Unit 17 · Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development

Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development are activities and tasks designed to give learners opportunities to practise and extend their use of language — new vocabulary, functional exponents or grammatical structures — or of the subskills of reading, listening, speaking or writing. There are many different kinds of activities and tasks, with different names and different uses.

◆What are practice activities and tasks for language and skills development?

Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development are activities and tasks designed to give learners opportunities to practise and extend their use of language, such as new vocabulary, functional exponentsPhrases which are used for a particular communicative purpose or function, e.g. Let’s ..., Shall we …, How about ... These phrases are used to make a suggestion and are functional exponents of the function of suggesting. See function. click to keep open · see glossary or grammatical structures, or of the subskillsEach of the four language skills can be divided into smaller subskills that are all part of the main skill; e.g. identifying text organisation is a subskill of reading; identifying word stress is a listening subskill. See detail, gist, global understanding, sc… click to keep open · see glossary of reading, listening, speaking or writing. There are many different kinds of activities and tasks with different names and different uses.

◆Key concepts — three writing activities

Here are three writing activities. What differences are there between them in how much choice they give learners?

We can see that these activities give learners an opportunity to use language, but in different ways.

Speaking and writing activities can be categorised according to how much they control students’ use of language.

controlled ↔ freer ↔ free

◆Controlled, freer and free activities

Each category of activity has a different focus and purpose and uses different activity types.

Controlled activities give students repeated practice in accuracyThe ability to do something without making mistakes. Accuracy is the use of correct forms of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. In an accuracy activity, teachers and learners usually focus on using and producing language correctly. See fluency. click to keep open · see glossary and the formThe form of a grammatical structure is the way it is written or pronounced and the parts which combine to make it; e.g. the present perfect simple (grammatical structure) is made up of have + past participle (this is the form). click to keep open · see glossary of language, and allow them to make few mistakes. They are mostly used to guideHelp and advice about how to do something. Teachers give learners guidance with learning, or with doing a task. click to keep open · see glossary students in using the form of target language1. The language which is the focus of the lesson or a part of the lesson. It could be grammar, lexis, functions or pronunciation, e.g. the present perfect, or vocabulary for parts of the body, or giving advice. 2. The language being studied (often called the L… click to keep open · see glossary. Some examples of controlled activities are copying words or sentences, jazz chants, and drillsControlled practice activities in which learners repeat model language, e.g. choral, individual, substitution or transformation drills. click to keep open · see glossary (guided repetition). In drills students can either repeat some model1. A clear example of the target language for learners to repeat or write down or save as a record. If a teacher is focusing on the target language of a lesson, he/she usually chooses a model sentence and writes it on the board. The teacher often models the la… click to keep open · see glossary language as a class (choral drillsSee drill. click to keep open · see glossary) or as individuals (individual drills), replace a key wordA word or type of language in a text which is important for understanding the text. Teachers often teach the key words in a text before learners read it so that the text is more manageable for them. click to keep open · see glossary in given sentences (substitution drillsSee drill. click to keep open · see glossary) or use new words to create sentences with a different structure (transformation drillsSee drill. click to keep open · see glossary).

Free activities, by contrast, allow students to use whatever language they wish in order to complete a task. In free activities, the teacher may not be able to predictUsing your experience or knowledge to say what you think will happen in the future. Prediction is a technique or learning strategy learners can use to help with listening or reading. Learners think about the topic before they read or listen. They try to imagin… click to keep open · see glossary what language the students will use, and so can’t use these activities to give practice in specificInvolving one particular thing or one type of thing; e.g. teachers might talk about teaching a specific language point. This means that they are teaching one particular language point, e.g. If I were you, I’d … for giving advice. click to keep open · see glossary language. These activities focus on fluencyOral fluency – being able to speak at a natural speed without stopping, repeating, or self-correcting. In oral fluency activities, learners are encouraged to focus on communicating meaning and ideas, rather than trying to be correct. click to keep open · see glossary, giving students practice in recalling and joining together the language they know and giving them opportunities to try to interactInteraction is two-way communication between listener and speaker, or reader and text. Interactive strategies are the ways used, especially in speaking, to keep people involved and interested in what is said or to keep communication going, e.g. eye contact, us… click to keep open · see glossary and communicate. Discussions, problem-solving activities, sharing or comparing ideas, information or experiences; rank ordering / prioritising (putting a list of things in order of importance), writing emails, stories, letters, invitations or compositions are all examples of free activities.

Between controlled and free activities are freer activities in which the teacher can predict to some extent what language the student will need to use. For example, you can see that in activity 2 above the students will need to use question forms, so the activity provides practice of question forms. But the students will also use other language which is not so predictable to complete the email. These activities provide repeated practice of target language, guiding students to use its form correctly and integrate new language with language students already know. Examples of freer activities are role-playsA classroom activity in which learners are given roles to act out in a given situation, e.g. a job interview role-play where one learner is the interviewer and the other learner is the interviewee. Role-plays are usually done in pairs or groups. click to keep open · see glossary, information-gap activities, sentence completion, gap-fills, surveys.

We can see that controlled activities give students lots of guidance and support in using language accurately, freer activities give a little less guidance and support, and free activities do not give students guidance and support in the language they use.

It is not always possible to categorise activities as controlled, freer or free as it depends on how the teacher uses them. Let’s take role-play, for example. A teacher could put students in pairs and ask them to reproduce a dialogue they have just heard on a recording. This would be a controlled activity. At the end of a lesson on asking for and giving personal information, students could do a role-play in which they meet a new person at a party and have to find out about them. As the students would be very likely to use the language they had just learnt, this would be a freer activity. Imagine now a reading text which discusses the advantages and disadvantages of social networking websites. After the students have done language and comprehension work on the text, the teacher asks one group of students to list ideas in favour of social networking sites and the other group to list all the arguments against. The teacher then pairs students from the different groups and asks them to argue in their roles about the advantages and disadvantages. This would be an example of a free role-play, as we don’t know what language the students would use.

