4.3 Effective task design and use 
This activity cycle homes in on task design, and you will be invited to design some tasks to use with your own students. Task-based language learning is commonly associated with speaking tasks, and these are the types of task we spend most time on here, but tasks can be designed to focus on any, or all four of, the language skills. Activity cycle 5 (see 4.5) considers text-based tasks in a little more detail, but you will also find much relevant material and further ideas in DELPHI Modules 6, 7, 8 and 9. Although these modules do not follow a strictly task-based approach, I hope you will recognize that many of the activity types suggested fit our definition of ‘task’.)

4.3.1  Outcomes
4.3.2  Features of successful tasks 
4.3.3  Speaking tasks 
4.3.4  Listening tasks 
4.3.5  Summary
4.3.6  Belief check 
4.3.7  Readings
4.3.8  References
4.3.9  Assessment task 
4.3.10  Commentaries

4.3.1 Outcomes
•	Key outcome: classroom materials and instructions for speaking tasks for use with your own students. These can be presented as evidence that you have fulfilled learning objective 4) (see 4.0.8). 

•	Key outcome: audio or video recording(s) of fluent speakers doing the task(s) together with classroom materials and instructions for listening tasks to accompany the recording(s). These can be presented as further evidence that you have fulfilled learning objective 4) (see 4.0.8). 

•	Optional, additional outcome: a written checklist or mind map of features of successful tasks. This can be presented as evidence that you have fulfilled learning objective 3) (see 4.0.8). 

•	Optional, additional outcome: short commentaries explaining why your  planned tasks will be effective for your students. These can be presented as evidence that you have partly fulfilled learning objective 3) (see 4.0.8). 

 Details of how to do these are given at the end of this activity cycle (see 4.3.9). 

4.3.2 Features of successful tasks
4.3.2.1 Reflection
Think of an activity that went well in one of your recent lessons (preferably one that fits the definition of task established in activity cycle 2 – see 4.2.2.3). Spend a minute brainstorming and jot down all the positive aspects of the activity. 

4.3.2.2 Belief check
What do you believe are the qualities of a successful task?
	You may like to do this as a ‘mind map’, like the one I’ve started here for the ‘mystery objects task’ described in activity cycle 2 of this module (see 4.2.3). Alternatively, just make a note-form list.

??

Students motivated

Having fun

Staying on task

S’s clear what to do - no confusion

S’s using lots of
target language

No time wasting

Confidence building

Language learning opportunities

Co-operative
learning

??

Clear instructions

Clear stages written down, went through them before starting

Intriguing topic

competitive element - made S’s keen to win

Not too long

??

??

??

Figure 4.1 Mind map of positive aspects of the ‘mystery objects’ task

When I made this example I started with the obvious things, like students being motivated (in rectangular boxes) then added reasons why these had happened (in hexagonal shapes), the immediate classroom effects (oval shapes) and the longer term pedagogic benefits (star bursts).  

4.3.2.3 Tips for task design
Jane Willis offers six tips for designing effective tasks. How do they compare with those on your mind map or list? 

JW04 Tip 1
I think the topic of the task needs to hold a bit of interest for the students.

JW05 Tip 2
I think it’s very important for the instructions to be very specific. And what we have found when we’ve been doing task recordings working with native speakers sometimes, in fact very often with native speakers, that if you set a task which is rather open ended and general people tend to ‘umm’ and ‘ah’ a lot and wonder what they’re supposed to be talking about, so I think one of the most important things is to think of instructions – make sure they know when they’ve finished the task, so ‘Find seven differences’, or ‘Talk to your partner about where your grandparents live and see if you can find two things in common’.

JW06 Tip 3
Always try your task instructions out on someone else, even if it’s just a colleague in the staff room, better still, two colleagues. Give them the written instructions and ask them if they can do the task in one minute or two minutes, however long you think it will take them, and if they turn round and say,’ Hey, what do you mean by this?’ you know you have to change the task instructions.

JW07 Tip 4
And my fourth tip is to always set a time limit!

JW08 Tip 5 
One thing I will say that, talking of time limits, that if you set too long a time limit and it drags out, that’s when your unmotivated pupils really start thinking, ‘Oh, what are we supposed to be doing now!’ So stopping it once maybe half the class have finished?

JW09 Tip 6
If you can get someone to record the task then that would actually be a good idea because then you’ve got some data to work on, then you know the kind of language that is natural to come up in the task, and that helps you to prepare a nice pre-task phase. And if you can get two sets of people to do it that’s even better.

4.3.2.4 Reflection on tasks
After completing the task, spend a few minutes considering the pros and cons of doing this type of brainstorming task, where you start individually and then combine your ideas with a partner’s, or compare your ideas with someone else’s (Jane’s).

