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Learning theories in practice/Self-Regulated Learning

The construct of self regulated learning has been extensively studies since the late 1970’s, with much more attention in the 1980’s and 1990’s (Paris & Winograd 2001). Still it is relatively new as regards to implementation for improving student performance and achievement in the classroom. Self regulated learning suggests that students engage in their own learning processes on metacognitive, behavioral, and motivational levels (Zimmerman 1986). Within self regulated learning, students are empowered with a common set of self regulating strategies in which they couple those strategies with a set of individually developed skills they have constructed over the course of their academic careers and personal experiences. The aim of self regulated learning is to get students to focus on self-comparisons instead of comparing themselves to the actions of their peers in any learning situation. Self-regulation of learning is a built-in learning process, whereby students develop goals and skills sets as well as apply those skills to a given learning situation, and internalize his or her own behaviors and acts upon those behaviors to increase positive behaviors and reduce their tendencies for negative behaviors.

The self-regulated learning is viewed as a process in which individual students actively and constructively monitor and control their own motivation, cognition and behavior toward the successful completion of academic tasks (Butler and Winne, 1995; DuBois and Staley, 1997; Pintrich, 1995; Valle et al., 2003; Winne, 1995;Zimmerman, 1994).

SELF REGULATED LEARNING STORY (this story of Dwight and his shortcomings will be used to represent SRL strategies throughout the chapter)

 * Dwight is an eighth grader who has been consistently over achieving since he entered school. Dwight consistently performs well on academic tasks that require students to work independently to achieve a desired outcome, whether it be a research paper, building science models, etc., but he is consistently disrupting class when the teacher models direct instruction.  Even though Dwight is an eighth grader, he reads at an eleventh-grade level.  Dwight always achieves exceedingly high scores on standardized tests.  He stands out in mathematics, but does well in most academic areas.  However, Dwight’s least favorite subject is social studies.

 * Because Dwight is a high achieving student in all academic contents, he has been encouraged by his parents and his teachers to take more demanding classes that will challenge his skill levels to date. Dwight decides to take the class and after a few weeks Dwight begins to have self doubts about his abilities and his cognitive development by saying things like, “you know mom, I’m just not that smart as I once thought” or “I just can’t do it, I’ve never really been that good at social studies even though I always get good grades, I get good grades because the work has always been so easy.” For example, his doubts have even manifested in his school work because he now gives up when he is faced with a difficult question and refuses to participate in guided discussions over the readings pertaining to Manifest Destiny in early America.  Because of his poor self-efficacy in social studies, Dwight has failed a test, neglected a research assignment, has convinced himself that he is horrible at social studies, and is considering dropping out of the advanced class.  When Dwight does participate, it's when a question is easy.

 * QUESTION: In what ways can Dwight attain self-regulatory strategies to improve his achievement levels in the more challenging class?

PHASES OF SELF-REGULATED LEARNING

Many researchers agree that self regulated learning is a multidimensional process in which there is a set of three recurring phases, in a general time-ordered sequence, that materialize with the attainment of self regulation skills (Zimmerman 1986).

PHASE 1: Forethought

Phase 1 refers to forethought or the planning beforehand (Reis 2004). Before actual performance can begin, this step needs to be addressed because it facilitates a platform for action. Within this stage students internalize a given problem or desired outcome, create short and long term goals of the learning experience, and create mental maps that help reduce the chances of the unknown manifesting. Students have to ask themselves various questions in the preplanning phase. First it is beneficial for students to know when to start, where to start, and most importantly how to start (Reis 2004). Anxiety manifests itself in learning when a student does not know when or how to begin. A student’s ability to set goals and plan strategically is affected by various personal beliefs. That means, a student’s ability to properly execute this phase depends heavily on his own intrinsic motives for accomplishing that set of goals and his own self-efficacy (i.e., how a student perceives their ability to perform at a desired level). Self-reaction, self-observation, and self-judgment affect student abilities to both set goals and maintain positive self-efficacy (Shunk 1990). That is why the forethought phase of self regulated learning is crucial to a student’s ability to carry out a desires task or conclude a given problem. When the forethought phase is executed properly, students develop a positive outlook towards their academic performance and have some disregard towards extrinsic rewards.

 * Dwight should be provided help with what he needs to become more successful within the upcoming project for his advanced social studies class. The teacher can schedule a conference with Dwight beforehand, which allows him to discuss his shortcomings and reasons for low motivation.  The teacher can discuss with Dwight if he needs more time to complete the project, when would be the most appropriate time for him to complete his work, what the initial steps should be, or if Dwight should be teamed up with a peer that can better assist Dwight in his studies…

PHASE 2: Performance Control

Phase 2 refers to performance control within the learner (Shunck & Zimmerman 1998). Within the performance phase, three strategies to control their performance emerge. The first highlights how students focus their attention. Students must take into account distractions in their learning environments, whether it is from another student or vague instruction. The second strategy is based how students instruct themselves when performing their developed skills. Self-instruction affects their ability to successfully implement their strategies and/or other learning schemes (Paris & Winograd 2001). It is important for student to account for whether or not they are being distracted, to know if a break is needed to regain clarity of thought or reduce frustrations, conditions which are conducive to a productive work environment, and how to push themselves to stay on task in spite of distractions. Self-monitoring is the third strategy. Self-monitoring updates the learner about their progression in concluding a problem or performing a set of tasks. It is recommended that students limit their self-monitoring to important tasks because if they focus too heavily on every little detail, their implementation of strategic processes can be impeded upon (Shunck & Zimmerman 1998).

 * Dwight has been encouraged to compare the strategies from Phase 1 in his advanced social studies class with the other classes he is currently taking. He becomes frustrated because of how unsuccessful he has become in social studies and because of all the other students completing their projects in the classroom.  The teacher recognizes this, gets Dwight to recognize this situation more clearly, and then Dwight asks how he can reduce his frustrations.  The teacher, not wanting to give him the answers directly, encourages Dwight to discuss what steps he can take to help reduce his frustrations.  Dwight decides that a break is needed when he hits the frustration wall because it will allow him time to reflect on what made him so frustrated.  He also decides that his work environment should be taken into account.  He is easily distracted and decides to ask if he can work in the library to cut down on the classroom distractions.

PHASE 3: Self-reflection

Phase 3 refers to self-reflection (Shunck & Zimmerman 1998). Within the self-reflection phase, students reflect and evaluate their reactions to performance goals compared to the outcomes. Students assess their achievements or failures, adjust their self-efficacy, make informal attributions, and, during the self-reflection phase, adapt to potential learning. Students need to ask themselves if they have accomplished what they planned to in the forethought phase, how they coped with distractions during the performance phase, and evaluate what conditions facilitated their productive work environments.

In order for students to develop excellent self-regulated learning skills, they must thoroughly monitor their own performance, compare their performance to their goals or objectives by reexamining their findings or through peer feedback, and continuously engage in personal reflective processes (Shunck & Zimmerman 1998). These reflective acts might result from and/or involve changing their learning environments, goal settings, rehearsals, memorizations, or even metacognitive planning (Reis 2004).

 * Dwight has completed the project and is happy with his final product. Dwight asks himself many questions as to reflect on his overall performance.  He asks, “Did the pre-planning conference with my teacher play an important role initially?” “Did the steps outlined in that conference help me complete my final product?” “Did my peer that was assigned by the teacher help me in reducing my frustrations?” “Did the frustrations keep me from doing better in terms of my final project?” “Did leaving the classroom that was full of distractions and moving my work to the library, better allow me to finish my final product?” “What could I have done differently to begin my project, reduce my frustrations, and complete my final project?”

SELF REGULATED LEARNING STRATEGIES

Self regulated learning integrates learning strategies and mental processes that learners consciously engage to help themselves learn and achieve healthier gains academically (Schunk & Zimmerman 1998). Various learning strategies can be employed when promoting self-regulated learning.

