The document discusses task-based language teaching (TBLT). It defines tasks as classroom activities that focus on meaning over form and involve students comprehending, manipulating, or interacting with the target language. TBLT moves learning from fluency to accuracy plus fluency by integrating the four language skills. The teacher's role is to select and sequence tasks and prepare students, while students participate in groups, monitor their learning, and take risks using the new language. The document outlines the framework of TBLT including the task cycle and language focus after tasks. It notes advantages like meaningful communication and exposure to language, and disadvantages like requiring creativity and resources.

1. Task-Based
learning

2. Hello!
Ashwaq Naif Almuqati
Shaqra University
aalmqati@su.edu.sa
Moustafa M. Shalabi
Awang Had Salleh School of Graduate Studies
University Utara Malaysia,
mustafa.shalabi1970@gmail.com

3. Task-Based
Language
Teaching
(TBLT)

4. 1
2
3
4
Defining “Tasks”5
Teacher’s role6
7 Student’s role

5. 8
9
10
11

6. “Introduction
Task-based learning is an alternative approach to
communicative language teaching because a task
involves a primary focus on meaning, real-world
processes of language use and any of the four
language skills.

7. Introduction
😉 Teaching efficiency is improved when the learners
and their learning are the focus of attention instead of
the teacher.
😉 It is a communicative approach
😉 The aim of TBL is to integrate all four skills and to
move from fluency to accuracy plus fluency.

8. BACKGROUND

9. 📌 Language is primarily a means of making meaning.
📌 Multiple models of language inform TBI: structural,
functional and interactional models of language.
📌 Lexical units are central in language use and
language learning.
📌 “Conversation” is the central focus of language and
the keystone of language acquisition.
Theory of language

10.  📌 Tasks provide both the input and output
processing necessary for language acquisition.
 📌 Task activity and achievement are motivational
 📌 Learning difficulty can be negotiated and fine-
tuned for particular pedagogical purposes
Theory of learning

11. ““A piece of classroom work that involve
learners in comprehending, manipulating,
producing, or interacting in target language
while attention is focus on meaning rather
than form. The task should also have a sense of
completeness, being able to stand alone as a
communicative act in its own right with a
beginning, a middle and an end.”
(Nunan, 2004)

12. ““Any approach to language pedagogy will
need to concern itself with three essential
elements: language data, information, and
opportunities for practice”,
David Nunan

13. “
What is task?

14. ““A taskis an activity where the target language is used by
the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to
achieve an outcome.”
“ A taskis a piece of work that must be done, especially
one that is difficult or that must be done regularly.”
(Longman English Dictionary)
(Willis, 1996)

15. “ A task is to give someone the
responsibility for doing something.”
(Longman English Dictionary)
“ A task is any activity that learners engage in to
process of learning a language.”
(Williams and Burden, 1997:168
“In contrast, exercises are activities
that call for primarily form-focused
language use. “
(Ellis, 2003)

16. Why Using Task-Based Approach
TBLT- Engaging Your Students
“ Students may not produce the target language during the free
practice stage because they find they are unable to use
existing language resources to complete the task”.
Richard Frost

17. The TBL framework supports these conditions in a classroom
environment.

18. Teacher Roles
SELECTOR AND SEQUENCER OF TASKS:
A central role of the teacher is in selecting, adapting and/or creating the tasks
themselves and then forming these into an instructional sequence in keeping with
learner neeeds, interests and language skill level.
PREPARING LEARNERS FOR TASKS:
Activities might include topic introduction, clarifying task instructions, helping
students learn or recall useful words and phrases to facilitate task accomplishment
and providing partial demonstration of task procedures.

19. Learner Roles
Primary roles that are implied by task work are:
GROUP PARTICIPANT: many tasks will be done in pairs or in small groups.
MONITOR: in TBL, tasks are not employed for their own sake but as a means of facilitating learning.
Class activities have to be designed so that students have the opportunity to notice how language is
used in communication.
RISK-TAKER AND INNOVATOR: many tasks will require learners to create and interpret messages for
which they lack full linguitic resources and prior experience. The skills of guessing from linguistic and
contextual clues, asking for clarification and consulting with other learners may also need to be
developed.

20. Jane Willis
She teaches at Aston University, UK, on their new modular
Masters in TESOL/TESP. Her books include Teaching English
Through English (Longman), Challenge and Change in Language
Teaching (with Dave Willis, Heinemann), and A Framework for
Task-based Learning (Longman).
Procedure
Sequenceofactivities
Pretask The task
cycle
The
language
focus

21. Pretask
Instructionstotopic
andtask
The focus is on the
topic
There are new
structures introduced
Instructions to do the
task are given
TBLT

22. The task cycle
Task planning Report Post task listening
TBLT

23. The language focus
Analysis
• Students are given an opportunity to reflect and
analyse the new language which has emerged
through the task.
Practice
• Students put the language acquired into
practice.

24. The
Frame
work of
TBLT

25. Advantages
1. 1. TBL is applicable and suitable for students of all ages and background.
2. 2. Students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBL.
3. 3. Students are free to use whatever vocabulary and grammar they know,
rather than just the task language of the lesson.
4. 4. Allows meaningful communication.
5. 5. Students will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases,
collocations and patterns as well as language forms.
6. 6. Encourages students to be more ambitious in the language.

26. Disadvantages
1. TBI requires a high level of creativity and initiative on the part
of the task.
2. TBI requires resources beyond the textbooks and related
materials usually found in language classrooms.
3. TBI is not teacher-centered and it requires individual and
group responsibility and commit mention the part of students.
4. There is a risk for learners to achieve fluency at the expense
of accuracy.

27. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find us at
aalmqati@su.edu.sa
mostafa.shalaby1970@gmail.com

28. 📖 David Nunan,Aspects of Task-Based Syllabus Design, The English Centre, University of Hong
Kong, December 2001.
📖 Teaching English through a task-based approach. Jane Willis, 2002.
📖 Richard Frost British Council, BBC World Service, 2006 .
📖 Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
📖 Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
📖 Harmer, J. (1998). How to teach English: An introduction to the practice of English teaching.
Essex : Addison
Wesley Longman Limited.
📖 Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
📖 Jost, N. (2003). Issues in Task-based Language Instruction.
📖 JALT Conference Proceedings. Tokyo : Association for Language Teaching.
📖 Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Essex : Addison Wesley Longman
Limited.
References