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Pablo Paredes Stecher Licenciado en Educacin con Mencin en Ingls y Pedagoga en Ingls Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educacin Santiago, Chile.
ABSTRACT
In the last 30 years, the advent of new technological platforms of information and communication has brought more powerful and improved tools to the service of education. Although it has been proven that the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) brings relevant advantages to education, several problems arise when a teacher faces the use of these technologies in the classroom. This paper proposes a framework for the use of ICT in the teaching-learning process of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), suggesting the Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach as the methodology used for the mentioned purpose in a Cooperative Learning (CL) environment.
INDEX
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 1. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 4 1.1 ICT Tools .................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1.1 Definition of ICT Tools ........................................................................................................ 4 1.1.2 Benefits in Education.......................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning Overview ........................................................... 5 1.2.1 Definition of Task ............................................................................................................... 6 1.2.2 Tasks and Exercises ............................................................................................................ 8 1.2.3 Form and Meaning when Sequencing Tasks. ..................................................................... 9 1.2.4 Sequencing Tasks ............................................................................................................. 12 1.3 Collaborative Learning Overview ............................................................................................ 13 1.3.1 Elements of Cooperative Learning. .................................................................................. 14 References......................................................................................................................................... 18
INTRODUCTION
Over the last fifty years, technology has been changing extremely fast. Since the spread of computers in the 1980's, Information Communication Technology ICT has brought more powerful and improved tools to the service of education. Unfortunately, the use of technology in education is a step backwards when we compared it with other fields of knowledge where the use of these tools has brought significant advances. Several problems arise when an EFL teacher faces the use technology in the teaching-learning process. Methodology, teaching techniques, technology skills are among the most prominent. The scope of this proposal has been limited to the methodology needed to utilize ICT tools. As a first approach to the problem, the attention has been focused on Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as a methodology which provides an environment for communication and active use of technologies by the students. Additionally, Cooperative Learning (CL) is proposed as a complementary methodology to develop affective-social skills in a technological environment of mutual collaboration.
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 ICT TOOLS 1.1.1 DEFINITION OF ICT TOOLS
ICT is the acronym for Information and Communication Technologies. These technologies are described as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, 1 disseminate, store, and manage information( ).
Actually, all of these technological tools and resources are managed either electronically in the analogue domain or digitally in the virtual domain. The former domain, where we can find the television and the radio, was the predominant one in twentieth century. The later was brought by the application of computers to handle text, pictures, sound and video and it is becoming the predominant one in the twenty first century given the vast advantages that it presents.
Blurton, Craig. New Directions of ICT - Use in Education. Hong Kong Learning Without Frontiers, UNESCO 1999. Abstract. 2 Haddad, Wadi D., and Sonia Jurich. ICT for Education: Potential and Potency, Technologies for Education: Potentials, Parameters, and Prospects. Haddad, W. & Drexler, A. (eds), Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development: UNESCO, 2002. p. 34. 3 Tinio, Victoria L. ICT in Education. UNDP-APDIP, e-ASEAN Task Force, 2003. p.7. 4 Ibid., p.9. 4
Furthermore, the use of computers has three advantages when applying drilling and practicing strategies. These advantages are large memory, speed, and the capacity to repeat the same task an infinite 6 number of times without reducing performance ( ).
In recent years, TBLT has emerged in the TEFL and TESL fields gaining popularity among educators. 9 In pedagogic terms, David Nunan ( ) enumerates some teaching-learning practices and principles that are strengthened by TBLT. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
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Ibid., p.7. Haddad, W., and S. Jurich. Op.Cit., p.35. 7 Tinio, V. Op.cit., p.9. 8 Ibid. 9 Nunan, David. Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. p.1. 5
The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also on the learning process itself. An enhancement of the learners own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. 10 The linking of classroom language learning with language use outside the classroom ( ).
These practices and principles are clearly connected to some of the benefits of ICT in education mentioned above. For example, TBLT framework for teaching and learning supports the students involvement in the learning process and the conversion of educational environments into learner-centred. Moreover, both the provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the 11 learning process itself ( ) and the linking of classroom language learning with language use outside the 12 classroom ( ) promote the students involvement in the learning process giving them strategies to carry learning through autonomously. As an example, we have the mixed strategy of guessing and checking the meaning of unknown words and phrases from a text using the context, which facilitates comprehension in any scenario.