Initially, students need to organize their information over their chosen topics. This can be done by outlining, summarizing, highlighting text, rearranging materials, brainstorming, and creating mental maps or web mappings. Once the organizational steps have been implemented, students can then focus more on their overall goals or objectives.

Students can develop goals in a variety of ways. Sequencing steps or delineating a time management schedule will allow students to monitor their progression when concluding a problem or performing a given task. Within a time management plan or the sequencing of steps, student should be encouraged to provide themselves with a student created rubric which details the desired goals. Once a student has created the rubric and completes the task according to the desired goal, she can then proceed to the next step, goal, or set of problems. All of this requires that a student recognize the importance of documentation.

Students can document their progression through note-taking, mark recording, or the creation of a portfolio. Portfolio making is perhaps the best strategy in terms of documentation. The use of a portfolios allow students to keep records of previous drafts which will assist them both in the self-reflection phase by demarcating their progression throughout the entire learning experience and by creating alternative avenues for retention.

Students can also improve their retention of the information through rehearsal. Strategies within these contexts are reciprocal teaching (i.e., when one students teaches another), mnemonic devices (i.e., memory aids in the form of acronyms, songs, rhymes, etc.), or through simple repetition. Students can also use environmental cues in developing self-regulated strategies. Students can retrieve pieces of information from a library search, the Internet, interviews, re-reading their textbooks, or analyzing previous tests or records.

SRL TEACHER APPLICATION When teachers apply self-regulated learning, the following list of guidelines should be taken into account:

 * 1. Understand that teachers need to allow students to take responsibility in their learning by emphasizing choice
 * When assigning a research topic or problems to solve, students should be allowed to chose the topic to research or what problems to solve because it is what interests them and will further encourage motivation within the student to do well.

 * 2. Anticipate student to question about their information, strategies, skills, etc.
 * Teachers should also apply their metacognitive abilities in anticipating questions their students may have when introducing these types of activities. The types of questions can include: “When should they start?” “What types of distractions will they be faced with?” “What strategies do I want them to develop or build upon?”  By teachers anticipating student questions, they will be better prepared to answer and help facilitate the desired activity.

 * 3. Teachers also need to understand that younger students need guidance when outlining their desired goals
 * For example, most children will set goals like “I promise to work harder,” “I will read more,” or even “I will try my best to solve this problem”, but these goals do not provide evidence on how they will demonstrate meaningful learning or conceptual understanding. The goals listed above are performance goals and once performance goals are set it actually under minds self-regulated learning.

 * 4. Model the desired skills or strategies
 * Teachers must understand the difficulty students will have when trying to understand self-regulated learning. Because of its difficulty, teacher can model appropriate skills like note-taking, controlling emotions, setting goals that are strategic rather than performance based, or even modeling appropriate reading strategies during a class read-aloud so that students have in-depth understanding about the skills or strategies as well as know how to put those skills or strategies into practice.

 * 5. Record students' progressions
 * Teachers often worry about providing the students with too much freedom when applying self-regulated learning within their classrooms. Teachers can monitor their students in a variety of ways.  First, teachers can schedule conferences with each student over the course of the assignment period in order to promote further self-reflection within the students.  Record keeping of the goals attained, grades received, and progress made at the behavioral level are all strategies teachers can employ; these strategies of giving students performance appraisals, when done correctly, fosters feelings of renewed efforts within their work and even strong feelings of pride for their accomplishments.

 * 6. Encourage and support students when their SRL strategies have been misused or ineffective
 * Students who have difficultly with SRL strategies must be provided with personal and academic support. Teachers should always encourage their students that they can accomplish their goals when their strategies are proven ineffective.  Students should be encouraged to use journals that promote self-reflection and self-appraisal and teachers should discuss those journals with their students (Reis 2004).  Often times, students who have that support are able to better understand the subsequent steps that need to be taken in order to accomplish their goals for the desired activity.

 * 7. Break tasks down into individual mechanisms
 * Students need to be provided with rubrics delineating what the teacher expects. Teacher should include students in the creation of the individualized rubrics that relate to their unique situation.  Such individualized attention provides students with a greater understanding of what needs to be done in order to accomplish their goals.  When properly conducted, students take advantage of the choice they have in breaking down all the steps inherent to their personal growth and extended their understanding to their academic performance.

 * 8. Provide positive and negative corrective feedback to students at each step
 * Teachers must provide students with understandable and realistic standards within the activity. Statements of the learning tasks during each phase, not about the learner themselves, on both positive and negative levels, promotes a more conducive learning environment that encourages and fosters the student’s ability to accomplish their goals and promotes greater self-efficacy.

 * 9. Maintain authentic assessments within student performance
 * Teachers should always encourage and model authentic assessment measures. Portfolios are great authentic assessment tools that promote SLR tactics because they can show progression over a given course or even an entire school year.  Other means of authentic assessment can be used as well and are not limited to: Shoe box diagrams, collages, presentations, role playing, journals, etc.

CONCLUSION

To promote personal and academic success, importance and effort must be placed on developing and incorporating self-regulatory capabilities within teachers and students alike. The phases that guide self-regulated learning: forethought, performance control, and self-reflection, are essential in the developmental processes. Self-regulatory capabilities within teachers provide that they continuously model, explain, re-explain, and assist students in their planning, goal setting, performance, and self-reflective stages when necessary. Once self-regulatory skills are developed, students and teachers will benefit by having healthier, more productive learning experiences.

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References:

Paris, S. G. & Winograd, P. (2001). The role of self-regulated learning in contextual teaching: principles and practices for teacher preparation. U.S. Department of Education.

Reis, S. M. (2004). Self-regulated learning and academically talented students. National Association for Gifted Children.

Schunk, D. H. (1990) Goal setting and self-efficacy during self-regulated learning. Educational Psychologist, 25. Schunk, D. H. & Zimmerman, B.J. (1998) Self-regulated learning: From teaching to self-reflective practice. Guilford Press.

Zimmerman, B.J. (1986). Becoming a self-regulated learner: Which are the key sub-processes? Contemporary Educational Psychology, Vol. 11. Pgs. 307-313.

- Video clip on this motivation in learning--


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Learning theories in practice/Task-Based Learning

Consider the following classroom:
This is an English class in Taiwan where English is a foreign language. There are thirty students who are sixth graders, high beginners, in the classroom. Seven students are high-level students who went to cram school to learn English for six years or more. Five students are low-level students who have difficulty in recognizing and reading most of words or sentences they have learned. Their English teacher, Connie, is going to give them some tasks to practice the four language skills, especially speaking, and learn some specific sentence patterns or phrases that can be used when they want to compare or contrast things. Her lesson plan is as follows:

Task Goal (Outcome):

Students are able to use English to describe objects, actions, and signs as well as exchange information. Furthermore, they will complete the task “ Spot the differences”, which asks the students to find out seven differences between two pictures (Picture B and Picture B’).

Pre-task:

1.	Show a picture on the board and have the class discuss what is in the picture. Students might try to recall and use sentence patterns as many as they can to help describe objects, actions, and signs in the picture.

2.	Divide students into groups of four. Give each group two similar pictures (Picture A and Picture A’) but with seven differences. Have each group discuss and find out all differences. Remind them that this activity is like one they have done before only with different pictures. Each student will see both pictures. Together they have to find the differences and write them down in note form. (Put an example (cat on right or on left of sign) on the board or the teacher models how to describe the pictures.) They will only have one minute. They should talk in English, but quietly.

3.	Bring class together and have each group report their findings to the teacher and the class.

4.	Introduce task: “Spot the differences” puzzle, like the one they have just completed. The difference is that each student cannot see both pictures. They need to try their best to use English to describe details in their own picture.

During-task:

1.	Get students to stand up, find a different partner and sit down with their new pairs. Give each group two new pictures (Picture B and Picture B’). Keep them covered up for now. They also need two sheets of paper between the two of them, pens or pencils and their language notebooks.

2.	Get them ready to start: We are going to work in pairs. Now, each of you takes one picture and notice that you are not allowed to see the picture until the task starts. Find seven differences between your picture and your partner’s picture. You are not allowed to show the pictures to each other. You are only allowed to communicate by talking about the pictures. You may use a sheet of paper and a pen to plan what you are going to say before you start describing your picture.

3.	Tell all pairs to choose four differences they think will be in the two pictures. They write them down in detail, and practice explaining them, so they can tell their partners and the whole class later on. Show the students some examples, such as the cat example, on the board.

4.	Go around the room and help the students while noting useful phrases and writing some on the left of the board, e.g. In picture B…the sign says….

5.	When time is up, have students stop discussing and be ready to report their answers. Give them two minutes to practice. Draw attention to phrases on board.

6.	Explain that they must listen carefully to other pairs. If they have the same difference, they check it off. Once they hear a difference, they must not report it themselves.

7.	Each pair gives one difference (write these on the board as they tell the class) till there are seven. Some pairs may give the wrong answer or still have more. Write them on the board too.

8.	Have students find out the correct differences by checking out each other’s picture.

9.	Then, play audio recording of David and Amy doing the same task. There are one or two factual inaccuracies in the recording. Have students check off the differences they hear. (May need to pause after each one, and play it again.)

Here is a sample dialogue from such an activity:

David: Do you have the number of the house?

''Amy: Yes, it is thirty. How about yours?''

David: Mine is thirteen.

''Amy: uh… thirteen, Oh, okay. How many people on the street in your picture.''

David: Well, I got two, and you?

''Amy: I have two, too. Mm…I think this part is the same.''

''David: How about trees? How many trees do you have? Are they tall or short?''

Amy: I have one tree and it’s tall.

''David: Oh, I have two trees and they’re tall. That’s another difference here.''

Amy: What else?

David: I think maybe the number’s different.

Amy: What number?

David: The phone number of the restaurant.

''Amy: My number is six three one nine zero. Your phone number is…''

David: It’s six three three nine zero.

''Amy: Okay. How many have we got? That’s three.''

''David: Three. How many do we have to have? Seven. Mm.''

''Amy: How about the television- is that on in your picture? Mine is not on.''

David: Yes, it is!

Amy: …and it’s on in your picture but off in my picture.

''David: Right. Anything else? The woman in the restaurant is waving the waiter.''

''Amy: I guess that is the same in my picture. What about the man on the street? He’s carrying an umbrella.''

David: He isn’t carrying anything in my picture.

''Amy: All right! So what shall we put? The man…''

10.	Now ask the class if any pairs have more differences? Ask them to spot the inaccuracies in the recording.

11.	The teacher plays the audio recording in which contains one or two inaccuracies.

Post-task：

1.	From the board, students choose a useful phrase from each sentence and practice saying it. Delete the phrase immediately after it has been said. Delete other words gradually. This is called “progressive deletion” and should be fun!

2.	Students read out all sentences in full, including the missing parts. Clean board.

3.	From transcript, students hear recording again and follow it in the transcript. Pause tape sometimes to let them predict how next phrase will be said (intonation with stress on key words).

4.	Students read whole transcript and find ten questions to classify in whatever ways they like (e.g. questions with shall or get; short questions/long questions; questions with/without verb, etc.)

5.	Students find two examples of the word and tell where it is in the conversation.

6.	If time permits, students write down any new phrases they noticed.

7.	Bring the class together and review analysis of questions. Practice short questions (point out many are without verbs) and then list questions with shall, got, have and practice them. Also, discuss use of so, and ask what word(s) are also used for the same function.

8.	After the task, give students a reflection form with several questions on it. (e.g., What is the most difficult part in the “spot the differences” task? What are some interesting things you see in the task? What did you do if your partner couldn’t understand what you described?)

9.	Peer and teacher feedback on task performance.

10.	Optional activity: Have students imitate the “spot the differences” activity. They could draw two similar pictures to create a task to quiz their partners.

11.	Create a task to quiz their partners.

(This lesson plan is adapted from A Framework for Task-Based Learning by Jane Willis. 1996. p.156-158)

INTRODUCTION
As early as the 1970s, the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach became popular among second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and second language teachers (Skehan, 2003). During the 1980s, “task” replaced the term “communicative activity.” The task-based language teaching (TBLT) became a new teaching method that has been broadly adopted in language classroom. As with content-based instruction, the task-based approach aimed to provide learners with a natural context for language use. As learners work to complete a task, they have abundant opportunity to interact with each other as well as the teacher and the content. Such interaction is thought to facilitate language acquisition, as learners have to work to understand each other and to express their own meaning. By so doing, they have to check to see if they have comprehended correctly. In addition, at times, they have to seek clarification from other students or their instructor.

By interacting with others, students have an opportunity to listen to language which may be beyond their present ability, but which may be assimilated into their knowledge of the target language for use at a later time. As Candlin and Murphy (1987:1) note, “The central purpose we are concerned with is language learning, and task present this in the form of a problem-solving negotiation between knowledge that the learner holds and new knowledge.”

WHY TASK-BASED LEARNING
Most researchers would agree that effective language learning takes place under four conditions. To learn a language with reasonable efficiency, three essential conditions must be met and one additional condition is desirable. Task-based language instruction can help teachers select and devise useful classroom activities that could lead to task-based learning and help students to further learn a language successfully.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF TBLT
The task-based learning and teaching is based on several theoretical backgrounds:

1.	From psycholinguistic perspective: (1) A task is a device that guides learners to engage in certain types of information processing that are believed to important for effective language use for language acquisition. (2) Using mental processing that is beneficial to acquisition.

2.	From interaction hypothesis: Meaning negotiation can contribute to acquisition.

3.	From cognitive approach: (1) TBLT constructs both exemplar-based system and rule-based system. (2) Lexical items and ready-made formulaic chunks of language contribute to fluency, accuracy, and complexity.

4.	From Constructivism: (1) Learners learn in ways that are meaningful to them, (2) Learners learn better if they feel in control of what they are learning, (3) Learning is closely linked to how people feel about themselves, and (4) Learning takes place in a social context through interaction with other people.

WHAT IS A TASK
A task is an activity “where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.” (Jane Willis, 1996:23)

A task has several features as follows: (Ellis, 2003:9)

1.	A task is a work plan (a plan for learner activity).

2.	A task involves a primary focus on meaning.

3.	A task involves real-world processes of language use.

4.	A task can involve any of the four language skills.

5.	A task engages cognitive processes such as selecting, classifying, ordering, and evaluating information in order to carry out the task.

6.	A task has a clear defined communicative outcome.

Skehan (1998), drawing on a number of other writers, puts forward five key characteristics of a task.

1.	Meaning is primary

2.	Learners are not given other people’s meaning to regurgitate

3.	There is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities

4.	Task completion has some priority

5.	The assessment of the task is in terms of outcome

THREE PHASES
Although the designs of task-based lesson have been proposed variously, they all include three common phases, which are shown in Table 2. These phases reflect the chronology of a task-based lesson.

The pre-task phase
The purpose of the pre-task phase is to prepare students of perform the task in ways that will promote acquisition. Lee (2000) describes the importance of ‘framing’ the task to be performed and suggests that one way of doing this is to provide an advance organizer of what the students will be required to do and the nature of the outcome they will arrive at. For example, in the pre-task phase of the lesson plan, the teacher gives some examples (e.g., cat on right or on left of the sign) on the board to let students know what the target language is that they are going to use in the task. Additionally, the teacher introduces the procedure and outcome of each task.

Skehan (1996) refers to two broad alternatives available to the teacher during the pre-task phase: an emphasis on the general cognitive demands of the task, and/or an emphasis on linguistic factors. These alternatives can be tackled procedurally in one of four ways; (1) supporting learners in performing a task similar to the task they will perform in the during-task phase of the lesson, (2) asking students to observe a model of how to perform the task, (3) engaging learners in non-task activities designed to prepare them to perform the task, or (4) strategic planning of the main task performance.

Performing a similar task

In order to prepare learners for performing the main task individually, the teacher involves the learners in completing a task of the same kind as and with similar content to the main task. Prabhu explains that the pre-task was conducted through interaction of the question-and-answer type. The teacher was expected to lead the class step-by-step to the expected outcome, to break down a step into smaller steps if the learners encountered difficulty, and to offer one or more parallels to a step in the reasoning process to ensure that mixed ability learners could understand what was required. For example, in order to help students complete the main task “Spot the differences” in pairs, the teacher starts the class by discussing a single picture. Next, she might have them work in groups to see both pictures and find differences. By so doing, students could practice similar strategies or language skills which will also be used in main task, and it will reduce their anxiety related to completing more complicated tasks. Moreover, the pre-task serves as a mediational tool for the kind of ‘instructional conversation’ that sociocultural theorists advocate. The teacher, as an expert, uses the pre-task to scaffold learner’s performance of the task with the expectancy that this ‘other-regulation’ facilitates the ‘self-regulation’ learners will need to perform the main task on their own.

Providing a model

This involves presenting learners with a text (oral or written) to demonstrate an ‘ideal’ performance of the task. Both Skehan (1996) and Willis (1996) suggest that simply ‘observing’ others perform a task can help reduce the cognitive load on the learner. However, the model can also be accompanied by activities designed to raise learners’ consciousness about specific features of the task performance. For example, the teacher can demonstrate how to use adjectives to describe objects and how to use verbs to describe people’s actions.

Non-task preparation activities

Non-task preparation activities can centre on reducing the cognitive or the linguistic demands placed on the learner. Activating learners’ content schemata or providing them with background information serves as a means of defining the topic area of a task (Ellis, 2002). Willis (1996) provides a list of activities for achieving this, such as brainstorming and mind-maps. In addition, recommended activities for addressing the linguistic demands of a task often focus on vocabulary rather than grammar, perhaps because vocabulary is seen as more helpful for the successful performance of a task than grammar. Newton (2001) suggests three ways, predicting, cooperative dictionary search, and words and definitions, in which teachers can target unfamiliar vocabulary in the pre-task phase.

Strategic planning

Learners can be given time to plan how they will perform the task. This involves ‘strategic planning’ and contrasts with the ‘online planning’ that can occur during the performance of the task.

The during-task phase
Two basic kinds of options available to the teacher in the during-task phase are ‘task-performance options’ and ‘process options’. The formal options relating to how the task is to be undertaken that can be taken prior to the actual performance of the task and thus planned for by the teacher. The latter options involve the teacher and students in on-line decision making about how to perform the task as it is being completed.

Task performance options

There are three task performance options. The first of these options concern whether to require the students to perform the task under time pressure. The teacher can elect to allow students to complete the task in their own time or can set a time limit. This option is important because it can influence the nature of the language students’ produce. It seems that if teachers want to emphasize accuracy in a task performance, they need to ensure that the students can complete the task in their own time. However, if they want to encourage fluency, they need to set a time limit.

The second task performance option involves deciding whether to allow the students access to input data while they perform a task. For example, to increase the frequency of students’ use of correct words to describe the picture, the teacher could provide students with a list of key words or even some basic sentence patterns to follow. Joe (1998) reports a study that compared learners’ acquisition of a set of target words (which they did not know prior to performing the task) in a narrative recall task under two conditions with and without access to the text. She found that the learners who could see the text used the target words more frequently, although the difference was evident only in verbatim use of the words not in generated use (i.e., they did not use the target words in original sentences). Joe’s study raises an important question. Does borrowing from the input data assist acquisition? In Prabhu’s point of view, he sees definite value in borrowing for maintaining a task-based activity and also probable value in promotion acquisition.

The third performance option consists of introducing some surprise element into the task. For example, after describing the differences of pictures, the teacher may give another set of pictures to the students and ask them to find similarities of two pictures by using oral expressing. Or, after they have seen their own picture for 30 seconds, the teacher could ask students to recall and list the actions, objects, and signs they saw. After which, they could tell each other what they remembered and find out differences. However, there is still no obvious evidence to show if introducing such a surprise had any effect on the fluency, complexity or accuracy of the learners’ language. This does not mean that this option is of no pedagogic value, as requiring learners to cope with a surprise serves as an obvious way of extending the time learners spend on a task and thus increases the amount of talk. It may also help to enhance students’ intrinsic interest in a task

Process options

Process options differ from task performance options in that they concern the way in which the discourse arising from the task is enacted rather than pedagogical decisions about the way the task is to be handled. Whereas performance options can be selected in advance of the actual performance of the task, process options must be taken in flight while the task is being performed (Ellis, 2002).

Figure 3 contrasts two sets of classroom processes. The first set corresponds to the classroom behaviors that are typical of a traditional form-focused pedagogy where language is treated as an object and the students are required to act as ‘learners’. The second set reflects the behavior that characterize a task-based pedagogy, where language is treated as a tool for communication and the teacher and students function primarily as ‘language users’ (Ellis 2001). Thus, the set of behaviors which arise are crucially dependent on the participants’ orientation to the classroom and to their motives for performing an activity.

The post-task phase
This phase has three major pedagogic goals: (1) to provide an opportunity for a repeat performance of the task; (2) to encourage reflection on how the task was performed; and (3) to encourage attention to form, in particular to those forms that proved problematic to the learners when they performed the task.

Repeat performance

When learners repeat a task their production improves in a number of ways (e.g., complexity increases, propositions are expressed more clearly, and they become more fluent). For example, after the main task, the teacher can have students draw their two similar pictures with several differences to quiz their partner. By so doing, students not only have an opportunity to repeat the linguistic knowledge they have just learned but also create a task for themselves to examine their fluency. Besides, Skehan and Foster (1997) also suggested that students can carry out the second performance publicly. Which is likely to encourage the use of a more formal style and thus may push learners to use the grammaticalized resources associated with this style (Givon, 1979).

Reflecting on the task

Wills (1996) recommends asking students to present a report on how they did the task and on what they decided or discovered. The teacher’s role is to act as a chairperson and to encourage the students. The reports can be oral or written and should primarily focus on summarizing the outcome of the task. However, they could be invited to reflect on and evaluate their own performance of the task. For instance, to help them reflect on their work, the teacher may ask students “What’s the most difficult part while you are trying to express information to your partner?” and “What did you do if your partner can’t understand what you described?” Additionally, students could also be invited to consider how they might improve their performance of the task. By so doing, students may develop their metacognitive strategies of planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Furthermore, there is also a case for asking students to evaluate the task itself. Such information will help the teacher to decide whether to use similar tasks in the future or look for a different type.

Focusing on forms

Once the task is completed, students can be invited to focus on forms. That is, they might focus directly on grammar. Teachers should select forms that the students used incorrectly while performing the task or ‘useful’ or ‘natural’ forms (Loshcky, Bley, & Vroman 1993) that they failed to use at all. In other words, teachers should seek to address errors or gaps in the students’ L2 knowledge.

There are four main activities available to the teacher to deal with target forms:

1.	Review of learner errors. Teacher moves from group-to-group to listen and note down the errors, and then address these errors with the whole class. The error can be written on the board. The students can be invited to correct it. After the corrected version is written up and a brief explanation is provided, students listen again and edit their own performance. Finally, the teacher comments on any points that have been missed.

2.	Consciousness-raising tasks. CR-tasks can be used as the main task in a lesson and also can be used as follow-up tasks to direct students to attend explicitly to a specific form that they used incorrectly or failed to use at all in the main task. Taking the lesson plan for example, when used as follow-up tasks, the teacher could record the students’ performance of the task. By referring to the recording of their language use in the task, students might be presented with a number of their own utterances all illustrating the same error and asked to identify the error, correct the sentences, and work out an explanation.

3.	Production practice activities. An alternative or addition to CR-tasks is to provide more traditional practice of selected forms. Traditional exercise types include repetition, substitution, gapped sentences, jumbled sentences, transformation drills, and dialogues. Those activities maybe have no direct effect on learners’ interlanguage systems; however, they may help learners to automate forms that they have begun to use on their own accord but have not yet gained full control over. For example, activities that could be applied in lesson examples include choosing some sentence patterns to drill or pointing out the errors students made and have students practice correcting errors.

4.	Noticing activities. These activities focus on linguistic form. Fotos (1993) used dictation exercises that had been enriched with the target structures that students had tackled initially in CR tasks to examine whether the subjects in her study subsequently attended to the structures. She found that they did so quite consistently. Lynch (2001) recommends getting students to make transcripts of an extract (90-120 seconds) from their task performance as a method for inducing them to notice. After transcribing, they make any editing changes they wish. The teacher then takes away the word-processed transcripts and reformulates them. The next day the students are asked to compare their own edited transcripts with the teacher’s reformulated version. By so doing, students cooperated effectively in transcribing and engaged in both self- and other-correction. For instance, instead of creating a task to quiz others, students could create a task and try to guess or predict what sentences their partner is going to use to describe the differences. Next, they might be asked to write down the transcripts of possible conversation. Finally, they might be asked to follow the steps mentioned above to compare and contrast their own edited transcripts with the teacher’s reformulated version.

PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING LESSONS
The overall purpose of task-based methodology is to create opportunities for language learning and skill-development through collaborative knowledge-building. The following principles can be used to guide the selection of options for designing lessons (Ellis, 2002):

Principle 1: Ensure the appropriate level of task difficulty

Principle 2: Establish clear goals for each task-based lesson.

Principle 3: Develop an appropriate orientation for the students related to performing the task.

Principle 4: Ensure that students adopt an active role in task-based lessons.

Principle 5: Encourage students to take risks.

Principle 6: Ensure that students are primarily focused on meaning when they perform a task.

Principle 7: Provide opportunities for design options.

Principle 8: Require students to evaluate their performance and progress.

These principles are intended as a general guide to the teaching of task-based lessons, not as a set of commandments; that is, it is up to teachers to make their own methodological decisions based on their understanding of what will work best with their own students.

CHALLENGES
Even though TBLT can contribute to meaningful learning, there could be still some limitations or problems in certain school settings such as following listed:

1.	Large class sizes:

 * The task-based learning and teaching could be more time consuming when the task is complicated. Along with large class size issues, teachers might not have enough time to take care of every student and monitor their learning process or progress. In response, teachers could choose and train some high-level students as little teachers. They can help teach or model target skills for other students and also learn communicative skills for themselves.

2.	Cramped classrooms:

 * If the classroom is too cramped to have task-based learning, changing the classroom or reducing dynamic activities among the resolutions.

3.	Lack of appropriate resources:

 * Resources here might refer to time, place, technology tools, supplementary materials for TBL, and so forth. For example, some schools located in rural areas might not have the Internet in the classroom. Therefore, teachers should take these limitations into account while designing task-based lessons.

4.	Teachers not trained in task-based methodologies:

 * It could be a problem if teachers are not trained in task-based methodologies and still want to adopt this approach. In this case, teachers could adopt textbook materials designed for TBL. Such an approach could be an easy way for teachers to scaffold students’ learning effectively. In addition, teacher educators need to offer adequate practical in-service training for teachers to practice TBL in real teaching. Finally, teachers could attend some professional development workshops aiming in TBL to gain the professional knowledge of TBL. By doing so, teachers would feel more confident in implementing TBL in class.

5.	Teachers with limited language proficiency:

 * Since most ESL and EFL teachers are not native speakers, if we want to incorporate TBL in EFL/ESL classroom, it is possible that those teachers lack of adequate language proficiency to guide and model students’ learning. Or, they cannot provide abundant language exposure to support students’ language acquisition. Encouraging teachers to enhance their language proficiency by attending professional workshops or certain language communities could be helpful.

6.	Traditional examination-based syllabi

 * Another common worry voiced by teachers and students is “What about the exam?” many teachers worry that TBL will undermine students’ chances of success in traditional exams, especially if these put more emphasis on grammar and accuracy than on ability to communicate appropriately. Exams--school exams, university entrance exams, or external public exams--are often the student’s main motivators for studying a language. Anything not directly connected with them is often deemed a waste of time. If their exams do not test oral communication, students often wonder about the relevance of taking part in oral tasks (Willis, 1996). While the educational bureaucracies are conservative to change, teachers are responsible for striking a balance between standardized tests and task-based instruction.

CONCLUSION
Task-based learning offers a change from the grammar practice routines through which many learners have previously failed to learn to communicate. It encourages learners to experiment with whatever English they can recall, to try things out without fear of failure and public correction, and to take active control of their own learning, both in and outside class. For the teacher, it may be true that the task-based language teaching is an adventure. But, it is also an effective language instruction that is worth trying.

Task-based learning can also be used in content areas well beyond language learning. In such instruction, the learning “task” is viewed as a basic tool that teachers use to guide students developing strategies for real-world problems solving. Such an approach is broadly and effective in science, social studies, and other disciplines, including business, medical education, accounting, etc. By completing the task, learners are provided with a real purpose for knowledge or strategy use and a natural context for content study.

REFERENCE
Carless, D. (2002). Implementing task-based learning with young learners. Retrieved Nov. 4th, 2007, from []

Ellis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 4(3),193-200.

Ellis, R. (2001). Focusing on form: Towards a research agenda. In W. Renandya and N. Sunga (Eds). Language curriculum and instruction in multicultural societies (pp. 123-144). Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.

Ellis, R. (2002). The methodology of task-based teaching. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Foster, P. (1999). Task-based learning and pedagogy. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Fotos, S. (1993). Consciousness-raising and noticing through focus on form: Grammar task performance vs. formal instruction. Applied Linguistics, 14, 385-407

Frost, R. (2007). A task-based approach. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Givon, T. (1979). On understanding grammar. New York: Academic Press.

Joe, A. (1998). What effects do text-based tasks promoting generation have on incidental vocabulary acquisition. Applied Linguistics 19:357-77.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Task-based instruction. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Littlewood, W. (2007). Communicative and task-based language teaching in East Asian classrooms. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Loshcky, L., & R. Bley-Verman. (1993). Grammar and task-based methodology. In Crookes, G. and Gass, S. (eds.)

Lynch, T. (2001). Seeing what they meant: Transcribing as a route to noticing. ELT Journal 55: 124-32

Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nunan, D. (2006). Task-based language teaching in the Asia context: Defining 'task'. Retrieved October 9th, 2007, from []

Newton, J. (2001). Options for vocabulary learning through communication tasks. ELT Journal 50:30-37.

Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Skehan, P. (1996). A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics 17:38-62

Skehan, P. (1998a). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Skehan, P. (1998b). Task-based instruction. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 18, 268-86.

Skehan, P., & P. Foster. (1997). Task type and task processing conditions as influences on foreign language performance. Language Teaching Research, 1,185-211.

Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman.

Willis, J. R., & Leaver, B. L. (2004). Task-based instruction in foreign language education: Practices and programs.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Learning theories in practice/WebQuests as Second Language contexts

I remember those times when I sat quietly in English reading classes in Thailand on hot and humid days. Nobody in the class was allowed to talk except the teacher. We were told to memorize a long list of vocabulary with the hope to do well on the upcoming English reading tests. Page after page of a thick English textbook were read and translated to ensure our understanding of every word on the reading passages. The test results came out later. Needless to say, only a few people passed the test despite their passionate (and some not so passionate) attempts to memorize hundreds of lexical items or translate numerous reading passages.

This scenario is probably common in thousands of English language classrooms worldwide – drill, drill, and more drills. This approach clearly did not result in the desired proficiency of English.

And now I become a teacher of English. I would like to change the atmosphere of the class to be more vibrant and engaging. With the advent of computers and the Internet, language classrooms can be more funny and interesting with only a click of a button or a scroll of a mouse. Web-based learning, such as WebQuests, can provide an answer to the quest for interactive “English as a Second Language” (ESL) classrooms.

Contrary to the traditional ESL classrooms, with the use of WebQuests, students can actively participate in group discussion when exploring an issue. They can develop search skills and critical thinking skills when finding information from resources on the Internet. They also have a chance to actually use the target language in the form of reading web pages, writing presentations, listening to peers’ opinions, and discussing ideas on critical issues. Evidently, several learning theories and concepts are embedded in WebQuests. These concepts and ideas relate to critical thinking skills, second language acquisition, and social constructivism, to name a few. WebQuest, therefore, is an option for ESL teachers to engage students in authentic and meaningful activities while learning English language at the same time.

Employing WebQuest to the instruction is novel and intriguing to motivate students’ learning. On WebQuest, teachers offer scaffolding for students to construct and explore their own knowledge. It is like a journey of exploration as well as construction. This journey is funny and informative. Through WebQuest, students acquire not only language competence but also content information. Moreover, students learn computer literacy.

WebQuests
WebQuest is a term coined by Bernie Dodge from San Diego State University as “an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet” (March, 2004, p. 1). March (2004), who is the co-creator of WebQuest, later revised WebQuest’s definition and articulated it as “a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended question development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding” (March, 2004, p. 3). Stated another way, Webquests involve the exploration of real world information and events on the Web in an attempt to solve a problem or find needed content related to a task that students have been assigned.

In order to complete the main task of a WebQuest, students will use information from various sources to form their own opinions and share them with their group members to create a final project, which is usually in the form of an oral presentation or written materials such as brochure or newsletter, or even the creation of a website. To complete a WebQuest task, students typically do not need to use search engines as their primary tools so they do not run the risk of accessing inappropriate material or being overwhelmed by large amount of information. Because WebQuests include only links that are relevant to the lesson learned, they provide efficient and focused lessons. WebQuests therefore take advantage of several learning concepts that are believed to benefit learners. In sum, WebQuests are inquiry-oriented and group-work centered. In addition, they involve higher order thinking skills and selected Internet sources (Dodge, 1998).

Components of a WebQuest
WebQuests are composed of five important components:

Introduction
The introduction part on a WebQuest introduces the scenario and central question. It discusses the importance of the main question of the WebQuest and reasons why the topic is worth investigating.

Task
The task section is probably the most important section of a WebQuest because it provides focus for the learners’ activities. There are 12 common task formats: retelling, compilation, mystery, journalistic, design, creative product, consensus building, persuasion, self-knowledge, analytical, judgment, and scientific tasks (Dodge, 1999). Despite the variability of task types, most WebQuests need students to work in groups to explore an issue and produce their group opinion or solution as the final product, usually in the form of multimedia presentations, brochures, and websites, to inform the class of the group decision.

Process
The process section outlines necessary steps to assist learners in accomplishing the task. It usually provides guidance and support about how to divide responsibilities along with how to find and organize information. Descriptions of roles and their responsibilities are offered together with scaffolding tools, such as online dictionaries and advance organizers, including handouts or templates.

Resources
The resources page usually provides a list of web links where students can find information on the issue discussed. These websites are pre-selected by the teacher to allow learners to focus on the topic without having to aimlessly surf the Internet.

Evaluation
The evaluation page contains criteria related to how students’ work will be evaluated. These criteria usually come in the form of rubrics, indicating selected aspects of students’ performance to be evaluated and indicators reflecting a variety of performance and language levels.

Conclusion
The conclusion page summarizes what students have learned from the WebQuests and encourages students to apply what they have learned in their local contexts.

A YouTube video on “Why use WebQuests?” See why WebQuest is a good learning tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZ949Zi0TY

WebQuests and second language learning
Interaction plays a significant role in second language acquisition. It is through the interaction with others--as well as the learning materials--that learners receive input and also form and test language hypotheses in order to acquire the target language (Gass, 1988). WebQuests allow learners to receive input in the form of aural and written information, such as reading information on web pages or participating in group discussion in the target language. The learners then attempt to test their language hypotheses by generating output in the form of oral or written production, such as writing scripts for a presentation or preparing a brochure for a topic. This process allows learners to reuse newly integrated language hypotheses and check their understanding. And if the language production leads to misunderstanding, learners will negotiate meaning and try to produce the more intelligible language. Learners then should be exposed to a range of target structures which are within the learner’s grasp and have opportunities to receive input and output to develop fluency, accuracy, and complexity of the target language. WebQuests allow learners to engage in activities that encourage social interaction and collaboration so they have opportunities for communication in the target language.

A case in point is the Talenquest project. The Dutch project “Talenquest,” or LanguageQuest in English, has been developed with a focus on foreign language learning. It is intended to be used as a language learning activity that would provide a variety of language input and encourages learners to collaboratively produce language in an authentic environment. Koenraad and Westhoff (2003) proposed some guidelines for the creation of WebQuests to promote language learning. They suggest that the task should encourage the use of the target language either in the form of instruction language, or the language used when students complete the task, or the language of the end products of the LanguageQuest, or a combination of all of the above. In addition, the material presented in the LanguageQuest should be authentic and reflect what learners would apply in their real life. The tasks within the LanguageQuest should be flexible and promote collaboration and meaningful communication.

WebQuests and social constructivism
Principles of constructivism also support the use of computers in second language learning classrooms. Web-based learning, such as WebQuests, can provide a context for collaboration and social interaction in which learners will construct the knowledge of the target language by being engaged in meaningful activities (Simina & Hamel, 2005). As a result, these computer-based activities enable interpersonal interaction and interaction with the learning materials in the target language.

WebQuests, therefore, provide an ideal context for second language learning because it provides multiple representations of the natural complexity of the real world, representing authentic tasks and enabling context and content dependent knowledge construction (Simina & Hamel, 2005). The constructivist nature of WebQuests leave more space for learners to create their own second language interpretations in which negotiation of meaning will be checked and modified to fit the target language. Learners, therefore, can create their own interpretations through the social negotiation and collaborative construction of knowledge and keep track of their progress of language learning to see how their interpretations fit into the target language. This idea also resonates with the idea of the development of knowledge proposed by Bednar, Cunningham, Duffy, and Perry (1992), which states that knowledge can be developed through the sharing of multiple perspectives and the learners’ interpretation of those perspectives.

In addition, since WebQuest tasks usually involve group work, in which learners take on specific roles, they promote cooperative and collaborative learning. Face-to-face interaction is vital to WebQuests activity because students need to provide each other with assistance to complete the WebQuest task. In order to successfully accomplish the task, students have to exchanges resource and offer feedback. As a result, individual accountability is essential as learners attempt to complete the task. In sum, the WebQuest is a learner-centered activity that allows learners to construct representations of the target language based on their prior knowledge and experiences. Learners can also be involved in authentic activities that expose them to variety of language input. As a result, the use of WebQuests in a second language classroom is a good example of applying computers and technology in second language acquisition contexts.

WebQuests and critical thinking
WebQuests can also be used to develop critical thinking skills among students. Before attempting to illustrate how WebQuests can be used to develop critical think skills, definitions of critical think should first be examined.

While definitions of critical thinking abound, most share some basic features and address some basic components of critical thinking. Critical thinking can be thought of as a higher order skill associated with the ability to think logically based on information evaluated according to certain criteria. Higher order thinking is “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generalized by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief or action” (Scriven & Paul, as cited in Coster & Ledovski, 2005). Salmon (1998) suggests that the activities that have a potential to promote critical thinking may include activities that are

offering ideas or resources; inviting critique; asking challenging questions; articulating, explaining and supporting positions on issues; exploring and supporting issues by adding explanations and examples; reflecting and re-valuating personal positions; critiquing, challenging, discussion and expanding ideas of others; negotiating interpretations, definitions and meanings; summarizing and modeling previous contributions; proposing actions based on developed ideas. (p. 5)

Critical thinking skills can also be illustrated using Bloom’s Taxonomy. The first three levels of knowledge, comprehension, and application are often referred to as lower order thinking skills. The remaining levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are therefore known as higher order thinking skills or critical thinking skills. Further discussion on each of the higher order thinking skills will be provided below.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain
Higher Order Thinking Skills

 * Evaluation

 * Synthesis

 * Analysis

Lower Order Thinking Skills

 * Application

 * Comprehension

 * Knowledge

Analysis
Analysis requires “examinations of parts or elements of concepts, analyzing the relationship between conclusions and evidence, organizing knowledge based on a principle, or making inferences based on data” (Aviles, 1999 p. 11) It is the ability to break down material into its component parts and may include the analysis of relationships between parts or aspects of a problem or situation.

Synthesis
Synthesis can be thought of as creativity or production of things that are new. It refers to the ability to put parts together to create a whole. Students put ideas together to originate or create something that is new to them.

Evaluation
Evaluation requires students to make judgments. Such judgments are based on defined criteria developed by students or taken from outside resources. It can be shown in the form of class discussion when students share their opinions based on their judgments of information presented on an issue. Judgments, therefore, are neither “right or wrong”.

Even though studies on critical thinking skills and WebQuests use among ESL/EFL students are scarce, several studies have investigated how WebQuests can promote critical thinking skills among first language students in different subjects. WebQuest can promote critical thinking because it requires each member of the group to carry out a specific, meaningful role, and then pool their respective research findings to formulate a response to a complex, open-ended problem. Unlike traditional learning activities, there can be multiple solutions to the problem in a WebQuest. A good WebQuest focuses on an issue that has multiple viewpoints, such as social, political, environmental, or health-related. It also requires more than information gathering; students must process the information in order to form their opinions. Webquests help develop higher cognitive thinking by requiring students to sift through extensive information from the Web until they can construct an understanding that not only connects to their schema, but also builds new knowledge (March, 1998). This activity develops higher-order thinking skills as students summarize and synthesize information to form their opinions (Leahy & Twomey, 2005). As a result, this process of text selection requires students to evaluate content of the texts as well as draw and test their inferences.

Kanuka (2005) conducted an action research study that explored five types of web-based teaching strategies, namely nominal group, debate, brainstorming, invited guest, and WebQuest. According to the SOLO (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) taxonomy, which describes the hierarchy of complexity through which learners show mastery of their academic written work, WebQuest appear to be the most effective instructional strategy for facilitating higher levels of learning when the results show that students’ writing reflected relational responses and extended abstract responses more than other instructional strategies.

Second Language Learning
WebQuest Activities

 * Reading various articles from the Internet

 * Writing scripts for a presentation or preparing a brochure, or newsletter

 * Participating in group discussion

Learning principles involved

 * Receiving language input

 * Producing language output

 * Using and testing newly integrated language hypotheses

 * Negotiate meaning of language newly acquired

 * Exposing students to a variety of the target language’s structures

 * Having opportunities to use the target language communicatively

Social Constructivism
WebQuest Activities

 * Solving a WebQuest task

 * Participating in group discussion

 * Arriving at group decisions

 * Producing the final product

Learning principles involved

 * Learning through authentic tasks

 * Negotiating meanings through face-to-face interaction in the target language

 * Constructing knowledge of the structures of the target language

 * Constructing knowledge of a particular subject

 * Developing an expertise on a subject

 * Promoting cooperative and collaborative learning

 * Participating in a learner-centered activity

Critical thinking skills
WebQuest Activities

 * Sifting through web resources to find most appropriate information for the tasks

 * Synthesizing information from the web

 * Creating the final product

 * Relating information from the web to the tasks

 * Arriving at group decisions

 * Developing an individual expertise on a WebQuest role

Learning principles involved

 * Developing analysis, synthesis, and evaluation skills, considered the higher-thinking skills on the Bloom’s taxonomy

 * Making informed decisions based on information obtained

 * Developing critical reading skills

 * Learning to write critically

 * Developing reasoning skills

 * Negotiating ideas critically

 * Learning to evaluate information from the Internet

Example of WebQuests
To Hunt or not to Hunt WebQuest http://www.rippleeffectlearning.com/webquest/Webquest.html

This WebQuest, created by Joni Turville for native English speaking students, asks students to decide whether all Bowhead whale hunting should be prohibited. They will work in small groups and assume different roles on the WebQuest: the Inuit hunters, the animal protection activists, and the environmentalists. They will then form group opinions on the issue and present their decision to the class using multimedia presentation. The nature of this WebQuest allows students to investigate a real environmental issue, explore cultures of Inuit people, develop critical perspectives, and practice language skills at the same time. In terms of language learning, students can practice reading comprehension, summarizing, writing, and speaking skills.

Looking closely at the WebQuest, we can see how the learning principles mentioned in this chapter are embedded. The introduction section lays the backgrounds of the issue and activates students’ prior knowledge by asking questions to motivate students’ curiosity. In the task section, students will have a specific idea of what they need to do in order to complete the task. Students are then assigned to different roles on the process section. In this section, students will also have a chance to explore background knowledge of key issues and specific information pertaining the role they have been assigned.

With role assignment, each student has to develop their individual expertise on an aspect of the issue. Cooperation plays a vital role in this process when they have to delegate group responsibility and establish a group plan to accomplish the task. Every group member, therefore, needs to work on his or her own to develop their different abilities and at the same time share knowledge with his or her group members. Through social interaction, constructive learning among group members can then occur.

The web links to resources provided on the process page point to specific websites where students can find the information they need. Links to online dictionaries are provided to facilitate students with information gathering and producing the final project. Templates are also given for students to organize the information they have collected. These online tools and templates can be seen as a kind of scaffolding that learners can use to learn new concepts and language that are just beyond their level of knowledge and competency.

The evaluation page provides a rubric for the evaluation of students’ work. The conclusion section allows students to reflect on their work and arrive at class decision on the issue. This WebQuest also attempts to connect to students’ real life environmental problems in their community by having an extra section on real world action. This authentic activity allows students to apply what they have learned in the class to real life situations. The resources page provides extensive information on issues which students can explore outside the class.

A story of WebQuest implementation in an English as a foreign language class in Thailand
During the summer of 2007, I had a chance to introduce WebQuests to an English reading class in Thailand. The teacher used the WebQuest, mentioned above, with college students from different majors at a university in Bangkok. Students were very enthusiastic with these WebQuest activities and actively engaged in group discussion. Most students found that WebQuests gave them a chance to exchange ideas with other classmates, which was not available in traditional English reading class, and see different perspectives on the issue. As a result, this activity prompted them to exercise their creativity as well as critical thinking skills when they tried to reach group consensus on issues and create an interesting presentation.

However, some concerns were raised after the activity. Since some students were not familiar with working in a loosely-structured group activity like WebQuests, some of them were sitting around waiting for other team members to finish the task. The teacher was also not quite sure about their roles while students were working in groups during most of the class time. Many students also complained about the limitation of time to complete the activity. Since the class schedule was pre-arranged by university administrators, students had only two one-and-a-half-hour class sessions to finish the activity.

The solutions to the problems raised would be for the teacher to receive some training before introducing WebQuests activity to the class. The teacher also needs to model how to work in groups so students understand their roles. Group leaders may also be assigned to ensure fair delegation of work among group members. As for the time constraint, the teacher can ask students to do some reading or some preparation prior to the class. Despite these obstacles, students and teachers can still benefit from applying WebQuests to their ESL/EFL classes.

Examples of the students’ PowerPoint presentations from the class mentioned above

 * Inuit hunters http://www.mediafire.com/?8i6rghwy6xe

 * Environmental protection activists http://www.mediafire.com/?3o9rbwnwohz

Cool resources for WebQuests
WebQuest.org (http://webquest.org/index.php)

This is probably the most comprehensive website on WebQuests. It was created by Bernie Dodge, the person who created WebQuests. This website provides everything you want to know about WebQuests, ranging from theories, implementation tips, resources, and news. You can also search for a WebQuest of your interest from a large WebQuest database.

