Transcript Linking language examinations tot the CEF in a diversified

The development, implementation
and redesigning of a task-based
language curriculum for primary
schools
Marleen Colpin & Koen Van Gorp
Centre for Language and Migration (K.U.Leuven)
© 2005
Centre for Language and Migration
• Within the Flemish Educational Priority
Policy
• 3 main tasks:
– research
– support of teachers and teacher trainers
– syllabus and curriculum development
• Both in primary and secondary
education
© 2005
Flemish Educational Priority Policy
• Challenge: Provide equal educational
opportunities to all children regardless
of their (linguistic) background
• How? Efficient and effective language
teaching especially for both L1-learners
at risk and L2 learners
© 2005
Language teaching: early '90s (1)
• Language teaching doesn’t meet the
needs of a diverse student population and
isn’t focussed on acquiring academic
language proficiency
• It is very much based on teacher-centered
PPP-paradigm (presentation, practice and
production)
© 2005
Language teaching: early '90s (2)
• Time-allocation: 51% focus on form(s)
– 32% language awareness
»20% traditional grammar excercises
– 19% spelling
– 23% reading, 10% writing, 7% speaking, 5%
listening
»whereas 90-95% of the attainment
targets deal with language proficiency
© 2005
De Toren van Babbel (TvB)
• The first task-based language
curriculum for primary schools in
Flanders
• To meet the challenge of equal
opportunities and concerns of the early
'90's
• Designed from 1992 to 1995
© 2005
Starting point
• Building on experience with
communicative language teaching
– Focussing on language profiency
• Conceptions of 'task' as unit of analysis in
syllabus design (Long & Crookes, 1993)
• Needs analysis of academic language
register in primary education
– tools: vocabulary list as a means to control
language input in TvB
© 2005
Task example: Who is the thief?
Grandmother Mouse came home through the back door.
Her arrival frightened a thief. On entering she heard him
running away through the front door; she also heard a
metallic tool hitting the ground. But she was too late to see
the thief.
Her friend the fox detective Sherlock Holmes arrived
promptly. He entered through the back door accompanied by
the two major suspects: the bear and the stork. They were
the only persons working nearby, so one of them had to be
the thief.
Sherlock looked about the living room. After inspecting the
front door and noticing the wrench he immediately knew
who the thief was.
Who is the culprit: the bear or the stork?
© 2005
Who is the thief? (2)
© 2005
Powerful learning environments
for language learning
POSITIVE, SAFE CLIMATE
MEANINGFUL,
RELEVANT TASKS
INTERACTIONAL
SUPPORT
© 2005
The concept of task
• Language as a means…
• … to reach a motivating goal
• Involve relevant and natural language
– needs analysis of academic language
– pedagogical tasks as stepping stones
• manipulations of authentic target tasks in terms of
complexity and motivating power but processing
and language demands resemble target tasks
• Contain language learning potential
– zone of next potential, negotiated difficulty
© 2005
The concept of task (2)
• Elicit interaction and feedback: cooperative learning
– interaction serves different functions
• motivate, feedback (on meaning and form),
collaborative dialogue, …
– stimulating peer interaction
• heterogeneous groups
– promoting task-based interaction
• e.g. jigsaw, …
© 2005
The concept of task (3)
• Focus on role of the teacher:
– motivating language learners
• creating a positive, safe climate
– organizing learning environment
• confronting leaners with meaningful, relevant tasks
– supporting language learners
• negotiate, provide feedback, stimulate peer
interaction, …
= differentiated according to learners' needs
© 2005
Focus on form & focus on forms
• Primary focus on meaning (80% of the time)
• Focus on form activities (FoF):
language awareness activities
– a mapping of form on function approach
– grammar: insight in how language works
• Focus on forms (FoFs): technical
reading abilities, spelling
© 2005
Implementation of TvB (1)
• 18% of Dutch primary schools have
bought TvB (especially educational priority
schools, but also other schools)
• Positive voices about
– choice of themes, activities, group work and
learning methods
– motivating power of tasks, texts, …
© 2005
Implementation of TvB (2)
• The problems:
– Too much, too difficult
• activities, reading texts
– Too little 'real practice' (exercises)
• spelling, grammar
© 2005
Implementation of TvB (3)
• Some teachers' concerns were not met
– Spelling (all grades)
• Additional spelling materials are used
– Technical reading (2nd and 3th grade)
– Evaluation (all grades)
– Differentiation in amount and complexity of
lesson materials (all grades)
– Remedial teaching (all grades)
– Not enough support for learner feedback
© 2005
10 years later… what has changed?
