The ABC of ELT... TBL ——In this Issue,Jane and Dave Willis look at Task-Based Learning

TBL, also known as TBLT (task-based learning and teaching) and, in the USA, as TBL (task-based instruction) is an approach which uses communication tasks as the central focus for language teaching and learning. Basically the term task in TBL, refers to a meaning -focused activity. There are a number of definitions in the literature, but they can be characterized also follows: the learner s principle focus is on exchanging and understanding meanings, rather than on practice of pre-specified forms or patterns there is some kind of communicative purpose or goal set for the task, so learners know what they are expected to achieve by the end tasks can involve any or all four skills, e. g. a     

Determining young aboriginal children's scientific understandings: A pilot study

Conclusion The pilot study provided a range of useful data for analysis. In all areas except the children's recall of traditional stories, richly contextualized data was collected. It was felt that the children's young age and not the questions themselves about traditional stories was the limiting factor. The age factor variable is yet to be examined closely. Children older than eight will be interviewed using the story book on night and day to determine if it will successfully reveal any traditional stories they know, and this data will be analysed to see if the stories influence their scientific understandings of night and day. Overall the study aimed to develop a research design and instruments that would readily tap into young Aboriginal children's scientific understandings in a relevant and cross-culturally sensitive way. The richness of the data collected would indicate that this aim has been met. The next step will be to determine the significance of the data collected and whether data should be collected from a larger sample of young Aboriginal children in each of the community contexts described by the NAEC (1985): Traditional, Rural, Urban Dispersed and Urban. Specializations: early childhood science education.     

The pleasure of recognition: intertextuality in the talk of preschoolers during shared reading with mothers and teachers

Mature readers draw on a complex web of previous experiences when interpreting written and visual texts. Yet very little is known about how preschool children, who cannot yet read, make connections between texts. This study explores how 13 4‐year‐old children made intertextual connections during shared reading with their mothers (seven children) and their preschool teachers (six children). The findings indicate that very young children actively draw on their knowledge of other texts, and their personal lived experiences, to reflect on the meanings they encounter in unfamiliar picture books. The functions served by the children's intertexts ranged from the simple pleasure of recognition to more sophisticated comparisons between texts in terms of theme and plot. The extent to which the adults were able to integrate the children's intertexts into the discussions varied. An awareness of the important role played by intertextuality in children's interpretations of texts may provide early childhood professionals with a framework within which to plan systematically for the language and literacy development of young children in their care.     

Empowering Librarians in the Provision of Data Services in Canada: A Case Study of the DLI Survival Guide

ABSTRACT

While some Canadian universities have a long history in the provision of data services, that was not the norm in Canada, especially in small universities and colleges. To maximize the use of data by students and researchers in academia, it was evident that increased education, resources, and tools were required to support those delivering data services on their campuses. To this end, the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) Survival Guide was designed as a comprehensive reference tool, which complements an established regional training curriculum, whereby enabling librarians to effectively fulfill their role as a DLI Contact in their academic institutions. This case study will examine the history, current state, and recommended future direction of the Survival Guide. This article will also examine the challenges in understanding the drivers shaping academic service delivery and the ways in which the guide has evolved to remain current to the needs of the Canadian data community.     

Towards a collaborative methodology: An ethnography of widening educational participation

This paper examines my attempts to develop a collaborative methodology, and critically considers the limitations and possibilities of this approach. It draws on a small-scale ethnography of widening educational participation undertaken for my doctoral degree. I worked with a group of access students in a UK further education college to develop the methods and methodology, to identify research questions and key areas of focus and, to a lesser extent, to analyse the data. Post/structural analytical tools enabled co-participants to deconstruct hegemonic neo-liberal discourses of widening participation. Feminist theory enabled the refashioning of radical discourses that are concerned with destabilising unequal relations of power in research and in education. In the paper I consider issues of power, research relationships, author-ity, reflexivity and ethics in collaborative methodology.     

Science discovery: Inside story

Human Anatomy in preschool? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” The decision to study the “inside parts” of our bodies was based on solid ground. Young children ask questions about their bodies and we looked for activities which could help answer some of those questions.     

Educator Talk in Long Day Care Nurseries: How Context Shapes Meaning

Little is known about the quality and characteristics of the language used by childcare staff when interacting with infants in non-parental group care settings. This qualitative study analysed the manner in which staff used language when interacting with ten children aged between 9 and 20 months in four different long day care centres in Sydney, Australia. Each infant was audiorecorded for one whole day using a small recording device attached to her/his clothing, which captured all the language spoken directly to, or in their presence of, the infant. The infants and staff were simultaneously videorecorded as they went about their everyday activities, to provide additional contextual information. Using systemic functional linguistics as the theoretical underpinning, the study found that staff members tended to talk to more than one child at a time, limiting their potential to engage in the types of sustained conversations with individual children that have been shown to promote language development. Staff also tended to use language primarily to manage children’s behaviour and provide physical care, rather than using language to encourage children to use their own developing language to represent their experiences in a variety of contexts. The findings have implications for group size, early childhood teacher education and inservice professional development.