In addition to this, the enhancement of the learners own personal experiences as important 13 contributing elements to classroom learning( ) and the emphasis on learning to communicate through 14 interaction in the target language( ) convert educational environments from teacher-centred into learnercentred. This change of centre breaks the paradigm where learners were mere passive receptors of the knowledge transferred by the teacher. In a learner-centred environment, different learning styles take place and students are allowed to advance at their own pace. What is more, the individualities of each learner are in favour with enduring learning.
Ibid. Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Long, Michel .H. A Role for Instruction in Second Language Acquisition: Task-Based Language Training. 1985 Modelling and Assessing Second Language Acquisition K. Hyltenstam and M. Pienemann (Eds.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1985. p. 89.
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all and in contrast with most classroom language exercises, [these] tasks have a non-linguistic outcome 16 ( ).
Addressing the need of a definition of task from a teaching-learning language point of view, Rod Ellis and David Nunan give complementary definitions of task. In the words of Ellis a task is: a workplan that requires learners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has been conveyed. To this end, it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may predispose them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in language use that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world. Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive, and oral or 17 written skills and also various cognitive processes ( ).
On the other hand, Nunan defines a pedagogical task in the following way: a pedagogical task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand 18 alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end ( ).
Apart from the engagement of receptive and productive skills, both Ellis and Nunan also coincide in the notion that pedagogic tasks entail communicative language use in which the users attention is focused 19 on meaning rather than grammatical form ( ). Nunans definition alludes to the effective use of grammatical knowledge to convey meaning, emphasizing the fact that meaning and form are highly interrelated, and that grammar exists to enable the language user to express different communicative 20 meanings ( ).
In this respect, Estaire and Zann add a distinction between communication tasks and enabling 21 tasks. In the former the learners attention is focused on meaning rather than form ( ). In the later the
Nunan, D. Op.Cit., p.2 Ellis, Rod. Task Based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: Oxford UP 2003. p.16. 18 Nunan, D. Op.Cit., p.4 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Estaire, Sheila, and Javier Zann. Planning Classwork: a Task Based Approach. Oxford: Heinemann, 1994. pp. 13-21
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main focus is on linguistic aspects (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, function, and discourse) ( ). Although Estaire and Zann classified these activities focused on linguistic aspects as enabling tasks, Ellis 23 ( ), among others, classified this activities as exercises some years later.
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First, Bygate makes a distinction where exercises are defined as activities which practise parts of a 24 skill, a new sub-skill, a new piece of knowledge ( ). At the same time, tasks are defined as activities which 25 practise the whole integrated skill in some way ( ).
Second, a less broad definition is given by Candlin who describes exercises as serving as 26 sequenceable preliminaries to, or supporters, of tasks ( ). Alternatively, tasks are described as activities which practise the integrated use of language, acquire language development strategies and use language 27 meaningfully and creatively ( ).
Finally, Ellis places the difference between tasks and exercises based on the focus of the activity which may be meaning or form. He defines tasks as activities that call for primarily meaning focused 28 29 language use ( ) and exercises as activities that call for primarily form focused language use ( ).
Ibid. Ellis, Rod. Op. Cit. 24 Bygate, Martin. Effects of Task Repetition on the Structure and Control of Oral Interaction. Researching Pedagogic Tasks, Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. M. Bygate, P. Skehan, M. Swain (Eds.). Harlow: Longman. 2001. p. 176. 25 Ibid. 26 Candlin, Chris. Afterword, Taking the Curriculum to Task. Researching Pedagogic Tasks, Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. M. Bygate, P. Skehan, M. Swain (Eds.). Harlow: Longman. 2001. p.235 27 Ibid. 28 Ellis, Rod. Op. Cit., p. 3. 29 Ibid.
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Moreover, Ellis highlights the notion that the overall purpose of tasks is the same as exercises, learning a 30 language- the difference lying in the means by which this purpose is to be achieved ( ).
