TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:TASKS AND PROJECTS

Name and surnames: Jose Luis Lanchipa BuenoLogin: PEFPMTFL111529 Group: 27Date: 24 July 2011

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays nobody would question the need to make language classrooms a place

where genuine and meaningful communication takes place and not simply one where

students “practice” language for its own sake. This emphasis on making meaning the

priority in syllabus design and methodology underlies many aspects of contemporary

approaches to language teaching. For example:

Communicative Language Teaching: the need to make communication the

primary focus of teaching materials and classroom activities has long been a

core assumption of communicative methodology.

Task- based language teaching: The use of tasks that serve to facilitate

meaningful communication and interaction lies at the heart of various proposals

for “task-based instruction,” which is an attempt to apply principles from second

language acquisition research to language teaching.

Content-based instruction: A focus on real-world content and the understanding

and communication of information through language is the key to second

language learning and teaching in this approach.

As we have seen in this subject Tasks and Projects work shows us different ways of

creating opportunities for language learning through problem solving, cooperative

learning, collaboration, and negotiation of meaning – processes which many believe

are central to second language acquisition.

Project work has been described by a number of language educators, including Carter

and Thomas (1986), Ferragatti and Carmianti (1984), Fried-Booth (1982,1986), Haines

(1989), Legutke(1984,1985), Legutke and Thiel (1983), Papandreou (1994), Sheppard

and Stoller (1995), and Ward (1988). Although each of these educators has

approached project work from a different perspective, project work, in its various

configurations, shares the following features:

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.

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

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 toward

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.

Now, teaching and doing a music-song Project is a very helpful tool to teachers since

most of the students like music and moreover, songs often contain the elements of

repetition, rhyme, and rhythm that facilitate memorization and easy imitation. Beside

songs facilitate pronunciation much more easily.

Regarding this task, we found general and specific techniques for using songs and

music in the classroom offered as a menu, but since classroom time is always very

limited every minute needs to be used to provide language to observe and study, to

offer intensive practice. We as teachers have to identify and recognize our students’

needs and likes beforehand in order to make our projects more exciting, enjoyable and

meaningful. On the other hand as Vidal and Ribe’s point out that using a constellation

of tasks do not necessarily lead coherence or a sense of progress, or even motivation,

to a series of lessons.

If we analyse the project according to Ribe and Vidal criteria we can find the three

generation tasks distinction considered within it.

There are many First Generation tasks where students basically develop

communicative abilities, like for example the task: ´Form a Band´ where they have to

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

exchange information in order to find out which instrument each one plays, or the task:

´Music Survey´ where they interview each other to find out their listening habits. The

tasks: ´Start a Fan Club´ and ´The Fame Game´can also be considered within the First

Generation distinction.

Regarding Second generation tasks the ones: ´Press Release´and ´Great Deal´ can be

considered as that since they require the students not only to manipulate language but

also cognitive strategies for handling and organising information.

Tasks like: ´Write a Song´, ´Sign a Contract´and ´Make a Record´can be considered as

Third Generation tasks since they convey authenticity, globality and integration of

language and contents and they are a vehicle for students to express the main features

of their personalities. A great amount of creativity is necessary as well. To summarize

they are useful to develop students personality through the foreign language.

For what Fried-Booth criteria concerns, we can find many bridging or motivating

activities which can serve as a preparation for the full-scale project and there is a

gradual process from controlled language to free language use.

The project fails in being a full-scale one as Fried-Booth describes it, since it doesn’t

have a large out-of-class components on the contrary most of the task work is

performed in class. The project also fails in completely following the three key stages

Fried-Booth presents:

- Classroom planning, which is somehow accomplished.

- Carrying out the project, which is not accomplished since students

perform all the tasks in the classroom.

- Reviewing and monitoring the work, which is also largely accomplished.

The project under analysis allows for a wide scope of self-determined action for both

individual and small group of learners within a general framework of a plan, according

to Legutke and Thomas definition for project work.

The project succeeds in following Legutke and Thomas proposed model for project

work fulfilling the six main stages.

For example:

1. Opening: ‘Choose and Instrument’ task.

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

2. Topic orientation: ‘Form a band’ task.

3. Research and data collection: ‘Press release’ and ‘Rap’ tasks.

4. Preparing data presentation: ‘Write a Song’ and ‘Sign a Contract’ tasks.

5. Presentation: ‘Make a Record’ task

6. Evaluation: ‘From Disc to dat’ and ‘Music Survey’ tasks.

However, we can take advantage from mixed ability classrooms since this “Music”

project has different activities.

First adaptation:

We have 38 teenagers in one group, the way we would adapt this project is as follows:

The classroom will be divided into groups between 8 and 10 members. Each group has

to have students who know how to play a musical instrument. Two students who are

good at drawing will take the designers and manager role, and they will be in charge of

organizing a Rock concert and all the company business as well. An active and

cheerful girl to start the fan club will be needed. It has to be said that the “Band” has to

cooperate and help with ideas or inputs during the project development.

