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Seven Activity Types for Language Teaching

Language teachers can create a number of activities for their students. These activities can be classified
into seven categories (Dr. P. Mceldowney). these activity type from the simplest type to the most advanced
are described as:

• I d e n t i fy i ng
• Distinguishing
• Classifying
• Ordering
• Synthesizing
• Inferring
• Transforming

1. Identifying
This is the simplest type of activity that teacher creates for a text or speech. It involves learners read
the text or listen to somebody to identify:

• Names
• Dates
• Issues/ themes/ topics
• Words or phrases etc

Preferably, this activity type is used at the beginning of the lesson for the duration of 3-4 minutes.
As the speaking and writing involved is limited, listening and regarding are usually in focus.

Example: “How many people are mentioned in the first two paragraphs?”
Example: Find out the VERBS from the given passage

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2. Distinguishing
This kind of activity focuses learners to separate the main ideas or characters of a text or speech. It
involves learners to distinguish or separate:

• Fact from opinion

• Cause from effect
• Same from different

Example: “what words refer to A? B?”

Example: Distinguish between GOODS and SERVICES from the following:

Classifying
Classifying involves the learners to find the characteristics that make things belong to one group.
Learners classify something that is given in the text or speech on the basis of certain similarities or features.
Usually classification is done of:
• People, animals, things etc
• Ideas, thoughts, opinions
• Jobs, actions
• Events news
• Dialogues etc

Example “lists all the European cities Marco Polo visited then the Asian cities.

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Classify following VERTEBRATES as MAMMALS, FISH, AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES &

BIRDS

Ordering
This type of activity simply orders events / things in a text or speech. It involves learners to order with
respect to:
• Occurrence
• Age
• Size
• Importance

Example: “list the events in the order in which they happened”

Arrange the following in ALPHABETICAL ORDER

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3. Synthesizing
This activity requires learners to put together the common substance found in different language pieces

(texts or talks) to form a new text. It also involves learners to form a point of view or opinion on the

basis of broad based study. It may ask learners to synthesize from different sources to:

• Write a reliable report about an event

• State what is common in the poems of a poet

• Formulate a report on what people say about something

• Write an essay on the perceptions of international media about any of our national issues etc

Example: “prepare a combined account of the bank robbery from these two newspaper accounts”

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4. Inferring
Inferring refers to reading between the lines. This activity type requires the learners to find out the

deeper meaning of a yet or speech. A meaning that could be constructed through connecting different

aspects or evidences found in a text or speech. It involves learners to look for:

• The implicit (hidden message)

• Not only the content but the intent of speaker or writer

• The underlying threads of information

• Tones, feelings and moods

Example: “Does the author doubt the truthfulness of X? How do you know?

5. Transforming
When a teacher designs a transforming activity for the language learner, the information on the
text is changed into another genre or form of display. It involves learners to change:
• A picture/ table/ flowchart into a text.
• A text into picture / table/ flowchart
• The text type(genre)

Example: “Look at the graph of the exports from Pakistan over twenty years.

Write it out as a report.”

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• Write a PARAGRAPH by understanding the information from the following picture:

• Make a FISH-BONE diagram by considering the following information in the

paragraph: