Task-based Approach

In implementing the English Language curriculum framework, it is recommended that a task-based approach be used. Tasks are purposeful and contextualized activities in which learners draw together a range of elements in their framework of knowledge and skills to fulfil the task set.

Learners in primary schools have characteristics that are different from those of older learners. Teachers in primary schools need to consider the following in using a task-based approach in the English classroom:

• A young learner’s language, thoughts and experiences are different from an adult’s. Teachers should be open-minded and flexible enough to accept his or her attempts and efforts, in order to foster confidence and risk-taking.

• To achieve communicative competence, learners should have the opportunity to talk with one another in school, and to explore or negotiate meaning and ways to do things in the context of tasks.

Social interaction, particularly when it is centred on actual experiences, promotes intellectual growth.

• An activity can motivate learners only when it is comprehensible and purposeful, and at the same time provides some degree of challenge and a sense of achievement.

• In an effective communicative task, learners are allowed time for processing information, formulating questions and responses, and making connections. Through the process of observing, discovering, experimenting, practising, discussing and sharing, learners’

communication skills can be developed.

• Learning tasks involving information and ideas from other subjects or KLAs, in both the formal and informal curricula, contribute to the development of the learners’ framework of knowledge and skills.

Five Features of a Task A good learning task should:

• have a purpose which involves learners in the use of English for the various purposes in the Learning Targets and Objectives;

• have a context in which the purpose for using English emerges;

• involve learners in a mode of thinking and doing;

• require learners to draw upon their framework of knowledge and skills in the process; and

• engage learners in carrying out a purposeful activity leading towards a product.

Pedagogical and Real-world Tasks

Most tasks given to young learners in Hong Kong primary English classroom are pedagogical tasks which focus on the use of English in meaningful contexts. Pedagogical tasks, which replicate real-world tasks, are introduced to develop confidence in using English in real-life situations. Real-world tasks enable learners to experience the use of English for authentic communication. Depending on the needs of the learners and the contexts used, tasks can be of a small or large scale, carried out inside or outside the classroom, and conducted individually or collaboratively. A judicious combination of tasks provides learners with the experience of using language as a means of communication and enjoyment, and helps them progress towards the Learning Targets in the three Strands of Interpersonal, Knowledge and Experience.

Exercises

To prepare and support learners for carrying out a task, exercises can be given. Well-planned exercises are contextualized activities that focus on the practice of specific grammar points or grammar items and structures such as vocabulary, sentence structures or phonics, helping learners achieve the Learning Objectives or develop language knowledge and

English. Language games that serve the function of drills are effective with young learners and can be used more. IT-supported language learning activities can also be used to facilitate independent and interactive learning. Specially designed exercises are necessary to provide post-task support for learners who have not mastered the use of specific grammar points or grammar items and structures in the process of completing a task. A cluster of well-planned tasks and exercises can enhance learners’ confidence, interest and skills in learning English at an early stage. Please refer to Appendices 2 and 3 for details.

Learning and Teaching Resources

All teachers of English must take on the responsibility for selecting and adapting suitable tasks from various sources such as the Internet, published materials for designing tasks for their own learners. An adequate number of exercises must also be provided to support the learners in the completion of tasks. It is advisable for teachers of the same school or level to develop and collect resource materials collaboratively, and thus build up a bank of tasks and exercises. When drawing on such resources at a later date, teachers need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the selected tasks and exercises and modify them, if necessary.

Extended Tasks and Projects

Extended tasks and projects are optional activities in a framework of modules, units and tasks. They provide more challenging opportunities for learners to further develop their knowledge and skills. They are suitable for use with learners of different abilities and at all levels of learning.

Extended tasks are given after learners have carried out a few tasks in a unit or module. The design is based on the learners’ experience, and knowledge and skills acquired through participating in various tasks from the same unit or module. Extended tasks challenge learners in the integrated use of previously acquired knowledge and skills in new contexts. Learners of different abilities may all be given extended tasks,

but teachers will need to have variable expectations. Through carrying out extended tasks, learners apply different parts of their language resource in an integrated manner.

Projects involve topic-based study conducted by learners individually or collaboratively, and are designed to foster independence. Although projects share all the five features of tasks, they require learners to take more responsibility for their own learning and work more independently. Projects provide authentic opportunities for learners to develop generic skills and positive attitudes towards learning English.

They also help learners develop the ability to practise the five intertwining ways of learning and using knowledge, i.e. communicating, conceptualizing, inquiring, problem-solving and reasoning. Learners identify a topic of interest, plan their own work and work at their own pace. In the process, they search for and organize information, review and compile it, design a way of presenting the findings, present them, and then evaluate their own work. Projects need not be of a very large scale, nor do they always lead to the production of a piece of written work. The product of a project may be an oral presentation, a simple performance or a displayed item. Learners do not always work entirely on their own in every project. Sometimes they may be involved in group projects and work collaboratively with their peers. It is necessary that teachers provide guidance, check progress and give feedback at different stages of a project. Please refer to Appendix 6 for details.