The Nature of Language Learning Activities

    When I saw the title, “The nature of language learning activities”, I was quite interested in it.  I wondered what kinds of learning activities discussed in this chapter.

    In fact, the notion of activity is central to an understanding of teaching.  Activities are the basic structural units of planning and action in the classroom.  A lot of types of language learning activities which were commonly used in ESL classes were discussed in the chapter 8, including presentation activities, practice activities, memorization activities, comprehension activities, application activities, strategy activities, affective activities, feedback activities, and assessment activities. 

    This classification is intended to help focus on the relationship between activity types and the purposes for which they are used in language teaching.  However, this classification cannot be regarded as definitive because some activities can be used for several different purposes and distinctions between activity types can overlap.  On the other hand, such a list can be useful in trying to clarify what it is that teachers do when they teach and why they select the kind of classroom activities that they commonly use.  I believe teachers should completely comprehend these activities.