1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,960 Now, the perspective that we are going to take, we are going to be talking from the 2 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:26,040 point of view of syllabus design, that is, what you teach and in what order, how do you 3 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:33,520 implement what you teach, which is concerned with language learning, right, because in 4 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:37,040 bilingual programs, as well as in the programs that I will present, which are task-based 5 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,680 programs, at the end of the day, a very important component of it is language. 6 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:43,360 Does language get learned? 7 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,680 And how, and how efficiently, and how fast? 8 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,880 So we are going to take a slightly theoretical approach to this. 9 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:52,880 We can help it. 10 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:58,640 I come from the University of Barcelona, and some of the examples that I am going to be 11 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:04,600 using come from tertiary level, that is, from university level, where people are also trying 12 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:10,760 to teach a number of subjects through the English language, in our case, and so we are 13 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:15,160 going to see how, some examples from that level. 14 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:21,120 And one basic assumption that we are going to make is that, to some degree, teachers 15 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,480 in bilingual programs in Comunidad de Madrid can decide, can make some decisions, right? 16 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:31,440 There are some guidelines that the community is giving as to what the contents need to be, 17 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:36,880 but there is some degree of freedom, let's say, to decide what you want to do with the 18 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:42,240 materials, with how you organize those materials, what kind of materials you select, etc. 19 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:49,600 And we saw that very clearly when, this morning, we attended a session on a framework for 20 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:56,720 creating CLEO materials, right, by Lina Reyes-Andafuth, which was a very interesting session. 21 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:03,440 And so that is going to be our perspective and our tone, so now Alexandra will start 22 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:05,200 with the presentation. 23 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:10,080 First of all, we would like to bring together task-based language teaching and content and 24 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,040 language-integrated learning, and what we would like to do in this part is to mention 25 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,920 basically on the basis of literature and on the basis of what we know about both approaches, 26 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:24,960 the similarities and the overlaps that exist between the two of them. 27 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:29,040 In the second part, we are going to speculate about the role that tasks may potentially 28 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,520 play in bilingual program design. 29 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:36,000 Now, we are going to do the speculations on two levels, basically. 30 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,440 This would be the level of syllabus design and the interactional modes in the classroom. 31 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,760 And this one will lead us to talking about how task-based research in the last 30 years 32 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,680 may contribute to bilingual program design. 33 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,400 Now, first of all, we would like to define a task. 34 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,640 What do we mean by this in this combined TBLT framework? 35 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:03,040 Well, it is a unit in all areas of TBLT program design, so we understand it not only as a 36 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,440 methodological tool, so a tool that a teacher can use in a classroom in the pedagogical 37 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,440 context, but also as a unit around which we can organize the whole course. 38 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:16,640 So we can break down history or geography or any other subject into units which we would 39 00:03:16,640 --> 00:03:19,440 call pedagogic tasks. 40 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,920 Then we would understand the task as a differentiated goal-oriented process. 41 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:30,640 So there is a certain goal to this, which requires a number of steps in order to be 42 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,320 completed. 43 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,880 It requires also a certain cognitive and communicative procedures in order to be completed. 44 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:41,360 It has a certain outcome on the part of the students, on the learners, and it is a unit 45 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,360 which is sequencable, and it is subject to some pedagogic intervention. 46 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:51,360 Finally, and most importantly, hopefully when learners are exposed to a series of pedagogic 47 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:56,160 tasks in the classroom context, they are better prepared to perform real-life tasks. 48 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:04,160 Now, we would like to illustrate this with an example from the Catalan context of academic 49 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,160 course of journalism. 50 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:12,240 Well, in journalism what we do, one of the tasks we do probably is to interview people. 51 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:18,240 So we can see the interview people as a potential real-life task, right? 52 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:24,240 Now, we can see that the interview itself is actually the outcome, and as we can see 53 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,240 that we have to follow a number of steps in order to complete this task, right? 54 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:34,240 So we have to decide who we are going to interview, we have to contact the person, we need to 55 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,320 plan the interview, make arrangements for it, interview the person, and then the written 56 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:42,320 interview is the outcome of our task. 57 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,320 So we can see clearly here that it certainly has a certain goal, it has a certain outcome, 58 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:52,320 it requires certain cognitive procedures in order to complete it, and there's a series 59 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:58,320 of steps to follow, a sequence of steps in order to, well, to achieve our goal. 60 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,320 Now, first of all, they are both analytic approaches to language learning. 