TASK AND PROJECT WORK

CLASSROOM PRESENTATION

DAVID CARDONA
ARELY MIRANDA FREDY SALAZAR

MONICA SANTIZO

TASK-BASED TEACHING
Task-based language learning has its origins in communicative language teaching, and is a subcategory of it. Educators adopted task-based language learning for a variety of reasons. Some moved to task-based syllabi in an attempt to make language in the classroom truly communicative, rather than the pseudo-communication that results from classroom activities with no direct connection to real-life situations. Others, like Prabhu in the Bangalore Project, thought that tasks were a way of tapping into learners' natural mechanisms for secondlanguage acquisition, and weren't concerned with real-life communication per se.

Definition of a Task
1. A task involves a primary focus on (pragmatic) meaning.
2. A task has some kind of gap (Prabhu identified the three main types as information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap).

3. The participants choose the linguistic resources needed to complete the task.
4. A task has a clearly defined, non-linguistic outcome.

Outline
Pre-task
In the pre-task, the teacher will give instructions of what will be expected of the students in the task phase. The instructors may also present a model of the task by either doing it themselves or by presenting picture, audio, or video demonstrating the task.

Task
During the task phase, the students perform the task, typically in small groups, although this is dependent on the type of activity. And unless the teacher plays a particular role in the task, then the teacher's role is typically limited to one of an observer or counsellorthus the reason for it being a more student-centered methodology.

Review
Since learners have created tangible linguistic products, e.g. text, montage, presentation, audio or video recording, classmates should review each other's work and offer constructive feedback.

Types of task
Information Gap Task
An information-gap activity involves a transfer of given information from one person to another or from one form to another, or from one place to another and generally calls for the decoding or encoding of information from or into language. One example is pair work in which each member of the pair has a part of the total information (for example an incomplete picture) and attempts to convey it verbally to the other. Another example is completing a tabular representation with information available in a given piece of text. The activity often involves selection of relevant information as well, and learners may have to meet criteria of completeness and correctness in making the transfer.

Reasoning Gap Task

A reasoning-gap activity involves deriving some new information from given information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or a perception of relationships or patterns. One example is working out a teachers timetable on the basis of given class timetables. Another is deciding what course of action is best (for example cheapest or quickest) for a given purpose and within given constraints. The activity necessarily involves comprehending and conveying information, as in information-gap activity, but the information to be conveyed is not identical with that initially comprehended. There is a piece of reasoning which connects the two.

Opinion Gap Task

An opinion-gap activity involves identifying and articulating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation. One example is story completion; another is taking part in the discussion of a social issue. The activity may involve using factual information and formulating arguments to justify ones opinion, but there is no objective procedure for demonstrating outcomes as right or wrong, and no reason to expect the same outcome from different individuals or on different occasions.

An Example Of Task-Based Learning Framework

According to J. Willis (1996), a task means a goal-oriented activity with a clear purpose. Doing a communication task involves achieving an outcome, creating a final product that can be appreciated by other people. Some examples include compiling a list of reasons, features, or things that need doing under particular circumstances; comparing two pictures and/or texts to find the differences; and solving a problem or designing a brochure. Tasks can be used as the central component of a three part framework: "pre-task," "task cycle," and "language focus." These components have been carefully designed to create four optimum conditions for language acquisition, and thus provide rich learning opportunities to suit different types of learners. The following framework outlines the roles of the teacher and learners during a task-based learning (TBL) lesson.

Pre-Task
Task Cycle Task

Introduction to topic and task

Planning Report

Language Focus

Analysis and Practice

How learning happens

Learners get exposure at the pre-task stage, and a chance to recall things they know. The task cycle gives them speaking and writing exposure with opportunities for students to learn from each other.