4.3.2.5 General success features
Many of the items on your mind map probably describe aspects of any successful classroom activity, regardless of whether it would conform to the definition of task we have adopted here. These are features like:

•	Immediate motivation (see 4.1.2) Interesting topic - ie interesting to students!
•	Intrigue, challenge or fun – solve a problem or mystery, win a game;
•	Variety / novelty – or at least not overusing a technique or material so that it loses its appeal;
•	Level of difficulty - doable but not too easy, so worth doing and gives sense of achievement;
•	Timing - doesn’t go on too long so students get bored or tired;
•	Clear, simple instructions - students don’t get confused and lose interest;
•	...
•	Organizational factors
•	Not too complex or time consuming to prepare or use – efficient use of classroom time;
•	Clearly related to syllabus / lesson aims / progression of activities;
•	...
•	Pedagogic factors
•	Clear objectives - to both teacher and students;
•	Facilitates learning of aspect(s) of target language;
•	Fosters effective learning strategies / learner training;
•	...
•	...

(For further discussion on a closely related area, see Skehan (1998: 142–45) on ‘task usefulness’)
	To be successful, a task, like any other activity, should be designed with these factors in mind. But a well-designed task can offer additional benefits over many traditional language classroom activities.

4.3.2.6 Benefits of tasks 
In the example mind map I included three pedagogic benefits of doing the ‘mystery objects’ task. In your mind map or list, you may well have thought of more, or a different set. 
	Compare yours with Jane Willis’s (1996: 35–36) list of eight advantages to students of doing tasks in pairs or groups, summarized in the table below.
	Next, rank these benefits in order of importance for your students, with 1 being the most important benefit and 8 being the least important. (You can give two or more benefits equal ranking if you wish.) 

      Benefit	Rank	
•	It gives learners confidence to try out whatever language they know, or think they know, in the relative privacy of a pair or small group, without fear of being wrong or of being corrected in front of the class.		
•	It gives learners experience of spontaneous interaction, which involves composing what they want to say in real time, formulating phrases and units of meaning, while listening to what is being said.		
•	It gives learners a chance to benefit from noticing how others express similar meanings. Research shows they can successfully provide corrective feedback to each other (when encouraged to do so), without learning each other’s errors (Lightbown and Spada, 1999:148; Porter, 1983, cited in Nunan, 1999: 52)		
•	It gives all learners chances to practise negotiating turns to speak, initiating as well as responding to questions, and reacting to other’s contributions (whereas in teacher-led interaction, they only have a responding role).		
•	It engages learners in using language purposefully and co-operatively, concentrating on building meaning, not just using language for display purposes.		
•	It makes learners participate in a complete interaction, not just one-off sentences. Negotiating openings and closings, new stages or changes of direction are their responsibility. It is likely that discourse skills such as these can only be acquired through interaction.		
•	It gives learners more chances to try out communication strategies like checking understanding, paraphrasing to get round an unknown word, reformulating other people’s ideas, and supplying words and phrases for other speakers.		
•	It helps learners gradually gain confidence as they find they can rely on co-operation with their fellow students to achieve the goals of the tasks mainly through use of the target language.		

4.3.2.7 Reflection 
1) After completing the task in 4.3.2.6, spend a few minutes considering the pros and cons of this type of consensus discussion task where there is no key or answer supplied (because there is no single right answer.)

2) To what extent do the activities you use in your existing approach to teaching give your students the benefits listed above? For example, how often do your students get opportunities to initiate interactions?

4.3.2.8 The essential conditions for SLA and tasks
A successful task will provide many, if not all of these benefits for language students. It will also fulfil the three essential conditions for language acquisition set out in activity cycle 1 (see 4.1).  In fact each of the beneficial features of tasks listed here helps in some way to fulfil one or more of these three essential conditions. 

1) For each of the summarized benefits listed below, look at the ‘How?’ column which shows how tasks can offer these benefits. Two of the ‘Hows?’ have been transposed; which two should be swapped over to make sense?

2) Next, decide which of the three essential conditions for SLA, motivation, exposure and language use, is provided for.

Write M for motivation, E for exposure and / or U for language use

Which two have been swapped over?

 

Beneficial feature	How? 	SLA conditions	
•	confidence to try out language	a)	students work in private in pairs / groups; no error correction 		
•	spontaneous interaction	b)	repeatedly successful task completion boosts confidence		
•	opportunity to learn from others	c)	to participate, students must listen to peers and may notice how others express similar meanings; corrective feedback to each other encouraged		
•	negotiating turn-taking, initiating	d)	not teacher led; group members are equal participants		
•	purposeful, co-operative language use	e)	teacher expects language to be used to achieve task goal, not for display; students build meaning / solve task together in pairs / groups		
•	complete and extended interaction to develop discourse skills	f)	doing a task means engaging in a complete interaction from start to finish, not just isolated fragments of language		
•	development of communication strategies	g)	students need to understand each other and make themselves understood in order to do the task		
•	builds confidence in  ability to function in target language 	h)	no prior language preparation; students must work together in real time to complete task 		
•	Others: (add your own)
	i)			

For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.1. 

4.3.2.9 Reflection on task
After completing the task in 4.3.2.8, spend a few minutes considering the pros and cons of this type of consensus discussion task where a correct answer is supplied.

4.3.2.10 Classroom management and teacher roles 
Some of the items in the ‘How?’ column of the previous task have major implications for the way teachers conduct their lessons, and the roles that they fulfil. 
	Before moving to the next activity you might like to consider how your role might differ from the one you usually adopt if you start using tasks of the type Jane Willis describes. We will return to this topic in more detail in activity cycle 4 (see 4.4). 

4.3.2.11 Interim summary
To sum up so far: we have now established that to get the most out of tasks in the language classroom, we need to consider a number of design factors that we would apply to any classroom activity. 

But we have also seen that to get the full benefit, these tasks have to be designed:
•	for private pair or group work;
•	with minimum (or no) teacher intervention;
•	in a way that presupposes no specific language, but instead sets students a challenging and interesting goal to encourage them to use the target language as best they can to achieve that goal with the help of their partner(s).
The result should be that students use the target language as spontaneously (even if inaccurately) as they would in a genuine communicative situation outside the classroom. The task itself may not be of a type that we would use in real contexts, but the immediate motivation and need to speak that it creates are every bit as real.

4.3.2.12 Optional reading / assessment task
This would be a good point to do the first optional reading (see 4.3.7, Reading 1). 
You may also like to go straight to the assessment task (see 4.3.9)  for this activity cycle in order to complete the first part of it.

4.3.3 Speaking tasks
4.3.3.1 The importance of speaking

Nunan (1991: 39) claims that: ‘To most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language, and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language.’

Questions
•	Is this true of your students? 
•	How important are the other three skills (listening, writing and reading) relative to speaking for your students? 
•	Does the balance of attention to the four skills in your classes reflect your students’ priorities? If not, why is the balance different?

4.3.3.2 Research into speaking tasks
Nunan (1991) in chapter 3 of his book Language Teaching Methodology reviews research into language classroom speaking activities and presents the following findings:
1.	two-way information gaps prompt more linguistic/conversational adjustments than one-way tasks; 
2.	convergent tasks (problem solving, reaching a consensus) produce more adjustments than divergent tasks (open-ended discussions, arguments, debates);
3.	performance improves not so much through practice, but through listening to fluent speakers performing the task, and/or reviewing and discussing tapes of students’ own inadequate performance;
4.	learning to speak a second language is facilitated when learners are actively engaged in attempting to communicate: controlled practice isn’t enough;
5.	small group work results in more language use than teacher-fronted activities.

4.3.3.3 Research into speaking tasks: implications for task design
The fourth and fifth research findings reported by Nunan reiterate what has already been said here about the desirability of using pair work or small group tasks with a focus on meaning rather than form to drive forward language acquisition. The third has important implications for how we conduct language focus work before or after a task – an issue we will return to later in this activity cycle and again in activity cycle 5 (see 4.5). It is the first two that give us some important indicators of how we should design speaking tasks that not only satisfy the criteria and offer the benefits established earlier in this activity cycle, but do so in a way that maximizes the opportunities for students to develop their communication strategies and discourse management skills.

4.3.3.4 Conversational adjustments in speaking tasks: an example
Here is the first part of the transcript of the ‘mystery object’ task (a convergent problem solving task) that you met in activity cycle 2 (see 4.2.3). This copy has been annotated to highlight the conversational adjustments. Remember that J and B are doing the task and in this sense are taking the role of students. C is organizing the task and is taking the role of teacher. Notice how, without ‘teacher’ intervention during the task, J and B frequently initiate and volunteer ideas as well as simply responding to questions and suggestions. Notice too how they hesitate, reformulate what they say, and even finish each other’s utterances. Can you imagine your students making the kinds of utterance that are made by B and J, but perhaps using simpler language?

transcript 	
Conversational adjustments 	
5	B	Well it almost looks like a garlic press	Initiates / volunteers a tentative suggestion	
6	J	 Yes yes 	Reacts to B’s suggestion	
7	B	Umm 	Hesitates / expresses uncertainty	
8	J	 It looks as though it’s meant … maybe it’s … oh, I bet it’s something like a de- … umm, like you get apple corers	Initiates / volunteers a (hesitant) suggestion.
Hesitations and reformulations in real-time speech	
9	B	Hmm	Reacts to J’s suggestion	
10	J	Looks as though that’s meant to push something out, doesn’t it, except it doesn’t go very far	Initiates / volunteers a suggestion
Question tag (doesn’t it?) invites response	
11	B	Hmm. Don’t know	Reacts to J’s suggestion	
12	J	So maybe you’re meant to slot something in there and then press that in	Initiates / volunteers a suggestion	
13	B	Stick your finger in there and see what happens	Initiates / suggests J acts (teasing partner)	
14	J	Laughs No!	Responds to tease	
15	B	It’s a sort of an odd shape as well, isn’t it?	Initiates / volunteers information
Question tag invites response	
16	J	Hmm … and there’s sort of ridged bits	Initiates / volunteers information	
17	B	Ahh!  Umm … is it for olives? To take the …	Initiates / volunteers a suggestion in the form of a question (to invite response).
Incomplete utterance	
18	J	To take the stones out   	Finishes B’s utterance for him	
19	B	For coring olives	Reformulates J’s utterance
(NB in 17, 18 and 19 J and B appear to be ‘scaffolding’ - building on and supporting each consecutive utterance to come to a satisfactorily worded solution. By 17, as soon as J says the word ‘olives’, they know the answer – they just have to find a way to express it neatly in words.)	
20	J	Yes, that sounds a good idea	Reacts to B’s suggestion	