61 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,400 Now, what do we mean by this exactly? 62 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:12,400 In the light of both approaches, the learners are not expected to accumulate chunks of knowledge. 63 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,400 So, for instance, once they learn the verbs in present simple, they go to present continuous. 64 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,400 We have learned from task-based research that it does not work in this way. 65 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:26,400 And learning and the acquisition process in both approaches is seen more in a holistic way. 66 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:30,400 Learning is perceived as a dynamic and a non-linear process. 67 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:36,480 Now, second, teaching is mainly driven by meaningful input, although there is some room 68 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,480 for attention to form. 69 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,480 In both approaches, it is the content, so in Cling, this would be the subjects we have. 70 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:46,480 In task-based teaching, the real-life tasks that would decide all the linguistic items 71 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,480 that we're going to deal with in the classroom. 72 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,480 We do not first take the language itself and then we add content to it. 73 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,480 It is the content that tells us what linguistic items we want to elicit in the classroom. 74 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,560 And, as I said before, the content is also a meaningful one, 75 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,560 so we're taking the decisions on the basis of real-life tasks 76 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,560 or real-life subjects that the students are going to complete. 77 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,560 In both approaches also, learning happens in an implicit way. 78 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:18,560 It happens through the exposure to the content, 79 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,560 so the learners are not exactly aware what it is they are learning. 80 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,560 They are not paying so much attention to the linguistic items, 81 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,640 so the learning process is rather incidental than it is intentional. 82 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,640 Then, in terms of curriculum construction, 83 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,640 in both approaches we need to have some source for input selection, 84 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,640 we need to have some source for input sequencing, 85 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,640 and, of course, we need to have certain measures in order to evaluate what the students are able to do 86 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,640 with the language and with the content. 87 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,640 Now, tasks have been mentioned by some researchers, 88 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,720 as a methodological tool used by the teachers in the classroom, 89 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,720 but also a unit of analysis in syllabus design. 90 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,720 So, as I said before, we can divide the content, so we can take the subject to divide them 91 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,720 into units which we can understand as tasks, as pedagogic tasks. 92 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,720 Now, at the level of syllabus design, we can talk a number of contributions 93 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,720 that tasks could potentially have for CLEO. 94 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,720 Let us take first of all the idea of identifying learner needs. 95 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,800 In teaching, we have a pretty clearly defined framework, 96 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,800 which was put by Michael Long, which is needs analysis. 97 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,800 What needs analysis tells us is that before any language course starts, 98 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,800 what we need to do in order to do it well is to identify the areas, 99 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,800 the situations that the learners are going to face outside of the classroom, 100 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,800 and then, on the basis of this, we know exactly what to do with the classroom. 101 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,800 So, once we have the learners' needs identified, 102 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:54,880 we have some theoretical source, some empirical basis 103 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,880 in order to put this into the curriculum and sequence it. 104 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,880 Input selection and sequencing would be the natural conclusion 105 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,880 from performing learner needs, 106 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:10,880 from performing needs analysis. 107 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,880 Now, how this happens in CLEO exactly, this is a huge question, I think. 108 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,880 How are these decisions taken? 109 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:22,960 When we do needs analysis in task-based teaching, how do we analyze learners' needs in CLEO? 110 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:26,960 Obviously, the situation in CLEO is more complicated because it is a more general goal 111 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,960 of building knowledge, right? 112 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,960 But still, needs analysis could probably, well, CLEO could probably benefit from this idea. 113 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,960 Now, in terms of task design, methodological implementation, 114 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,960 tasks could be used as units of organizing the syllabus. 115 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,960 At the level of inside classroom pedagogy, 116 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:51,040 these aspects of language can obviously be organized around pedagogic tasks, 117 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:55,040 which then, at the level of outside classroom reality, 118 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,040 this would lead us to producing chunks of knowledge, right? 119 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,040 So, we can see that there is 120 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,040 some resemblance between what happens in the classroom, 121 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,040 so the inside classroom pedagogy and outside classroom reality. 