The task cycle also gives students opportunities to use whatever language they have, both in private (where mistakes, hesitations, and approximate renderings do not matter so long as the meaning is clear) and in public (where there is a builtin desire to strive for accuracy of form and meaning, so as not to lose face).
Motivation (short term) is provided mainly by the need to achieve the objectives of the task and to report back on it. Success in doing this can increase longer term motivation. Motivation to listen to fluent speakers doing the task is strong too, because in attempting the task, learners will notice gaps in their own language, and will listen carefully to hear how fluent speakers express themselves. A focus on form is beneficial in two phases in the framework. The planning stage between the private task and the public report promotes close attention to language form. As learners strive for accuracy, they try to organise their reports clearly and check words and patterns they are not sure of. In the final component, language analysis activities also provide a focus on form through consciousness-raising processes. Learners notice and reflect on language features, recycle the task language, go back over the text or recording and investigate new items, and practise pronouncing useful phrases.

Implication on teaching grammar Language Analysis Activities

People have often been under the impression that task-based learning means "forget the grammar." This would not be a wise move.

The aim of analysis activities is to encourage learners to investigate language for themselves, and to form and test their own hypotheses about how language works. In the task-based cycle, the language data comes from the texts or transcripts of recordings used in the task cycle, or from samples of language they have read or heard in earlier lessons. Having already processed these texts and recordings for meaning, students will get far more out of their study of language form.
Analysis activities can be followed by quick bursts of oral or written practice, or dictionary reference work (see Willis & Willis, 1996 for specific ideas). Finally, students need time to note down useful words, phrases, and patterns into a language notebook. Regular revision of these will help vocabulary acquisition.

EXAMPLE: Integrating grammar using a task-based model of instruction

Topic: How does upbringing affect attitudes?

Step 1 The teacher introduces the theme by telling a short anecdote about her school days, which demonstrates, for example, the relaxed approach to the dress-code operating in her school. She uses this story to check the meaning of easygoing and its opposite, strict.

Step 2 The teacher invites one or two learners to recount related experiences. She suggests that many people react against a strict upbringing by adopting very easygoing attitudes as parents, and vice versa. Since there is some argument about this, she suggests that the class conduct a survey, in which they canvass each other to see if there is any correlation between previous experience and present attitudes. She organizes the class into pairs to prepare questions, which they write down.

Step 3 The teacher organizes the pairs of students into groups of four, and asks them to try out their questions on each other, and to make a mental note of the answers. She monitors the interactions, noting down examples of student productions that could be improved, but she doesn't correct them at this point.

Step 4 The teacher asks the class to listen to a recording of some fluent English speakers chatting on the same theme. The conversation includes various examples of the language of coercion. The teacher asks some general gist questions about the conversation - for example, which of the speakers had a strict upbringing, which had an easygoing one? She then hands out a transcript of the recording, and replays the tape while they read.

Step 5 Students then study the transcript with a view to finding language that might be useful in the survey task, particularly language related to the notions of being strict and easygoing. They list these in two columns: adjectives and verbs. Students work in pairs on this task, and then the teacher elicits ideas on to the board.

Step 6 The students then return to their survey task - but are first given a chance to redraft and refine their questions in pairs. They are then paired off with different students than the ones they were talking to earlier (in Step 3).

Step 7 The teacher then asks students, working in their original pairs, to prepare a report on their findings, with a view to answering the question: How does upbringing affect attitudes? Individual students are asked to present their report to the class. A general discussion ensues.

CONCLUSION
It is clear that content-based projects strengthen EFL students academic skills. The fact that students choose the topic themselves and decide the way they want to give the presentation makes them interested and engaged in the process. A fun element is added to the class. It is recommended that students do such projects at an early stage of their university life; they could work as a springboard for many tasks that students have to complete, including working on minor and major projects, giving individual and joint presentations, as well as engaging in discussions and debates. Students who take part in content-based projects are apt to function well in many other aspects of university life that include communicative and critical thinking skills. TBL offers a change from the grammar practice routines through which many learners have previously failed to learn to communicate. It encourages learners to experiment with whatever English they can recall, to try things out without fear of failure and public correction, and to take active control of their own learning, both in and outside class. For the teacher, the framework offers security and control. While it may be true that TBL is an adventure, it can be undertaken within the safety of an imaginatively designed playground.

