This week’s focus brought the concept of learner profiles to mind. Materials and tasks found in published books have a level of ability in mind, and this extends across all skills and cognitive ability. However, jagged profiles are quite common, where learners are markedly more able in some aspects of language but far less able in others. “Recall skills are more demanding than recognition” (Little & King, 2013, p. 421) and the “visual sense is stronger than the auditory” (ibid), to which Little and King offer their own Spanish skills as an example, noting their reading to be B1 but speaking to be A1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2021) and the expectation is that this kind of disparity should be quite common and, anecdotally, matches my experience in the classroom and level testing.
Maley (2011) suggests skills modules that can be tailored to the learner’s ability. This appears to be a possible solution to jagged profiles but there are some inherent drawbacks, namely the need for an experienced teacher to knit the different levels, topics, and language into a cohesive course for the learners. This is before taking into account the mixed abilities inherent in any classroom, where we may find that a CEFR B1 class requires all the levels for all of the skills, and the lesson preparation workload spirals out of control. This conundrum strikes at the heart of difficulties faced in classrooms across the globe, and whether teachers argue for mixed-ability classes or streamed classes, differentiation is the theme that intertwines through all of them. We cannot get away from the need for differentiation.
As a group, we were asked to prepare a short explanation of a task that we have used or have participated in, and thought was particularly effective. Before I continue, we need to define task more clearly because task, activity and exercise are commonly used interchangeably in everyday parlance but have subtle differences. Ellis (2011) places tasks as a subset of activity, but Richards (2021) takes it further and adds exercise as a narrower form of task, ranging from less controlled/focus on meaning to very controlled/focus on form.
A diagram of Richards’ (2021) definition of exercise, task, and activity
Vasiljevic (2011) highlights three components to the task: language input of some kind; a clearly defined outcome; and activities that learners must complete. I think that this is quite a neat summation of a task. Applied to the task I presented to the group; it would pass muster as a task.
The task I presented was a skills-focused task, working on top-down processing, listening, and noticing paralinguistic features of communication. I have used the BBC’s One-minute World News (BBC, 2021) for this task with a range of learners from varying levels of ability. I usually use it as a dictogloss activity with three viewings, the first time silent and the following two times with sound. The aim is to reconstruct the news four-sometimes-three headlines. It has language input, aural and sometimes written text. The goal is clearly defined, and there are activities the learners must complete. Under Ellis’ (2011) terms for defining tasks, my choice would be described as unfocused (generally communicative), input- and output-providing (both reading/listening and speaking/writing), and a closed outcome (there is a clear end).
This is something that I often use to help learners notice the paralinguistic features of communication, and help their communicative competence improve. The items featured on the news are topical and learners will more likely than not have read or heard about one of the featured stories. With many learners having internet-connected devices, it is possible to allow learners to view the video on their own phones or tablets and pause, replay as much as they need. There are some drawbacks as the news bulletin is aimed at native speakers so it may not be suitable for novice learners. Now that the BBC use newscasters with a range of accents, it may prove too challenging for some learners that have not been exposed to a range of English accents. The topics tend to be less upbeat, and learners have complained about the need to remind them about what an awful world we live in. They are also likely to involve politics, which is a big turn off for learners. The one-minute news is only available online so would not be suitable for offline classrooms.
In contrast to the task I presented, Laura offered something much more light-hearted and fun: a bag game. The aim was to create a story from mystery items in a bag, with learners taking turns to fish something from the bag and somehow incorporate it into the story. Based on the discussion of tasks so far and Richards’ (2021) definitions of exercise, task, and activity, this would be more activity than task. Placing this activity at the centre of the lesson with a focus on narrative tenses and storytelling, I could imagine a very fun lesson based on a test-teach-test lesson structure with studying sandwiched between two very fun stories.
With both tasks, I have eschewed any macro-evaluations in favour of micro-evaluations (Ellis, 2011), simply because teachers are very much focused on the effectiveness of the tasks we set our learners, and we rarely look at the overarching success of the course. Both tasks are unfocused and offer considerable challenges to demonstrating learning. With the one-minute news, it is almost impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty that learners do not practise top-down processing and do not notice paralinguistic features of communication. However, by measuring learners’ output, it can give us some insight into which skills they are utilising to accomplish the task. Similarly, Laura’s bag game used in a test-teach-test structure would give clearer insight into learners’ use of narrative tenses and understanding of narrative structure in English.
You can probably see, from the focus of my presented task, why I liked the skills modules suggested by Maley (2011), but also why I am drawn to these unfocused tasks that have a lot of flexibility depending on what activities the learners are required to complete. I think they offer the differentiation without having to drown in a sea of worksheets and fast-finisher activities, which is ironic that Laura likes to use her bag game as a filler at the end of class when her learners have finished everything she had planned for them too quickly.
References
BBC, 2021. BBC One-minute World News. [Online]
Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02cfn23
[Accessed 3 June 2021].
Council of Europe, 2021. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). [Online]
Available at: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages
[Accessed 1 June 2021].
Ellis, R., 2011. Macro- and micro-evaluations of task-based teaching. In: B. Tomlinson, ed. Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 212-235.
Little, D. & King, L., 2013. A career in phonetics, applied linguistics and the public service. Language Teaching, 43(3), pp. 409-424.
Maley, A., 2011. Squaring the circle – reconciling materials as constraint with materials as empowerment. In: B. Tomlinson, ed. Materials development in language teaching. s.l.:Cambridge University Press, pp. 379-402.
Richards, J. C., 2021. Difference Between Task, Exercise and Activity. [Online]
Available at: https://www.professorjackrichards.com/difference-task-exercise-activity/
[Accessed 3 June 2021].
Vasiljevic, Z., 2011. The Predictive Evaluation of Language Learning Tasks. English Language Teaching, 4(1), pp. 3-10.