Opinion Gap

A task type requiring learners to express personal preferences, feelings, or attitudes in response to a given situation. One of three gap-based task types in Prabhu's (1987) taxonomy, alongside Information Gap and Reasoning Gap.

Definition

"Opinion-gap activity involves identifying and articulating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation" (Prabhu 1987). There is no single correct answer; the gap is between different people's opinions.

Characteristics

• Open-ended: Multiple valid responses; no objectively correct answer
• Personal: Requires learners to draw on their own experience and values
• Higher cognitive demand: Involves evaluation and justification, not just information transfer
• Less predictable language: Unlike Information Gap tasks where the target language is somewhat controlled, opinion gap tasks generate varied, less predictable output

Examples

• Ranking tasks: "Put these inventions in order of importance. Justify your ranking."
• Discussion questions: "Should schools ban mobile phones? Why / why not?"
• Values clarification: "Which of these qualities is most important in a leader?"
• Problem-solving with no single answer: "You have $1000 to improve your school. What would you spend it on?"

Pedagogical Value

Opinion gap tasks generate genuine engagement because learners invest personally. They practice:

• Expressing and justifying opinions
• Agreeing and disagreeing
• Turn-taking and extended discourse
• The functional language of persuasion and evaluation

Considerations

• Requires sufficient language proficiency because lower-level learners may lack the language to express nuanced opinions
• Cultural sensitivity matters because some topics or the act of public disagreement may be face-threatening
• Risk of L1 use if the task is engaging but the linguistic demands exceed proficiency
• Best staged after Information Gap and Reasoning Gap tasks in a lesson sequence, as it demands the most autonomy