PROJECT WORK
What is a project?
It is a display of task outcome, collaborative interaction. It involves planning, execution, constant evaluation, reflection, end product, demonstration. It is done inside a classroom and the participating group size does not matter and it does not affect outcomes or learning procedures either. Projects to be successful should integrate four skills, with differentiation and accommodating to the varied ability levels and interests.

This presentation introduces content-based projects as one way that can help students enhance their language skills, and do so in an engaging manner.

The topic of Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and project work has become increasingly important in recent years. Content-based projects are believed to help learners develop both language skills and better knowledge of the world according to Fredricka Stoller, associate professor at Northern Arizona University. Projects, Stoller adds, make classrooms "vibrant learning environments that require active student involvement, stimulate higher-level thinking skills, and give students responsibility for their own learning" and that in CBI "language proficiency is achieved by shifting the focus of instruction from the learning of language per se to the learning of language through the study of subject matter."
The four language skills are integrated when students engage in content-based activities. Students read material, understand, interpret and evaluate it; they give oral responses to reading and lecture materials. Based on the listening and reading activities, students are required to synthesize information from different sources as preparation for writing. This approach exposes students to different study skills, which helps them with their future academic life.

The main reason why many teachers use content-based instruction is the fact that it makes students' learning "authentic", providing opportunities for them to use English appropriately in the disciplines they will probably encounter during their life at the university. In addition, the reading, and the other, steps involved in the process will make him a better critical thinker, better able to make more sound decisions, which will be of great benefit when it comes to decision making when the student has graduated and joined the work force. Projects can motivate teens. They can even out abilities and grades, they work well with CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), have more impact and more success, are effective and meaningful. Stoller reviewed the literature on the different forms of project work, and concluded that there are particular features that characterize project work. These features include that they

focus on content rather than language. are student-centered, are cooperative and not competitive, integrate the 4 skills, are product and process oriented, help students to be attentive to both fluency and accuracy attend to the process product even though it has a final

have the teacher offer support and give guidelines during the whole process

develop participation and collaboration

promote language meaningful students engagement with

require active students involvement

stimulate higher-level thinking skills give student responsibility for their own learning distance teachers role from teacher-dominant instruction move Teachers toward creating a student community of inquiry involving authentic communication, cooperative learning, collaboration and problem solving demand adapting and creativity from teachers and students.

use information from varied sources.

can be carried out in different period of time, either a short period of time or extended over a few weeks can be adapted and used in almost all levels, for different ages and abilities can be integrated to reinforce important pedagogical issues work on real life issues since they are linked with students interest about real world concerns and issues or significance have a final product that can be shared with any person from the community or outside can simulate real word situations can be adapted by any kind of issue

Last but not least project work hast the potential to motivate, stimulate, empower, and challenge. Projects, in general, usually result in building student confidence, selfesteem, and autonomy as well as improvement of students' language skills, content learning skills, and cognitive abilities.

Ideas that support project work

It is student-centred and not syllabus centred. It is co-operative rather than competitive. It is skill based not structure based. It allows people to learn from other people within the group. It caters for interdisciplinary, since being a topic related activity it allows for all kinds of contacts with other subjects. It is connected with reality. It allows students to learn through doing and to learn how to learn, since they have to plan their own work and draw from their own personal skills.

Characteristics of Project Work

A decalogue of characteristics has been developed that can clearly summarize the potential of this approach to language teaching and learning. Project work must be... 1. Interesting: the topic, the teachers approach and attitude. 2. Productive: the final goal is a product of some way or other. 3. Active: Students do = Students learn. It is also interactive and student centred. The students are an essential ingredient in the Project Work recipe. 4. Coherent: For the students and for the school. It must be internally coherent and levelled with the students knowledge. 5. Integrative: Of the four linguistic skills, also communication skills, information skills, group skills, individual skills and procedural skills for learning and autonomy. 6. Obtainable: It must be oriented to success, but still be a challenge to maintain students spirits high. 7. Authentic: in language, in context and interaction. 8. Useful: For the student, for the teacher and for the school. Most final products can be used as stepping stones for future projects. 9. Motivating: It has to be a challenge and get students involved. 10. Flexible: Adaptable, it must allow for evaluation and modification in progress.

