Classroom techniques: Ranking tasks

Goals

A ranking task may have one of these goals: 

• to build speaking fluency 
• to practise or learn specific vocabulary 
• to practise or learn language functions such as expressing opinions, giving reasons, persuasion, disagreement 

Features 

• ākonga arrangement – mainly a group activity, but may go through a sequence from individual to pairs to groups to whole class for more repetition 
• information distribution – all ākonga have the same information (but see variations) 
• ākonga focus – on meaning 
• language modes – speaking (and listening to other ākonga). Reading may be included by giving background texts to ākonga to prepare for it 
• challenge – to communicate ideas effectively in te reo Māori 

Materials

See Materials that come with this resource to download Ranking tasks (.doct).

Procedure 

Give ākonga: 

• a description of a problem or situation (for example, they are going to produce a magazine for their age group) 
• a list of (about 10) items they need to rank in relation to the situation (for example, a list of magazine features that could be included) 
• a criterion for ranking the items (for example, which ones have the widest appeal). 

Ask ākonga to rank the items individually. Group ākonga in pairs or small groups. Ākonga tell each other their individual rankings, discuss reasons for their choices, and try to come to an agreement on a joint ranking. (This can take up to 30 minutes.) 

Bring pairs or groups together to try and reach an agreement in a larger unit or to compare rankings. 

Kaiako considerations 

Do not put numbers next to the items to be ranked. (If you do, ākonga will just refer to the numbers in their discussion rather than using the words.) 

If you want ākonga to practise specific vocabulary, make sure that you include these words in the items that are most likely to cause discussion (in other words, not in an item that all ākonga will quickly agree on a ranking for). (Newton, 1993, as cited in Nation, 1995, p. 145) 

Make sure that all the items in the list are similar in nature and can be compared sensibly. (Nation, 1995, p. 144) 

It is not important whether the groups reach an agreement in the time given, because the main aim is for them to engage in genuine communication in te reo Māori. 

Choose a student arrangement sequence (individual to pairs to groups, or individual straight to groups, etc) according to how much repetition you want ākonga to have. Asking them to rank individually first is important, as it means that they bring a definite opinion to the discussion. 

Ākonga should not be allowed to take shortcuts such as majority voting or doing deals (for example, you can have ‘x’ at no. 2 if I can have ‘y’ at no. 3). The aim is to practise persuasive speaking skills. 

It is helpful for kaiako to join groups as a participant in order to ask clarification questions, model useful phrases for expressing opinions, etc, and model strategies to guide the discussion in useful directions. 

Variations 

• Ask ākonga to rank the top three and the bottom one only. 
• Ask ākonga to choose a subset from the list and then rank these. 
• Ask ākonga to come up with the items to be ranked (for example, elicit from the class different ways to spend a lotto win, agree on a list of 10 or so, and then move on to the ranking task). 
• Use ranking to study a written text by ranking the importance of the ideas in each paragraph. 
• Give ākonga some background reading before the task. 
• Follow up with a writing task where ākonga give their reasons for ranking the items as they did. 
• Make this into a combining task by assigning two or three of the items to each member of the group to rank. They can become experts on these by reading (by their own research or by texts provided by the kaiako) and/or by talking to others who have the same items. If the ranking task contains new language, ākonga can also be responsible for finding out the meaning of new words and teaching others. 
• Repeat the same ranking task a week later. The goal would change from language (the first time they do it) to fluency. 
• Ask ākonga to read background information between the first and second time they do the ranking task in class. 

Classroom examples 

Level 3 – Rank the best way to get to school with a list of transport options in a fictional scenario (achievement objective 3.4 – communicate about how people travel). Refer to Te haere ki te kura in the ranking tasks download. 

Level 4 – Rank the most important ways to contribute to your home, community or school (achievement objective 4.3 – communicate about obligations and responsibilities). 

Level 5 – A sporting scenario. Refer to Whakakorea te kēmu in the ranking tasks download. 

Level 6 – Rank the importance of famous Māori people; or the importance of factors that affect Māori health. 

Level 7 – Rank reasons for studying te reo; or the importance of various factors in finding work (achievement objective 7.3 – express and respond to approval and disapproval, agreement and disagreement; achievement objective 7.4 – offer and respond to information and opinions, giving reasons). Refer to Te hopuni ā-kura in the ranking tasks download. 

Level 8 – Rank best ways to help the environment (achievement objective 8.1 – communicate about certainty and uncertainty, possibility and probability; achievement objective 8.2 – develop an argument or point of view, with reasons). 

Benefits of this technique  

A ranking activity challenges ākonga to use language persuasively and gives them lots of practice at genuine communication. 

Evaluation of the task 

As a cooperative task, ākonga do not need to participate equally. You need to check: 

• Are all ākonga participating? If not, you might want to introduce roles for each student in the group (for example, one to make sure all are contributing; one to take notes on decisions; one to summarise reasons for decisions, etc). 
• Does each group have a good balance of ākonga that can guide the discussion, help others, etc? 
• Are ākonga giving reasons for their opinions? 
• Are ākonga asking each other questions to clarify what is being said? 
• Are the groups using appropriate strategies to conduct an effective discussion? 
• If not, you may want to do some strategy training – discuss weaknesses you’ve observed in some groups, develop a good procedure with the class, and then give them more practice with ranking tasks. 

References  

Nation, I. S. P. & Thomas, G. I. (1988). Communication Activities. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 13. (pp. 5, 8). 

Nation, I. S. P. (1989). Language Teaching Techniques. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 2. (p. 55). 

Nation, I. S. P. (1995). Teaching Listening and Speaking. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 14. (pp. 30, 140–152). 

Nation, I. S. P. & Thomas, G. I. (1979). Communication through the ordering exercise. Guidelines, 1, (pp. 68–75).