122 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,040 Now, in terms of evaluation and assessment, 123 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,120 in this combined TBLT framework, we would have joint evaluation of content 124 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:23,120 and language. So, tasks could serve us as a way of determining 125 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,120 what the students are able to do with the language and with the content. 126 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,120 So, this combined framework would obviously require a certain rethinking of the existing 127 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:35,120 models of evaluation where content and language are normally assessed in separation. 128 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,120 We do not take them together, but they are assessed, students are assessed 129 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,120 on content and language separately. 130 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,200 Well, we can conclude this section on syllabus design. 131 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,200 Lorenzo 2007 put forward a certain framework, 132 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,200 three principles that this combined framework would need to fulfill 133 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:59,200 in order for it to work. So, let's take a look at these. 134 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:03,200 First of all, it should set clear stages in lesson implementation 135 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,200 that are compatible with language teaching. 136 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,200 Then, it should be structured upon cognitive operations in which students must engage. 137 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:15,280 And it should set a sequence of task types that exemplify 138 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,280 how to materialize such operations. In other words, 139 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,280 the way that tasks could help you is the way of determining 140 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,280 what we're going to do in such a way that the fact that the content is in DL2 141 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,280 is not a handicap to the learners, neither to the language nor to the content. 142 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:35,280 So, it facilitates learning to some extent. 143 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,280 Now, at the level of interactional modes, 144 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:43,360 we could also talk about a series of contributions that tasks could potentially have fulfilled. 145 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,360 The basis for this is the extensive research we have 146 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,360 into cognitive and interactionist agendas in DBLT. 147 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,360 What has been found out is that task design, so manipulating various 148 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,360 task types and the internal characteristics of tasks 149 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:03,360 influences language production. So, for instance, we could expose 150 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,360 our learners to one-way versus two-way tasks depending on how we want the flow 151 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,440 of information, how we want the information to flow between them. 152 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,440 We could expose them to open or closed tasks, so ones which have just one solution 153 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:19,440 or multiple solutions, or convergent versus divergent. So, whether 154 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,440 the two speakers or more than two speakers have the same goal in the interaction 155 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,440 or if they have multiple goals. Their goals are different. 156 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,440 What has been shown in task-based research is that if we manipulate 157 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,440 these features and types of tasks, it influences the learners' production. 158 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,520 So, the three dimensions of performance, fluency, accuracy 159 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,520 and complexity. 160 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,520 Now, what kind of implications this could have for CLIL? At the level of classroom dynamics 161 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,520 how this could benefit CLIL is, for instance, for classes to be 162 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,520 more learner-centered, so that the learners have 163 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,520 hands-on experience using the language more because it is them who 164 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,520 participate in the class between each other, either in pairs or groups 165 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:07,600 rather than the teacher being in the center. So, the teacher 166 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,600 would play a more facilitative, more passive role in the classroom and the students 167 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:15,600 would engage in communication more. At the level of interaction 168 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,600 hopefully, if learners interact between each other, there are 169 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,600 certain conversational episodes taking place that have been proven 170 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,600 to be beneficial for language production in task-based teaching, such as 171 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,600 negotiation of meaning, comprehension checks, clarification requests, self-repair, peer-repair, 172 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:35,680 etc. And, finally, what does this mean 173 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:39,680 for language case? It means more opportunities for output, so 174 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,680 probably we maximize learners' opportunities for learning 175 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,680 the language because it creates an optimal environment. 176 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:51,680 Now, as a conclusion to this section about interaction modes, 177 00:12:51,680 --> 00:12:55,680 we can consciously, carefully manipulate various task features 178 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:59,680 and characteristics in order to target the different aspects of production. 179 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,760 So, we can take a conscious decision how to design a task 180 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:07,760 in the way that we elicit a certain linguistic behavior from the students. 