Questgarden (http://questgarden.com/) If you are interested in creating a WebQuests, you can go to Questgarden. It provides easy-to-use templates where you can create your own WebQuests and host it on the Internet. A 30-day trial is offered for free. After the trial period you need to pay membership fee of 20 dollars for a two-year subscription.

CALL-ESL (http://www.call-esl.com/) This website was created particularly for ESL teachers. It provides useful resources on ESL WebQuests, including a list of ESL WebQuests and handouts, along with general information on WebQuests.

Reference
Aviles, C. B. (1999). Understanding and testing for “Critical Thinking” with Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (45th, San Francisco, CA, March 10-13, 1999).

Bednar, A. K., Cunningham, D., Duffy, T. M., & Perry, J. D. (1992). Theory and practice: How do we link? In T. M. Duffy & D. H. Jonassen (Eds.) ''Constructivism and the technology of instruction: a conversation. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 17-34.''

Coster, J., & Ledovski, V. (2005). Thinking outside the square: Promoting critical thinking through online discussions. Paper presented at the 18th Annual English Australia Education Conference.

Dodge, B. (1998). WebQuests: A strategy for scaffolding higher level learning. Retrieved October 22, 2007 from http://webquest.sdsu.edu/necc98.htm

Dodge, B. (1999, August 11, 1999). WebQuest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks [Internet]. Retrieved October 25, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/taskonomy.html

Gass, S. (1988). Integrating research areas: A framework for second language studies. Applied Linguistics, 9, 198-217.

Koenraad, T. L., & Westhoff, G. J. (2003). Can you tell a LanguageQuest when you see one?: Design criteria for TalenQuests. Paper presented at the 2003 Conference of the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning, University of Limerick, Ireland, 3-6 September 2003

Leahy, M., & Twomey, D. (2005). Using web design with pre-service teachers as a means of creating a collaborative learning environment. Educational Media International, 42, 143-151.

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Simina, V., & Hamel, M. CASLA through a social constructivist perspective: WebQuest in project-driven language learning. ReCALL, 17, 217-228.


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Learning theories in practice/Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary Learning Strategies in Foreign Language
One of the language learning is vocabulary learning. The vocabulary learning is the most basic and fundamental unit of language learning. Specifically, it is more important for second/foreign language learners. They can understand word meanings well and maintain the new words longer, having their own effective vocabulary learning strategies.

This chapter reviews various vocabulary learning strategies in foreign language learning.
 * Thematic organization of vocabulary
 * Wholes to parts.( body-arms/legs-fingers/toes)
 * General to specific(food-vegetables-cabbages)
 * Degree of difference(hot-warm-cold, always-usually-sometimes-never)
 * Guessing from context
 * Using dictionary/E-dictionary
 * Note-taking
 * Rote-rehearsal
 * Repeating aloud: the ear does assist the eye in the long-term retention of lexis.(Kelly)
 * Using the word in several sentences.
 * Mnemonics; focusing on memory
 * Word formation; focusing on form
 * Semantic networks; focusing on meaning
 * Think of memories, emotions that might associate with this word.

In conclusion, myriad strategies have been used in language learning process. However, there is not a single best strategy in vocabulary learning. Different people have different strategies. Thus the choice, use, and effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies depend on the task, the learner, and the context. Furthermore, as a teacher, he or she is responsible for providing students with opportunities to choose their individual strategy by themselves.


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TESOL/Borrow and lend

The words borrow and lend can be confusing for people learning English.

Meaning
Just remember borrow from and lend to.

 * I borrow a book from the library.
 * The library lends a book to me.

Mechanics
You can lend something to somebody, or you can lend somebody something.

 * I will lend you my notebook.
 * I will lend my notebook to you.

Borrow is different. You can only borrow something from somebody.
 * Can I borrow your book from you?
 * Can I borrow you your book?

Practice
{Could you - me your pen? + lend - borrow
 * type=""}

{Can I - your computer? - lend + borrow
 * type=""}

{You can - this DVD for 7 days. - lend + borrow
 * type=""}

{Could you - us a hand? + lend - borrow
 * type=""}

{How many books can I - at a time from this library? - lend + borrow
 * type=""}

title: TESOL/Borrow and lend


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title: User talk:Callicoma


text:
Learning theories in practice/Introduction

Purpose
This book, "The Practice of Learning Theories" (The POLT), has its roots or origins in two graduate level classes on learning theories and instructional design principles taught by Dr. Mimi Miyoung Lee at the University of Houston and Dr. Curt Bonk at Indiana University during the fall of 2007. Drs. Lee and Bonk decided against replicating wikibooks on learning theories and learning theorists since Dr. Dale Fowler with Indiana Wesleyan University at the time, had already coordinated those (see Learning Theories and Learning Theorists. Instead, they showed those books to their students and had them edit them.  In addition, they had their students critique an existing wikibook on "Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology" coordinated by Michael Orey at the University of Georgia (for their critiques, see []/ and for that wikibook, see []).  So, in effect, this was perhaps the first class to critique a wikibook, edit a wikibook, and write their own wikibook.  There are many lessons learned from that process that we will try to document in a journal article sometime in 2008.

As you will see from exploring this wikibook, Drs. Lee and Bonk believed that implementing learning theory and instructional design ideas was critical to learning and internalizing ideas about learning; hence, this particular wikibook on the practice of learning theories. Having students doing something with their new knowledge and learning was important or at least having students plan how they would implement it when teaching. Many of the chapters have stories or examples that help explain or illustrate what the chapter is about. Some have real world stories from experiences as teachers and others have examples from the authors' experiences as learners. We hope you learn from each example, model, story, framework, and idea in this book.

There were many language education students in the class at Indiana University; hence, many chapters related to that topic. Please feel free to add to, edit, or modify this book in any way. The sky is the limit--who knows, there could be hundreds of chapters in this book in a year with many excellent examples of how learning theories are being practiced around the world. We welcome your support and contributions. Enjoy this book!

Ending the POLT is Not so Easy!
Can a book like the POLT ever be ended? Can we truly stop applying learning theories? Can we think of all the ways in which learning theories can be applied today in December 2007 and have no more ideas in 2008 or 2009 or 2015 later on? Certainly not! Scholars and practitioners will continually dream up new learning theories and instructional design models. There is no doubt that we will!!! At the same time, teachers, trainers, and other educators will come up with innovative and adventurous ways to apply them. As a result, if people continue to edit, add to, or modify this book, it will never end. The POLT will live on and on and on.

We are ALL practitioners of learning theories. We practice them with our students, with our children, with our friends, with our relatives, and with all others we encounter. We apply learning theories in both formal and informal settings on a daily, if not minute-to-minute, basis. Stop for a second and record these and then add them to this book. Your experiences and insights in the application of learning theories is always going to be welcome here!

As was mentioned in the introduction to the POLT, this book sprang forth from graduate learning theories and instructional design courses taught by Dr. Mimi Lee at the University of Houston and Dr. Curt Bonk at Indiana University. We hope you have enjoyed reading different sections of this book. We welcome others to add to it in unique ways; especially, college and university classes related to learning theories and instructional design. We realize that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of additional perspectives that need to be added to this book. We welcome yours.

We look forward to coming back in a month, a year, or perhaps even a decade and seeing the insightful as well as the mysterious ways in which learning theories and instructional design models can be applied in real world settings on this planet, be they in religious organizations, museums, educational institutions, corporate training settings, or even in political situations. That is what makes learning theories so much fun to use and reflect on. We all are learners and we all push on with our own unique strengths and interests to apply learning theories.

As a final note, it will also be important to know how this book is being used. If you have a unique application or idea related to this book, please let us know about it. We always love to hear stories of how free and open access resources such as wikibooks are used for education around the globe as well as ideas for new wikibooks on similar topics or other collaboration ideas. If you have a unique or interesting story (or any story for that matter), feel free to contact Dr. Bonk at Indiana University (see []). As indicated, ending the "The Practice of Learning Theories" (i.e., the POLT) is never easy, so consider this the end of this sentence, not the end of the opportunities that await each of us in applying learning theories.