Cowictetden BAD Cee) 1s 1G 1 Fre rc ema aT eta Using Communicative Tasks to Teach Vocabulary Paul Nation and Alison Hasnilton-Jenkins ‘ow cn vocabulary teaching be fied into ‘communicative approach ro teaching nd leasing especialy into speaking sci where the leamers work togethe: in groups without sch spoken involvement the teacher? Thisartle testo arses this quesion. Teshows that by designing shor simple cts which fcuson patcla ees, leamers can develop thei speaking sills na nerease ‘heir knowledge of voeabulay Here ia sample reading text and some speaking casts based on it. The teacher reads the tex the seadents and then checks the pronunciation of the target words. The lesenets then read the text by ‘hemetves. The learns eid the rext and do two of thee ofthe tasks. Inthe example there are eight asks to show the rage of possibites, but taches eed ‘only provide ro ore. Sample text and tasks ‘eating the odds ‘Thiey-sovenyearold LCisa New Zealand registered nue. So re ore Han 40,000 other New Zealnder Bat few nurses have struggled through 2 three-year suring cote with English a second language and ven bith wo twa cde in chaz ne All sie maker LC a pascal special mare 1LC and ber husband left Cambodia L4 yeu ago to ‘espe dhe hottors which led many ofthe iy _metber, Theft part of thes journey iavaved me fn a rafugee camp in Thailand where LC sttted learning English ‘When LC an er husband arived in New Zealand, they were sponsored by afl in Plmerton and lyr church. LC wotke har to een about New “Zealand and to lea Engl. Laer, while she wanedcass Decne 200 Vote 2 Re 2 to decomea nase, and before registration a nue, the had ova childeen. During this time, the sponsorship provided her wit mach needed support. (Adapted from “Beating the odds’ New Voices, uly 1997) [After reading the story learners do some of the following ks, Task Ian 5 are ranking asks. Task 2 isa finding causes ak, Tyke 8 and 7 ae casing ras and ake 4,6 and 8 invoive anahing 1, Below ie list of common reasons why people become refugees. Rank them fiom the most ‘common reac the ee common _— They become fags becane theresa war in thei counery | __ They become refuges becuse chet tious Aoodkng in thee county They become refuges becuse her efigion i ot accepted in thei country _— They become refuges because they are oppose to the goverment in thee county They Become refugees because there is shortage of fod in thee counery 2, Why do you think LE became a refines? Lis a any cases you cn 53. Group these obs inc those that you think requlre registration (ike ning) and chose that donot teicher doctor shop asitane lawyer plumber busdiver leaner engineer computer programmer 4, Using the ext and your own experienc, describe ‘wharmuet be dane to be registered aursein New ‘Zesland, Which specs of being reiered do you ‘ink LC would find most dele 5. LC had wo serugale to become a muse. Rank the restons hat mae ta stugae for her from the greatest (5) 0 the lea (1) __ssuggle with English a second language the demands om er time eg rch activites having wo young children struggle with sting afer having Left schoot ‘long ie ag0| struggle with New Zealand customs 6, LC sruggled through her musing course, What ‘vas her greatest struggle? 7. Group these sports into thos tha should recive sponsorship from the goverament and those at shouldnt. Ssy how yo coud sporsr each group. tennis cricket basketball farts ice hockey athletics yachting swimming rugby 8, Youknow fly who need roleave hee county ‘eciise of war within the county. You want ro sponse en cone to New Zeland, What wll You hive to do af ther sponsor? How wil you repaze for their aria? “Making the tasks “The tasks ited above sak the learners to do the flowing things rank tema st causes, castes, andanayea comple sation, Note that ome ratte ‘cus on the text and other focus ona quite diferent "The tks ate made to por the fllowing tice vocabulary esning piniples iat practice L Vocabulary learning is belped by giving deliberate attention to vocabulary. ocablary leatning can occur incidentally, tht is, ‘en earner? main focus ison doing thers wach olring problem or reading for compreheasion. eis potrible to design acvties that encourage suchIncidental lering (Nation, 2002). However, whete learners” attention is deliberately focused on voczbulry, leering i lly greater, I the stnple activites, this deliberate cus is encouraged by a) tolling chelearner that one ofthe ins of heats isto lea vocabulary, ) highlighting the wor in the text to be learned, } making each speaking ak focus oo aspects ofthe meaning ofthe ager word 2. Vocabulary learning is belped when learners negotiate the meaning of words with other learners, Research shows that when Jeamers explain the meanings of words ro eich other duting a speaking aecvy, vocabulary learaing is more likely to occur than if they jst hear the new woed being wed (Jos, Nation and Newon, 1996). Here ie an example of negation ha occurred whea Tsk 3 was being done. ‘Tinsripe fos one we of Task 3 S12 bus dive Td’ tink 0 S10 bur diver baa ie 39 ifyoudon" sve tence how cin yo de bs, the pice wil each meThe theta) SUL Tee. we nse regen S12 so busier