Transforming communicative tasks into mini-projects

Abstract

With the action-oriented approach first introduced by the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), the goal of language teaching witnessed a transition from the transmission of information (exchange of information) in the classroom to acting together (social action) in and/or outside the classroom and hence from training successful communicators to training social actors. The implementation of the action-oriented approach in language textbooks in the form of miniprojects, however, is an issue not addressed commonly in the ELT field. This study critically analyses the tasks named as ‘projects’ at the end of the first and eighth units of the English textbook ‘İngilizce 7’ used in the secondary schools in Turkey to show that they do not reflect the characteristics of mini-projects as a form of the application of the action-oriented approach in language textbooks. Secondly, how these tasks can be transformed into mini-projects is explained.