comparing and contrasting cultures.

Paper + presentation which focuses on observation, hypothesis, results -   5-6 minutes. Project 2 and 3. They are looking at something on campus that could be changed. Have to find an authority. For example must interview someone in food service and provide contact information. Interview 4-5 students. They don’t want to insult authority. They must write well because a copy must go to the authority.   For a handout on this presentation, write to smatson@els.edu

Harmonious Transitions for University Success. Teaching staff from the University of Miami IEP. Submitted by Katie Vernezze. 

At my Center, ELS/Milwaukee, we prepare students for university success, but this session inspired me to do much more 

The University of Miami runs semester-long classes, which is a little different from our month-long sessions, but throughout the presentation I couldn’t help taking vigorous notes on how we could easily add these components to our existing classes.  Their class, titled “IM Transitions,” started as a 50 minute, once a week class and now has developed to cover a four-day a week span. 

The curriculum is devoted to “empowering international students for international success” and does so in numerous ways.  One of their biggest commitments relates to campus activities.  They assign a group presentation that focuses on a campus facility, like the writing or health center.  They work with department faculty to get guest speakers into IEP classes.  They also encourage their students to volunteer, as community interaction is one key to a smooth  transition into university life.   One IEP project allows students to evaluate case studies about different issues in the life of a college student, like binge drinking and roommate living, for example.  Then each student gets a chance to lead a small group discussion on case studies they have all read.  Since leading and participating in group discussions is an invaluable skill for our students, I am now implementing this activity into my LS class.   

For our EAP students, it is our job to prepare them to be successful in college.  Teaching them how to read and write is one large part of that, but we also must remember many of our students are young adults who have never experienced college in their own country, much less one in a different culture!  I hope you can (or do!) use some of these ideas in your own classes to set all of our students up for future academic success!  

 

A Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) Approach to the Police Traffic Stop, presented by Stephen O’Connell, PhD candidate, University of Maryland. Submitted by Mary Christianson. Your takeaway: important - see box below!

TBLT – Why do it? What does it look like? SLA research shows that language acquisition happens best when learners can first focus on meaning. It’s easiest for learners to focus on meaning when they are engaged in activities directly relevant to their daily lives or immediate future goals. The task-based approach to language teaching puts the task at the center of the lesson. The curriculum developer identifies the tasks based on the learner’s needs, groups them into task types, identifies the language needed to accomplish the tasks, and creates materials and lesson activities. The teacher’s job in class is to set up the task, supply the students with the language they need to accomplish that task, and then get students to interact with each other using the supplied language. The teacher also supports students with the additional language they need as they improvise and experiment with language, and of course also provides error correction. Assessment is based on the student’s ability to accomplish the task.

The presenter described the process he followed in developing task-based materials to help students understand what to expect and how to communicate if they get pulled over by the police.

While this task had been identified in a needs analysis of a specific target group (adult immigrants in a community language program in Maryland), I would imagine ELS students would also find this task useful.

O’Connell cited research showing that textbooks often don’t include tasks as specific as those identified in a needs analysis, and that if they do, the textbook dialogs lack the complexity and authenticity to be good models of the target task. His analysis of six textbook series revealed only one example of a police traffic stop. (Maybe that was the one used in our SSP Cather book?)

So, it’s up to intrepid PhD candidates like Stephen O’Connell, to do the leg-work of figuring out exactly what people say in these target task interactions. O’Connell gathered information from the source. He contacted local police departments, got traffic stop scripts, and interviewed a traffic safety officer. He sought out authentic samples of traffic stop interactions by collecting existing recordings, viewing YouTube videos, and finally doing ride-alongs and eavesdropping on actual traffic stop interactions. Additionally, the officers he spoke to told of their experiences with non-native English speakers.

He identified common elements in the interactions (grammatical, lexical, functional), identified a common sequence of the interaction, and from these created prototypical dialogues of differing difficulty. A simpler dialogue involved a warning because of a broken brake light (see Figure 2a). The more difficult, complex dialogue, in which the driver receives a citation for speeding, would be presented after the simpler interaction was mastered.

O’Connell proposed the following pedagogical tasks / lesson outline:

1. Introduce topic

2. Practice with police officer questions

3. Demonstrate target task (recording of prototypical dialogue or one of the observed traffic stops)

4. Information gap activity (based on prototypical dialogue or one of the observed traffic stops)

5. Role play

6. Performance assessment
 

O’Connell concludes that it’s not difficult for someone with training to create pedagogic tasks. The hardest work is in gathering the data about the task and how it’s carried out in real world interactions. Fortunately, in some cases, we can bank and share these pedagogic tasks where learner populations remain stable, or where needs overlap among learner groups. In fact, O’Connell has shared his dialogs and classroom activities with ELS to use in the classroom. If you are interested in receiving O’Connell’s materials, please contact me (mchristianson@els.edu).

The take-away for ELS:

Our textbooks are good, but no textbook is ever perfect. We should recognize the gap between what our students face in the real world and what materials published for a mass audience offer. What further information can we as teachers provide students to make their interactions in the real world most successful?

A task-based approach has many benefits for learners. How can we at ELS nudge our curriculum towards a task-based approach in some areas?
 

Non-linguistic information gathered about the target task, students need to know:

--Can be stopped for vehicle equipment violation, not always a moving violation

--IDs, awareness of laws regarding insurance

--Warnings vs. citations (vs. repair orders)

--Commercial license vs. regular driver’s license (to possess a commercial license in some states requires ability to speak English)

--Commercial vehicles can be stopped at any time for inspection

--Stay in the vehicle (not the norm in some countries)
 

Stephen O’Connell, A TBLT Approach to the Police Traffic Stop, TESOL 2013, Dallas. Write to smatson@els.edu for copies of dialogues presented as part of this session.