Özel Öğretim Yöntemleri

How about assessing task difficult that is what makes a tack easier or more difficult than another task.

Task Difficulty

• Cognitive level
• Language complexity
  • Existence of hard grammar structures, new word density, use of high frequency and low frequency words
• Accessibility
  • Subject Familiarity, but it does not come just with the topic, so there is this issue of topic familiarity.
  • Task familiarity, if they regularly do a task, they would get used to it and perform better but if you present them a new task.

As teachers, ask these questions to yourself

• Why am I doing this task with the learners?
  • What is my purpose in doing this task?
    • You should focus either focus on accuracy, fluency or complexity.
• What is the content of the task?
  • Drawing familiar or unfamiliar information.
  • To what extent they are familiar with the given content.
• How is the task to be carried out?
  • Will there be planning before doing the task.
  • Should I give them planning time or should I ask immediate answers.
• In what situation is the task to be carried out?
  • Will it be monologic or diologic?

Task Adaption is preparing the students to the task from the pre-task stage to make it easier for them.

Less structured information tasks = More creativity in the process.

Task Dimensions and Task Difficulty

• Code Complexity
  • Linguistic complexity and variety.
  • Vocabulary load and variety.
  • Redundancy and density.
• Cognitive Complexity
  • Cognitive Familiarity
    • Familiarity of topic and its predictability.
    • Familiarity of discourse genre.
    • Familiarity of task.
  • Cognitive Processing
    • Information organising.
    • Amount of computation.
    • Clarity and sufficiency of information given.
    • Information time.
• Communicative Stress
  • Time limits and time pressure.
  • Speed of presentation.
  • Number of participants.
  • Length of texts used Type of response.
  • Opportunities to control interaction.

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Foster & Skehan

• …Being able to assess a task’s difficult is crucial to understating how it might be performed
• Knowing what demands the task will make opens up the possibility of using task design to manipulate learners…

CEF

• …in the case of tasks designed for language learning or teaching purposes, performance ,s concerned both kWh meaning and the way meanings are comprehended, expressed andengotiated.
• A changing başance need to be established between attention to meaning and form, fluency and accuracy in the overall selection and sequencing of tasks so that both task performance and language learning process

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Easier
Learner
* Is confident about the task
* Is motivated to carry out the task
* Has necessary prior learning experiences
* Can learn at pace required
* Has necessary

Task
    * Low cognitive complexity
    * Has few steps
    * Plenty of context provided
    * Plenty of help available
    * Does not require grammatical accuracy
    * Has as much time as necessary

Text / Input
    * Is short, not dense (few facts)
    * Clear presentation
    * Plenty of contextual clues
    * Familiar, everyday content

Harder

Learner

Task

Text / Input

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Task Demands

Cognitive Demands
    * Degree of contextualisation of language; difficult of concepts that re needed to do the task.
        * Use of graphics, colours, telling the time…

Language Demands
    * Whether the language is spoken or written, understanding or production, extended talk or conversation; vocabulary and grammar need, the genre, the amount of L1 and L2

Interactional Demands
    * Type of interaction required.
        * Group work, pair work, the participants in talk, the future of interaction. 

Metalinguistic Demands
    * The use of technical terms about langue in production or comprehension.

Involvement Demands
    * The ease or difficulty the learner has in engaging with the task; legs of task stages, links to child’s interest and concerns.

Physical Demands

* How long the child sits still for; actions needed, motor skills needed.

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Abstract things are always more difficult than concrete things.

Özel Öğretim Yöntemleri

TBLT follows task-cycle, in the task cycle there is preliminary introduction from the teacher that may be introduction of the task or the topic, there are mini-introduction required for the task.

Learners usually engage in pair or group work. First of all students plan how to make the task, then they work on task and finally then they report their conclusion. When this stage is over the stage of language focus comes which is solely focused on practicing lacking language skills.

Meaningful purpose exists in the tasks in which we replicate the real life events.
A reasonable input to act upon. It means that the kinds of input into task-cycle such as instructions.
Language outcome
Optimal level of difficulty, it shouldn’t be more difficult than cognitive development of the learner.

Material Selection Criteria (1st Phase)

1. Exploitability: Make sure you choose such material but it really gives you chance to different types of tasks by the same topic and same material.
2. Topic (Variety): Topic has to be a motivated one but at the same time related to real life concerns and make you sure that you include variety to topic selections.
3. Length: It’s always good to choose a material that can be handled in chunks. If it’s not designed that way that may harm their feel of accomplishment, by completing series of chunks they will feel accomplished.
4. Linguistic Complexity: If you focus on teaching on new vocabulary, it should be toned down. If it’s optimum it will give students to take a chance and respond.
5. Accessibility: Can they really respond or would they really know about the given topic. It is mostly about content knowledge and familiarity.
6. Copyright
7. Motivation

Tasks (2nd Phase)

1. Purpose
2. Input
3. Outcome
4. Optimum Level of Difficulty

Task Difficulty (3rd Phase)

• ———

Task

Level of the leaners: B1
Class Population: 20

Pre-Task:

• First of all the teacher greats the students and asks them how are they vaguely. After that the teacher tells his students that he has brought some brochures and asks them to divide in groups of four lastly distributes brochures to the students.
• After the distributions phase, the teacher asks the students to guess what are these brochures, what could they be about, what are their purpose etc. (brainstorming)
• When the brainstorming phase is over the teacher asks his students if they ever participated in such activities, if they did they he would ask them some volunteers to narrate their experiences or if no one has ever participated in such an activity, the teacher tells his story (anectods)

Task-Cycle

• After the pre-task stage, the teacher asks his students to stay in groups of four decide upon an outdoor activity business. Upon deciding their business they are going to design their own business brochures for advertisement purposes regarding the previously given brochures as the input material. (Media Projects)

Reporting

• Upon finishing their brochures, they will advertise their business by presentation of their brochures.

Instructions

Pre-Task

• Form groups of 4 and inspect the given brochures. Discuss what could be purpose of these brochures. Have you ever participated in such outdoor activities, if you did narrate your memory to the class.

Task-cycle

• In groups of four, inspect the given brochures again and then discuss and decide upon an outdoor business. Imagine that you are responsible for advertisement and design a brochure for your business regarding the previously given brochures in the sense of layout, language and informative value.

Reporting

• After designing your advertisement brochures, present them to the class and advertise your business according to the points you have made on your brochure.