4.3.3.5 Task types that promote conversation
The annotated cherry-stoner task transcript illustrates just how much opportunity this type of problem-solving task can give for participants to make conversational adjustments. However, not all tasks offer such opportunities.
Here are some task descriptions. Decide which are likely to encourage plenty of conversational adjustments (turn-taking, negotiation of meaning, clarification requests, etc) and why. (Note: you can never know for sure unless you actually try the tasks out in class, but as you gain experience in task design you will develop a feel for those that will be conversation-promoting.)

•	One student has a set of four coloured geometric shapes originally cut from a square. The other has a diagram of how to reconstitute the square. Student B explains to student A how to arrange the shapes to make the square.	
•	Each pair / group of students has a set of four coloured geometric shapes that fit together to make a square, but no key showing how to do this. They must take turns to move one piece at a time to try to make the square. 	
•	Student A has a drawing of a partly furnished room. Student B has a drawing of the same room, also partly furnished, but only some of the furniture is the same as in version A. Students exchange information on the nature and location of furniture to each produce drawings of a fully furnished room. On completion they compare drawings.	
•	The class is divided into pairs and students decide to be ‘A’ or ‘B’. All ‘As’ close their eyes for 30 seconds while ‘Bs’ look at, and try to memorize, a simple picture shown on an overhead transparency, eg a cartoon drawing of a woman’s head. ‘Bs’ then close their eyes while ‘As’ memorize a picture, eg a cartoon drawing of a man’s head. With neither picture visible,  ‘As’ and ‘Bs’ have two minutes to find ten differences between the pictures they saw.	
•	Performance of a sketch designed by the students themselves.	
•	Find three items that you and your partner both always carry on you, eg money. Find two more that you always carry but your partner does not, and vice versa. 	
•	Tell a classmate about something funny / strange / embarrassing that happened to you as a child.	

For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.2. 

4.3.3.6 Optional reading
This would be a suitable time to complete the second set of optional reading (see 4.3.7, Reading 2), which covers topics such as mixed level classes, talkative students, controlling large classes, and use of mother tongue, and (in the Nunan extract) why some students are reluctant to speak, and what can be done to encourage them.

4.3.3.7 Action point 
Think of one or two speaking tasks of different types that would be suitable for your students. 
	Write out precise instructions for the tasks, and prepare any materials that you would need to do the tasks in class. Think not only about the principles for successful task design discussed above, but also about the adjustments you will need to make to render the tasks suitable for your particular students and teaching context.
	If you are working with a colleague you could choose two tasks together, then do the detailed planning for one task each before exchanging plans. You will almost certainly find that you want to make changes to your colleague’s detailed plan, just as you probably make changes to the procedures set out in any coursebooks you follow. Why is this?

4.3.3.8 Assessment task
At this point you may like to go straight to the assessment task (see 4.3.9) for this activity cycle in order to complete the second part of it.

4.3.4 Listening tasks
4.3.4.1 Introduction
In a sense, all of the tasks identified above as being successful speaking tasks are also successful listening tasks, as conversations involve both speaking and listening. However, you may sometimes want to focus more intensively on listening without burdening students too much with the requirement to speak.
	DELPHI Module 5 focuses in more detail on developing listening skills, so here we will deal with the topic in brief, focusing mainly on how we can use recordings of fluent speakers doing tasks as a novel, but highly effective, form of listening text within the framework of a task-based lesson. This does not mean that more conventional approaches to listening text selection and use are incompatible with task-based learning.

4.3.4.2 Recordings of spontaneous speech
Willis (1996: 86–99) devotes a whole chapter of her book to this topic under the heading ‘Exposure to spontaneous speech using recordings’.  She suggests that by playing recordings of fluent speakers doing the tasks that the learners have just completed themselves, we can provide learners with exposure to spontaneous speech, delivered at natural speeds, which is highly meaningful even at elementary level. 
	Learners are usually highly motivated to hear how fluent speakers express the ideas they have perhaps just struggled to communicate, and depending on the task, are also interested to compare outcomes. For example, if learners have just completed a ‘spot the difference’ task, and reported their findings back to the class, they will listen attentively to see if the speakers on the tape found the same differences. Playing such a recording thus provides a natural purpose for listening. After students have listened once or twice for general meaning, you can replay the recording (or part of it) while they listen for something more specific, or you can use it as a model for them to copy as they practise saying new words or phrases, and so on.
	You will recall that earlier in this activity cycle, one of Jane Willis’s tips for designing successful tasks is to record fluent speakers doing the task. Now you know why!

