The kind of language learners are exposed to during the task circle can come from a number of sources. In the following section, the most important ones will be introduced.
4.1 Text-based tasks
Text-based tasks require learners to process a text, any piece of spoken or written continuous speech, for meaning in order to achieve the goals of the task. This primarily involves reading, listening to or viewing the text with some kind of "communicative purpose", as Willis points out (Willis, 68), and may also involve talking about the text or perhaps writing notes.
Many teachers use supplementary materials in their lessons since the language found in some coursebooks is restricted and simplified. These have to be chosen, however, with due regard both for the language and the learner. Most learners have their favourite topics or specialist areas. Extra motivation can be achieved when the teacher chooses supplementary material reflecting the learners' interests.
Texts can be found in a variety of sources.
Continuous spoken language used in the classroom would normally come from professionally made radio or TV-programmes. Some sources, like the BBC World Service, are aware of the fact that their audiences are non-native speakers of English and adapt the language they use in a natural way. According to Willis, such an adaptation can still be called "authentic", because it has not been produced "with a specific-language teaching purpose in mind, but mainly to communicate, inform and/or entertain" (Willis, 69).
When turning to written language, one has to distinguish between published and unpublished sources. Published sources are books, newspapers or magazines, unpublished sources would include for example letters from pen-friends and data collected by learners doing specialist project work. Nowadays, also the Internet is becoming a useful resource. A whole range of text-types is available, most of the material being spontaneous, unedited and available without charge. Yet, the Internet is definitely not teachers' paradise, as section 4.2 will show.
As always in task-based learning, it is also important in the case of reading tasks to give learners a specific purpose for what they are doing. Unless learners are given a specific purpose for reading, they see the text as a decontextualised learning device and read one word at a time, looking up all the words they do not understand. They should, in contrast, work out which words belong together and form units of meaning. This can only be achieved when reading for meaning is promoted. Learners have to get used to the idea that reading for partial or approximate comprehension is much more useful than aiming at perfect understanding each time.
Listening to the radio or watching TV is slightly different from reading in the sense that these activities have to be done in real time and in sequence. This can be a problem in lessons since some learners tend to panic, then get left behind and finally give up. Carefully designed tasks on well-chosen texts can prevent this happening. It is important to encourage learners to listen to the source, predict and make guesses about meanings without penalising wrong ones.
Text-based tasks cover a variety of different tasks.
In predicting tasks, for example, learners predict or attempt to reconstruct the content of a text on the basis of given clues from part of it, without having read, heard or seen the whole. In jumbles, learners are confronted with sections of parts of a complete text, but in the wrong order. It is the learners' job to rearrange these sections. Another useful excercise are restoration tasks, where learners replace words or phrases that have been omitted from a text, or identify an extra sentence or paragraph that has been put in. In jigsaw tasks, the aim is for learners to make a whole from different parts of a text, each being held by a different person or taken from a different source. Comparison tasks, finally, invite learners to compare two or more similar texts to spot factual or attitudinal differences, or to find two points in common.
Learners might have difficulties with certain texts. Factors which are likely to cause problems are unknown words or phrases, unusual metaphors and complex phrase- or clause structures. Teachers ought to consider these items when preparing their classes for the task. Generally, if a text is linguistically complex, an easy task should be set. If, on the other hand, a text is easy, more challenging tasks can be set.
4.2 The Internet - unlimited archives for teaching material?
The democratic structure of the Internet, that gives every user the opportunity to contribute his thoughts, allows a totally different view of our society and makes the Internet also interesting for education and teaching. The speed in which information is provided and can be downloaded makes it absolutely unrivalled.
Governments and governmental organisations all over the world put a great effort into making people fit for the Internet since this is the medium of the future. Yet, the view of the Internet which is promoted by various people because of various intentions is not always what the Internet really is. It offers such fantastic opportunities that very soon a commercialisation of the Internet could be noticed. This is fair enough as long as the intention is clear and as long as it makes things easier for the consumer. Nowadays, all large companies have got their own homepage which they use mainly as an up-to-date and cheap means of advertising.
