• In problem-solving tasks, learners have opportunities to share ideas, build consensus, and explain decisions about real- life issues that are important to them. For example, a group might have a hypothetical amount of money to spend and figure out a monthly budget for a family of four. (See Van Duzer & Burt, 1999, for discussion and examples of problem-solving tasks.)
• Information gap tasks, in which two people share information to complete the task, may be more structured than problem solving tasks and give learners opportunities to ask and answer questions. In one-way information gap tasks, one learner has all of the information (e.g., one learner describes a picture while the other draws it). In two-way information gap tasks, both learners have information tha t they must share with the other to complete the task (e.g., both have some information about directions to a location, but they have to share the information that they have to complete the directions). See McKay & Tom, 1999, for examples of one-way and two-way tasks.)

(See Activities to Promote Interaction and Communication, Information Gap and Two-Way Information Gap Activity, for examples of information gap activities.)

Focus on form

Instruction focused on grammatical forms and correct grammatical usage does not need to take place in isolation. Rather, learners' attention can be drawn to grammatical forms in the context of meaningful activities. The teacher's focus on the forms to be taught can be informed by the problems that learners are having with comprehension or production (Long, 2000). Research studies suggest that instruction that uses a focus-on-form approach and that incorporates form with meaning is as effective as more traditional approaches in which grammar is taught in isolation (Norris & Ortega, 2001). When lessons are based on authentic communication and there is a focus on form within that context, learners incorporate new and correct structures into their language use (Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001).

When teaching about the forms of language, teachers need to consider learners' needs and goals and their readiness to understand the instruction. Teachers then need to decide how to draw learners' attention to a specific form and give them opportunities to practice it in meaningful activities (Doughty & Williams, 1998). For example, in a workplace class with intermediate- or advanced- level learners, the class might read and discuss a memo from an employer to an employee and focus on the use of the passive voice in the memo (e.g., "This report must be finished by 3:00 today").