• Learning from past implementation
experiences
• Taking into account new developments
in CTM and task-based approach in
general
© 2005
2005-2007: TotemTaal
• Second task-based language curriculum
for primary schools
• Fundamental changes and choices
underlying task-based curriculum
beginning of 21th century
© 2005
Changes and choices
• Concept of task
• Concept of syllabus design – complexity
• The role of the teacher
• Focus on Form(s)
• Task-based language assessment
© 2005
Concept of task
• Open tasks
– With a clearly defined goal
– Allowing a great deal of intellectual and creative
freedom
– Promoting task-based interaction
– With maximal potential for learning
• Relevant tasks
– With regard to the attainment goals
– Task-based + Task-oriented
– Pedagogical tasks: manipulate complexity, variety
and motivational power
© 2005
Examples of attainment goals
for the end of primary education
• Listening
– The pupils can understand and structure
the information from an explanation or an
instruction of the teacher.
• Writing
– The pupils can write a report of an event, a
story or an informative text for a familiar
person.
© 2005
Concept of syllabus design
Criteria for selection and sequencing
• Relevance and naturalness
• Characteristics defining tasks
– settings of different parameters, each of
which is a continuum of diversity and
complexity
© 2005
Parameters and settings
Each task challenges pupils to…
• exercise one or more of the four language
skills
– listening – speaking – reading – writing
• handle a text of a certain type, meant for a
certain public
– informative texts / argumentative texts /
directive texts / ...
– known peer / unknown peer / known adult /
unknown adult
© 2005
Parameters and settings (2)
• handle information, depending on the goal of
the task, on a certain level of processing
– copy - understand as such/describe - structure evaluate
• handle texts about different subjects,
representing or revealing a different ‘world’,
e.g.
– from here-and-now to there-and-then
– from a more concrete of a more generalizing
perspective
– demanding more of less knowledge of the world
– offering more or less linguistic/visual support
© 2005
Parameters and settings (3)
• … and the text (spoken or written)
distinguishes itself by a certain:
–
–
–
–
–
–
vocabulary
syntax
structure
code
conventions
...
all of which can be more of less difficult.
© 2005
Task complexity
• Overall complexity = sum of all the settings
• Defining settings allows:
– to gain insight in complexity
– to ‘manipulate’ complexity
• In terms of making a task easier or more
difficult on one or more parameters
• In terms of building in extra support
– to control diversity
© 2005
Examples: write a report of an event
• Second grade:
– write a report of the creation of an animal (on a
pre-structured card)
• Fourth grade:
– write a report of ‘a day in the live of the king (in a
table with hours)
• Sixth grade:
– write a report of your quest to liberate Mr. Orange
(free structure)
© 2005
Examples: parameter-settings
2
4
6
X
X
X
Public
X
Level of
processing
X
X
X
X
X X
X
Subject/world
X
Text/
Linguistic
demands
© 2005
Teacher support & differentiation
e.g.
• Help to put ideas in a row
• Ask questions from the perspective of
the reader of the report
• Remind of the goal of the report
• Point out where the report is not
accurate, too extensive, ...
• Offer a scheme for writing
© 2005
The concept of parameters and
settings
• Selecting and sequencing tasks
• Support
• Evaluation
© 2005
Broad concept of evaluation
• on a permanent base as well as at specific
moments throughout the school year
• on products the pupils produce as well as on
their acquisition/learning process
• with more traditional tests as well as more
‘alternative’ evaluation instruments, such as
observation instruments, portfolio, ...
• by the teacher as well as the pupils
themselves or other pupils
© 2005