In this activity cycle we have identified the stages of a task-based lesson framework as occurring in the sequence pre-task, task cycle and language focus, with the task cycle itself comprising three stages: task, planning and report. The roles of the teacher and learners at each stage were considered, and the facilitating role of the teacher was emphasized. In the second half of the activity cycle, the pre-task, planning, report and language focus stages were considered in more detail.

Now that you are familiar with the different stages of a task-based lesson, think about the extent to which each stage fulfils the optimum conditions for language acquisition identified in activity cycle 4.1 (see 4.1.2). Complete the table, ranking each stage on a scale from 0 to 3. (Adapted from Willis 1996: 65). You can use your ideas to complete the last stage of part ii) of the assessment task (see 4.4.11) if you have opted to do this.