4.3.4.3 Listening before task completion
There are some occasions when you may want to play the task recording before students attempt the task themselves, rather than (or as well as) afterwards. Can you suggest when and why? For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.3 

4.3.4.4 Example task recording (1)
You have already seen a transcript of two native speakers of English doing a problem-solving task to work out the nature of a mystery object (the cherry stoner) In fact, there were four mystery objects in all, and groups of students were asked to discuss each object in turn. 
	Listen to this recording and follow the transcript of B and J doing the task for one of the other objects:

Transcript for watch container task
1	C	Ready for the next one?	
2	B	Yes	
3	J	Ah! It’s got the word STORM written on it	
4	B	Mmm hmm	
5	J	And on the top it’s got a registration number; I don’t think that’ll help us	
6	B	Does it open?	
7	J	Yes  … and there’s, there’s something written inside there. Can we look at it?	
8	B	Looks to me like you put a candle or something in that … oh, no, you couldn’t	
9	J	Yes, you could, ‘cos you could get the light, there, couldn’t you…..	
10	B	No, but there’s no air ….. which means it would go out. 	
11	J	And there’s nowhere to put the candle holder	
12	B	Pretty well immediately, wouldn’t it	
13	J	Maybe it’s some sort of storage container	
14	B	Can I have a quick look?	
15	J	It’s, that says what it is, does it? Oo! Oh right, OK. This could, this could just be trying to put us off the scent	
16	B	It opens both ends. I’d say that’s the, that’s a, a camping … thing … for, for drinking out of, or whatever, or , or for … cooking possibly	
17	J	But why’s the middle bit clear? Surely there’s a, there’s got to be a reason why that bit’s clear	
18	B	Well, you can use it as a glass … to drink out of … 	
19	J	You could … yes…but why’s it clear?	
20	B	Or … you’ve got,  two, two tins for cooking in or for 	
21	J	Why do glasses have to be clear?	
22	B	Well, they don’t, do they?  It’s just there to fit them together perhaps	
23	J	This mentions a battery	
24	B	Ooh, really?	
25	J	You don’t need a battery for that!   laughs	
26	B	A battery. There’s nowhere to put a battery.	
27	J	                   Battery and Spandex straps	
28	B	There’s nowhere to put a bloody battery.	
29	J	Water resistance. There’s two of these, look. It was bought in Rackham’s last summer. So it could be something for a picnic.	
30	B	Mm Hmm	
31	J	Never, never pull out crown when watch is wet	
32	B	The watch	
33	J	Watch	
34	C	Right, you’ve had your minute.	
35	B	Oh, dear. 	
36	J	OK	
37	C	It’s just a, a fancy packaging container for a watch. For a fashion watch.	
38	J	Really?	
39	C	Storm is the brand of the watch, yes.	
40	J	Oohh.	
41	C	Instead of coming in a box…  I know, exactly what a waste!	
42	B	My God! What a big waste.	
43	J	What a waste of money	
44	C	Anyway, you’ve had some far better ideas for it. I’ll take it camping next time I go!	
45	J	Here you are!	
46	B	Right. Jolly good.	

Question: Could you play all, or some of this recording to students before they tried the task themselves? For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.4. 

4.3.4.5 Example task recording (2)
Here is another of the mystery object task recordings. Listen and follow the transcript: 

