Managing Task Complexity Examining the way we teach Managing Task Complexity What do you use to teach the language you teach? A course book? Online materials Your own materials? A combination? Managing Task Complexity Instructional Scaffolding Managing Task Complexity Robinsons Cognition Hypothesis Pedagogic tasks should be developed and sequenced to increasingly approximate the demand of real world target tasks (Robinson, 2005 p.1) Managing Task Complexity Write a short paragraph describing your favourite design, either on this page or of an object you own Managing Task Complexity Developing Reading Skills For a purpose Managing Task Complexity Task Complexity Task Condition Task Difficulty Managing Task Complexity Triadic Componential Framework Adapted and simplified (Robinson 2011) Managing Task Complexity Reading is a cognitively demanding process (Sellers, 2000; Pang et al. 2003) Teaching through skills integration a real world target task Managing Task Complexity 5 x students from mainland China 2 x students from Taiwan 4 X from Thailand 1 x Japan All around 5.5 6.0 IELTS (O/A) Managing Task Complexity Lesson 1 Students sat where they wanted so they felt comfortable. No restrictions were made concerning the students use of L1 (though they were discouraged). Each group was given a different text (a news paper article) but all on the same topic Age of Criminal Responsibility Managing Task Complexity Developing metacognition Students read part of the text and were given English/English dictionaries to use if they wanted. However, as expected, on individual words, this provided little help. Managing Task Complexity I understand the words but I still dont understand the text! Managing Task Complexity Lexical items (bundles) Dictionary of collocations Interested and Engaged in the task and the discussion Interactive in their own learning process Managing Task Complexity Lesson 2 Increase in task complexity but this time with prior knowledge. Their approach to dictionary use was much more confident and they worked well together in their groups looking up lexical items and sharing information. (increase in interactional demand) Managing Task Complexity Lesson 2 List of adjectives to describe tone (which we explored first in plenary). The students worked to try and identify the tone of the article they were reading. Some performed well, identifying the relationship between they types of idiom being used and a corresponding adjective. Managing Task Complexity The latter task gave me some insight into aptitude and to some extent, learning styles. Managing Task Complexity Lesson 3 Increasing task complexity - Integrating reading with speaking Working in groups to: Identify five key points from the text Agree on the authors attitude (negotiation) Present these orally Managing Task Complexity Lesson 3 The task was now increased along resource dispersing lines Planning time was increased X Multi task Prior knowledge was greater Mostly had shared cultural knowledge X Task switch and performance anxiety Result The group of Thai students worked really together and were first to be ready to present. They had their five key points but did not evaluate the text The second group finished but were not confident enough to presnet. The 3 rd group also completed but they had to present in the next lesson. However, Result The presence of the Japanese student within the group meant they had to negotiate in English, which was more challenging but no less successful. Conclusion It developed the students confidence to approach reading from a different perspective. Giving them a purpose for reading was hugely successful in terms of their motivation and engagement in the task It was a really useful tool for me as a teacher to help me understand and identify individual limitations.