3. WHAT DOES TASK-BASED LANGUAGE
TEACHING (TBLT) MEAN?
• Is related to Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT).
• Some researchers (Kumaravadivelu,
2006) argue that TBLT is significantly
different than CLT but some (Ellis,
2003) thinks that TBLT is at the very
core of CLT.
This pedagogy puts the use of TASKS
at the core of language teaching.
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(Brown, 2007)
4. WHAT TASKS?
Task is defined by Skehan (1998) as an
activity in which:
• meaning is of the utmost importance;
there is some communicative problem
to solve;
• there is relationship to real-world
activities;
• task completion has some priority;
and
the assessment of task is in terms of
outcome.
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5. OR SIMPLY PUT…
“A TASK IS AN ACTIVITY WHICH REQUIRES
LEARNERS TO USE LANGUAGE
(PEDAGOGICAL TASKS), WITH EMPHASIS ON
MEANING, TO ATTAIN AN OBJECTIVE
(TARGET TASKS)”
(BYGATE, SKEHAN, & SWAIN, 2011)
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6. TYPES OF TASKS IN TBLT
1. Target tasks
• Which students must achieve
beyond the classroom.
• Much more specific and more
explicitly related to classroom
instruction.
• Specifies a context.
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7. TYPES OF TASKS IN TBLT
2. Pedagogical tasks
• Form the nucleus of the classroom
activity
• Include series of techniques to ultimately
teach students to perform the target
task.
• Involve students in some form of
simulation of the target task.
• Distinguished by their specific goals that
point beyond the language classroom to
the target task.
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8. CHARACTERISTICS OF TBLT
• Tasks ultimately points learners to the application
of language in real-life situations.
• Tasks are not heavily guided by the need for
correct grammatical and structural aspects of the
language.
• Tasks specifically contribute to communicative
goals.
• Their objectives are well specified so that you can
at some later point accurately determine the
success of a task over another.
• Tasks engage learners, at some level, in genuine
problem-solving activity.
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9. HOW DO WE PERFORM IT?
1. Perform needs analysis.
“I want to be able to talk to foreign
visitors in English.”
2. Specify learning goals and objectives.
Goal type: Communicative.
3. Create tasks.
Simulations in classroom.
4. Develop and enable integrating skills.
Language exercises, communicative
activities.
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11. ADVANTAGES OF TBLT
• useful for moving the focus of the learning
process from the teacher to the student.
• gives the student a different way of
understanding language as a tool instead of as a
specific goal.
• can bring teaching from abstract knowledge to
real world application.
• A Task is helpful in meeting the immediate
needs of the learners and provides a framework
for creating classes, interesting and able to
address to the students needs.
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12. DISADVANTAGES OF TBLT
• There is no acquisition of new grammar or
vocabulary features
• Everything is left to the teacher
• Not all students are or will be motivated by TBLT
• Some students need more guidance and will not
or cannot `notice´ language forms (grammar) or
other elements of accuracy
• Students typically translate and use a lot of their
L1 rather than the target language in completing
the tasks.
(Broady, 2006)
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15. WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
TBLT FOR LANGUAGE
LEARNING METHODOLOGY?
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16. REFERENCES
• Teaching by Principles, An Interactive
Approach to Language Pedagogy [Book] /
auth. Brown H. Douglas. - New York : Pearson
Education, 2007. - Vol. III.
• Nunan, D. 1999. Second Language Teaching
and Learning. Boston: Heinle / Thomson
Learning
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Editor's Notes
As we have become more sensitive to the importance of teaching foreign languages for communicative purposes (not just for the purposes of fulfilling a requirement or of ‘passing a test’).
Task-based learning focuses on the use of authentic language through meaningful tasks such as visiting the doctor or a telephone call. This method encourages meaningful communication and is student-centred.
A task is an activity in which a person engages in order to attain an objective, and which necessitates the use of language….
Goal:
to exchange information, ideas, opinions, attitudes, and feelings and to get things done.
“I want to be able to talk to foreign visitors in English.”