Transcript for clothes peg task 
1	Corony	Right. What I have here in this bag 	
2	Judith	Is it food? I’m quite hungry!	
3	Corony	No … Are some objects	
4	Bob 	Mmm hmm	
5	Corony	And I’m going to hand them to you one at a time	
6	Judith	Mmm	
7	C	And you have one minute to talk about each one and try and decide what it is. OK?	
8	J	OK	
9	B	Fair enough	
10	C	Here’s the first one	
11	B	Do we go one at a time or both together?	
12	C	Oh no  well you … you have to agree	
13	J	Umm I think it could be something to do with a washing line	
14	B  talking at
J  same time	Yes. It looks rather like some sort of clothes peg	
15		It looks as though something could clip in there ‘cos it looks like a clothes peg as well	
16	B	And if you press the end … no no no … yes well if you press the end there …	
17	J	It moves up and down, doesn’t it? So something could fit in there. Something could fit in that little hole.	
18	B	Hmm	
19	J	Don’t break it	
20	B	Well I mean it’s a sort of a … I dunno – it looks as if there is some kind of …	
21	J	Does it actually open completely? It’ll go the other way, won’t it?	
22	B	…leverage principle involved. If you push that back it sort of opens  …  the end	
23	J	Yeah, but you can push it, if you pull it this way	
24	B	Mmm mmm	
25	J	No, it didn’t do anything 	
26	B	Well what would happen if …	
27	J	Oh yes it does, yeah, look that bit comes off	
28	B	If you put something into the loop	
29	J	Into that bit there	
30	B	Yes	
31	J	And it sort of fits as if …	
32	B	…that was bigger than the, the sort of umm, the loop, as it stands ….. at rest, so to speak	
33	J	Hmm. So like if you put your fingers in there	
34	B	Laughs ………… or my thumb	
35	J	That’d be useful …it could be a big ring … for people with very large hands … that need the, you know 	
36	B	Now you’re being facetious, Judith	
37	J	Yes, I know	
38	B	Umm. I’ve got no bloody idea … basically … not at all	
39	J	 Laughs                	
40	C	OK – you’ve had your minute   …   here’s the next …	
41	B	But, but I mean it, it’s obviously for clipping something  … a clothes peg?   Or …	
42	C	Yeah, well you’ve done it ... Do you want  me to tell you? 	
43	J	Yeah	
44	B	Mmm hmm	
45	C	It’s a storm-proof clothes peg.  If you put that over the line … and slide it down …	
46	J
B	Oh yes… yes
Ah … yes. OK	
47	C	It tightens it so it locks on the line	
48	J	So we got it! 	
49	B	Fair enough	

Question: Would you play this recording to students 
1.	before they did the task? 
2.	immediately after doing this task?
3.	immediately after doing all four tasks? or
4.	would you have another activity after students completed the task(s) and before the listening?
For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.5.  

Question: What sort of things you would ask students to do while listening to this recording? For feedback, see Commentary 4.3.6.  

4.3.4.6 Action point 
If you haven’t already done so, find a pair of fluent speakers of your target language to do one of the speaking tasks that you prepared in part ii) above, and record them doing the task. If you can, record two or three different pairs so you can pick the best recording afterwards. Decide whether you would play the recording to students before and / or after they did the task in class, then design some suitable listening tasks for your students to do while listening to the recording. You should plan to play the recording at least twice, with different things for the students to do during each playback.

 Here are some tips for making successful recordings: 
•	Find a quiet room where you won’t be interrupted. Turn off all humming lights, computers etc, unplug the phone, and put a ‘do not disturb – recording in progress’ notice on the door. 
•	Even a small, cheap ‘Walkman’ type recorder can produce good results if you have an external microphone to plug into it instead of using the internal microphone (which tends to pick up too much noise from the motor). 
•	Use new batteries if the recorder does not plug into the mains electricity. 
•	Place the recorder on a table away from the microphone. 
•	Place the microphone on something soft – a coat, blanket or even an upside down mouse-mat – these absorb vibrations, especially if the table gets jogged. 
•	The microphone should be near both speakers but not in a position where it will get knocked or jogged.
•	Have a new, pre-labelled and dated cassette ready in the machine, wound forward slightly to take up the lead-in tape. 
•	Make a short test recording in the room, and play it back to check it, before you start the task. 
•	Start the recorder before you start the task – you can edit out extra material afterwards. 
•	Continue recording until well after the task is finished.
•	If you are recording more than one task, leave the recorder running between sessions or have a new cassette for each recording to minimize risk of accidentally recording over material you want to keep.

Willis (1996: 92–9 4) has more advice on making your own task recordings.

4.3.5 Summary
In this activity cycle we began by establishing the features that make tasks successful in the classroom. We then focused more specifically on the types of task that are most effective in promoting spoken interaction between students, and invited you to design speaking tasks for your own students. In the final section, we introduced the idea of using recordings of fluent speakers doing the tasks as a novel form of listening text that can provide highly meaningful exposure to authentic, spontaneous speech, and invited you to design a listening task of this type.

4.3.6 Belief check
Now that you have finished this activity cycle, in what ways (if any) have your beliefs about, or understanding of, the qualities of a successful task changed?

4.3.7 Readings
To follow up points from this activity cycle and / or to consolidate what you have learned, you may like to select reading from the following:
 
Reading 1 
If you have a copy of Jane Willis (1996), A Framework for Task-based Learning, Longman, London, I recommend that you read pages 35–36.

Reading 2
a)	If you have a copy of Jane Willis (1996), A Framework for Task-based Learning, Longman, London, I recommend that you read pages 46–50.

b)  If you have David Nunan (1999), Second Language Teaching and Learning, Newbury House Teacher Development, Clevedon, you may like to read chapter 8 on ‘Speaking’, especially pages 231–35.

Reading 3
a)	Jane Willis (1996), A Framework for Task-based Learning, Longman, London, I recommend that you now read chapter 6, pages 86–99.

b)	If you have David Nunan (1999), Second Language Teaching and Learning, Newbury House Teacher Development, Clevedon, you may like to read chapter 7 on ‘Listening’, especially pages 212–14 on the arguments for using authentic listening material.

