Task-based languageTeaching

What is Task-Based Language Teaching?

   “Task- Based Language Teaching (TBLT) refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching”

The primary focus of classroom activity is the task and language is the instrument that the students use to complete it. The task is an activity in which students use language to achieve a specific outcome.

Defining tasks

In order for us to understand TBL, we need to define what a task is.

Tasks can be real-life situations or have a pedagogical purpose.

In both cases, a task should:

- provide opportunities for students to exchange information with a

focus on meaning, not a specific form or pattern/structure;

- have a clear purpose: learners should know the outcome they are

expected to produce when they finish performing the task. The

outcome may vary. It might be making a YouTube video tutorial, finding

a solution for a problem or writing an email requesting information;

- result in an outcome that can be shared with more people;

- relate to real world activities.

Pre-Task

    In the pre-task, the teacher will present what will be expected of the

students in the task phase. Additionally, in the "weak" form of TBLL,

the teacher may prime the students with key vocabulary or

grammatical constructs, although this can mean that the activity is,

in effect, more similar to the more traditional present-practice-produce

(PPP) paradigm.

In "strong" task-based learning lessons, learners are responsible for

selecting the appropriate language for any given context themselves.

Task

In this stage of the TBL lesson, learners perform the task proposed. They are supposed to perform the task in small groups or pairs, and use their existing knowledge of language to express themselves in a spontaneous way.

As the focus is communication, the teacher is not supposed to carry out extensive error correction at this stage, but should monitor and provide support.

When students finish performing the task, they need to plan how they are going to report it to the rest of the class or to other groups. They may rehearse and research the language necessary in order to share the outcome of what they had done. Finally, students report the outcome of the task to other students.

Planning

Students prepare a short oral or written report to tell the class what happened during their task. They then practise what they are going to say in their groups. Meanwhile the teacher is available for the students to ask for advice to clear up any language questions they may have.

Report

The teacher then highlights relevant parts from the text of the recording for the students to analyse. They may ask students to notice interesting features within this text. The teacher can also highlight the language that the students used during the report phase for analysis.

Practice

Finally, the teacher selects language areas to practise based upon the needs of the students and what emerged from the task and report phases. The students then do practice activities to increase their confidence and make a note of useful language.

Post-task:

    The post-task stage is when students evaluate their performance. This might be done by comparing the outcome of their task to that of a proficient user of the language.

It can also involve feedback provided by the teacher and subsequent practice of language items that emerged from the task. It is important to stress that form-focused language work should be in response to students’ production.

That means that the teacher will not teach a grammar lesson and expect that learners use that specific structure while performing the task, neither should the teacher work on a pre-selected language item in this phase of the lesson. This makes the role of the teacher as a monitor extremely important in TBL.

Task-based learning has some clear advantages

• Unlike a PPP approach, the students are free of language control. In all three stages they must use all their language resources rather than just practicing one pre-selected item.

• A natural context is developed from the students' experiences with the language that is personalized and relevant to them. With PPP it is necessary to create contexts in which to present the language and sometimes they can be very unnatural.

• The students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBL. They will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.

• The language explored arises from the students' needs. This need dictates what will be covered in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the coursebook.

• It is a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time communicating. PPP lessons seem very teacher-centered by comparison.

• It is enjoyable and motivating.