Raising the issue of sequencing tasks to teach language and the role of form in this process, the distinction of synthetic and analytical approaches to syllabus design placed by David Wilkins play a 34 relevant role ( ). According to his suggestion, all syllabi may be classified in one of these categories. Wilkins establishes that in synthetic approaches [d]ifferent parts of the language are taught separately and step by step so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the whole structure of 35 language has been built up ( ). Teaching approaches such as the Silent Way, audioligualism and grammar translation fit this category thoroughly. In Nunans view, these approaches reproduce the common-sense belief that the instructor must simplify the learning endeavour for the student, dividing the content into 36 parts with the purpose of present each part isolatedly and step by step ( ).
Facing the problem of rote learning brought by the synthetic approaches, Wilkins proposes the 37 option of analytical approaches in his book Notional Syllabuses ( ). In analytical approaches, while language is introduced in holistic chunks, the learner is required to make the analysis work, dividing language into parts. The most noticeable quality of analytic approaches is that *t+hey are organized in terms of the purposes for which people are learning languages and the kinds of language performance that are 38 necessary to meet those purposes ( ).
Ibid. Ellis, Rod. Op. Cit., p. 16. 32 Nunan, D. Op.Cit. 33 Ibid. 34 Wilkins, David. Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1976. 35 Ibid., p. 2 36 Nunan, David. Task-Based Language Teaching in the Asia Context: Defining Task . The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): pp. 12-13. 37 Wilkins, David. Op.cit. 38 Ibid., p 13.
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Based on the classification into the superordinate categories of synthetic and analytical syllabi 39 40 made by Wilkins ( ), Long ( ) proposes both the use of tasks as basic units of a language course syllabus and three types of syllabi in which the focus of these tasks moves from meaning to form. These types of syllabi are constituted by tasks focused on meaning, tasks focused on form and tasks focused on formS*Synthetic+. Where the syllabus based on tasks focused on formS is in essence synthetic, the syllabi built around tasks focused on meaning and tasks focused on form are analytical.
Wilkins, David. Op.cit. Long, Michel .H. Input and Second Language Acquisition Theory. Input in Second Language Acquisition, S. Gass and Madden. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1985. 41 Long, Michel .H, and Graham Crookes. Three Approaches to Task-Based Syllabus Design. TESOL Quarterly. 26.1 (1992). P. 28. 42 Ibid. 43 Oxford, Rebecca. 2006, Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning: An Overview. The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): p.98. 44 Long, Michel .H. Input and Second Language Acquisition Theory. Op.cit. 45 Oxford, Rebecca. Op.cit. p. 98. 46 Wilkins, David. Op.cit.
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is generally incidental (occasional shift of attention) and (c) it is contingent on learners needs (triggered by 47 perceived problems) ( ).
However Long stated that tasks focused on form have a sporadic movement from meaning to 48 49 form when a communication breakdown takes place ( ), Salaberry ( ) introduced a type of task where forms are preselected. In this alternative, the focus on form is preceded by a focus on meaning and the 50 objective of the task is to focus on preselected forms related to meaning-oriented tasks ( ). In this respect, Skehan recommends the selection of an array of structures using the principle of usefulness in the 51 place of necessity ( ).
These tasks focused on FormS keep a close resemblance to the Presentation/Practice/Production model. In this approach, learning is believed to be a linear progression of understanding, internalizing, and 55 activating knowledge ( ), where the target forms are presented, analyzed and practiced before they 56 are functionally needed in a contextualized communicative situation ( ). Although PPP is successful to meet some isolated grammatical or functional objectives, such as practicing the past simple or telling the 57 time, more sophisticated models are requiredfor more contextualized and integrated objectives ( ) .
47 Salaberry, Rafael. Task-Sequencing in L2 Acquisition Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education. 6.1 (2001): p. 105. 48 Long, Michel. Op.cit. 49 Salaberry, Rafael. Op.cit., p.104. 50 Oxford, Rebecca. Op.cit. p. 99. 51 Skehan, Peter. Second Language Acquisition Research and Task-Based Instruction. Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. J. Willis and D. Willis (Eds.). Oxford: Heinemann. 1996. 52 Oxford, Rebecca. Op.cit. 53 Wilkins, David. Op.cit. 54 Oxford, Rebecca. Op.cit. 55 Nunan, David. and Clarice Lamb. The Self-Directed Teacher: Managing the Learning Process. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. p. 47. 56 Salaberry, Rafael. Op.cit., p. 104. 57 Nunan, David. and Clarice Lamb. Op.cit. 11
Alternatively, based on the concept of the three Is (Illustration, Interaction, and Induction) 63 64 suggested by McCarthy ( ), Salaberry ( ) proposes a pedagogical sequence of four stages. Within his framework, Salaberry also establishes that learners are led to: (1) communicate with limited resources; (2) become aware of apparent limitations in their knowledge about linguistic structures that are necessary to convey the message appropriately and accurately, and (3) look for alternatives to overcome such 65 limitations ( ). In addition, he argues that *t+his sequence focuses students attention on the structure of the language by demonstrating that each component of language as a whole contributes to the meaning 66 that makes up any type of interaction ( ).
The pedagogical sequence offered by Salaberry covers both the teacher and the learners roles, placing learners in an active position in the process as stakeholders. From the learners point of view, the stages are involvement, inquiry, induction and incorporation. The equivalent steps for the teacher are introduction of the topic, illustration, implementation, and integration. The connection of stages for 67 teachers and learners processes is described in the following table ( ):
Oxford, Rebecca. Op.cit., p. 109. Prabhu, N.S. Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1987. 60 Skehan, Peter. A Framework for the Implementation of Task-Based Instruction. Applied Linguistics. 17.1 (1996) 61 Willis, Dave, and Jane Willis. Consciousness-Raising Activities in the Language Classroom. Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. J. Willis and D. Willis (Eds.). Oxford: Heinemann, 1996. 62 Ellis, Rod. The Methodology of Task-Based Teaching. The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): pp. 1920. 63 McCarthy, Michael. Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics. New York: Cambridge UP, 1998. p.67. 64 Salaberry, Rafael. Op.cit., pp. 107-108. 65 Salaberry, Rafael. Op.cit., abstract. 66 Salaberry, Rafael. Op.cit., p.108. 67 Summarized from Salaberry 2001, p.108.
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In Johnson and Johnsons view ( ), cooperative learning is characterized by a clearly structured work made by the students in groups. This structure, among other elements, provides a common accepted goal where students are rewarded by their common efforts, a sense of positive interdependence and a sense of personal accountability where the group succeed or fail together. The work in groups must be structured; otherwise their learning outcomes will be only compared to the results of individualistic or competitive efforts, showing no improvements.
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Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. An Overview of Cooperative Learning. Creativity and Collaborative Learning; J. Thousand, A. Villa and A. Nevin (Eds), Brookes Press, Baltimore, 1994 69 Johnson, David W., Roger T. Johnson, and Mary Beth Stanne. Cooperative Learning Methods: A Meta-Analysis. N.p. May 2000. Web. 70 Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. Op.cit. 13
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The relationships among cooperative elements introduced by Johnson and Johnson ( ) are summarized in the following map:
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Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. Op.cit. Ibid. 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid. 14
Each group members efforts are required and indispensable for group success (i.e., there can be no free riders). Each group member has unique contribution to make to the joint effort because of his or her 75 resources and/or role and task responsibilities ( ).
From Johnson and Johnsons ( ) point of view, some techniques can be used to structure positive interdependence in a learning group. These techniques are positive goal interdependence, positive reward-celebrate interdependence, positive resource interdependence and positive role interdependence.
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The suitable use of interpersonal and small-group skill is the fourth indispensable element of cooperative learning. Given that social skills are not innate, their learning is necessary for effective collaboration. With the intention of attaining common objectives, learners must: 1) get to know and trust each other, 2) communicate accurately and unambiguously, 3) accept and support each other, and 4) 84 resolve conflict constructively ( ).
