Task Based Learning

Is it the role of the classroom teacher to be an imparter of knowledge to their students? A carer and stand-in parent? A moral guide?

Should the aim of classroom pedagogy be to produce creative individuals, good citizens of the state, or young people with a toolkit of skills which fit them for the world of work? And is it the job of the teacher to offer individual students maximum choice and different learning paths, or to ensure that the whole group of students in their charge progress to common goals?

Cutting across this underlying set of local educational expectations and assumptions, language teaching in the 20th century saw the introduction of ‘modern’ methods, seen as universally applicable and acceptable, such as the ‘communicative approach’, or ‘task based learning’ (Richards & Rogers, 2001).

These methods have achieved considerable impact, again partly because of wider social change, rather than necessarily any intrinsic ‘scientific’ superiority over older methods. They are well adapted to a number of broad shifts in language education goals:

• The rise in economic prosperity and therefore in universal schooling during the 20th century, which has seen language teaching spread far beyond a small elite;

• A shift in views of the underlying purposes of education, away from the transmission of high culture (which for languages, meant giving priority in schools to grammar and to literature), toward more utilitarian goals;

• A ‘standards based’ philosophy of education, which views educational success as the achievement of measurable and pre-determined learning outcomes 

• Increased emphasis on the development of communication skills, and of oral fluency in particular.

TBL

This is an important and widely-used language teaching approach.

Now let's start with comparing it to PPP, which means present, practice, produce. In the PPP classroom the teacher leads and controls everything. So there is limited space for student activity and student agency. PPP also involves a linear syllabus. So there's one chance to master grammatical rules and other elements of language. And finally, in the PPP format, lessons can become a bit tedious and predictable. So not the best way of motivating learners. The alternative which has developed is task based language teaching.

In TBLT the focus is on meaning rather than form, on the things we do with language rather than the features of grammar and other rules. TBLT focuses on activities which engage students in using language in diverse and creative ways. TBLT involves the four language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. TBLT has the potential to recycle language knowledge such as grammar and vocabulary. TBLT aligns in many ways with theoretical understandings of the processes of language learning. For example, current research into language learning emphasises the importance of meaning based language production. It emphasises 'noticing,' where learners using the language identify what it is they should be using, and also what it is they still have to learn.

And finally, it promotes the notion of 'languaging,' which emphasises the process of working out, actively working out, the language that's needed to complete a given language function. In defining tasks, there - a range of approaches have been developed. According to Willis 1996, tasks are activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome. Another interesting area in recent research is the notion of how teachers use tasks. A study by Andon and Eckerth 2009 illustrates four functions for teachers. 

First of all, tasks are ways in which teachers get students to use their own words to communicate their own meanings.

Second, the tasks are contexts in the classroom where the language of the classroom is made more like the language of the real world outside the classroom. 

Third, task structure activities. There's an outcome and then the students have an awareness of the structure of the lesson that the teacher has planned. 

And then finally, they are reference points for language input. So teachers can introduce explicitly or focus on particular language forms which benefit the students. 

To say few words about the future of TBLT.

TBLT with all its variations has become the predominant approach to language teaching, in terms of what we find in course books and other learning materials, in the content of teacher education programmes, and in quality management schemes around the world. While there may be still some questions of effectiveness of TBLT, the promise of greater effectiveness is likely to come from further variations and adaptations of TBLT rather than another teaching method or approach.

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OLySXzZY-4

When is an activity not a task?
Task-based teaching is about creating opportunities for meaning-focused language use.

In other words, learners doing tasks will not just be

• speaking to practise a new structure e.g. doing a drill or enacting a dialogue or asking and answering questions using the ‘new' patterns;

• or writing to display their control of certain language items,

These are primarily form-focused activities, designed to practise language items that have been presented earlier. There is a place for form-focused activities in task-based learning (TBL), but activities such as these are not tasks.

Learners doing tasks (i.e. focusing on meanings) will be making free use of whatever English they can recall to express the things that they really want to say or write in the process of achieving the task goal.

What kind of activity is a task?
Willis and Willis (2007:12-14) offer the following criteria in the form of questions.

‘The more confidently you can answer yes to each of these questions, the more task-like the activity.

1. Will the activity engage learners' interest?
2. Is there a primary focus on meaning?
3. Is there a goal or an outcome?
4. Is success judged in terms of outcome?
5. Is completion a priority?
6. Does the activity relate to real world activities?'

Let us consider the task ‘Planning a class night out' in the light of these criteria.

• I think the lesson would certainly engage my learners' interest, especially if they knew they would actually be going on the chosen night out, so a) is Yes.

• Learners have strong preferences about nights out and would definitely be meaning what they say, so Yes to b).

• The first outcome for each pair is their finished plan for the night out, (which must be complete before they tell the class about it so the class can vote on the best plan) and a second outcome might be the real-world night out, so a confident Yes to c), d), e) and f).

Work in pairs. Talk about your grandparents. Tell each other what you know about their past lives. Use the phrases and patterns from the box above.

 Adding a goal or outcome to make a task

For the ‘Grandparents' activity we need to add a goal to give the activity a purpose and make the outcome more specific so that learners know when they have completed the task. Some sample outcomes follow here and you could add one of these sets of instructions, depending on which outcome you think would best engage the learners in your class.

1. Try to find out three things that your grandparents' and your partner's grandparents' lives had in common. What was the biggest difference between them?
Or
2. Decide which one of your partner's grandparents was / is the most interesting person and give two reasons why you think so. Then tell the class about him/her and vote to decide on the three most interesting grandparents in the class.
Or
3. Describe two early memories you have of one particular grandparent. Tell your group. Take notes when listening to each other.
• Compare your memories - whose were the most interesting, most vivid, most amusing, saddest or strangest?
And/Or:
• Compare your groups' memories and try to find ways to classify them (e.g. to do with food or meal-times? games? outings? being ill? negative / positive things?) Then report your categories to the class, with examples. Did you all have similar ways of classifying?

If learners are clear what the outcome should be, and know the number of things to list or describe, they are more likely to engage with the task, speak with more confidence and know when they have completed it. Successful task achievement will greatly increase their satisfaction and motivation. When, after completing the task cycle, they look more closely at language forms used by others doing similar tasks, they will already be familiar with the contexts and have experienced the need for some of those forms.

Source  article: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/criteria-identifying-tasks-tbl?page=1

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