181 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,760 And I will try to point to some of the research 182 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,760 that shows some links between 183 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,760 engaging in communication and interaction, etc., and actually learning 184 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,760 the language and how effectively that connection 185 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:27,760 works. Now, the first, as you know, any program 186 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,760 whether task-based or QUIL or content-based or 187 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,760 immersion, should decide on these basic questions, right? What to teach 188 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,760 in what order, what should tasks look like, how to teach them, 189 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,760 how to measure progress, and to measure 190 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,760 whether task-based language teaching works. Now, I bet we all assume that 191 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:51,760 bilingual programs work and that people learn languages, but do we know 192 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,760 how it works? I mean, do we know how it happens, whether it can 193 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,760 happen better or faster or more efficiently? So, that's what 194 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,760 syllabus design is concerned with, and we have these six areas. I'm going to focus 195 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:07,760 on needs analysis, task selection and sequencing, pedagogic 196 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,760 task design, and methodological implementation, which are 197 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,760 of course evaluation and progress assessment are very important too, but we won't have 198 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,760 time to cover all of them, so I will focus on these four. And I will try to establish the links 199 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:23,760 between what we know from research and what 200 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:27,760 can be done in program design. Now, needs analysis. 201 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,760 Needs analysis, as Alexander pointed out, is about what to teach. 202 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:35,760 Now, here I am assuming that 203 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,760 in bilingual program design 204 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,760 it is the community, the Comunidad de Madrid, who decides on some basic 205 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,760 guidelines, and then teachers can actually get down to choosing some 206 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,760 tasks and then organizing them into a program somehow. 207 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,760 Is this true? I mean, does it happen? Can teachers be free to do this? 208 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,760 Okay. Now, 209 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,760 typically in a task-based perspective, 210 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,760 what people do is to ask practitioners and subject matter 211 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,760 experts and managers and bosses. So, for example, if you have journalists working 212 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,760 and you have to train journalists and you have to teach them content through 213 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,760 the English language, probably what you would do is to ask, you know, what are they going to do in real 214 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:23,760 life? And, you know, what are the demands of the kind of tasks 215 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,760 that they would have to do in real life at the level of cognition and communication 216 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,760 and also at the level of language? What kind of language expectations should we 217 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:35,760 have for each of the tasks that they have to do? So, needs analysis 218 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,760 and Michael Long, the work of Michael Long is a very good reference here, 219 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,760 has shown that you can actually identify quite 220 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:47,760 exactly what the needs of learners are in terms of what 221 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,760 they need to do outside the class. Also, 222 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,760 you can collect samples of the language that is associated with each task 223 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,760 and, most importantly, you can decide what constitutes a 224 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,760 well-performed task. I mean, evaluation is a big issue. 225 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,760 What does it mean that somebody completes a task? Does it mean that, you know, 226 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,760 just because the person followed all the steps, we should pass this person? 227 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,760 Or should we also consider language criteria or other types of criteria 228 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,760 that can determine whether task completion has been achieved? 229 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,760 So, needs analysis is certainly one of the areas that can contribute 230 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,760 to organize content 231 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,760 through tasks, right? And it has some ideas about how to 232 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,760 sequence, sorry, how to go about selection 233 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,760 of tasks. So, basically, the conclusion of this part of needs analysis 234 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:43,760 is that plural or content-based learning or, in this case, bilingual programs 235 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,760 can benefit from research conducted within task-based needs analysis 236 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,760 on subjects which are taught through QUIL, maybe described in terms of 237 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,760 tasks, as Alexander suggested. Now, the question is how much of 238 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,760 what needs to be taught can be done through tasks? And is it possible to do absolutely 239 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,760 everything through tasks? Now, 240 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,760 the second area is test selection and sequencing. 241 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,760 Now, one thing is about detecting what it is 242 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,760 that people need to learn, what learners need to learn. Another thing is how to 243 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,760 organize this into syllables, because we know from second language acquisition 244 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,760 studies that not everything works. Sometimes you start with 245 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,760 a task that is too complex for learners, and so learning doesn't really 246 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,760 take place, right? Or language learning doesn't really actually happen, because 247 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,760 they are overwhelmed with content. They are just trying to process, you know, the content 248 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,760 and the ideas within the task, and they cannot pay attention to language because they don't 249 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,760 have enough attention for everything, right? So, 250 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,760 test selection is very important, but test sequencing is also very important, right? How you organize 251 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,760 tasks in a syllabus from easy to complex or from 252 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,760 easy to difficult. We are going to see three ideas, three 253 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,760 models that people have used for sequencing tasks. Now, 254 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,760 some of you may be familiar with the work of Peter Skian. He suggests 255 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,760 that tasks should be organized according to the difficulty of the task. 256 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,760 And he measures three ideas for what he means by difficulty. What he says 257 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,760 is that you have to look at the linguistic input. Now, is it easy, 258 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,760 difficult for students, is it too far from their current level of the language, right? 