Theme: Speaking as an interactive process Table of content

a) Listing and ordering tasks:
Listing means that students have to refer to their previous knowledge and agree on a list of items/ aspects/ features which serve the task goal. The processes involved, according to Willis (1996, a: 26) are:

1. 
   Brainstorming, in which learners draw on their own knowledge and experience either as a class or in pairs;
   

1. 
   Fact finding in which learners find things out by asking each other;
   
2. 
   The outcome would be the completed list.
   

Ordering tasks, involve three main types:

1. 
   Sequencing items, actions or events in a logical or chronological order;
   

1. 
   Categorizing items in given groups under given headings;
   
2. 
   Classifying items in different ways where the categories are not given (Ur, 1981 and Klippel, 1984: 59).
   

b) Comparing tasks:
These tasks require students to discuss and define differences and similarities between various elements (Klippel, 1984: 59). Hence, students 61 should be familiar with expressions such as: both, neither, all, something, and nothing in common…..etc (Swain et al, 2002).
c) Ranking (rating) tasks:
In this task, the group has a collection of several concepts, usually expressed in words or short phrases, which all belong to one recognizable set. Students have to rate these and put them in order of priority or importance according to various criteria. The criteria may be given to the group, or they may not be given at all. This rearranging phase is usually followed by a period of discussion, when students explain or defend their choices in pairs or small groups (Willis, 1998). For instance, students can rate personal characteristics in order of their importance for a given role or job. Another example is survival games which are based on an account of a group of people who are in an isolated situation cut from civilization. The students have to decide which of given list of items are most essential for their survival and return home, and to place them in order of priority (Ur, 1981& Bygate, 2002). As for language functions, ranking tasks enable students to practice agreeing, comparing, contradicting, disagreeing, and giving reasons.
The procedures of using ranking tasks, according to Klippel (1984: 59) are as follows:
* The students are made familiar with the task through an oral presentation by the teacher or by reading some handouts.
* Each student works on his own and writes down his solutions.
* When each student has finished his list, the students sit down together in small groups and try to agree on a common listing, which has to be presented and defended in a final general discussion.