Creating tasks may sound simple,
however, it is one of the challenging jobs for language teachers. In teaching
language, teachers need to consider many things such as learners’ social
background, learner’s language proficiency, learners’ ability, learners’
attitude and many more. Thus, creating tasks can be a challenge for them.
Cummins (1981) suggests 2 main elements in designing materials – contextual
relevance and cognitive difficulty – which are formed into a matrix to show
four levels to consider in tasks design. Based on Cummins’ matrix, tasks can be
easy for some, and difficult for some. One task may not suit all learners, and
thus make task design a challenge for language teachers. This study looks at
the use of tasks, developed based on Cummins’ matrix, for low proficiency English
language learners. Five types of tasks are used, and learners’ views are
gathered to understand what they think of the tasks. The aim of the study is to
explore learners’ perceptions towards tasks prepared for an English language
class, and aligning them with the teacher’s understanding of the tasks. Fourteen learners were involved
in the study. Using qualitative approach, data is gathered through interviews,
which are then transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis.
Results show that learners have different views of tasks, which may be due to
many factors within learners’ experience and knowledge. This shows that
although learners are of the same proficiency level, the difficulty of tasks may
not be equal for all learners as it is affected by the contextual relevance of
the tasks to learners, as well as the cognitive level of learners in their
ability to perform the tasks. Therefore, understanding learners is important
for teachers in planning suitable tasks for their learners. By doing this,
learners will have more enjoyment in language learning, and able to associate
tasks more to their life.
Tasks contextual relevance cognitive difficulty language learning
Bölüm | Makaleler |
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Yazarlar | |
Yayımlanma Tarihi | 31 Ağustos 2017 |
Gönderilme Tarihi | 29 Ağustos 2017 |
Yayımlandığı Sayı | Yıl 2017Cilt: 3 Sayı: 8 |
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