259 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,760 Now, you have to look at the internal characteristics of the task. 260 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,760 Are some tasks more difficult to complete than others? And you should also consider 261 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,760 learner factors, learner differences, different motivations, different abilities 262 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:35,760 in performing tasks, right? Now, the 263 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,760 second model that we have for this is the work of Peter Robinson. 264 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,760 He suggests forget about input and forget about learner factors. 265 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,760 The only thing you can predict before you start a course is 266 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,760 how complex a task is. So, it's a slightly radical position. He says 267 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,760 just look at how many elements the task has, 268 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,760 how many demands it imposes on learners, and then decide to 269 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,760 place them from simple to more complex. Because if you start with a 270 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,760 simple task, apart from processing meaning, they will be able to process 271 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,760 also the language, right? If you start with a very complex task, there may not be 272 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,760 enough attentional and memory space to process also language, 273 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,760 right? And they may focus only on it. 274 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,760 Now, van der Rande, for example, who is an experienced task-based learner in the countries of Belgium, 275 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,760 he suggests that, no, just use your intuition, right? 276 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,760 Just, you know, whatever, I'll use this one today 277 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,760 and then I'll use this one tomorrow, right? As you know, intuition is a great thing because 278 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,760 it's very creative, but we don't really know whether it works, right? 279 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,760 And whether learning takes place. So, so that you know, there are 280 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,760 there's a lot of research behind these two models. There are a lot of 281 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,760 people actually measuring learners performing tasks and measuring 282 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,760 does their fluency improve? Do they use more and more vocabulary 283 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,760 when they do this task which is simple or complex, right? So there's a lot 284 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,760 of research. We don't know a lot about this yet, right? But we're starting 285 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,760 to get some interesting ideas. For example, 286 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,760 designing a task that doesn't give enough planning time typically affects 287 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,760 the fluency of learners, right? If you don't give them time to really plan 288 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,760 the kind of little task they have to do, then their fluency 289 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,760 is not going to benefit from that kind of design, right? 290 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,760 So there are important research agendas behind this and basically 291 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,760 what these research agendas are after is the balanced development of 292 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,760 fluency, accuracy, and complexity, right? We want learners to be able 293 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,760 to develop those three dimensions of production in a balanced way. 294 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,760 The same form would be 295 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,760 applied to the complexity agenda by Peter Robinson. What he suggests 296 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,760 is that organizing tasks from simple to complex can 297 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,760 actually promote language development, accelerate 298 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:59,760 the process of learning, and obtain better results in terms of language 299 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,760 things, right? 300 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:11,760 An example of this is 301 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:15,760 if people work on tasks, one of the 302 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:19,760 suggestions from Peter Robinson is you should start with tasks that provide 303 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:23,760 plenty of planning time to your learners where you have few 304 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:27,760 components they have to deal with, where there's little reasoning to do, and progressively 305 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,760 increase those features of the design of the task until you get to very 306 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,760 complex tasks, right? Which they sometimes have to do in content classes. 307 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,760 He suggests, or the theory behind it is, that if we do it like this, we will guarantee 308 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,760 that all students, especially those who don't have the highest 309 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,760 abilities for language learning, will also learn the language, right? Because they are 310 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,760 sequenced in a way that will let them pay attention to both meaning and form. 311 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,760 Now, 312 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,760 in terms of 313 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,760 pedagogy task design, I think I mentioned the workshop 314 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,760 well, the talk this morning by 315 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:13,760 Let me get the names right. 