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To say that a task "works" can mean a number of rather different things.
Teachers reflecting on a task might feel that it has worked if they have evidence that the learners found it enjoyable and useful. Yet, it is perfectly possible that learners enjoy doing a task and give it positive ratings in a questionnaire and yet fail to perform it successfully or learn nothing from it.
Whereas the criteria for the evaluation of a closed task are embedded within the task itself, the criteria required for evaluating an open task are not. They are, as Ellis states, "external to the task, and because they are usually not specified by the person who devised the task, they place a considerable burden on the teacher" (Ellis, 102).
A full evaluation of a task calls for an "external evaluation". This could be carried out theoretically by determining to what extend it meets explicitly defined criteria. Such an evalution is predictive in nature. Alternatively, a retrospective evaluation could be carried out. Ellis proposes three different kinds of retrospective evaluations:
A student-based evaluation provides information about how interesting and useful learners perceive a task to be. A response-based evaluation is internal in nature because it simply addresses the question "Was the students' response the one intended by the designer of the task?" A learning-based evaluation is external in nature because it goes beyond the task itself by trying to determine whether the task actually contributed to the learners' second language proficiency.
(Ellis, 103 f.)
To carry out a micro-evaluation, which does not have to follow any formal conventions and rules but can consist of easy and straight-forward questions to find out if the intended goal has been achieved, can contribute effectively to the teacher's own development. He can easily realise which parts of the task went well and which were too difficult. This can help him a lot in finding ways of helping the learners to fully appreciate the task and to cope with predictable problems.
Task evaluations engage teachers as insider researchers and reflective practitioners, thus helping them to examine and reconstruct their own pedagogical values and develop their own personal theories of language teaching. The task-based learning framework is flexible enough to account for all findings and possible necessary changes and adaptations.
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