TASK AND WORK PROJECT LUCY ACOSTA LINA CARVAJAL LINSAY DONCEL

Task and project work

It focus on task work project as different ways of creating opportunities for language learning through problem solving, cooperative learning, collaboration and negotiation of meaning.

A task is an activity which learners carry out using their available language resources and leading to real outcome.

Playing a gameSolving a problemSharing and comparing experiences

In carry out task, learners are said to take part in such processes as negotiation of meaning, paraphrase, and experimentation.

Tasks can be used as a basis for teaching and give detailed account of 12- week-long (Beglar and Hunt)

In carry out the task, students experience ample opportunities for meaningful language use in a realistic context

Implementing Task-BasedLanguage Teaching

Synthetic syllabus segments the target language into a discrete linguistic items, such as points of grammar, lexical items and functions.

Analytic syllabus is a noninterventionist, experiential approach which aims to immerse learners in real-life communication.

it will engage learners’ general cognitive processing capacities

contextualization

Meaningful input and output

which they will process and reshape the input.

a rich linguistic environment

Tasks will likely create capable of activating the learners’ intuitive heuristics

One type of analytic syllabus is the task-based syllabus

The project involves:

Students working in small groups

Choosing a topic of interest

Designing a questionnaire

Analyze and interpret the data

Finally present their findings in class.

The general objective of the project are to

Provide learners the opportunity to use the English for authentic purposes for an extended period of time.

Provide intrinsically motivation activities which take advantage of the learners desire to improve their listening and speaking proficiency.

Allow learners to take responsibility for their own English education by giving them the primary responsibility for topic section, questionnaire creation.

decide how they will structure and present the data they collect

reinforce learners’ ability to form grammatically and pragmatically correct questions

enhance the learners’ presentation skills

demonstrate to students that the use of English can further enhance their own education and development

provide opportunities for learners to work closely together with a partner or in a small groups for an extended period

The 12- week plan

Week 1

Learners are introduced to the project

They are shown a sample questionnaire

They view a sample presentation on videotape

Week 2

Teacher checks each group ideas. With the instructor ‘s advice, each group should tentatively settle on a topic.

Week 3

Learners discuss suitable target groups to whom they can administer their questionnaire

Week 4

Groups brainstorm the main points they wish to investigate and then brainstorm possible questions to include on their questionnaire.

Week 5

Groups practice interviewing and using their questionnaire by ask questions to other members.

The purpose is to find out how well the questions they have formulated are eliciting th e type and quantity of information they hoped for.

Week 6

Learners are instructed to begin data by interviewing a minimum of ten people per group member

Week 7 Learners report to the group members on their progress in gathering data

Week 8 Groups members compare interview data and look for interesting trends.

Week 9

The instructor explains how the presentation will be evaluated, in addition discussing presentation skills, such as eye contact, the use og gestures, and voice projection.

Week 10 Half of the groups make a formal presentation of their results.

Week 11 The remaining groups make the formal presentation of their results.

Week 12

The instructor complemented evaluations of the presentations to each students.

The information in these evaluations is used in order to compile suggestions for possible changes to the project.

PRE-TASK ACTIVITIES

Are used in several points in the project

Essential for providing

adequate support to the learners.

Challenging task in some case new

vocabulary, grammar or

knowledge of language

Pre-tasks can potentially lead learners to interpret tasks in more fluent, more complex and more accurate ways.

THE NEGOTIATION OF MEANING

This is beneficial for inter-language development.

should produce higher degrees of comprehension.(Paraphrasing and lexical substitution).

It promotes greater flexibility in the learner’s ruler system by encouraging the exploration of new hypotheses about structure of the target language.

A CLOSER ANALYSIS OF THE MAJOR TASKS

SKEHAN(1998)PROPOSES THREE DIMENSIONS FOR THE ANALISIS OF TASKS

1.THE LANGUAGE REQUIRED

2.THINKING REQUIERED3.COMUNICATIVE STRESS.

the First dimension :

The language required.

This will help to ensure that noticing new lexical items, grammatical constructions…

THINKING REQUIRED

The second dimension: Capacities to analysis. Organize information. understand the process.

The third dimension: COMMUNICATIVE STRESS

students have to take into account. The speed of presentation. Long time or short time The number of participants. Length texts. Control the interaction.

require

active students------------------participation.

stimulate higher skill.----------thinking

give students responsibility for their own learning.

PROJECT WORK: A MEAN TO PROMOTE LANGUAGE AND CONTENT

To promote meaningful students engagement with language and content learning.

Through content based instruction Students develop language skill and knowledgeable society of the world.

Into the content-based classroom teachers create learning environments.

Project work into content-based

Cooperative students Collaborative Problems solving.

PURPOSE Project work can be integrated into content based classroom. Introduce to develop a project in the English classroom.

A RATIONALE FOR CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

In a content-based approach Learners are going to think and learn through language target.

students not only to understand information but to interpret and evaluate it as well.

It provides a forum in which students can respond orally to reading and lecture materials.

It recognizes that academic writing follows from listening and reading.

1. Thematically organized materials, typical of content-based classrooms, are easier to remember and learn.

2. The presentation of coherent and meaningful information, characteristic of well organized content-based curricula, leads to deeper processing and better learning.

3. There is a relationship between student motivation and student interest-common

outcomes of content- based classes-and a student's ability to process challenging

materials, recall information, and elaborate.

4. experience in a topic develops when learners reinvest their knowledge in a sequence of progressively more complex tasks feasible in content-based classrooms and usually do not present from more traditional language classrooms because of the narrow focus on language rules or limited time on superficially developed and disparate topics.

THE PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECT WORK

1. Project work focuses on content learning rather than on specific language targets. Real world subject matter and topics of interest to students can become central to projects.

2. Project work is student centered, though the teacher plays a major role in offering support

and guidance throughout the process.

3. Project work is cooperative rather than competitive. Students can work on their own, in small groups, or as a class to complete a project, sharing resources, ideas, and expertise along the way.

4. Project work leads to the authentic integration of skills and processing of information from varied sources, mirroring real-life tasks.

5. Project work culminates in an end product (e.g., an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board display, a report, or a stage performance) that can be shared with others,

giving the project a real purpose. The value of the project, however, lies not just in the

final product but in the process of working towards the end point. Thus, project work has

both a process and product orientation, and provides students with opportunities to focus

on fluency and accuracy at different project-work stages.

6. Project work is potentially motivating, stimulating, empowering, and challenging.

It usually results in building student confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as well as improving students' language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities.

SOME FACTORS

The most suitable format for a given context depends on a variety of factors: Curricular objectives Course expectations Students’ proficiency levels Student interests Time constraints Availability of materials

Classification Henry (1994) proposes three types of projects: Structured projects Unstructured projects Semistructured projects Projects can differ in data collection techniques and sourcesof information, so we find: Research projects Text projects Correspondence projects Survey porjects Encounter projects

Projects may also differ in the ways that information is reported: Production projects Performance projects Organizational projects

Projects can be carried out intensively over a short period of time or extended over few weeks, or a full semester It can be complete by students individually, in small groups or as a class.They can take place within calssroom or out the classroom.

INCORPORATING PROJECT WORK INTO THE CLASSROOM

Project work is introduced as a special sequence of activities and requires multiple stages of development to succeed.

Sheppard and Stoller (1995) proposed an 10-step sequence that gives easy-to-manage structure to project work and guides teacher and sudents.

Step 10: evaluateTh project