‘Watch the recording of James, Nesia and David’s peer-teaching lesson during which they were to employ aspects of Task-based Learning. Assess how effectively this lesson was designed and implemented by focusing on three aspects of English language pedagogy. Refer to relevant theories of learning and SLA research.’
‘The teacher’s task is to initiate the learning process and then get out of the way.’ James Warren. With the world becoming more interconnected to become a global village, there is a necessary need to learn a second language to facilitate communication with individuals from different parts of the globe. Therefore, when it comes to second language acquisition, it is the process through which individuals learn a second language (East, 2017). To facilitate this learning process, instructors may utilise different teaching techniques, such as communicative language or task-based learning techniques in teaching a second language. In the case of communicative language teaching, language is taught through using communication as its primary basis, whereby students and teachers interact with one another to facilitate learning a second language (Dos Santos, 2020). Contrariwise, serving as the premise of this essay, the task-based teaching technique focuses on using communicative tasks to facilitate the language learning process (Sabil, 2020). Thus, the essay will focus on assessing a task-based teaching video by analysing the lesson’s design and implementation through three aspects: pre-task, task and review.
Throughout the video, the lesson utilises visualisation as its primary design, which enhances the application of the cognitive theory of learning in the lesson. When it comes to cognitive theory, second language acquisition is identified as a conscious and rational thinking process that requires the use of learning strategies to facilitate understanding of a new language (Wulf & Ellis, 2019). In the case of the video lesson, the instructors utilise visual representation as a learning strategy to facilitate their teaching process, whereby all information that is discussed throughout the lesson is projected on the screen. Through using visual aids, it reinforces new knowledge being taught, which facilitates a higher comprehension and retention of new terms by the student. Furthermore, when it comes to second language acquisition, interaction plays a significant role in facilitating the learning of a second language (MacWhinney, 2017). From the video, the lesson is designed to be interactive, allowing students to interact with their peers through group discussions. In doing so, the students can communicate using their learned language, which helps them retain and practise what they have been taught. Thus, the lesson is effectively designed in terms of visualisation and utilising interactions to facilitate learning a second language.
Task-Based Teaching Aspects related to English Language Pedagogy
Task-based learning relies on structuring the learning process around the completion of central tasks whereby the student’s needs will determine the language that will be studied after completing the task (Rani, 2017). To facilitate the learning process, task-based learning utilises three aspects: pre-task, task cycle and review of a task to teach a second language.
Pre-Task Aspect
The pre-task is the first stage of the task-based learning technique, which serves as the introduction aspect of the task-based learning process. Moore (2018) identifies the pre-task aspect as the stage through which an instructor introduces the topic and engages the students by setting expectations and offering instructions on what is expected from them in order to complete the allocated task. In terms of introduction, James, the first instructor, introduces the topic ‘Murder Mystery’ to the class identifying that the class will be interactive and will require the involvement of students, thus setting the expectations. Spada and Lightbown (2019) further argue that in second language acquisition, the teacher needs to offer learners an opportunity to use new vocabulary in the tasks they are undertaking. Therefore, to facilitate the learning process, the instructor utilises a vocabulary exercise linked with the task theme to help the students learn new terms and retain them by relating them to the task. Thus, James, the instructor, is able to introduce the task to the students effectively.
Additionally, task-based learning requires the instructor to offer instructions and advise on how the students will approach the given task (Moore, 2018). In the video lesson, Nesia, the second instructor, offers the students instructions whereby the students are expected to ask varying questions to identify who the murderer was in the ‘murder mystery’ task. Lambert (2017) identifies that in task-based learning, instructors should offer a clear model or an example for the students to follow which will help in identifying what is expected from them. In the video lesson, Nesia utilises an example of how a question should be framed to act as a guideline for the student in their discussion of creating questions to be addressed in the task. Therefore, in the video lesson, the instructors are able to effectively introduce the task that engages the students and sets the expectations of the task process while offering instructions to guide the student in completing the task to learn the second language.
Task Cycle Aspect
The task cycle aspect serves as the main stage of the task-based learning method whereby students are actively involved in working on the tasks in their given groups or pairs. Al Tamimi, Abdullah and Bin-Hady, (2020) identify tasks as goal-based activities that use resources to help students understand the second language they are learning. In the video lesson, the students are grouped into three groups to facilitate the discussion process of the allocated task, which falls on the premise of task-based learning that requires the grouping of students to facilitate learning. Furthermore, the instructors offer resources such as newspaper cuttings to help create props to help engage the students in understanding and completing the task. From the lesson, the props were created based on the attributes that were highlighted by the instructors about the characters, thus, facilitating engagement and learning new terms through translating the terms into given props. Thus, the instructors were able to effectively implement task-based learning by using groups and learning resources to help in language learning.
Subsequently, tasks require students to prepare an oral or written report to engage the class in the findings the group made during the task (Namazian et al., 2017). In the case of the video lesson, the instructors offered the students a worksheet that was built on the vocabulary they had learned at the beginning of the lesson to write their findings from their group discussion. The instructors offered a detailed example of how the students will use the worksheet to act as a guideline for them in writing their findings. Using that worksheet, the students could answer the questions they had created earlier using the new terms they had learned to complete the task of finding the murderer in the ‘murder mystery’ task. Thus, the lesson effectively implemented the use of written reports in completing the given task and even aided retention of new terms learned earlier in the final recording of the task.
Review Aspect
The review aspect serves as the final stage of the task-based learning technique, whereby the students present their completed tasks to their peers to help determine and evaluate the language that will be studied based on the presentation process (Ellis, 2017). In the video lesson, the students presented their completed tasks to the classroom by identifying whom they thought the murderer was and why they thought the individual had conducted the murder. Through the presentation process, the students used their learned language to articulate their findings which aided in communicating the second language they had learned to their peers. Furthermore, the instructors allowed peer correction when the student did not use the correct vocabulary in the presentation thus, propagating a student-centred learning approach; where the students can assess their learning and share the learning process with one another encouraging learner autonomy.
Consequently, the review aspect requires the teacher to analyse the language used during the presentation phase in order to select the language areas that the class will focus on aiding in practising the second language they are learning (Rani, 2017). In the video lesson, the instructors allowed the students to present their tasks but did not offer an avenue to analyse the language used during the reporting phase. In doing so, the instructors were not able to select language areas based on the students’ presentations to practice to build their confidence. Thus, it may deter students who had an issue during the presentation from practising their problematic areas in learning a second language. Therefore, the video lesson effectively implemented the review aspect of task-based learning by presenting complete tasks to the classroom. However, the instructors needed to catch up when it came to analysing the language used during the reporting phase to help students practice the problematic areas they encountered during task completion.
Therefore, when it comes to task-based learning, it involves completing tasks to facilitate the learning of a second language. Through assessing James, Nesia and David’s peer-teaching lesson, the lesson was effectively designed using visualisation and class interaction to help learn English. Additionally, the lesson effectively implemented the pre-task, task cycle and review aspects of the task-based English learning approach in the classroom which aided an interactive learning session for the students when it came to completing the given task. Thus, second language acquisition can be an interactive and fun process if the teacher utilises a task-based learning technique in the teaching process.
References
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