STAGES
There are three main stages to project work: Planning, doing and evaluating.

Planning
1. Creation of a context in which everybody feels well and not a competitive atmosphere. Teachers have to be good at selling the idea to students. 2. Negotiation of rules and course of action (e.g. Agree that most of the interaction has to be in English). 3. Training of students. It is useful that the students have had some practice in classroom language, sentence order, how to use a dictionary, how to use a reference grammar book, brainstorming, brain mapping, decision taking, letter writing, giving short talks,writing questionnaires, conducting an interview and note taking, to mention a few aspects that are worth training. 4. Be open to students suggestions and allow a maximum of freedom.

Doing
Project Work has to be done inside and outside the classroom, but this aspect depends on the actual plan devised by students. We suggest the following steps: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. Selection of topic Group discussion Plan: checklist of things to be done. Timetable Materials: list of materials that will be needed Distribution of work Do project Plan presentation Presentation to the class.

Evaluating
Self-evaluation: Students, together with their products hand in comments about the process: How they have felt, problems they have had and solutions they have given, and also about result what they have learnt. They can also devise and fill in their own self-evaluation sheets. Look for mistakes, correct them and comment on them: Why they made them, etc. Peer evaluation: Colleagues study products from fellow students and hand in comments, marks, ranking lists, etc. according to preferences. Mistake hunting can be an interesting and rewarding activity. Teacher evaluation: the teacher analyses strategies and problems, gathers, categorises and values different comments and prepares feedback for the class. S/he also analyses general mistakes and prepares likely remedial work for the future. If diaries (both teachers and students) have been used, they can be studied at this stage and conclusions discussed.

Benefits to students
There are six important benefits to students. 1. Contact with reality: Projects provide contacts with real world subject matter which require students to apply and adapt what they already know. ( But it can also deal with imaginary and creative topics). 2. Projects are participatory activities: Students involvement in making choices and decisions tends to increase their motivation and interest. 3. Projects cater for all abilities within a class: It enables and encourages students of different abilities to work cooperatively on tasks of equal importance. Those who are relatively weak with regard to their formal linguistic achievement may be able to use other talents which are as valuable to the success of the projects the writing of good English or the understanding of complete texts,etc. a. Most projects include some of the following non-linguistic tasks: b. Design (leaflets, posters, displays) c. Illustration (Photographs, cartoons, graphs) d. Organization (of people, materials, tasks and time) e. Equipment (video, cameras, cassette records, PCs) 4. Projects re-integrate language: language is usually separated into discrete items for teaching purposes; a project provides language learnt in this way with a natural context which puts things back into place. 5. Projects establish a context which balances the need for fluency and accuracy. 6. Projects are a break with routine: and allow students to relax.

What students do
they create tools: Devise, use and evaluate Grids, questionnaires, charts, etc. they handle information: Compare, sort, analyse, transfer and summarize it. they improve their socialisation skills: People skills, Individual Skills, Participation in different kinds of interaction. they do a lot of language work: Practice all four skills in the process. They talk, read, listen and write.

What teachers do
they prepare students for working independently in groups they prepare a resource bank and handle timing of projects. they identify and provide information needed or help students find it on their own. they identify and provide language needed or help students find it on their own. they define roles. they provide and train students in skills for dealing with information, generating ideas, presentations, etc. they listen before they give advice. they are supportive and never destructive respecting students work and initiatives. they develop their capacity for being flexible and able to reconduct projects. they participate in the evaluation process.

