In order to achieve the goal embedded in the tasks, those components of tasks should be taken into consideration in creating tasks and carrying out the tasks. In
addition, the types of the tasks also give contribution in achieving the goal. Below is the elaboration of what kind of tasks that can be applied in the classroom
c. Task Types
Mastery on a certain skill can be achieved through certain types of tasks. Types of task needed by students to help them in achieving mastery on speaking
skills will be different from those needed to help them in order to master reading skill. Nunan 2004: 58 proposes classifications of tasks according to the
strategies behind tasks. They are: Table 2.1 Classifications of Tasks
Cognitive Classifying
Predicting Inducing
Taking Notes Concept Mapping
Inferencing Discriminating
Diagraming Putting similar things in groups
Predicting what will learned in the process of learning Looking for patterns and regularities
Writing down the important text using their words Pouring the main ideas in a text in the form of a map
Learning something new by using what students already know
Differencing between the main idea and supporting information
Labelling a diagram using information from a text
Interpersonal Co-operating
Role playing Sharing ideas and learning with other students
Pretending to be somebody and employing the language for the situation students are in
Linguistics Conversational
patterns Practicing
Using context Summarizing
Using expressions to start conversations and keep them going.
Doing controlled exercises in order to improve knowledge and skills
Guessing the meaning of an unknown word, phrase, or
Skimming concept using surrounding context
Picking out and presenting the major points in a text in the form of summary
Getting a general idea of a text though reading quickly
Affective Personalizing
Self-evaluating Reflecting
Learners share their own opinions, feelings and ideas about a subject
Thinking about how well they did on a learning task and rating themselves on a scale
Thinking what way would be the best in learning
Creative Brainstorming
Thinking of as many new words and ideas as one can
If Nunan proposes the task types based on the strategies behind the tasks, another expert, Richard 2001:162 on Nunan, recommend some pedagogical
tasks which are based on an analysis of communicative language use as follows: -
Jigsaw tasks. Learners combine different pieces of information o form a whole. -
Information-gap tasks. These tasks involve transferring given information activity in which one student has one set of information and another student or
group has a complementary set of information. -
Problem-solving tasks. The students should find out the solution from the given problem using given information.
- Decision-making tasks. Students should choose an outcome from a number of
possible outcomes to solve the given problem through negotiation and discussion.
- Opinion exchange tasks. Students exchange their opinions through discussion.
In conclusion, task is an activity in the procedures used as vehicle to achieve the goal of learning. A task consists of some elements in which each of the
elements can determine the type of the task.
8. Materials Evaluation
