Text-based Prediction Tasks within a TBLT Framework

Glen PouporeDepartment of English Studies

Université de Sherbrooke

Presentation Outline

• The TBLT Lesson Framework• A Rationale for TBLT• Text-based Prediction Tasks

Text #1: Newspaper ArticleText #2: Newspaper ArticleText #3: Movie Trailer

TBLT Lesson Framework:

Pre-TaskIntroduction to Topic and Task

Task CycleTask

PlanningReport

Language Form FocusAnalyze Practice

• Focus on Meaning:

• Focus on Form:

• Focus on Forms:

occurs when learners are concerned with communication and with producing and understanding messages

occurs when learners are initially or have initially focused onmeaning and are now thinking about or talking about form

traditional grammar approach based on a syllabus of gradedstructures (forms) and these are pre-taught in advance ofactivities designed to practice them (-> PPP)

THREE WAY DISTINCTION

4 Essential Conditions for Successful SLA

• A high level of motivation

• Exposure to lots of L2 input

• Lots of opportunities to produce the L2 for true communicative purposes

• Opportunities and a willingness to focus on language form

Defining ‘Task’

• A task is a motivationally engaging activity in which learners interact and use language freely with an emphasis on meaning in order to achieve a clearly stated goal whose results need to be reported orally and/or in writing.

Text-based Prediction Tasks Using a TBLT Framework

Read/View Parts of Text

Prediction Task

Read/View Full Text

Focus on Form using Lg in

Text

Text-based Prediction Task #1:The Boy Who Came Out From the Cold

Focus on Form Activity #1:Vocabulary

• Find six phrases in the article which refer to the cold and/or its effects.

“Cold” Related Words / Phrases

• ‘cold store’• ‘temperature around freezing point’• ‘with his teeth chattering’• ‘his face purple with cold’• ‘still freezing’• ‘It was bitterly cold’

Focus on Form Activity #2:Grammar

• Underline all the past-tense verbs ending in ‘ed’ and divide them into two or three categories (Types of past-tense verb forms).

• Then find other past-tense verbs (non-’ed’) from the story to add to the appropriate lists.

Past-Tense Verb Forms Ending in ‘ed’:Part Participle

• ‘spent the night trapped in’• ‘after being locked in’

Past-Tense Verb Forms Ending in ‘ed’:Simple Past

• ‘immediately telephoned his parents’• ‘the door locked behind me’• ‘I tried to’• ‘I realized’

Past-Tense Verb Forms Ending in ‘ed’:Past Perfect

• ‘who had reported him missing’

Focus on Form Activity #3:Grammar

• Collect students’ sheets and use their question errors to create a focus on form activity.

Student Error #1• How the boy trapped?• How did the boy get trapped?

Student Error #2• How he escape?• How did he escape?

Student Error #3• What he did there?• What did he do in there?

Focus on Form Activity #4:Pronunciation

• Pronunciation Focus / Drill: F:P Confusion• Freezing • Food Shelf • Staff • Face purple with cold• Stratford upon Avon

Text-based Prediction Task #2:Hello, I’ve just jumped off the Empire State Building

Focus on Form Activity #1: Expressions of Place

• Underline all the phrases in the text that are related to place?

• Examples: ‘in New York’, ‘off the Empire State Building’…

• Notice the use of prepositions. • Which preposition is most commonly used?

Focus on Form Activity #2: Reflexive Pronouns

• There are three different uses of reflexive pronouns in the text.

• Reflexive pronoun used as indirect object (I gave myself a manicure) [1 example in text]

• Reflexive pronoun used as direct object (I hurt myself.) [3 examples in text]

• Reflexive pronoun used for emphasis or identity. [1 example in text]

Simple Activity for Reflexive Pronouns as Indirect Object

• Fill in the blanks by using reflexive pronouns:

• I cut _____ a piece of cake.• She got _____ a drink.• They made _____ a few sandwiches.• We cooked _____ a big pizza.• You should bake _____ a loaf of bread.

Focus on Form Activity #3: Collocations with ‘Strong’

• Which word collocates with the word ‘strong’ in the text?

• ‘Strong wind’• What other words collocate with the word

‘strong’?• ‘strong current’, ‘strong swimmer’, ‘strong

team’, ‘strong possibility’, ‘strong coffee/tea’, ‘strong smell’, ‘strong accent’

Text-based Prediction Task #3:’Wicker Park’ Movie Trailer

Focus on Form Activities Using the ‘Wicker Park’ Movie Trailer Transcript?

• Read the transcript and try to identify vocabulary items that you would highlight to create your own focus on form activities.

Some Possible Language Items

• … will lure him deeper.• Is this supposed to be funny?• …and so hot!• …more deceiving than the next.• You make yourself into such a victim.• …such a victim.

• Grammar? -> Categorize words ending in ‘s’