How to carry out project work

In the beginning, students are introduced to content-based projects. They are given an assignment sheet stating what is expected of them. The teacher goes over the sheet with them, explaining each task, and setting deadlines for each of the tasks to be completed. The projects could be in the form of a DVD, a video or a power point presentation. Students are given one week to decide on a topic and show it to the teacher for approval. They are encouraged to think of more than one topic to decide on one in consultation with the teacher. The reason is, first, to avoid having overlapping topics within the class, and second, to avoid presenting sensitive topics that might possibly offend other members of the group. When their topics have been approved, students are given two weeks to read about the topic; they are encouraged to search the net, read three articles relevant to their topic, and decide on one to submit to the teacher the day they give their presentations. During the two weeks, students are also required to interview at least ten people, asking them their research question. Students report their interviewees' responses, and attempt an interpretation of these responses, in light of the context where the data has been collected, the respondents' age group and their background about the topic they are interviewed on.

Following that, the students develop a presentation that they share with their classmates in five minutes during class time. Most students opt to do a power point presentation; innovative students attempt a DVD or a video presentation. A student's presentation is usually followed with a discussion and/or questions, which allows the students to learn more about the topic. Students are encouraged to use the new information in their compositions, if the idea is related to the given topic and they can support their content with the point(s) made in their colleague's presentation. The main steps involved in conducting content-based projects as described in this paper can be summarized as follows: Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: Choosing a topic for the project Deciding on a research question Gathering information (internet search, interviews ) Analyzing the information Giving a presentation and submitting a report

PROJECT STAGES DEVELOPMENT

The 8-step sequence model proposed by Sheppard and Stoller (1995) was fine-tuned in a 10-step sequence, once you have your goals in mind this is the way you can carry it out in a classroom. STEP 1. STUDENTS AGREE ON A THEME FOR THE PROJECT. You can make reference to previous readings, videos, discussions, and classroom activities. Brainstorm. It is a stage of discussion and negotiation.

STEP 2. DETERMINE THE FINAL OUTCOME. Nature of the project. Objectives. Means to finalize the project: Final product. STEP 3. STRUCTURE THE PROJECT. Structure the Body should consider: of the project. Students

What information is needed to complete the project? How can the information be obtained? How the information, once gathered, be compiled and analyzed? What role does each student play in the evolution of the project? Who does what? What time line will students follow to get from the starting point to the end point?

STEP 4. PREPARE THE STUDENTS FOR THE LANGUAGE DEMANDS FOR GATHERING INFORMATION. Practice the language, skills and strategies needed to gather information. Teacher can plan language instructions activities to prepare students in how to gather information in a good way and how to use the resources in order to get information.( e.g. How to look for books at the library, how to do questions). Teacher help students devise a grid for organized data collection.

STEP 5 GATHER INFORMATION Students collect information and organized. Teacher also brought in relevant information such readings, videos, dictocomps and teacher-generated lectures.

STEP 6 PREPARE STUDENTS DEMANDS OF STEP 7.

FOR THE LANGUAGE

Do different activities to prepare students to organized and synthesize information. Introduce students to graphic representations like grids and charts that might highlight relationships amon g ideas.

STEP 7. COMPILE AND ANALYZE INFORMATION. Using strategies developed in Step 6 students compile and analyze information to identify data.

STEP 8. PREPARE STUDENTS DEMANDS OF STEP 9.

FOR THE LANGUAGE

Teacher can bring in language improvement activities to help students succeed with the presentations of the finals products. Practicing skills needed in the final product and receiving feed back. Editing and revising writing.

STEP 9. PRESENT FINAL PRODUCT. Present the final outcome of the project.

STEP 10.EVALUATE THE PROJECT. Students realize how much they have learned and the teacher benefits from the students insights for future classroom projects.

Students must reflect on the experience and the final step: The language they mastered to complete the project. The content they learned about the targeted theme. The step they follow to complete the project. The effectiveness of the final project. How they must proceed differently the next time What suggestions they have for future project work endeavors.