Looking at homepages without a commercial background, one can find a quite good reflection of our world and of society. Thanks to free offers for homepages and webspace from advertising-financed webservice providers, everybody can nowadays easily publish their views and opinions on the Internet. This is positive on the one hand, since information can be made available to the world quite fast and unbureaucratically. It is negative, on the other hand, because there is no guarantee, not even a hint for the quality of the offered information. This is not of relevance in personal homepages presenting its author. It is, however, of great significance, when one considers the educational value of the Internet.
When we go to a library to inform ourselves about a certain topic, we can assume that the books we find there, are of rather high quality. Especially in science and studies, the points of view of the various scholars may differ enormously, but at least we can proceed on the assumption that what finally was published is well-researched and well underpinned. This is guaranteed to us by the readers and the publishers of the publishing house. On the Internet, everyone is their own publisher and nobody else than the author himself decides what to make available for the public and what not. Speaking of science and studies, information that has been insufficiently researched or that has yet not been thought through to the end can be easily found on the Internet. Not only unknown or even anonymous authors or sources which are not well-known but also traditional and well-known publishing houses offer insufficient information that is sometimes not reliable. Their data is limited just to avoid to compete the books they are publishing. Very likely, this unreliable data makes up the majority of information offered on the Internet. It is, therefore, quite risky to fully rely on the Internet when looking for important data.
4.3 Exposure to spontaneous speech
Spontaneous speech and spoken interaction in the target language are important sources of exposure for learners. Yet, this is the most difficult type of language to bring into the classrooms for teaching purposes.
Apart from teacher-led conversations, typical samples of real-time interaction are generally all too rarely heard in the language classroom. But what learners need are the kinds of words and phrases that sustain the interaction and link ideas without sounding awkward. This can be achieved by exposing learners to pieces of recorded speech showing them how fluent speakers manage the organisation of a conversation.
One practical solution for finding comprehensible material is to make one's own recordings of fluent target language speakers doing the same tasks as the learners. This exposure to samples of real-time talk is immediately relevant to the learners' learning situations.
Learners in this case have a reason for listening and get to know what the task goals are. Additionally, they get used to listening for specific things and hear "how speakers negotiate opening moves, sustain the interaction, evaluate progress and bring things to a close" (Willis, 89). Most learners find it useful using a transcript accompanying the listening task.
We can distinguish between "closed tasks" and "open tasks" here. If the task consists of a problem or a puzzle to solve, it would obviously be of no use to play the whole recording first. In this case, learners would better do the closed task first, then hear the recording afterwards. They can compare the strategies speakers used in the recording with their own strategies.
If, however, the task consists of comparing personal experiences, then it might be useful for learners to listen before they do it. In this case there is no solution - just a range of different perspectives.
While listening to task recordings, it is important for learners to feel they are managing to understand quite a lot for themselves. They should, however, not be expected to understand everything. Setting a different purpose each time they listen, each slightly more challenging than the last, is a way of grading the activity.
When teaching in an environment where fluent speakers of the target language are easily accessible, it might also be possible to get groups of learners to record interviews to bring back into the classroom or to simply bring them into contact with native speakers.
Basically, most people are willing to talk about things the learners are interested in. And learners, even if feeling a little nervous in the beginning, find that they can speak enough to hold interviews, and bring back to class something unique, personal and satisfying. Any written documentation accompanying the interviews might serve as background information for the class.
It might be a good idea to plan a series of interviews starting with people learners are familiar with, then progressing to people outside the school. Finally, it will be a challenge to find local personalities who learners do not know.
Thirdly, teachers can exploit the recorded interviews in textbooks and resource books. Although they are rarely natural and spontaneous, as samples of a certain type of spoken interaction, they are always useful.
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