Comprise the language curriculum

The post-task phase

The post-task phase affords a number of options. These have three major pedagogic goals;（1）to provide an opportunity for a repeat performance of the task,（2）to encourage reflection on how the task was performed, and（3）to encourage attention to form, in particular to those forms that proved problematic to the learners when they performed the task.

Repeat performance

Research has shown there is a case for asking students to repeat a task（e. g. Bygate 2001; Lynch and Maclean 2000）. When learners repeat a task their production improves in a number of ways
（e. g. complexity increases, propositions are expressed more clearly, and they become more fluent）. A repeat performance can be carried out under the same conditions as the first performance（i. e. in small groups or individually）or the conditions can be changed. One interesting possibility examined by Skehan and Foster（1997）is that of requiring students to
carry out the second performance publicly. As their study examined the ^‘threat^’ of such a requirement on learners^’ initial performance of the task, it technically constituted a during-task option. However, if students are not told to repeat the task publicly until after they have completed the first performance, it becomes a post-task option. There has been no research comparing the learner production that results from a second performance carried out under ^‘private^’ conditions, as in the initial performance, and publicly. Clearly, performing a task in front of the class increases the communicative stress（Candlin 1987）placed on the learner and thus can be predicted to lead to a reduction in fluency and complexity. However, it is not without value if students need experience in using English in front of an audience, as, for example, might be the case with foreign academics training to give oral presentations in the L2. Public performance is likely to encourage the use of a more formal style and thus may push learners to use the grammaticalised resources associated with this style（Givon 1979）.