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Ingredients For Successful Communicative Tasks
Ingredients For Successful Communicative Tasks
TESOL
Most of us recognize that communicative activities are great opportunities for learning. But what goes in
to making a communicative activity a success? The truth is, the success of communicative pair and group
work activities is almost always determined by the work the teacher does before the students begin the
activity itself. This includes both what is done by the teacher before the class starts and what is done in
class to set up the task.
Before looking at the role of the teacher, it might be worth clarifying what is meant by "communicative
activities". These are fluency-based activities. While such activities may involve students practicing a
particular grammatical form, they are likely to do more than this. The key element is that the activity is
based around a realistic situation. This could be anything from an encounter in a department store, to a
group of friends discussing holiday plans. Within this kind of context, the students should be required to
negotiate for meaning. This is likely to require multiple turn taking.
Before Class: It is often helpful for teachers to ask themselves a few questions when preparing for
communicative activities:
Set the scene and generate interest: For example, this might be the time to introduce a personal
anecdote related to the communicative activity. It is also important to make sure students know
where they will be talking, who they will be talking to, and why they will be talking.
Model preparatory task: If the teacher has decided to allow planning time, it might be worth
demonstrating how this time is to be used. For example, the teacher might begin creating a list of
suggestions for a sick friend.
Student preparation time: The students write while the teacher monitors.
Modeling: T-S, S-T, S-S. This is perhaps THE most crucial element for successful communicative
activities. It can be used:
- To show target language in action and elicit relevant language.
- To clarify/illustrate the requirements or the objective of the task.
- To add useful/necessary conversational gambits.
- To highlight the type of conversational framework needed.
- To identify potential problem areas.
- To gauge the students' readiness to begin the activity.
- To build student confidence.
Pair work: Monitor, interrupting only if students really get stuck. Monitor in order to:
a) aid the flow of conversation when necessary,
b) identify any common errors or areas of breakdown,
c) offer encouragement, and
d) recognize when best to change the pairings.
Deal with problems: While you do not want to interrupt students in the middle of a conversation,
error correction can still be done effectively. Write typical problems that you have heard on the
board. After conversations have been completed, draw attention to these problems. Encourage the
students to offer suggestions for solving the problems.
Pair work: New pairings. By repeating the activity with a new partner, students can attempt to
incorporate the corrections and suggestions made during the previous stage.
Conclusion: Have students report on their findings. They can either report to a new student or to
the teacher. This final stage tends to bring a sense of closure to the activity.
Every communicative activity is different. It will not always be necessary (or appropriate or practical) to
use all of these "ingredients". Finally, it is also worth remembering that the way a lesson actually unfolds
will always be influenced by the students themselves. It pays to be alert and flexible.