Classroom Tasks Research Articles

Interacting with SCOBAs in a Genre-based Approach to Italian as a FL

The purpose of this study is to examine how four adult beginners of Italian as a foreign language used the Schema of a Complete Basis of Action (SCOBA) based on Gal’perin’s pedagogical model during a course of six one-hour lessons. The SCOBA for this course was designed using the Systemic Functional Linguistic concepts of genre and register (field, tenor, and mode) for the typified situation of requesting goods and services during a service encounter in a restaurant. The study investigated students’ perceptions regarding the usefulness of SCOBAs for navigating this context of language use. Data from the students’ talk-in-interaction, interviews, and in class use of the SCOBA were analyzed. It was found that during the course of instruction students used the SCOBA according to their own communicative needs. For example, students used the SCOBA to orient themselves to contextual differences and language choices when register variations of the typified situation were introduced during classroom tasks. Finally, students were able to modify the SCOBA based on classroom instruction and their own insights into the typified situation.

Engaging Exam-Oriented Students in Communicative Language Teaching by ‘Packaging’ Learning English Through Songs as Exam Practice

Literature has long been used as a tool for language teaching and learning. In the New Academic Structure in Hong Kong, it has become an important element in the senior secondary English language curriculum to promote communicative language teaching (CLT) with a process-oriented approach. However, as in many other English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts where high-stakes testing prevails, Hong Kong students are highly exam-oriented and expect teachers to teach to the test. Because there is no direct assessment on literature in the English language curriculum, many teachers find it challenging to balance CLT through literature and exam preparation. To address this issue, this article describes an innovation of teaching ESL through songs by ‘packaging’ it as exam practice to engage exam-oriented students in CLT. A series of activities derived from the song Seasons in the Sun was implemented in the ESL classrooms in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Based on the author’s observations and reflections informed by teachers’ and students’ comments, the students were first motivated, at least instrumentally, by the relevance of the activities to the listening paper in the public exam when they saw the similarities between the classroom tasks and past exam questions. Once the students felt motivated, they were more easily engaged in a variety of CLT activities, which encouraged the use of English for authentic and meaningful communication. This article offers pedagogical implications for ESL/EFL teachers to implement CLT through literature in exam-oriented contexts.

Teaching the concept of Typified Situation to promote foreign language interaction in classroom instruction and study abroad

This multiple case study reports on how Marie and Yuan, both novice students of Italian, used the concept of the Typified Situation (TS) in target language interactions in a pre-departure classroom course and later during a study abroad trip to Florence, Italy. A TS is a pragmatically motivated interaction that reoccurs with a specific genre and register in a culture. Using concept-based language instruction (CBLI) to teach the TS, students were introduced to the semantic and lexico-grammatical patterns of what was happening (field), how participants interact (tenor), and through which means (mode), and the purposeful and sequential order in which these actions usually happen (genre) in the TS in Italian culture. A qualitative analysis of data from classroom instruction and study abroad revealed that the learners showed awareness of the TS concept in classroom tasks and study abroad interactions, recognized register variations, and interacted by making language choices depending on the context of the situation.

The antecedents of boredom in L2 classroom learning

This classroom-based study investigated the antecedents of boredom among Thai university students enrolled in an English oral communication course. The primary data collection tool was a whole-class survey (n = 25) eliciting the learners’ boredom experiences in a particular class over the course of seven weeks. Concurrently, focus group interviews (n = 5) were conducted five times to gain in-depth views about boredom and its antecedents in the L2 learning context in general, as well as the learners’ boredom experiences in the class. A modified version of constant comparative analysis of the survey data yielded nine thematic factors as the antecedents of boredom, which were supported by the interview findings. Activity mismatch, lack of comprehension, insufficient L2 skills, task difficulty, input overload, and lack of ideas were shown to create conditions under which internal learner factors and external classroom factors were ill-balanced or mismatched, resulting in the emergence of boredom. Learners’ physical fatigue, unfavorable appraisals of classroom tasks, and negative behaviors of classmates were also identified as the antecedents of boredom. Adopting a situated approach to exploring L2 learners’ boredom, this study sheds light on the context-dependent view of how and why learners experience boredom through an emic perspective.

‘Observable Signals’ of Motivation in Teaching-Learning Process

The current study focuses on the identification of the ‘observable signals’ of motivation perceived by the language teachers in the teaching-learning process. This phenomenon is worth studying as it can open new dimensions for conducting research on motivation and engagement in the field of applied linguistics. It can be very helpful for teachers in assessing their students’ motivation. Data were collected for this phenomenological study through questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussion. The sample consisted of twenty-six English language teachers. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The ‘observable signals’ of motivation were categorized in the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. The results identified that asking probing questions, eye contact, asking for extra resources, loving and respecting teachers, coming on time, completing classroom tasks quickly, enjoying group activities, and suggesting topics to teachers were comprised the ‘observable signals’ of motivation. The majority of the teachers agreed on observing most of these signals. Teachers can use these signals to assess the motivation of their learners and future researchers can use the findings of this research for conducting further research.

Use of Virtual Reality Working Memory Task and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Assess Brain Hemodynamic Responses to Methylphenidate in ADHD Children.

Virtual reality (VR) neuropsychological tests have emerged as a method to explore drug effects in real-life contexts in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a useful tool to measure brain activity during VR tasks in ADHD children with motor restlessness. The present study aimed to explore the acute effects of methylphenidate (MPH) on behavioral performance and brain activity during a VR-based working memory task simulating real-life classroom settings in ADHD children. In total, 23 children with ADHD performed a VR n-back task before and 2 h after MPH administration concurrent with measurements of oxygenated hemoglobin signal changes with fNIRS. Altogether, 12 healthy control (HC) subjects participated in the same task but did not receive MPH treatment. Reaction time (RT) was shortened after MPH treatment in the 1-back condition, but changes in brain activation were not observed. In the 2-back condition, activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was decreased alongside behavioral changes such as shorter RT, lower RT variability, and higher accuracy after MPH administration. Bilateral mPFC activation in the 2-back condition inversely correlated with task accuracy in the pre-MPH condition; this inverse correlation was not observed after MPH administration. In ADHD children, deactivation of the default mode network mediated by mPFC reduced during high working memory load, which was restored through MPH treatment. Our results suggest that the combination of VR classroom tasks and fNIRS examination makes it easy to assess drug effects on brain activity in ADHD children in settings simulating real-life.

Impact of a sensory activity schedule intervention on cognitive strategy use in autistic students: A school-based pilot study

Introduction Autistic students may experience difficulty performing classroom tasks due to atypical sensory processing and inefficient use of higher-order cognitive strategies. Limited research has investigated the influence of in-class sensory activities to enhance the thinking strategies required for task performance. This study evaluated a classroom-based sensory activity schedule and its impact on cognitive strategy use. Methods A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent groups design was used. Students ( n = 30, mean age 7.4 years) with atypical sensory processing negatively impacting classroom performance, and their teachers ( n = 23), from six autism-specific schools were grouped into intervention (Sensory Activity Schedule and usual teaching) and control (usual teaching only) groups. Students’ cognitive strategy use during the performance of classroom tasks was evaluated at baseline and post-intervention using Perceive, Recall, Plan, Perform Stage Two Cognitive Task Analysis. Results Statistical analysis (Mann–Whitney U test) indicated that students who received the Sensory Activity Schedule intervention improved significantly more than control group students in overall cognitive strategy use ( Z = –2.32, p = 0.02), and with strategy items involving attention and sensory perception (perceive, Z = –2.26, p = 0.02), and planning and organisation (Plan, Z = –.254, p = 0.01). Conclusion The Sensory Activity Schedule may enhance autistic students’ capacity to apply cognitive strategies more effectively during performance of classroom tasks.

Exploring EFL Teaching and Learning Processes in Two Undergraduate Mandatory Courses

This multiple case study explored the influence of English teachers’ methodological practices over undergraduate students’ learning processes in two English as a foreign language mandatory courses for different majors, at Universidad de Pamplona (Colombia). Data were gathered through non-participant observations, field notes, stimulated recall interviews, and semistructured interviews. Findings revealed that teacher-centeredness, the grammar-translation and audiolingual methods dominated the lessons; textbook-oriented classes with an emphasis on listening and writing characterized the courses; teacher and peer correction were encouraged; and classroom tasks and evaluation mostly focused on grammar and vocabulary. Although teachers had methodological practices, these influenced students’ learning processes differently.

