Information Gap Activities

in communicative language teaching

By: Khorasan Razavi English Language Department
www.rzaban.razaviedu.ir
Teachers are often searching for activities to make their classroom more
interactive I communicative language teaching; language teachers in particular
are also looking for activities that promote target language use. Info Gap activities
are excellent activities as they force the students to ask each other questions;
these activities help make the language classroom experience more meaningful
and authentic. This section will explain in more detail what Info Gap activities are
and why they are useful; it will also give some examples of Info Gap activities for
any language classroom.

What is an Info Gap activity?

An Information Gap activity takes place between students, not between a student
and a teacher, though a teacher can certainly show the activity. The two students
will be asking each other questions to which they don’t know the answer; these
questions are called referential questions. The goal of the activity is for the students
to discover certain information, whether about the other person or related to a
specific activity.

What are referential and display questions?

A referential question is a question to which the person asking does not know the
answer. For example, you might ask a new student: “Where are you from?” or
“What is your name?” The teacher does not know the answer to these questions;
the purpose of asking these questions is to discover information, similar to the Info
Gap activities.
A display question is a question to which the person asking does know the answer.
For example, you might ask a student: “What colour is my sweater” or “Do I have
long or short hair? The teacher clearly knows the answer to these questions; the
purpose of asking is to promote student speaking, or to prompt students to
remember certain information (whether it be vocabulary, grammar, etc.)
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

Why are Info Gap activities useful?

Info Gap activities are useful because they are very meaningful; all students are
involved in the process equally and they are all moving towards a specific
purpose. Each student has the task of finding out certain information, and
therefore must find a way in which to ask for this information. Motivation is usually
quite high in these activities. These activities help move the students from working
in a more structured environment into a more communicative environment; they
are hopefully using lots of the target language, and in the process discovering
where they have gaps. Knowing where these gaps are gives them a direction in
which to improve.

What are some examples of Info Gap activities?

 20 questions: Students work in pairs or small groups. One student chooses an
object or person and keeps it a secret. The other students must ask yes or no
questions to determine what that object/person is. The maximum number of
questions is 20.
 Guess the card: Students work in partners. This is similar to 20 questions only
the students already have the object chosen for them. One student holds a card
so that their partner can’t see. The partner must then ask yes or no questions to
determine what is on the card. Often teachers structure this activity to fit with the
theme of a particular unit.
 Find your partner: Whole class participates. Students are each given a card
with an image on it; there are two of each image. Students must circulate and try
to find the person with the same image by asking yes or no questions. The students
may not ask “Do you have an elephant” if their image is, for example, an
elephant. They must ask more descriptive questions, for example “Does your thing
have 4 legs?” or “Does your thing live in the jungle?”
 Words on back: Students work in large groups or as a whole class. Each
student has a word attached to his or her back; the students must then circulate
asking each other yes or no questions to determine what word is on their back.
 Same different: Students work in pairs. Each has a different picture that
should not be shown to their partner. The students take turns asking each other yes
or no questions to find out how the pictures are different.
 Fill in the chart: Students work in partners. The students are both given tables
with information missing. What is missing in one partner’s table is there on the other
partner’s table and vice versa. Students must ask each other questions to discover
what is missing in each of their tables.
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

A sample Information Gap Activity (1)

In Information Gap activities, each student has information that the other student(s)
don't have. The objective is for students to ask questions to find out what they can
from the other(s).
Sample
A's Information:

Person's Name From Job Weekends Movies

1. John doctor Documentary
2. professor go fishing
3. Peter England action
4. Africa banker play tennis
5. Jack New York
B's Information:
Person's Name From Job Weekends Movies
1. Rome relax at home
2. Tom Brazil horror
3. mechanic play baseball
4. Janet drama
5. lawyer read story comedy

Sample Questions:
What is the first person's name?
How do you spell it?
Where is he/she from?
What is his/her occupation ?
What does he/she do on weekends?
What kind of movies does he/she like?
After completing the chart, discuss with your partner:
Which person would you like as a friend?
Why?
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

A sample Information Gap Activity (2)

Use the language in this box to describe your pictures to your partners:
square at the top
circle inside the circle at the bottom
There is a
rectangle outside the circle to the right
triangle to the left

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

12.

9. 10. 11.

Listen to your partner describe the circles for you. Draw the picture that is being described.
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

Use the language in this box to describe your pictures to your partners:
square at the top
circle inside the circle at the bottom
There is a
rectangle outside the circle to the right
triangle to the left

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

Listen to your partner describe the circles for you. Draw the picture that is being described.
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

A sample Information Gap Activity (3)

 Sheet A See Anything Interesting in the Paper?

Look at the
newspaper
classifieds then
share information
about the help-
wanted ads with
your partner.
 By:Khorasan Razavi English Language Department

 Sheet B See Anything Interesting in the Paper?

Look at the
newspaper
classifieds then

share information
about the help-
wanted ads with
your partner.