Second adaptation:

Some of the students tend to be very shy and they will not be confident doing this long

and demanding project, so another set of tasks will be required for them. These ones

include much more activities than the previous one, but since the tasks are much more

familiar to the kind they have been asked to solve before, then students will feel that

their project is easier.

Project description:

Singing along. - Teacher asks the whole team to sing along together, with or

without the lyrics and audio early on, so that when students are more familiar

with the song, they can sing a cappella and without lyrics.

Father-son/ boys-girls.- If a song has both male and female parts, divide your

group accordingly. Ask all the boys to sing the father part (for instance) and all

the girls to sing the son part.

Taking turns.- Assign each line of a song to a different student or to different

pairs or groups of students. That student would sing only that line. Alternatively,

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

assign each verse to a different student or to a different pair or group of

students.

Pop stars.- Have a karaoke party. Ask students to choose and sign up for

specific songs so they can prepare in advance. Students can perform songs

individually or in groups, with or without the vocalist.

Filling blanks.- Create language activities by reproducing song lyrics on a

handout. Delete target grammar or vocabulary and replace that text with a line

on which students can write. Ask them to listen and complete the worksheet

with the missing vocabulary or grammar structures. If the target language is a

verb form, such as the past tense, include the base form of the verb under the

blank.

Write a list of true and false statements based on the information in the song.

Ask students to listen and mark each statement true or false. Alternatively, write

a list of false statements and ask students to listen to the song and correct each

statement.

Titles.- Students are asked to listen to a song for which they do not know the

title. Then they are asked to create a title for the song. The best title will be the

winner.

Puzzle.- The team is asked to draw pictures of the “story” or the situation in a

song. Students are asked to arrange the pictures in storyboard and retell the

story to their partners, using their storyboards.

Video.- Ask students to use a video camera to create a “music video” of the

song. Students discuss the process before and after making the video.

On the other hand as Legutke and Thomas had pointed out regarding to humanistic

tasks or projects that they may sound very attractive and conjecture particular views of

the individual, of awareness, communication and learning, all of which come from non-

language-learning disciplines. They also mention that in tasks and projects the

“Theme” component is dynamic, and will be affected by interests and interpretations of

both, the teacher and learners. This interaction will not in itself guarantee that it is used

to achieve that purpose.

This leads us to the exercise # 12 “The Fame Game”

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

Board games are usually well accepted by learners and therefore in order to get the

most from it, we would make minor changes to it in part A.

a) Instead of NKOTB, …BEP initials which stand for Black Eyed Peas, which is a

better known band still releasing CDs.

b) Students get a number of questions, for instance:

1. Where and when was the group form? Los Angeles California 1995

2. What is the name of their third album? Elephunk

3. The name of their first worldwide hit was? Where is the love?

4. What is the song that became the first single to sell more than

one million downloads in the United Kingdom? I gotta feeling.

5. Name four associated acts: U2, David Guetta, Richie Londres,

Far East Movement.

Students will complete a short dictation in which Fergie gives them her advice on how

to become big pop stars. (The rest of the activity remains as the original one).

Part B will remain the same just using the same questions about BEP.

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

CONCLUSIONS

- Music projects can be a powerful and motivating adjunct (since everybody likes

music, especially teenagers) to language instruction. In this one we could find

many interesting techniques that are offered as examples. Students and

teachers as well have to encourage themselves to use them choosing those

that fit in the teaching style and the needs, age level, and personality of their

groups.

- Task and Projects undoubtedly are more motivating and meaningful to

students than any other oral or written exercise or activity, so we have to give

them their real value and start to direct our vision to them in order to have more

interactive and more communicative classes and better results in our everyday

work.

- To sum up, we can say that students will often forget most of the tasks they

have done, but they will always remember their projects.

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TASKS AND PROJECTS - Assignment

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Breen, M. (1987): "Learner contributions to task design" in Candlin and Murphy

(1987).

- Campbell, R. (1996): "The Music Project". IT's Magazines. Barcelona.

- Ellis, R. (1993): "Second language acquisition research: how does it help

teachers?" ELT Journal 47/1, pp. 3 -11.

- Fried-Booth, D. (1986): Project Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

- Nunan, D. (1989): Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

- Ribé, R. & Vidal, N. (1993): Project Work Step by Step. Oxford: Heinemann.

- Ribé, R. & Vidal, N. (1995): La Enseñanza de la Lengua Extranjera en la

Educación Secundaria. Madrid: Longman.

- Skehan, P. (1998): A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

- Widdowson, H.G. (1978): Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: oxford

University Press.

- Willis, J. (1996): A Framework for Task-based Learning. London: Longman.

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