Preparing for Study Abroad: A Task-based Needs Analysis

Study abroad (SA) provides a space and place for second language (L2) learners to be challenged in terms of their target language skills and intercultural awareness. In order to appropriately equip learners, a task-based approach seems ideal to identify learners’ specific needs (Long 2015). The present study reports a multiphase needs analysis carried out to design a university Spanish course, geared toward students preparing to study abroad in the following semester. In phase 1, qualitative interviews were conducted by contacting resident directors and students who had returned from their study abroad programs. These interviews generated a list of 37 tasks. In phase 2, 40 students, who had completed their study abroad semester, rated the frequency and difficulty of each task on a 37-item Likert-type questionnaire. Finally, in phase 3, researchers analyzed and categorized target tasks identified in the needs assessment into five major target task types. Altogether, results suggest that learner needs in this particular institution center predominantly around tasks that involve the use of colloquial and academic speech in environments in which students need to adapt to unfamiliar situations. These reports then informed course objectives and classroom tasks.

An Evaluation of the Educational Impact of College Campus Visits: A Randomized Experiment

We study whether visits to a college campus during eighth grade affect students’ interest in and preparation for college. Two cohorts of eighth graders were randomized within schools to a control condition, in which they received a college informational packet, or a treatment condition, in which they received the same information and visited a flagship university three times during an academic year. We estimate the effect of the visits on students’ college knowledge, postsecondary intentions, college preparatory behaviors, academic engagement, and ninth-grade course enrollment. Treated students exhibit higher levels of college knowledge, efficacy, and grit, as well as a higher likelihood of conversing with school personnel about college. Additionally, treated students are more likely to enroll in advanced science/social science courses. We find mixed evidence on whether the visits increased students’ diligence on classroom tasks and a negative impact on students’ desire to attend technical school.

Potentials of Using #Trending Topics from Twitter in Speaking Tasks in EFL Classrooms

Potentials of Using #Trending Topics from Twitter in Speaking Tasks in EFL Classrooms

Integrating Rich Task into the Mathematics Classroom to Develop Students’ Higher Order Thinking Skills: A Collaborative Action Research Study in a Secondary School

This paper reports a collaborative action research study about the use of rich tasks in a mathematics classroom. It aims at exploring how to implement rich mathematical tasks using the problem-based learning model. It also investigates student higher order thinking skills improvement toward the use of this instructional approach and the difficulties faced by the students. Twenty-one Year 9 students were involved in this study. The results of the study showed significant learning gains in three research cycles. After the teacher and researcher made some improvements, student higher order thinking skills became significantly higher in the second and third cycles. The improvement included providing learning sources, implementing Number Head Together (NHT) learning method, and adding more modelling activities in the student worksheet. Some recommendations related to teachers’ preparations for rich task implementation in the classroom are presented based on teachers' and students' comments as well as existing literature.

Transferable Skills for the 21st Century. Preparing Students for the Workplace through World Languages for Specific Purposes ed. by Carmen King Ramirez and Barbara A. Lafford

