Task-Based
Language
Learning
Prof. Lilian Gómez A. (PhD)
Universidad de Concepción
[email protected]
Why Task-Based
Teaching?
Responsiveness to learners' precisely
specified communicative needs
Potential for developing functional
language proficiency without
sacrificing grammatical accuracy
Attempt to harmonize the way
languages are taught with what SLA
research has revealed about how
they are learned
What is Task-Based
Language Teaching
(TBLT) ?
TBLT is an embryonic theory of
language teaching rooted in
cognitive and interactionist SLA
theory & research, philosophy, SLA,
psycholinguistics, language teaching,
curriculum theory, & educational
psychology
Concerned about what can be done
to make language teaching more
efficient
It proposes the notion of “task” as a
Key Assumption of TBLT
Focus on process rather than product
Basic elements are purposeful activities &
tasks that emphasize communication &
meaning
Learners learn language by interacting
communicatively & purposefully while
working on the task
Activities & tasks can be either those that
learners need to achieve in real life
e.g. using the phone
Have a pedagogical purpose specific to the
Key Assumption of TBLT
The difficulty of a task depends on a
range of factors including:
Previous experience of the learner
Complexity of the task
Language required to undertake the
task
Degree of support available
Components of TBT
There are six components of the
design, implementation, and evaluation
of a genuinely task-based language
teaching program:
(a) needs and means analysis
(b) syllabus design (content & learning
outcomes)
(c) materials design
(d) methodology and pedagogy
What is a Task ?
A communicative task is a piece of
classroom work which involves
learners in comprehending,
manipulating, producing or
interacting in the target language
while their attention is principally
focused on meaning rather than
form.
The task should have a sense of
completeness, being able to stand
alone as a communicative act in its
Examples of TBLT
materials
Class timetables
Construct timetables with subject names
& times
Planning a vacation
Deciding where you can go based on a
budget
Booking a flight
Choosing a hotel
Booking a room
Planning a tour of the city
Programs & Itineraries
Examples of Task Types
Listing Jigsaw tasks
Ordering & sorting Information-gap
Comparing tasks
Problem solving Problem-solving
tasks
Sharing personal
experiences Decision-making
Creative tasks tasks
Opinion exchange
(Willis, 1996) tasks
Participant Roles
STUDENT ROLES TEACHER ROLES
Group participant Selector &
Monitor sequencer of tasks
Risk-taker & Preparing learners
innovator for tasks
Consciousness
raising
Instructional Materials
for TBLT
Pedagogic material
Similar to materials used in collaborative
learning, communicative language
teaching, small group activities
Realia
Newspapers
Television
Internet
Maps, menus, instructional manuals
Examples of task using
realia
Newspapers
Ss prepare their weekend entertainment plan
using the entertainment section
Ss prepare a job-wanted ad using examples
from the classified section
Television
Ss listen to an infomercial, identify the “hype”
words & construct a similar ad w/ them
Internet
Ss conduct a comparative shopping analysis of
3 sellers to buy a book
Ss search w/ 3 different search engines to find
an inexpensive hotel in Chicago, comparing
search times & analyzing the first 10 hits to
determine the most useful egine
Example of task design
Pre-task activities
Brainstorming, ranking exercises,
problem-solving to prepare Ss for role-
plays by revealing schemata
Task activity
Ss perform a role-play by negotiating
the cued task
Posttask activities
Listen to recordings of native speakers
performing the same role-play &
Another example of TBLT
Pre-task
Task cycle
Task
Planning to report
Report
Post-task listening
Language focus
Analysis
Practice
(Willis, 1996)
TBLT Methodological
Principles (MP) &
Pedagogic Procedures (PP)
MPs are desirable instructional design
features based on theory and research
findings, that practitioners must rely on
MPs are language teaching universals
PPs comprise an infinite range of local
options for realizing the principles at the
classroom level.
PP choice is determined by such factors as
teacher philosophy and preference;
learner age, proficiency, literacy level, aptitude
and cognitive style;
the class of target linguistic features for which the
procedures are to be use;
TBLT Methodological
Principles
Principles L2
Implementation
Activiti Use tasks, not texts, task-based
es as the unit of analysis. language teaching
(TBLT; target tasks,
MP 1 pedagogical tasks,
MP2 Promote learning by task sequencing)
doing.
Input Elaborate input (do negotiation of
not simplify; do not meaning;
MP 3 rely solely on interactional
MP4 "authentic"
Provide rich texts).
(not modification;
exposure to varied
impoverished) input. elaboration
input sources
TBLT Methodological
Principles
Principles L2
Implementation
Learnin Encourage implicit
g inductive instruction
Process ("chunk")
es
MP 6 learning.
Focus on form. attention; form-
MP 5 function
mapping
MP 7 Provide negative feedback on
feedback. error (e.g.,
recasts); error
"correction"
TBLT Methodological
Principles
Principles L2 Implementation
Learning Respect "learner timing of
Processe syllabuses"/develo pedagogical
p-mental intervention to
s
processes. developmental
MP
MP 8
9 Promote negotiation of
readiness
cooperative/ meaning;
collaborative interactional
Learners Individualize
learning. needs analysis;
modification
instruction consideration of
MP 10 (according to individual
communicative differences (e.g.,
needs, and memory & aptitude)
psycholinguistically and learning
adapted from Doughty 2000b, 2001b
TBLT Pedagogic
Procedures
Different choices of PPs are potentially
justified at different times with the same
learners or at the same time with different
learners. There is no one right or wrong
choice.
By way of illustration, let us consider MP 7.
There is good evidence, and widespread
agreement, that feedback on error is
facilitative.
"Provide negative feedback," therefore,
has the status of a methodological
principle in TBLT.
Pedagogic Procedures for
MP 7: "Provide negative
feedback"
Options range from overt and explicit
procedures…
e.g., use of a rule or explanation delivered in
oral, manual, or written mode, in the L1 or L2,
or repetition of the correct response, followed
by an elicitation move of some sort designed to
test for incorporation
…through less intrusive ones…
e.g., teacher "clarification requests" in the
absence of any real communication
breakdown, designed to elicit learner re-runs
with self-repair)
…to covert and implicit ones
e.g., manipulation of input frequency to
increase perceptual salience,
Pedagogic Procedures for
MP 7: "Provide negative
feedback"
Different pedagogic procedures for
providing negative feedback may be
needed for
literate and illiterate learners,
for children and adults
with the same group of learners for different
classes of problematic target-language forms
e.g., free and bound morphology,
meaning-bearing and communicatively redundant
items,
forms that are learnable and unlearnable from positive
evidence alone)
While the PPs chosen will vary, all will
Examples of TBLT-Like
Materials
Dustin Simulation
Beginning level
Korean TBLT Following
Directions Module
Beginning level
smoking prevention program
Advanced level
Selected References
Doughty, C. & Long, M. (2003). Optimal
psycholinguistic environments for distance
foreign language learning. Language
learning and technology, 7, 3, 50-80.
Long, M. H. (1985). A role for instruction in
second language acquisition: task‑ based
language teaching. In K. Hyltenstam & M.
Pienemann (Eds.), Modeling and assessing
second language development (pp. 77-99).
Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