4.3.8  References
Lightbown, P and Spada, N (1999) How Languages are Learned, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology, Prentice Hall International, New York
Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning, Newbury House Teacher Development, Clevedon
Skehan, P (1998) A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Willis, J (1996) A Framework for Task-based Learning, Longman, London

4.3.9 Assessment task 
1.	Design a speaking task that you could use with your own students, together with any classroom materials, props, etc, that would be needed for the task. This can be one of the tasks you described as part of the assessment for activity cycle 2 of this module – see 4.2.9. (Later, when you have designed the other elements of a task-based lesson that this task will form a part of, you will be encouraged to try out the lessons and see if the task really does live up to expectations.)

2.	Design a listening task that you could use with your own students, together with any classroom materials, props, etc, that would be needed for the task. Your listening text should consist of a recording of fluent speakers doing one of the speaking tasks prepared for part i) of the assessment for this activity cycle. (Later, when you have designed the other elements of a task-based lesson that this task will form a part of, you will be encouraged to try out the lesson and see if the task really does live up to expectations.)

3.	OPTIONAL EXTRA: if you prepared a list or mind map of features of successful tasks, you can include this. You may also find it helpful to write a short commentary explaining why you think the tasks you have designed will be successful.

These will form the third entry for your materials file. If you are using the materials file template provided, these items should be numbered 1.4 and 2.1. The successful task features checklist (4.3.2.2) should be placed in part I of the file, and the classroom materials (2.1) should be placed in part II.

4.3.10  Commentaries

Commentary 4.3.1

Beneficial feature	How?	SLA conditions	
•	confidence to try out language	a)	students work in private in pairs / groups; no error correction 	M	
•	spontaneous interaction	b)	no prior language preparation; students must work together in real time to complete task 
b) and h) have been transposed	U	
•	opportunity to learn from others	c)	to participate students must listen to peers and may notice how others express similar meanings; corrective feedback to each other encouraged	E	
•	negotiating turn-taking, initiating	d)	not teacher-led; group members are equal participants	U, E	
•	purposeful, co-operative language use	e)	teacher expects language to be used to achieve task goal, not for display; students build meaning / solve task together in pairs / groups	U	
•	complete and extended interaction to develop discourse skills	f)	doing a task means engaging in a complete interaction from start to finish, not just isolated fragments of language	U	
•	development of communication strategies	g)	students need to understand each other and make themselves understood in order to do the task	E, U	
•	builds confidence in  ability to function in target language 	h)	repeatedly successful task completion boosts confidence
b) and h) have been transposed	M	
•	Others: (add your own)
	i)			

Commentary 4.3.2

•	One student has a set of four coloured geometric shapes originally cut from a square. The other has a diagram of how to reconstitute the square. Student B explains to student A how to arrange the shapes to make the square.	This is a one-way information gap. Apart from occasional checking on the part of student A (‘You mean here? Like this?’), the whole task could be completed with only student B speaking. It is therefore unlikely to produce many conversational adjustments.	
•	Each pair / group of students has a set of four coloured geometric shapes that fit together to make a square, but no key showing how to do this. They must take turns to move one piece at a time to try to make the square. 	This is a joint, convergent problem-solving task with an instruction built in to encourage turn-taking both in terms of the conversation and in making the square (although if you try this and students get engaged by it they are likely to soon forget the turn-taking rule and interrupt and override each other in their eagerness to suggest a solution). It has a single outcome – the construction of the square – and may therefore produce plenty of conversational adjustments. However, it could equally well be done by each moving a piece in turn, with minimal language (‘OK, no, no’, ‘Yes, yes, OK’).	
•	Student A has a drawing of a partly furnished room. Student B has a drawing of the same room, also partly furnished, but only some of the furniture is the same as in version A. Students exchange information on the nature and location of furniture to each produce drawings of a fully furnished room. On completion they compare drawings.	This is a  classic two-way information gap activity, but I wonder whether it is actually two slightly different one-way information gaps done simultaneously! In theory, one student could simply describe their room while B draws items, and then they could change roles. However, if it is designed to be sufficiently challenging then there will be quite a lot of checking and negotiating of meaning occurring. (Personally I always have doubts about asking students to tell each other information when they have a picture in front of them that they could just show their partner. It all seems a bit pointless!)	
•	The class is divided into pairs, and students decide to be ‘A’ or ‘B’. All ‘As’ close their eyes for 30 seconds while ‘Bs’ look at, and try to memorize, a simple picture shown on an overhead transparency, eg a cartoon drawing of a woman’s head. ‘Bs’ then close their eyes while ‘As’ memorize a picture, eg a cartoon drawing of a man’s head. With neither picture visible,  ‘As’ and ‘Bs’ have two minutes to find ten differences between the pictures they saw.	This is also a two-way information gap, but here the students must really use language to exchange information since there is no picture to show. The combined memory  and time challenges and the specific target of ten items help to motivate students as they compete against other pairs to get the full score. In theory this should produce lots of conversational adjustments, which it does, but using very basic and often single word utterances, eg:
A Mine was a woman
B Mine was a man
A OK, that’s one.
A Umm, black hair
B Mine was blonde - that’s two. And blue eyes
A Oh - umm – I think they were blue too
B OK. Earrings?
A, No, no earrings. How many is that? Three?
B Yes, three.
etc
So although there may be plenty of turn-taking, it may not be pushing output much unless students are at quite low levels.	
•	Performance of a sketch designed by the students themselves	This may promote lots of language use during preparation and be an excellent listening task for other students but for the performers is likely to be rehearsed, and even memorized and therefore not spontaneous. If anything, it is the design and writing of the sketch that is the true core of task (since the group preparation of a single script or ‘screenplay’ is convergent,) but without a performance this preparation would be pointless. In other words, both stages are necessary.	
•	Find three items that you and your partner both always carry on you, eg money. Find two more that you always carry but your partner does not, and vice versa. 	This is a convergent task, but like the ‘find the differences’ tasks described above, it could be completed using a minimum of language by simply naming objects and responding with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ until the five are found. However, since it is much more personal in nature it is more likely to provoke genuine reactions along the lines of like ‘A torch! Whatever do you carry that around for?’ Followed by an explanation from the partner. To encourage this type of reaction and explanation, I would add a stage two to the task for all but the most elementary students, asking them to say why they always carry their five objects.	
•	Tell a classmate about something funny / strange / embarrassing that happened to you as a child.	This is a divergent task, as everyone’s story will be different. If the students are used to doing tasks and being able to talk freely, there may be some conversational work as the listener interrupts to ask for clarifications or to react to points in the story. Tasks that involve a real or personal element such as this often engage students more than made up games, and in this way encourage more spontaneous conversation.	