Skills Developed through Content-based Projects

There are several positive traits that have been noticed to develop in students over a given semester. First, they become more self-confident, having to work individually on a single project. Some of them indicate that working on these projects and giving presentations on their own gives them better confidence to meet the more challenging demands of other courses they take. The reason they are asked to work on the project individually is the tendency of some of them, as reported by a few students when contentbased projects were tried the first time, to do less work than their peers, if they opted to do the project in pairs. They also develop a sense of autonomy, since they have to work out the topic, the question to be asked, the people they will interview, the way to present their findings, and reach conclusions.

Problems with Implementation

There are four main points that can be rather restrictive when it comes to effective implementation of content-based projects in an academic setting. The first problem is dealing with sensitive issues. A second problem would be uncooperative students. In almost every group there is one student who does not want to work on a project, or is too shy to present in front of his/her classmates, or does not meet the deadlines in submitting an assignment. The third situation is other students, knowing that these projects are not part of the course requirements, resist the idea and decide not to do a project at all. Luckily, those are few. The fourth, and last, problem concerns students' reactions to each other's work. More specifically, some students could try to ridicule the way their colleagues speak English, while others could give negative comments on the content of a given presentation. This would create a negative atmosphere in the classroom. Therefore, before starting the presentations, students are advised to give their colleagues constructive feedback, since the ultimate goal is for them to learn from each other, not to find fault with each other's work. Constructive feedback is given in the form of a three-item feedback sheet, indicating what they liked most about the presentation, what they did not like, and what suggestions they can give to improve the presentation. Students are given oral instructions about how to give effective feedback. The feedback sheets are anonymous and given directly to the presenter after the presentation, without the teacher seeing them. This method saves class time, makes students comfortable giving feedback, and saves the presenter the embarrassment of the teacher seeing any negative feedback. At the end of the presentations of a given class session (usually three), the teacher gives general feedback following the threestep feedback forms, but orally.

Alternative project suggestions

Based on the above description of the implementation of content-based projects in an EFL academic context, it is highly recommended that instructors teaching different levels, in different EFL contexts, use projects in their classrooms, even when technology is not available. Depending on the course learning outcomes, the students' age and proficiency level, teachers can gear the projects to suit their students. One way is to use the content of the course book itself to generate ideas for a suitable project. Another way is to have students work in pairs or small groups, as long as each student has clear instructions as to the tasks that need to be accomplished. Internet searches can help students find interesting content to develop into a project, but they are not the only way. Newspaper and magazine articles are a very good source; talk shows, family members, acquaintances and friends are other sources which can be an excellent motivator for students to complete a project. Students can watch different kinds of talk shows that tackle various topics, whether social, political, or ones related to gender, before they decide on a particular area to investigate. They can then develop their content through reading, interviewing others and talking to more experienced individuals. Another way teachers may follow is to invite a guest speaker who is knowledgeable in a particular area to give a presentation on a relevant topic. This can help students find more information about the topic, which could be developed later into a project.

PROJECT STRUCTURES:
In terms of project structure, there are three kinds of projects :

Structured projects: teachers.

Unstructured projects: largely, by students.

defined and organized by

defined and organized,

Semi-structured projects: by teachers and students.

defined and organized

In terms of types of projects, these are some examples:

Research projects: library research

Text projects: any kind of source like books, magazines, web pages, videos, but not people.

Correspondence projects: communications using mail or emails. Survey projects. Interview projects: classroom. having a guest in

with others

or outside the

According to how the information is presented, the projects can be:

Production project: creation of bulletin board displays, videos, radio programs, posters sessions, written reports, photo essays, letters, handbooks, brochures menus, oral presentation, travel itineraries, and so forth Performance presentations, fashion shows. project: debates, oral theatrical performances, food fairs or conversation table,

Organizational projects: club, conversation- partner program.

A Short List of possible Projects to start with

Class survey on pets Students Heroes Teacher age chart My ideal Room / neighbourhood/ house/city/planet, etc. Our favourite recipe The songs we like Pollution in the area Tourist Guide Classroom magazine Radio Program Create an advertisement for the television

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