Tasks & Projects

TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

TASKS & PROJECTS Assignment

Roberto Perezalonso Lacayo NCFPMTFL716131 Patricia Fernandez Orue PEFPMTFL905018 Group:29 December 4, 2011

INDEX Introduction ........................................................ 2 Legutke and Thomas ......................................... 4 Ribé and Vidal .................................................... 6 Fried-Booth........................................................ 7 Our adaptations ................................................. 8

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

The main purpose of tasks & projects in EFL teaching is to change the traditional forms of instruction in which knowledge is transmitted, in a one-way process; to make the classroom more “student-centred,” have students play moreactive roles in discovering and processing knowledge. There is a general desire to involve students in some kind of purposeful interaction with information, objects and/or ideas, often in groups, in order to develop their skills and knowledge. Confusion often arises in discussions of task-based learning because different teachers and writers use different definitions of the term ‘task’. Tasks areactivities in which students work purposefully towards an objective; the objective may be one that they have set for themselves or one which has been set by the teacher. Tasks may be carried out individually or in groups. The outcome may be something real (e.g. a report or presentation) or something imperceptible (e.g. agreement or the solution to a problem). Tasks are always activities where thetarget language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose or goal to achieve an outcome; one of the characteristics of a task is that learners focus on communicating meanings rather than learning or practicing forms. Languages teachers are challenged with having their students develop not only communication skills but also general cognitive strategies of handling and organisinginformation, such as:  Analysing process and results.  Analysing what information is needed in order to complete the task  Collecting information  Deciding on procedures  Presenting data in an organised way  Selecting relevant data Language is a method for carrying out activities that are “real world” connectors; these are similar to what students may also need to do outside their language course.Students therefore need to use a wider range of language and engage in continuous processing of input and output (reading for information, producing reports, etc.) Effective instructional tasks allow more room for learners to have something of their own to express in their specific ideas (Langer & Applebee, 1987). Fried-Booth (1986) proposed that the project-work approach to overcome thedifficulties in language teaching programs, affirming that, “What is taught in the classroom may in theory be useful, but the usefulness does not always extend to practice. Often, there is a gap between the language the students are taught and the language they in fact require. It is this gap that project work can help to bridge.” We as EFL instructors have to attempt to create a learning environment thatencourages learners to actively transfer the language skills taught in the classroom to practical real life situations.

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

Diana Fried-Booth (1986) states that something typical of project work is that one part of the project is done outside the classroom and the setting up of project work involves three main stages: planning the project in the classroom,carrying out the project outside the classroom and monitoring the work, that is, receiving feedback from the teacher, peer-monitoring or selfmonitoring. Booth emphasizes in the importance of creating a good classroom atmosphere, that is, to stimulate the interest in project work. Learners are in charge of selecting the topic of the project they want to develop and create a general outline of the...