Reviewed by: Transferable Skills for the 21st Century. Preparing Students for the Workplace through World Languages for Specific Purposes ed. by Carmen King Ramirez and Barbara A. Lafford Lourdes Sánchez-López King Ramirez, Carmen, and Barbara A. Lafford, editors. Transferable Skills for the 21st Century. Preparing Students for the Workplace through World Languages for Specific Purposes. Sabio Books, 2019. Pp. 352. ISBN 978-0-578-45809-0 Transferable Skills for the 21st Century. Preparing Students for the Workplace through World Languages for Specific Purposes is a groundbreaking edited volume in the Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) field for three reasons. First, the editors propose a new definition and name (World Languages for Specific Purposes) of LSP in the context of the United States. The broader definition incorporates a “more inclusive vision” of LSP’s identity, goals, and objectives which “distinguishes WLSP from traditional concepts of LSP” (p. 4). The editors recognize important differences and global implications between teaching English as a second or foreign language in the United States and abroad vs. teaching other world languages as a second or foreign language in the United States. By doing so, the proposed name and redefinition aim at creating a new space for a growing number of world languages studied in the United States. Second, the volume advocates for incorporating in the WLSP curricula the development of four specific transferable or soft skills (critical thinking, adaptability, intercultural competence, and collaboration) that students can bring to the 21st century workplace with them. Third, the volume stands out among other WLSP resources in that it is conceived and presented as a professional development tool or graduate course textbook with practical application. [End Page 318] Transferable Skills for the 21st Century contains four sections, each section highlighting a specific marketable workplace skill (critical thinking, adaptability, intercultural competence, and collaboration) that is developed through WLSP education. In turn, each section contains two chapters written by different WLSP scholars in a variety of domains and languages. These eight chapters are presented through case studies demonstrating how transferable skills can be developed in WLSP courses/programs, including community-based learning (CBL) experiences. Each of the four sections is led by a heavily researched introduction with an overview of the specific skill highlighted in that section, an explanation of its relevance in today’s professional world, a list of cited references, and a set of guiding tasks and questions designed to navigate and help the reader through the section’s content and its application (in a similar way as Constructivism does). In addition, the volume is bookended by comprehensively researched introductory and concluding (“Afterword”) chapters. The first section, “Critical Thinking,” contains two contributions. The first chapter by Anne Abbot and Rejane Dias (“Community-based Learning for Critical Career Exploration and Professional Skill Building”) presents a case for the important role of CBL throughout the WLSP curriculum as a critical space for the development of students’ professional skills and career exploration before graduation. The second chapter, “Speak Easy: A Case Study in Business Language Entrepreneurship” by William B. Fisher, discusses the establishment of a profit-making, student-run business in an advanced business German course where students experiment with entrepreneurship by engaging in critical-thinking and problem solving in the target language. The second section (“Adaptability”) contains chapters from Michael S. Doyle (“Extending Models for Adapting Business Language Context: Business Spanish at the United States Air Force Academy”) and Bruna Sommer Farias (“Portuguese for Business: Aligning Classroom Tasks with Workforce Expectations”). Through a case study, Doyle offers a proposal to adapt a regular Business Spanish course to “unique social contexts” such as the United States Air Force Academy focusing on developing students’ leadership skills. Based on empirical research, Farias discusses the different types of tasks performed by professionals involved in US-Brazil business relations and their role in the WLSP curriculum. In the third section, “Intercultural Competence,” Félix S. Vázquez (“Case-based Pedagogy to Develop World-Readiness Skills for Business”) discusses the use of case-based instruction as a means to facilitate the attainment of ACTFL’s World-Readiness Standards, intercultural competence, and critical and interpersonal skills. Haidan Wang (“Improving Literacy for Chinese L2 Professionals: Cultural...

A semester of home-classroom

The 2020 academic year began in an unusual way. After a week of traditional classes at San Nicolas Regional School, National Technological University, Argentina, teachers and students had to go into a mandatory lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this paper is to discuss the experience and show the obtained results in a Numerical Analysis course of an engineering career. An online alternative was designed for the Numerical Analysis courses, and the second week of the course, the tasks in the virtual classroom started. The content of each module was presented in a series of lessons and weekly assignments were proposed throughout the semester. Students had to sit for two assessments, covering two topics each, as was usually done in face-to-face classes. The experience was demanding, for both professors and students, but good outcomes were achieved. This paper recommends that everyone involved in teaching and learning has had to adapt, given the circumstances. Keywords: Numerical Analysis, online course, assessment, home-classroom, semester.

Unpacking teacher challenges in understanding and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in secondary school mathematics classrooms

ABSTRACT Literature suggests that students need to be exposed to cognitively demanding tasks (CDT). In this qualitative study, we examined in-service secondary school teachers’ challenges in understanding (e.g. recognizing, solving, and designing) and implementing cognitively demanding tasks in mathematics classrooms. Purposive sampling consisted of eleven teachers who completed the cognitive demand survey. Qualitative data sources included semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Data analysis consisted of open and focused coding based on which the following main challenges were reported: challenges related to students’ knowledge, challenges related to English language learners (ELL), challenges related to teachers’ knowledge, and challenges related to curriculum. The study results suggest that teachers may need a support system built to address the challenges and to assist in implementing CDT in their classrooms.