io ned ep -reptration bse feompecneacft I nktexches, doc and laujeris very spc oxupton so um eum a Fi thy hae to gto the uniter ad plc they nacre regitation osha ay opiion bos der ie want to be beer nl We hive sh ence and then we can ah get deve > "on eget elstationo Fa ah span ene S10 maybe It 20 registration, maybe tis not registration, hk maybe i on bo oe ence maybe els juke i where yo 2a sme nae ie deco, ‘The quotaion is only» sal pare of what happened vwnen the leamees did the task. The woe rgisrtion ‘occurred twenty times in the discusion when that group of earners dd he task 3. Vocabulary learning is belped when learners use the word or hear the word being used in ways thar stretch and enrich the knowledge that learners bave about the word. or many lures the rt knowedge they have abe ‘he word is its occurrence ia the text and the esripton ofthe ts. Teachers can observe leaner we of the word during the speaking sctity and ssi {ein use ofthe word i jut sttghtsepetiton of what sin the extorifieisa change of what wasn the text. Here four poine se that ean be sed t0 jndge how elaborate particular ses of a woe ae esl of daboraton Loves ane dea largely on knowledge fom within ‘the text Levels 3 and # move beyond te tet © No change seeing what iin the test ‘Low change - sal grammatical or ecsionl changes 2 Reasonable change wd wth sore nw clloesons orsubtaot gana change 2 Migh change» edoadag te meaning, new «alloesions which sete meaning deena aiaes Tf we apply thie to the ute of rept inthe ‘example above, wecanse tha the uses of eration are rather difxent fom its we inthe text “before fegitration as muse” and ia the introction othe task “tequiceegsraton”. On the le these woul be ranked at 2 (reasonable change). The higher up this scale, che apie the teacher shoud he, because the greater the change or ehboration, the greater the dearing1 Ces December 390 Vote 22 Number? Another set of examples “The sop in making vocabulary focused activites ‘involve 1) fing ashore interesting ext, 2) choosing bout four or five wsefil words thar he leenes are oe all ania wich, 3) simplifing the voeabalary in the aher pars of the text and) looking a each sword to devgn a ible tas avoving cssiing, ranking, choosing, analysing, or nding causes or cts, Here is another text with some vocabulary Faced communicative aks, A sudy has found that eehoolcikren are creping ery heavy weights every day and these might be tnrtng ther, These weights are up to twice the level ‘which alowed oral. Theirschool haga led vith henry books, spore equipment, diaking water, ‘musical equipment, and sometimes a compote. ‘The sudy looked a lage number of choo ildren in junie and senor high school and found tha hece ester of them had plnin thie uper bodies, They believe hat tis pin came fom the heavy weight shar they had co cay. roy four per ent had ncck pain, 8 per ent had shoulder pain, 35 per ent sid they ad pin in thee sper backs sid 38 per enti the Lower back. The pun could be sgn that sting damage to the body ‘vss occurring. Ales who regulary weight in ele work should not catty more chan four wo six grams at any one time 1, Which of the following things are spores esuipment? sports feld knee guards football theplyers — aspors uniform goal bse score book sports boots 2. Ar what age does a child become an ait? How imporrisagein eng when someone ian sal? 3. Think of ire causes oflsting damage to your body, and foreach ty wha thang damage ight be 4, Lntveitee dat dency inthe seal bags snd rink them aceoeding to cher weight fom the heist heights. 5, Desde Foran average stent what percent of ech wen: oachous work day ispent ping ain, Playing spor, watching TV ot playing oa the ‘compte, and doing oer things. Observing the tasks Designing the ts sone lla teacher needs, An ‘ual important sls arefilly observing te tss being sed, judging how successful they were, and redesigaing them ifnecessary. To secifthe sts ae working well, look fo: + whether the target words are being used whether the meanings of the words are being explored whether they are being used in sways that stretch learners? knowledge of the words whether negotiation of the target words is occurring whether the negotiation of the target words is successfiul whether the task is succesfslly completed wherher the learners are involved in the task. "The tats deserted inthe ance ate vey easy 10 ‘make and they involve the eames in activites that improve tei sil at speaking an ictease thee ‘vocabulary a well Thy alo provie an oppertanityfor tschers to observe their leamess ant se this observation to rele on and impeove the design of thei aces Reading List Beating the odds. 1997. New Voices. Wellington ‘Wellington ESOL bome Tuto Service (I), Joe, A, Nation, P. an Newton, J. 1986, Spesking fcves and vocsbulay learning aylid acing Foran 34, 1:27, [Nason 15.P 2001. Leming Voexinlary in narer onguage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres 1 Fae ng Cm a dy nd bk Lani te Comite Jen ed realy coped or Baie aap ie ANTHOLOGY SERIES 41 Language in the Global Context: Implications for the Language Classroom To order, visit RELC's website bttp://wwmreleorg.g