Introduction
When our group was discussing the level of proficiency and the interests/preferences of the learners that would work on our task, we came to the conclusion that a thrilling story with interpersonal conflicts would be perfectly suitable. I started off with the first chapter and passed it on to the next person, who then added chapter two, introducing a new character to the plot. As we had five people in our group, the final story consists of five paragraphs and five different characters.
Each of us comes from a different cultural background, which gives the story different perspectives. When I started with the first chapter I did not imagine the end to be as it is now. I was geared to French and Scandinavian thrillers, and therefore made my character come alive from a European viewpoint. Chapter three, four and five were written by our female, Asian group members, whose view of relationships and dilemmas are very different from mine. Their focus lies in double-faced characters, responsibilities towards family members and the burden of a student or working life. Chapter two was produced by the only native English speaker of our group, as can be seen by his use of vocabulary and sentence structure. This chapter also describes the most complex relation between people, with a third, nameless player entering the stage. Personal and literal experiences have had distinct influences on us and hence, a diverse outcome has been produced by us.
I consider our group work as a task by itself, the task to design a task. We had to use our second language in order to communicate in the seminar room. We had to write our story in our second language, using our own linguistic resources. We also had to send and reply to emails in our second language to request clarification. Each of us had an information gap, as we did not know any other part of the plot except the one we wrote (there were some minor opinion gaps as well). We used our own language resources (with occasional help of our native speaker) and then we had a clear outcome: our task.
I will not go into more detail here as my paper focuses on a description of our task and the learners, a lesson plan and a rationale.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The task
The learners
The lesson plan
1) Introduction / Pre-task (5 min)
2) Individual work (15 min)
3) Group work (15 min)
4) Class room debate (15 min)
5) Final stage (1 min)
Rationale
Objectives and Topics
The primary objective of this assignment is to design and analyze a task-based language learning activity ("Who killed the boss?") for upper-intermediate learners, focusing on communicative processes and learner interaction.
- Design of an unfocused, open task based on a murder mystery thriller.
- Implementation of communicative language teaching strategies (Reading, Listening, Speaking).
- Analysis of task features, including opinion and reasoning gaps.
- Evaluation of learner motivation and social interaction during small group and class activities.
- Examination of the role of strategic and online planning in task performance.
Extract from the Book
The task
As I have already mentioned above, the cover story for our task is a thriller. There is the boss of an exotic fruit company, Bill Carpenter, who has to face various problems, in private as well as working life. His wife Dolly is sick of his affairs and wants to leave him, but Bill refuses to let her go and take half of their assets. She is financially dependent on him, unwilling to leave him because of this and therefore furious. Bill’s former employee Chris has contracted an unknown disease while working for the company and is now blaming his boss for his state. He has already threatened Bill in public. When Chris’ wife Janet tries to get her boss Bill to support medical care for her husband, Bill asks for sexual favours in exchange. Janet and Chris’ son Bruce comes to know, and he is enraged by Bill’s behaviour as he is studying hard to support his family. He announces that he is going to solve the problem.
All of the characters in the story have got a motive to kill Bill, and he himself has got more than one reason to commit suicide. As a consequence, he is found dead in his office in the end of the story.
The learners are supposed to read the story by themselves and independently rate the characters as to which of them is the number one suspect, number two suspect, and so on. When they are finished, they will meet in small groups of two or three and discuss their rankings. After the discussion, they should come up with a group list. In the third part of the lesson, the whole class will debate the rankings and try to create an overall list. There are three skills involved in the task: Reading, Listening and Speaking.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Provides the context for the development of the thriller-based task, highlighting the cultural diversity of the group and the collaborative process of story creation.
The task: Describes the plot of the mystery story and outlines the procedural implementation of the task, focusing on communicative skills and task outcomes.
The learners: Offers a profile of the participant group, emphasizing their upper-intermediate proficiency and heterogeneous cultural background.
The lesson plan: Details the chronological structure and methodology for executing the 50-minute teaching activity.
Rationale: Analyzes the pedagogical justification for the task, drawing on Second Language Acquisition theories regarding task-based learning, motivation, and interaction.
Keywords
Task-based language learning, Communicative process, Murder mystery, Learners' motivation, Interaction Hypothesis, Reasoning gap, Opinion gap, Strategic planning, Online planning, Group work, Interpretation task, Prioritising task, Upper intermediate, Classroom organization, Language teaching.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this academic work?
The work focuses on the design, implementation, and pedagogical evaluation of a task-based language learning activity centered around a murder mystery story.
What are the central themes addressed in the paper?
The central themes include task-based design, learner motivation, communicative interaction in a second language, and the application of SLA theories to classroom practice.
What is the primary goal of the "Who killed the boss?" task?
The goal is to engage students in a meaning-focused, communicative process where they use their linguistic resources to debate, negotiate, and prioritize suspects in a mystery narrative.
Which specific methodology does the author employ?
The author uses a Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approach, incorporating individual reading, small-group discussion, and whole-class debate to foster interaction.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body covers the narrative background, the step-by-step lesson procedure, a detailed learner profile, and a theoretical rationale justifying the design choices.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include Task-based language learning, Communicative process, Reasoning gap, Opinion gap, and SLA theories.
How does the cultural background of the learners influence the task?
The diverse cultural backgrounds lead to varied interpretations of the story, which encourages more complex negotiation and argumentation during the group phase.
Why is the planning phase considered crucial in this task?
Planning is crucial because it includes both strategic and online elements, which help learners formulate arguments, enhance fluency, and manage the cognitive load of the task.
What is the significance of the 'open' nature of the task?
As an open task, there is no single "correct" suspect, which forces students to provide subjective justifications and engage in deeper discourse to reach a consensus.
- Quote paper
- Liliom Strauch (Author), 2007, Task Design. Who killed the boss – a murderous task, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/116809
