Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)

TASK BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

RONALD M. SUPLIDO JR.

DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY – MANILA ENG 712 – METHODOLOGY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES

JUNE 18, 2016

OUTLINE

I. Historical BackgroundII. Definitions

a. What is a task?b. What is Task Based Language Teaching

(TBLT)?III. Why do we use a task based approach?IV. Principles of TBLTV. Objectives of TBLTVI. Types of Teaching and Learning ActivitiesVII. Instructional MaterialsVIII. Research examples

Historical Background:• TBLT started in the 1970s when scholars argued that language

instruction should teach both grammar and meaning (Skehan, 2003). The field widely takes Prabhu as one of the first proponents for tasks or TBLT when he started the approach in teaching secondary school classes in Bangalore, India in the 1970s (Ellis, 2003; Long & Crooks, 1992; Shehadeh, 2005). From then on, TBLT began to be recognized and widely discussed in language teaching and research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA).

• Some of its proponents (e.g., Willis, 1996) believe that TBLT develops from communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the predominant language teaching approach since the 1970s, because TBLT shares the same several principles with CLT. From the 1980s, “task” and “task-based language teaching/instruction” have become increasingly preferred terms to those of “communicative activity” or “communicative language teaching” (Bygate, Skehan, & Swain, 2001; Crooks & Chaudron, 2001; Kumaravadivelu, 2006; Skehan, 2003).

• Though TBLT is argued to have originated from CLT, it has its own rationales from different philosophies and approaches toward language instruction. Nowadays TBLT is a broad term, which involves not only research and teaching, but testing and curriculum design in SLA.

What is task?

Definitions:

A. Nunan (1989) – A piece of classroom work which involves learners in

comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is primarily focused on meaning rather than form" (p. 10)

1. What is a task?

B. Willis (1996) –

An activity "where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome" (p. 23). It is more effective to use a meaning-based approach than a form-based approach.

C. Skehan (1996) –

Tasks primarily focus on meaning and resemble real-life situations. Since tasks are goal-directed activities, participants decide which language forms to use to achieve the goal.

D. Van den Branden (2006) –

An activity in which a person engages in order to attain an objective, and which necessitates the use of language" (p. 4).

It is evident in this definition that there is a language form needed to perform a task; however, the language is the means not the end. Language is the vehicle to reach successful communication when having real-life communicative situations.

•Nowadays, the most commonly used and widely accepted definition of task is that of language activity in which there is a focus on meaning.

Skehan (1998), drawing on a number of other writers, puts forward key characteristics of a task:

A task is goal-directed. A task has a primary focus on meaning. A task has a clear pedagogic relationship to real world

language needs. A task has a clearly defined outcome.

2. What is Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT)?

TBLT is an approach which offers students opportunities to actively engage in communication in order to achieve a goal or complete a task. TBLT seeks to develop students’ interlanguage through providing a task and then using language to solve it.

III. Why do we use a task based approach?

• Tasks can be easily related to students’ real-life language needs. • They create contexts that facilitate second language acquisition.• Tasks create opportunities for focusing on form. • Students are more likely to develop intrinsic motivation in a task-

based approach. • A task-based approach enables teachers to see if students are

developing the ability to communicate in an L2.

Approach: the nature of language learning• Language is primarily a means of making meaning.• Multiple models of language inform task based instruction. (Richards

& Rodgers, 2001: 226-228)

The focus: conversation and meaning-making• Lexical units are central in language use and language learning.• “Conversation” is the central focus of language and the keystone of

language acquisition. (Richards & Rodgers, 2001: 227-228)

IV. Principles of Task Based Language Teaching:

1. Making errors is natural and is considered as a part of the process in acquiring the target language.

2. Exposure to comprehensible input is crucial. 3. Learning tasks facilitating learners to engage in interactions are

essential. 4. Learners need to be encouraged to produce the target language as

producing the target language facilitates learning. 5. Although language production may be encouraged from the early

stage in the learning process, it is reasonable to allow a silent period. 6. Focus on form is necessary.

IV. Principles of Task Based Language Teaching:

7. Second language teaching and learning pace should be made reasonable for both learners with higher and lower aptitude.

8. Language learning tasks should be varied to cater for the needs for both extrovert and introvert learners.

9. Learning tasks should encourage learners to attend to both meaning and form and be varied in order to accommodate learners with different learning strategy preferences.

10. Teaching and learning processes should foster motivation and minimize learner anxiety.

IV. Principles of Task Based Language Teaching:

11. The choice of teaching and learning tasks and content should be based on learner age.

12. Learning tasks should arouse and maintain learners’ learning motivation. (Priyana, 2006)

V. Objectives of Task Based Language Teaching:

to facilitate students’ language learning by engaging them in a variety of tasks that have a clear outcome. (Larsen-Freeman, 2001: 156)

to give learners confidence in trying out whatever language they know,

to give learners experience of spontaneous interaction,to give learners the chance to benefit from noticing how others

express similar meanings,

V. Objectives of Task Based Language Teaching:

to give learners chances for negotiating turns to speak, (Willis, 1996: 35–6)

to engage learners in using language purposefully and cooperatively,

to make learners participate in a complete interaction, not just one-off sentences,

to give learners chances to try out communication strategies, to develop learners’ confidence that they can achieve

communicative goals. (Willis, 1996: 35–6)

VI. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities:

1. Listing – Brainstorming, fact-finding2. Ordering and sorting – Sequencing, ranking, categorizing,

classifying3. Comparing – Matching, finding similarities, finding

differences4. Problem solving – Analyzing real or hypothetical

situations, reasoning, and decision making

VI. Types of Learning and Teaching Activities:

5. Sharing personal experiences – Narrating describing, exploring, and explaining attitudes, opinions, reactions

6. Creative tasks – Brainstorming, fact-finding, ordering and sorting, comparing, problem solving and many others. (Willis, 1996)

VII. Learner Roles:

1. Group Participant

2. Lead role in their own learning

3. Risk-taker and innovator

VIII.Teacher Roles:

1. Selector and Sequencer of Tasks

2. Preparing Learners for Tasks

3. Consciousness-Raising

IX. Instructional Materials:

- Books- Newspaper,- Magazine,- Radio programs,- CDs,- TV,- Internet,- Board,- Worksheets

X. Research Examples:

Richards and Rogers (2004):Task-Based Learning is an approach that uses tasks as the main unit for planning and instruction. Language is meaningful so that learners engage in tasks and thus learning takes place.

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• Willis and Willis (2007):• A good task not only generates interest and creates an acceptable

degree of challenge, but also generates opportunities for learners to experience and activate as much language as possible" (p. 70)• Focus on language occurs when learners "pause their process for

meaning and switch to thinking about the language itself" (p.113)• Focus on form occurs when the teacher isolates a specific structure

and explains it outside the context of the communicative activity (p. 114).