The group processing may be done at two levels, small groups and the entire class. With the purpose of guaranteeing that small-group processing happens within a lesson, teachers assign a period of time at the end of the lesson where the learning groups reflect on how effective was the work of the members of that group. This analysis: 1) enables learning groups to focus on maintaining good working relationships among members, 2) facilitates the learning of cooperative skills, 3) ensures that members receive feedback on their participation, 4) ensures that students think on the metacognitive as well as the cognitive level, and 5) provides the means to celebrate the success of the group and reinforce the positive 86 behaviours of group members ( ). A relevant feature of both whole-class and small-group processing is group and class celebrations.
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REFERENCES
Blurton, Craig. New Directions of ICT - Use in Education. Hong Kong Learning Without Frontiers, UNESCO 1999. Web. http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/dl/edict.pdf 28 June 2010. Bygate, Martin. Effects of Task Repetition on the Structure and Control of Oral Interaction. Researching Pedagogic Tasks, Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. M. Bygate, P. Skehan, M. Swain (Eds.). Harlow: Longman. 2001. (pp. 23-48). Print. Candlin, Chris. Afterword, Taking the Curriculum to Task. Researching Pedagogic Tasks, Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. M. Bygate, P. Skehan, M. Swain (Eds.). Harlow: Longman. 2001. (pp. 229-43). Print. Ellis, Rod. Task Based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford: Oxford UP 2003. Print. Ellis, Rod. The Methodology of Task-Based Teaching. The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): pp. 19-45. Print. Estaire, Sheila, and Javier Zann. Planning Classwork: a Task Based Approach. Oxford: Heinemann, 1994. Print. Johnson, David W., and Roger T. Johnson. An Overview of Cooperative Learning. Creativity and Collaborative Learning; J. Thousand, A. Villa and A. Nevin (Eds), Brookes Press, Baltimore, 1994. Print. Johnson, David W., Roger T. Johnson, and Mary Beth Stanne. Cooperative Learning Methods: A MetaAnalysis. N.p. May 2000. Web. http://www.tablelearning.com/uploads/File/EXHIBIT-B.pdf 18 November 2010. Haddad, Wadi D., and Sonia Jurich. ICT for Education: Potential and Potency, Technologies for Education: Potentials, Parameters, and Prospects. Haddad, W. & Drexler, A. (eds), Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development: UNESCO, 2002. pp. 34-37. Print. Long, Michel .H. A Role for Instruction in Second Language Acquisition: Task-Based Language Training. Modelling and Assessing Second Language Acquisition K. Hyltenstam and M. Pienemann (Eds.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1985. pp. 77-99. Print. Long, Michel .H. Input and Second Language Acquisition Theory. Input in Second Language Acquisition, S. Gass and Madden. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1985. Print. Long, Michel .H, and Graham Crookes. Three Approaches to Task-Based Syllabus Design. TESOL Quarterly. 26.1 (1992). pp. 27-56. Print. McCarthy, Michael. Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics. New York: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print. Nunan, David. and Clarice Lamb. The Self-Directed Teacher: Managing the Learning Process. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print. Nunan, David. Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print. Nunan, David. Task-Based Language Teaching in the Asia Context: Defining Task . The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): pp. 12-18. Print. 18
Oxford, Rebecca. 2006, Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning: An Overview. The Asian EFL Journal. 8.3 (2006): pp. 94-121. Print. Prabhu, N.S. Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1987. Print. Salaberry, Rafael. Task-Sequencing in L2 Acquisition Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education. 6.1 (2001): pp. 101-112. Print. Skehan, Peter. Second Language Acquisition Research and Task-Based Instruction. Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. J. Willis and D. Willis (Eds.). Oxford: Heinemann. 1996. pp. 17-30. Print. Skehan, Peter. A Framework for the Implementation of Task-Based Instruction. Applied Linguistics. 17.1 (1996): pp. 38-62. Print. Tinio, Victoria L. ICT in Education. UNDP-APDIP, e-ASEAN www.apdip.net/publications/iespprimers/ICTinEducation.pdf 28 June 2010. Task Force, 2003. Web.
Willis, Dave, and Jane Willis. Consciousness-Raising Activities in the Language Classroom. Challenge and Change in Language Teaching. J. Willis and D. Willis (Eds.). Oxford: Heinemann, 1996. pp. 63-76. Print. Wilkins, David. Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1976. Print.
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