316 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,760 Okay, this was the workshop by Linares and Lafouth, right? 317 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,760 Basically, what they were talking about was this, right? They have developed 318 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,760 a framework, right? 319 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,760 Basically, what they were talking about is this, right? How can you 320 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,760 develop a framework that helps, in their case it was teacher trainings, develop 321 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,760 help subject matter teachers develop 322 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,760 tasks that are reasonable, that are fun, that are 323 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,760 complex cognitively, and that especially promote language learning. 324 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,760 Now, the two big areas here in pedagogy 325 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,760 design are interaction and cognition, right? 326 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,760 Now, interaction is about putting people in pairs 327 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,760 and in groups and having them perform tasks, giving them things to do 328 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,760 so that they engage in interaction, right? 329 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:09,760 Now, we have some research, unfortunately not as much as the one we would like, 330 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,760 about how you can actually play with information, 331 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:17,760 how you can give some people information and other people 332 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,760 other type of information so that you guarantee participation, that it's balanced, for example, 333 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,760 or that you guarantee that they are all going to listen to the 334 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,760 others and pay attention to the language they're using as they share their information. 335 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,760 You can also give them common goals or separate goals 336 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,760 and this has effects, very strong effects, on what you learn and how you 337 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:41,760 produce the language, right? So, what this research agenda is doing 338 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:45,760 is trying to measure how little changes in the design of 339 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,760 the materials and the tasks that you give to your learners will affect their production 340 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,760 and their acquisition or their learning of whatever language they are learning. 341 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:57,760 Now, we know 342 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,760 and this is a very strong finding in second language acquisition studies 343 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,760 that there is a direct link between interacting with others 344 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,760 in the language class or in the case of 345 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,760 content classes too, between engaging interaction and actual learning. 346 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,760 Interaction promotes learning because there are certain episodes 347 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:21,760 in conversation that guarantee that you are going to listen, process 348 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,760 language and later use that language, right? 349 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,760 So, interaction is certainly a very important area of research 350 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,760 that has already shown a direct link between interaction 351 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,760 and learning. So, this is one of the things we know in second language acquisition 352 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,760 that leads to learning. 353 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,760 Then we have another group of studies that 354 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,760 are looking at cognition because really, you know 355 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,760 being in a bilingual program, performing tasks in the classroom 356 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:57,760 is about thinking, it's about processing both content and language 357 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,760 and we have a research agenda that is looking at how the different 358 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,760 internal characteristics of the tasks permits 359 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,760 or allow for faster learning of language or no learning 360 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:13,760 of language, right? They are also looking at, for example, tasks that impose too many 361 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,760 reasoning demands at some point may be completely useless 362 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,760 for language learning, right? Because they tax learners' attention and memory resources 363 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,760 and it's impossible for them to learn the 364 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,760 second language they're trying to learn. The same for planning time studies or 365 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,760 studies that look at the number of elements in the task and how we can combine them 366 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:37,760 are providing very useful information about second language acquisition. 367 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,760 And finally 368 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,760 well, before I move on to the last section 369 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,760 basically, the advantages of task design 370 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,760 whether in bilingual programs or in task-based programs, as the ones we come from 371 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,760 is that the main focus of processing is meaning, they ensure 372 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,760 a good elaborate design ensures participation of all members 373 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,760 in a group or in pairs, right? That certain linguistic features 374 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,760 certainly are going to be processed, right? Because we cannot just expect 375 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:15,760 learners to learn any features, it's important to know or predict which features 376 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,760 they may learn from a specific activity. Now that there is a space 377 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,760 for focus on form, not just meaning, but they will also process language 378 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,760 you will promote interaction and they can be challenging and motivating 379 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,760 for students, right? Task design is probably one of the areas that 380 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,760 needs more attention, right? We need to spend 381 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,760 a lot more time designing tasks and thinking about how they affect 382 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,760 acquisition. So yeah, I was very happy this morning to see your talk because you are 383 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,760 actually paying attention to this, right? How exactly can you design tasks 384 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,760 and help bilingual program teachers to actually get the most 385 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,760 of their tasks in class. 