Unit 2.

1: Principles of Communicative Language Teaching

Session 6: The characteristics of a communicative task
Handout 1: Characteristics of a task

Superlative adjectives

Superlative adjectives usually appear before the noun they modify.

The funniest person I know is my friend Bob.
The most caring individual in our school is the custodian.
They can also occur with the noun they modify
Of all the people in my family, my Aunt Ruth is the kindest.
Of all my professors, Dr. Lopez is the most inspiring.

Superlatives are often followed by relative clauses in the present perfect.

My cousin Anita is the most generous person I’ve ever met.
The closest friend I’ve ever had is someone I met in elementary school.

A Complete these sentences with your own information, and add more details.
Then compare with a partner.

1. One of the most inspiring people I’ve ever known is …

One of the most inspiring people I’ve ever known is my math teacher. She
encourages students to think rather than just memorize formulas and rules.

2. The most successful individual I know is …

3. Of all the people I know …. is the least self-centered.
4. The youngest person who I consider to be a hero is …
5. The most moving speaker I have ever heard is …
6. The most important role model I’ve ever had is …
7. Of all the friends I’ve ever had …. is the most understanding.
8. One of the bravest things I’ve ever done is …

B Use the superlative form of these adjectives to describe people you know.
Write at least five sentences.

brave honest interesting smart generous inspiring kind witty

C Group work
Discuss the sentences you wrote in Exercises A and B. Ask each other follow-up
questions.
A. My next-door neighbor is the bravest person I’ve ever met.
B. What did your neighbor do, exactly?
A. She’s a firefighter, and once she saved a child from a burning building …
Unit 2.1: Principles of Communicative Language Teaching
Session 6: The characteristics of a communicative task
Handout 2: Categories of tasks

Information-gap activity, which involves a transfer of given information from one

person to another, generally calling for the decoding or encoding of information from or
into language. One example is pair work in which each member of the pair has a part of
the total information (for example an incomplete picture) and attempts to convey it
verbally to the other.
Another example is completing a tabular representation with information available in a
given piece of text. The activity often involves selection of relevant information as well,
and learners may have to meet criteria of completeness and correctness in making the
transfer.

Reasoning-gap activity, which involves deriving some new information from given
information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, etc. One
example is working out a teacher’s timetable on the basis of given class timetables. The
activity necessarily involves comprehending and conveying information, but the
information to be conveyed is not identical with that initially comprehended. There is a
piece of reasoning which connects the two.

Opinion-gap activity, which involves identifying and articulating a personal preference,

feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation. One example is story completion;
another is taking part in the discussion of a social issue. The activity may involve using
factual information and formulating arguments to justify one’s opinion, but there is no
objective procedure for demonstrating outcomes as right or wrong, and no reason to
expect the same outcome from different individuals or on different occasions.
Unit 2.1: Principles of Communicative Language Teaching
Session 7: The characteristics of a communicative task
Handout 3: Pros and cons of authentic materials

Authentic materials are materials which have not be designed especially for language
learners and which therefore do not have simplified language.

Communicative methodology has displayed an increasing tendency to use authentic

materials in relation to listening and reading skills.

Listening radio plays, news items, children’s stories, travel news, weather forecasts,
airport and station announcements, radio talks, debates, extracts from recording guided
tours, relaxation tapes, exercise instructions, interviews.

Reading letters, recipes, menus, newspaper articles, train timetables, horoscopes,

advertisements, publicity brochures, postcards, street maps, route maps, theatre
programmes, poems, instructions for use of equipment.

Speaking and writing activities can also be referred to as authentic if they reflect the
relevant criteria for task design and mirror the real-world purposes and situations in
which and for which language is used. For example, writing tasks which reflect reasons
for writing outside the English language classroom might include the following:
- a note to a neighbour apologizing for a noisy party;
- a letter of complaint about a product to the manufacturer
- an invitation to a birthday party with directions for how to get there.

Classroom activities should parallel the “real world” as closely as possible. Since
language is a tool of communication, methods and materials should concentrate on the
message and not the medium.
Arguments in favor of the use of authentic materials include:
- They provide cultural information about the target language.
- They provide exposure to real language.
- They relate more closely to learners’ needs.
- They support a more creative approach to teaching.

Critics of the case for authentic materials point out that:

- Created materials can also be motivating for learners.
- Created materials may be superior to authentic materials because they are generally
built around a graded syllabus.
- Authentic materials often contain difficult and irrelevant language.
- Using authentic materials is a burden for teachers.