TASK-BASED SYLLABUS

o MARIANA VILCHIS MURO

o ANA KAREN ELIZONDO MEJIA
o REBECA HERNANDEZ GUTIERREZ
o ATENEA PONTIGO GUZMAN
o SANDRA SANCHEZ ROSQUERO
o MARIA FERNANDA VERA
WHAT IS MEANT BY TASK?

 According to Willis (1996):

 Goal-oriented activity
 Learners achieve a real outocome
 Solve a problem, do a puzzle, play a
game or share and compare
experiences.
WHAT IS MEANT BY TASK?

 According to Nunan (1988):

 It is an action which is carried out as the

result of processing or understanding
language
CHARACTERISTICS OF A TASK (WILLIS AND WILLIS, 1996)

There is an While doing the

Have a variety of
identifiable task, ss focus on
starting points
outcome meaning

Freedom to use
Real purposes whatever language
forms ss know
CHARACTERISTICS OF A TASK (NUNAN, 1988) :

Attention and Involve ss’

Risk-taking
negotiation of attitudes and
(Challenging but
meaning contributions
not threatening)

Draw objectives Use of different

from solutions
communicative depending on ss’
needs of ss skills
 Input: From ss in terms of knowledge,
skills and participation
 Ss centered (guided by the teacher)
 Allow co-evaluation of the task
 T provides feedback and constantly
monitors ss
 Promote critical awareness about data and
the processes of language learning
TASKS WILL NEED TO SPECIFY:

1. The
product ss
are to 2. The
formulate operations that
are required to
generate the 3. The
product resources
available to the
ss to generate
the product
WHEN PLANNING INSTRUCTIONAL TASKS, CONSIDER:

1. The subject matter to be taught

2. Materials
3. Activities that will be carried out
4. The goals of the task
5. Ss’ abilities, needs and interests
6. Social and cultural context
IT IS IMPORTANT…

 Tasks do not include activities

which involve language used for
practice or display.
ADVANTAGES OF USING TASKS

The variety of topics

broaden ss’ languge
experience

Ss talk to each other

(pairs or small
groups), they interact
and gain confidence
VARIETY OF LAGUAGE

Private use Public use (whole

(pairs/small groups) class)
•Spontaneous •Planned
•Exploratory •Rehearsed
•Ephemeral •Permanent (i.e.
recorded) Fluency,
accuracy,
Fluency and
clarity and
meaning
organization
Correction
Correction
no needed
needed
THE TASK FRAMEWORK
It aims to create
essential
conditions for
language
teaching
1. PRE-TASK: INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC AND TASK

•Helps ss to understand
•Highlights useful phrases or words

•They are given preparation time

•They can hear a recording of a parallel task
being done
 2. TASK CYCLE

 It includes three stages:

 Task
 Planning
Ss practice in “public”
 Report
TASK CYCLE: TASK

 It is done by ss in pairs or small groups

 The emphasis is spontaneous talk and confidence-
building T monitors
 Goals achievement and
encourages ss

T helps ss to
formulate
what they
want to say
TASK CYCLE: PLANNING

Teacher:
Students:
 Draft and rehearse
 Goes round and advise
what they want to
ss on language
say/write
 Encourages peer-
editing or use of
 Individual ss ask
dictionaries
questions

Emphasis: Clarity, organization and accuracy

TASK CYCLE: REPORT

 T asks some ss to report how they did the task to

the whole class

 T comments on the content; however, does not

give public correction
3. LANGUAGE FOCUS

 T sets language-focused tasks

Analysis  T goes round to help
 T reviews the analysis
 Ss may ask questions and make notes

Practice  T conducts practice based on the analysis

OPTIONAL FOLLOW-UP

 At the end, ss could:

 Repeat the task with different partners
 Write useful words/phrases
 Discuss how they felt
TASK TYPES
TASK TYPES
BANGALORE PROYECT

1. Información-gap: to transfer given information to

one person to the other
2. Reasoning-gap: to derive some new information
from given information
3. Opinion-gap: to identify and articulate a personal
preference, feeling or attitude according to a given
situation
RICHARDS (2001) IDENTITY TWO TYPES OF TASK:

Pedagogic Real-world
tasks tasks
PEDAGOGICAL TASKS

 Jigsaw
 Information-gap
 Problem-solving
 Decision-making
 Opinion exchange
REAL-WORLD TASKS

 Real-world task must be related

to the use of the language in
the real world
NUNAN (1999) STRATEGIES

 Cognitive (classifying, predicting, inducing, taking notes, diagramming)

 Interpersonal (Co-operating, Role playing)
 Linguistic (conversational patterns, practising, using context, selective listening)
 Affective (personalising, self-evaluating)
 Creative (brainstorming )
SYLLABUS DESIGN CONSIDERATION
TASK BASED SYLLABUS

It is organized
around task

Designed to
facilitate second
language learning

Tasks are basic

units of syllabus
design
THE BASIC CLAIMS MADE FOR A TASK-BASED SYLLABUS ARE:

 Task drive the second language acquisition process.

