Topic: Teacher Education | Learner Engagement
Presenter: Hai Duong Do
Presentation details
Group formation in the communicative classroom is one of the most frequent yet least theorised pedagogical decisions. Treated as logistics such as count-offs, proximity, alphabetical order and it reproduces habitual cliques and dissipates energy before the task begins. This practitioner inquiry asks whether grouping, if designed as a content-embedded engagement event, can itself produce the affective, social, and cognitive conditions a task-based lesson depends on.
A single ninety-minute Task-Based Language Teaching lesson on Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) was delivered to eight B1+ adult learners from five nationalities (three Vietnamese, two Pakistani, one Japanese, one Indian, one Chinese). Three novelty-based grouping procedures, each sharing a “blind-bag” reveal logic, were embedded across Willis’s TBLT cycle: stickers concealed beneath teacups; hidden Tết images matched into pairs; and triadic groups formed by drawing New Year wishes from lì xì red envelopes. Structured observation field notes and semi-structured post-lesson interviews were analysed thematically against a four-dimensional model of engagement: behavioural, emotional, social, and cognitive.
The procedures functioned as deliberate situational-interest triggers, producing visible anticipation at each reveal. Randomised allocation interrupted habitual first-language clusters in the multinational class without the social cost of teacher imposition, with learners reporting that “the game, not the teacher” chose for them. The affective lift carried forward into shorter time-to-task, more evenly distributed talk, and stronger investment in the presentation, including from a normally reticent learner. Because the grouping objects (tea, lì xì) were themselves Tết artefacts, formation also taught content, collapsing the boundary between classroom management and content instruction.
Grouping designed as content-embedded play is not a precursor to engagement but a constitutive part of it. Four transferable design principles for TBLT practitioners follow: conceal the outcome, embed the content, randomise to mix and protect, and carry the energy forward.
About the presenter
Hayden Do is an EAP instructor and TESOL practitioner-researcher at University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom. Their classroom research focuses on task-based language teaching, learner autonomy, learner engagement, AI mediation and creative pedagogical design. Hayden holds Distinction Bachelor in English Linguistics and teaches at A2-B2 level. Hayden is expected to have Trinity ESOL Certificate and Master of Arts in TESOL this September.