◆Activities for developing reading and listening skills

There are also many activities and tasks that are commonly used to develop reading and listening skills. These can’t be divided into controlled, freer and free as they practise receptive, not productive, skills. Here are six activities. What reading or listening subskill do they focus on? What is the name of the type of activity?

1. Read the article. Is it:
   a mystery?
   an adventure?
   a love story?
2. A Listen to the recording and choose the best answer:
   The children’s school is:
   a near their house.
   b near the shops.
   c opposite the post office.
   B Now listen again. Are these sentences true or false?
   a The school is new.
   b The classroom is big.
   c The library has many books.
3. In your groups look at these pictures and then read the story. Discuss and agree on the correct order for the pictures. Write the correct number (1–6) under each picture.
4. Listen to the recording, and in pairs fill in this form:
   Girl’s name: ....................................
   Girl’s address: ....................................
   Name of girl’s friend: ....................................
5. Read the text on page 102 and answer the questions. Your partner will read the other part of the text on page 165 and answer questions. When you have both finished reading, ask one another the questions you have not found the answers to.
6. Listen to the recording and complete this table:

   	Population	Location	Languages spoken
   Delhi
   Madrid
   New York

Here are the answers to the questions above:

We can see that these activities can differ in several ways: the skill or subskill they focus on; their design and what interaction patternsThe different ways learners and the teacher work together in class, e.g. learner to learner in pairs or groups, or teacher to learner in open class, in plenary. When teachers plan lessons, they think about interaction patterns and write them on their plan. click to keep open · see glossary they use. The kinds of skills they focus on and the interaction patterns they use are not fixed. So, for example, multiple-choice questions could be used for reading, listening or grammar activities and can be done individually, in pairs or in groups or minglingA classroom activity in which learners move around the room talking to different partners, e.g. to complete a survey. click to keep open · see glossary. Similarly, form filling could be used for reading, listening or grammar practice, and done individually, in pairs or in groups.

Activities 3 and 5 provide examples of another way of categorising activities. Both of these activities involve an information gapAn activity in which learners have different information and must talk to each other to exchange it and complete a task. click to keep open · see glossary, i.e. the students need to talk to one another to exchange information they don’t know in order to complete the activity. This means they are talking in order to communicate, not just to practise language or show they have got the answers right. Free role-plays and surveys are other examples of information-gap activities. There is no information gap in exercises or drills.

◆Key concepts and the language teaching classroom

Read these tips and tick the ones which are most important for you:

• When selecting activities for practising and developing language it is up to the teacher to decide whether to do a controlled practice, freer practice or free activity, or an activity that focuses on accuracy or on communication. The choice will depend on students’ needsThe language, language skills or learning strategies a learner still has to learn in order to reach their goals, which are the things they want personally and professionally which are connected to their learning. For example, a learner might need to have good … click to keep open · see glossary and preferences.
• When choosing activities and tasks for developing skills, the teacher can decide which skill or subskill to focus on. Again, students’ needs and preferences should help us to make that choice.
• Using several kinds of activities in our lessons adds varietyTo introduce different things such as different types of activities or tasks, language skills, interaction patterns, pacing or timing into a lesson. Teachers try to include variety in their lessons, so that learners stay interested. click to keep open · see glossary. This helps to keep lessons more interesting and motivating.
• Activities in lessons are usually linked so that the first one leads into and helps the next, etc. There are several different ways of linking activities in lessons. These are just some of them.

◆Linking activities in lessons

Language-focused lessons:

1. Presentation1. When the teacher introduces new language. Teachers present new language, sometimes by using the board and speaking to the whole class, or they might use a text which includes the new language for their presentation. See guided discovery approach, Presentati… click to keep open · see glossary → controlled practice activities → freer practice activities
2. Lead-inThe activity or activities used to prepare learners to work on a text, topic or task. A lead-in often includes an introduction to the topic of the text or task and possibly study of some new key language required for the text or task. click to keep open · see glossary → tasks → presentation → further tasks

Skills-based lessons:

warmerAn activity that often involves movement, which a teacher uses at the beginning of a lesson to give the class more energy. Warmers can also be used to introduce the topic of the lesson. For example, the topic of the lesson is Watching TV. The teacher asks lear… click to keep open · see glossary and/or lead-in → comprehension activities/tasks → post-task activities.

Comprehension activities for listening or reading often start by focusing on more general levels of comprehension, then move on to subskills involving detailed or specific attention to the text, then to a focus on the language used in the text.

Example 1: A listening skills lesson

Lead-in: discussing the topic of the listening and learning any important new vocabulary → comprehension tasks: listening to the recorded conversation and answering multiple-choice gist questions about it → listening to the conversation again and completing a form with specific information → post-task activities: brief discussion of the topic of the conversation

Example 2: A topic-based skills lesson

Lead-in: speaking about the topic and doing related language work → tasks: listening to a recording about the topic → reading a text about the topic → post-task activities: discussing the topic and/or focusing on the language of the topic → writing a composition about the topic.

This is an integrated skillsA lesson or activity that combines several language skills, e.g. reading a text and then discussing it. click to keep open · see glossary lesson, i.e. a lesson that involves working on a variety of skills, with each leading into the next.

✎Follow-up activity

💡Reflect

🔍Discovery activities

✎TKT practice tasks

These multiple-choice tasks are exactly as in the book, but interactive: pick your answers, check your score, and retry anytime. The scoring uses the official answer key from the back of the book.

📖Glossary terms in this unit

Key terms highlighted in this unit — study them on the flashcards page.