VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6], 7, 8 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:43:35 04/16/07 Mon
Author: Daniela Gonçalves
Subject: Peer Editing to Fernanda Gabriela

The importance of the communicative task

Knowing how to build sentences and its structure is very important because it makes possible the communication among people. Therefore, it is needless to say that when learning a foreign language grammar should be taught. Task-Focused Activities engages students when they are learning grammar, make [Wvf] it easier and [//] they have more complete knowledge of the language. A great number of materials, namely, role-plays, communication games, pair-work, simulations has been used instead of just drills and grammar practice. Thus, when grammar is taught the communicative task is fundamental and should be used more frequently than Grammar-Focused Activities.

Skehan asserts: “The belief that a precise focus on a particular form leads to learning and automatization no longer carries much credibility in linguistic or psychology.” (1996b, p. 18). Besides, Grammar-Focused Activities focus on the formation of correct examples of language, the learners practice language out of context and most of the times they cannot select the language they use .Nevertheless, it is maintained that in Task-Focused Activities the form looks after itself, sometimes with the support of the teacher.

Nunan argues that: “The communicative task [is] a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.”(1989, p. 10). It is also claimed that this kind of activity is important because it makes the learners use real and authentic conversation, not just small samples of language. Furthermore, it is required the use of improvising and the language produced is not always predictable. Thus, in the task-based teaching the students learn the natural use of language [//]this leads to the development of not only communicative but also linguistic competence.

In conclusion, learning a foreign language requires studying its grammar. It can be done in a practical way through the communicative task, which is focused on the meaning so that learners have authentic and natural conversation, not just repetition of sentences out of context to memorize the forms. It is very important once it makes the process of learning easier and more complete. Thus, this kind of activity [P] which has already been used should most of the times be applied to teach grammar.



* Fernanda Gabriela, I think your text is very good. The thesis statement is debatable, specific and it has only one idea; each one of the developmental paragraphs has one idea,reflects the thesis statement and there are quotations there; the conclusion restates the thesis and summarizes the developmental paragraphs. I think you should change only the points that I have corrected.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.