386 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,760 I'm done. Almost done. 387 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:03,760 And the last part, the one that I'm going to cover 388 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,760 is that of pedagogical implementation. I'm going to show 389 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,760 you some of the techniques that people are investigating within the class of learning 390 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,760 probably you will be familiar with some of them already, right? 391 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:19,760 For example, before performing tasks 392 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,760 there are certain things that we can do proactively 393 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,760 so during the design of your task you can actually make decisions about 394 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,760 how to draw learners attention to language. There are things you can do 395 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,760 as they perform the task and there are things you can do once they finish 396 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,760 the task. So I have divided them into proactive, reactive and 397 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,760 prostatic. Maybe some of you will be familiar with the 398 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,760 technique of input elaboration. The idea that rather than take 399 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,760 original text of a language, whatever, if you're teaching history in English 400 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,760 or biology in French, whatever, the idea is to take the input that 401 00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,760 traditionally what textbooks do, unfortunately, is to reduce 402 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,760 or simplify the text. Now an input elaboration 403 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,760 suggests that it is probably a good idea 404 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,760 not to eliminate difficult words in the text, but to facilitate 405 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,760 the understanding of those words. Because by eliminating and simplifying 406 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,760 those words, you are preventing students from being exposed 407 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,760 to real language that they need. So there are studies that are looking 408 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,760 at the effectiveness of input elaboration. There are studies that are looking 409 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,760 at input enhancement. 410 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,760 Now I have some examples, but I won't be able to cover them. But input enhancement 411 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,760 is a technique by which you highlight a 412 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,760 very particular feature that you know is problematic with the students. You know that people 413 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,760 studying English take years to learn the S, the third person S 414 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,760 in English. Not because they haven't been told a million times what it is, 415 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,760 but just because in acquisition that's a very slow process. It's not a very 416 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,760 salient feature. It takes a long time to learn. Well there are techniques that you can use 417 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,760 proactively in the texts that you give to your students or the materials 418 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,760 that draw their attention to this particular form. Now research 419 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,760 is trying to prove whether doing this actually makes them learn more efficiently. 420 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,760 And there are positive results so far in this area. 421 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,760 Now input plotting is another one 422 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:23,760 that I won't have time to talk about. But these are techniques 423 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,760 that you can do before you start whatever course. 424 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,760 Now things you can do, and this you have heard from other talks, 425 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,760 things that you can do reactively, that is once they are engaged in task performance 426 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,760 and interaction, is to provide certain language 427 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,760 cues like for example recasting or reformulating what your student 428 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:47,760 errors. You can also negotiate 429 00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,760 language with them when they work in groups or in pairs. 430 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,760 And so there are some techniques that you can apply while 431 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,760 performing tasks. And finally you have others 432 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:03,760 that may raise awareness of language after you finish the tasks. 433 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:07,760 Typically in content based lessons or in clear lessons or in bilingual programs 434 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:11,760 what people try to do is after activities where they have processed meaning 435 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,760 they also draw attention to some linguistic aspects that are important. 436 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,760 Unless you focus on them, they will not learn them. As happened in immersion programs 437 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:23,760 in Canada where people were very good at the language at the end of the 438 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,760 programs but they still made mistakes with the production of their 439 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,760 So it is important to draw attention to form and these are some techniques that can be 440 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,760 used during pedagogical implementation. 441 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,760 And thank you very much. 442 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,760 Thank you.