A pilot study of the flipped classroom approach in higher education

Teaching and learning grammar have become arduous tasks in the English classroom. On the one hand, students feel they are studying the same topics repeatedly. Teachers, on the other one, think students are not able to acquire the grammatical contents of the syllabus. As a direct consequence, it can be assumed it is high time to change the traditional methodology and introduce new approaches which allow us to involve students in their learning process. This paper is aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of using the flipped classroom approach when teaching grammar. As it is a learner-centred model, students actively expose to contents at home and the in-class time is used to do tasks related to the previously worked contents. The instrument employed for this study is a questionnaire designed to know students’ opinion about a flipped experience implemented in the English classroom. The results show that this teaching model can be a good option to avoid students’ demotivation when teaching English grammar.

The Sensitivity of a Scenario-Based Assessment of Written Argumentation to School Differences in Curriculum and Instruction

Educators need actionable information about student progress during the school year. This paper explores an approach to this problem in the writing domain that combines three measurement approaches intended for use in interim-assessment fashion: scenario-based assessments (SBAs), to simulate authentic classroom tasks, automated writing evaluation (AWE) features to track changes in performance and writing process traits derived from a keystroke log. Our primary goal is to determine if SBAs designed to measure English Language Arts skills, supplemented by richer measurement of the writing task, function well as interim assessments that are sensitive to differences in performance related to differences in quality of instruction. We calibrated these measures psychometrically using data from a prior study and then applied them to evaluate changes in performance in one suburban and two urban middle schools that taught argument writing. Of the three schools, only School A (the suburban school, with the strongest overall performance) showed significant score increases on an essay task, accompanied by distinctive patterns of improvement. A general, unconditioned growth pattern was also evident. These results demonstrate an approach that can provide richer, more actionable information about student status and changes in student performance over the course of the school year.

Using the CLB in WorkLINC

Striving for greater English proficiency and securing a job are common goals of newcomers to Canada. For newcomers in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB)/Niveaux de competence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) provide an indicator of their abilities and progress in their language acquisition. The CLB have become the backbone of WorkLINC, an industry-specific work readiness program. They anchor curriculum, Portfolio-Based Language Assessment (PBLA) real-world tasks, and classroom activities. WorkLINC participants develop their vocabulary, soft skills, workplace safety knowledge, and get employment support. Instructors have shared the CLB with employers and community partners to increase comprehension of newcomers’ language levels. Though there are challenges meeting the diverse needs in multi-level cohorts, engaging learners about the purpose of classroom tasks and understanding the CLB competency areas in which they need development enables them to focus on achievable goals directly related to their employment aspirations.

Boosting learning by changing the order and timing of classroom tasks: implications for professional practice

ABSTRACT The timing of what occurs in the classroom can affect how successfully new concepts are learned. This paper analyses two promising ways of modifying the schedule of tasks or examples – the spacing effect and interleaving. The spacing effect refers to improvements in long-term retention if practice sessions are separated by delays. Interleaving refers to the benefits of mixing different types of examples or problems within a series, such that contrasting items appear side by side or consecutively. These techniques are supported by a body of evidence which suggests that they can boost the durability and transferability of learning, and both are straightforward to implement given that they only require manipulating the schedule of learning experiences. However, research into metacognition suggests that classroom adoption of the techniques is likely to be undermined by persistent misconceptions about how learning and memory work, and that while teacher engagement with research evidence could help to promote the techniques, their use is context-specific. As discussed in the paper, this issue implies a need for focused and contextualised professional learning, which could be enhanced via the application of the same techniques to the professional learning activities carried out by new and in-service teachers.

Supporting teachers’ task design processes. Exploring an exemplary case of the use of the activity checklist

ABSTRACT The use of digital technologies continues to increase in classrooms. For teachers, this involves an increased focus on the task design process for supporting student outcomes when using these technologies. Using the Activity Theory based Evaluation Version of the Activity Checklist as a theoretical framework, this paper explores an exemplary case of the use of the Activity Checklist through the analysis of a classroom task from the perspective of the teacher task design process. The results showed that the Activity Checklist as a framework was fruitful to capture and study the teacher design process as activities, illustrating important aspects in designing tasks for student work. It is concluded that the use of the Activity Checklist may support teachers’ task design processes for motivating and supporting student outcomes related to the use of digital technologies. Further, the use of Activity Checklist can help to identify potential issues in the task design process from the teacher perspective, improve practitioners’ work and in turn provide guiding principles for educational development.