 Grammar teaching is not central with this approach.

 Tasks are a motivation for learners.

PROCEDURE FOR DEVELOPING THE SYLLABUS:

1. Conduct needs analysis

2. Classify the target tasks into tasks types
3. From the tasks types, derive pedagogical tasks
4. Select and sequence the pedagogical tasks to
form a syllabus
GRADING

 They key factor in

determining the order is
difficulty of the tasks

 Problem: Variety of
factors will interact to
determine the  Some of these
difficulty factors ill be
dependent on ss
 Task Macrofunction Microfunction Grammar
Look at the
map with your
partner. You
are at the hotel.
Ask your
partner for WH-questions
directions to the Exchanging
Asking for and Yes/no
bank. goods and
giving directions questions
services
You are having Imperatives
a party. Tell
your partner
how to get from
the school to
your home.
 Task Macrofunction Microfunction Grammar

Look at the map with your partner. Exchanging WH-questions

You are at the hotel. Ask your Asking for and giving
goods and Yes/no questions
partner for directions to the bank. directions
services Imperatives

You are having a party. Tell your Exchanging WH-questions

partner how to get from the school Asking for and giving
goods and Yes/no questions
to your home. directions
services Imperatives

You’ve decided to move to a new

suburb/neighbourhood. make a list
of the facilities and services that are Exchanging
Comparisons with
important to you and then decide goods and Making comparisons
adjectives
on the best place to live based on services
brochures from local councils.

You have just moved to a new Stative verbs

neighbourhood. Introduce yourself Exchanging personal
Socializing Demonstrative: this
ro your neighbours. information
Yes/no questions
LINEAR APPROACHES TO SEQUENCING
LINEAR DEVELOPMENT

Simple
Complex Item
Frequent Item

Asumes that
The worst kind and does not
once an item has It has been
of linear need fucused
been presented learned
development revition
in a lesson
DISADVANTAGES

Not easily taking account of Need for recycling

absenteeism materials.

Learners with different

styles and speed of lerning.
There are variations of linear progressions which try to take
into account of the need for repetition. (Baddeley,1990)

Spiral Curriculum

Matrix Models

Revision Unites

Field Approaches To Frecuencing

 SPIRAL
CURRICULUM
 Developing a spiral curriculum
involves deciding on the major
items to cover and then covering
them several times over a period
of time at increasing levels of
detail. Bruner (1962)
Apply the model to a language curriculum, the blocks could be:

•Lexical Sets
•High—frequency Gramatical Patterns
•Groups Of Language Functions
•Genres

Advantages:

Provides easily monitored recycling of materials.

Allows learners to catch up.

Full value of the important aspects of the language.

MATRIX MODEL
 Similar to a spiral curriculum.
 Main difference: diversity rather than complexity.
 One unit of progression is systematically varied against another, same items are met in
drifferent context.
 Alternative matchings:

Gramatical items and functions

Vocabulary and genre
Vocabulary and gramatical items.

Advantages:

Repeated opportunities
REVISION UNITS:

 Revising previously met materials.

 The time given to revision sould increase as the course
progresses.
 More material to revise (several times)
 Revision activities should enrich previous met items.
Michale West (1955) “suplementary readers” recycling previously met
vocabulary and grammatical structures

Brumfit (1985) “syllabus with holes” porposed as a way of giving attention

to fluency development, the holes being the time given to recycling old
material and suspending the introduction of new material.
 Learners can start anywhere with the
material and end anywhere as long
as it is all covered.
A SEQUENCING MATERIAL APPROACH INVOLVES:

 What items need to be covered.

 Providing a variety of opportunities to meet these items.
 Checking that each important item will be met sufficient times.
 A MODULAR APPROACH TO SEQUENCING

 It breaks a course into independent non-linear units.

 Each unit or module is complete in itself and does not usually asume knowledge of
previous modules.
IN LANGUAGE COURSES, LANGUAGE COULD BE DIVIDED INTO MODULES
IN SEVERAL WAYS

•Skill- based. Language functions

or more broadly
situations.

•Sub-skills of the
larger skills.
BUT ALSO…

Obligatory or core Optional or elective

module. modules.
MODULAR APPROACH FOR TASK-BASED LANGUAGE COURSES (ELLIS,
2003)

Beginner Intermediate
levels levels

Focus is on Focus is on
communication form.
and meaning
Avoid fossilisation of language
errors.

A way to deal with the lack of

attention to accuracy in some task
based language courses (Towell
and Tomlinson, 1999).
EXAMPLES
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
 Nunan, D. (1988). Syllabus design. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford
University Press.
 Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge, United
Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
 Willis, J. & Willis, D. (1996). Challenge and change in language teaching.
MacMillan and Heinemann ELT.