Commentary 4.3.3
As Willis (1996:90) points out, you would certainly not want to play a recording of a task to the students if it revealed the answer to the problem or puzzle they were about to work on, but in the case of open tasks, such as comparing personal experiences, playing the task in advance can be very helpful in demonstrating to students what they are expected to do. They may even pick up ideas of  what they can say themselves, or be reminded of useful words and phrases.

Commentary 4.3.4
Although this is a closed task, you could play this recording almost to the end (to the point where C says ‘Right, you’ve had your minute’ since B and J do not actually work out the solution! I did not try this in my lesson, but if I use the material again, I may well briefly describe the task instructions, then show the watch package to the class and ask students to listen to two people trying to do the task. The students’ task while listening this first time could simply be to say whether B and J found the answer or not. I suspect that during the listening many students will have been mentally working out their own answers, so I would be prepared at the end to stop them shouting out what they thought was the correct answer, but just to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question set before listening. At this point, when many students think they have a good idea and are dying to tell someone, immediate motivation is very high and this is an ideal time to start the task immediately, so I would say, ‘Don’t tell me, tell your group!’ and give them a minute or so to compare ideas before reporting back to the whole class. This is a good rehearsal for when they try the other mystery objects. In different circumstances, perhaps for a more complicated task, you may want to play the tape more than once at this preliminary stage, but remember to always give the students something to do while listening, eg, tick which of the following B and J suggest the object might be: 
candle holder;
light;
money box;
storage container;
drinking glass;
something for cooking in;
food container;
something for a picnic;
toy;
battery holder.

Commentary 4.3.5
In this case, playing the recording before students did the task would give away the answer, so I would not recommend doing this. I would let students try all four tasks (even giving each group two minutes with each object means that this stage takes a maximum of ten minutes to complete). Next I would ask each group to prepare a short report on one or two of the objects – perhaps the ones they found the most difficult to guess – and then report back to the class. (There will be more on the post-task report stage in activity cycle 4).  I would only then play the recording, since by this stage the students will have had ample opportunities to become familiar with the material, and in this case, leaving the recording until all four objects have been discussed also sets up a good reason to listen to the tape (see my comment on the next question).

Commentary 4.3.6
Assuming that students have done all four mystery object tasks themselves, the simplest task to encourage listening for gist and to build confidence during the first playing would be ask students to identify which object was being discussed. They could also listen to judge how well J and B did in their guesswork: Did they get the answer? How many marks out of ten would you give for their answer? (They correctly guess that the item is a type of clothes peg, but not that it is a storm-proof clothes peg.) I would then replay the tape at least once more (probably several times, at least in part), with more specific listening tasks to complete. For example, you could ask students to listen for all the words or phrases that describe how the parts of the object move, or can be moved. Play them an example and demonstrate with the object ‘ ... if you press the end ... it moves up and down’. Play the tape all the way through, then play a third time with frequent pauses and micro-replays to let them catch the words, say them back to you and practise saying them. Students will almost certainly ask you to write difficult phrases up on the board for them. This provides a natural transition into language focus work using the transcript of the recording as data (more on this in activity cycle 5).