Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Martin Weren, Hillcrest High School.
TPDL participant 2011.
….TPDL?
Teacher Professional Development in
Languages, which involves…
Language Learning
In-class visits and support
Pedagogy (EDPROFST, Uni of Auckland)
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Overview:
Where have we come from as language
teachers?
Where are we going?
What is TBLT?
What is TBLT not?
Acknowledgements
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Overview:
If during the course of this presentation you
reflect on aspects of your own language
teaching and ask yourself how you can do
things differently and better, Martin will be a
happy man.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Where have we come from as language
teachers?
In the beginning there was….
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Where have we come from as language
teachers?
In the beginning there was….
Grammar-translation methodology
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Where have we come from as language
teachers?
Grammar-translation methodology
Audio-lingual method
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Where have we come from as language
teachers?
Grammar-translation methodology
Audio-lingual method
Communicative method
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Let’s assume that most of us in NZ
are familiar with, and use, the
communicative method (CLT).
What are some
features/characteristics of this
method?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Let’s assume that most of us in NZ
are familiar with, and use, the
communicative method.
What are some features/characteristics of this method?
What are some of the benefits of
CLT?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
CLT draws on authentic materials
and concepts that relate to the real
world outside the classroom
CLT focuses on learners as active
participants in their own learning.
They become autonomous learners.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
CLT takes the view that language
exists for purposes of real
communication in the real world.
Strategic competence is the ability
to make up for gaps in knowledge by
making the best use of resources
available to them – they negotiate
meanings.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
This all sounds great.
So, what’s the problem?
Is there a problem?
Is there more than one problem?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Or, why is TBLT being considered as
an alternative to CLT?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Or, why is TBLT being considered as an alternative to CLT?
“Weak” CLT came from residues of
grammar-translation.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Or, why is TBLT being considered as
an alternative to CLT?
“Weak” CLT came from residues of
grammar-translation.
Weak CLT techniques known as PPP
(classic lesson structure).
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Presentation: The teacher draws
learners’ attention to a specific form
or structure.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Practice: Once the rules have been
made explicit, the grammatical
structure is practised by various
activities.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Production: Learners engage in open
practice, free of teacher control,
where the focus is on meaning, such
as a role play where the target
structure or function has to be used.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
A crucial weakness is that the
approach tends to produce boring
lessons.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
That was “weak” CLT.
Is/was there another CLT?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
(Hint: What’s the opposite of “weak”?)
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
STRONG CLT
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Stop right there!
Strong is not necessarily better than
weak.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
In “strong” CLT there was an
emphasis on communication that
negated any role for grammar; an
anything-goes-as-long-as-you-getthe-message-across approach to 2LT.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
In “strong” CLT there was a premise
that all that was required for learners
was input in the TL.
Purely communicative lessons can be
very enjoyable for students, but….
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Purely communicative lessons can be
very enjoyable for students, but….
…comprehensible 2L input is
necessary, but insufficient.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
So CLT, at least in its weakest and
strongest forms, is found wanting.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found wanting
.
A communicative approach is
required which can reconcile fluency
(with its implications for motivation
and communication) with accuracy
(with its implications for proficiency).
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Guess what comes next
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found wanting.
TBLT makes this
reconciliation a
possibility
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Learners learn to communicate by
communicating.
The most effective way to teach a
language is by engaging learners in
real language use in the classroom.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Scenarios that reflect real-world
language use are set up by designing
tasks – discussions, problems, games
and so on – which require learners to
use language for themselves.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
A task is an activity in which a person
engages in order to attain an
objective, and which necessitates the
use of language….
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
…Using language is a means to an
end: by understanding language
input and by producing language
output i.e. by interacting with other
people in real-life situations through
the use of language, the goals that
the learner has in mind can be
(better) achieved.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis says that for a LL activity to be
called a task it must satisfy several
criteria:
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis says that for a LL activity to be called a task it must satisfy several
criteria:
The primary focus should be on
“meaning” (learners should be mainly
concerned with processing the semantic and
pragmatic meaning of utterances)
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis says that for a LL activity to be called a task it must satisfy several
criteria:
The primary focus should be on “meaning”;
There should be some kind of “gap”
(i.e. a need to convey information, to express
an opinion or to infer meaning)
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis says that for a LL activity to be called a task it must satisfy several
criteria:
The primary focus should be on “meaning”;
There should be some kind of “gap”;
Learners should largely have to rely
on their own resources (linguistic and
non-linguistic) in order to complete
the activity
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis says that for a LL activity to be called a task it must satisfy several
criteria:
The primary focus should be on “meaning”;
There should be some kind of “gap”;
Learners should largely have to rely on their own
resources (linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to
complete the activity
There is a clearly defined outcome
other than the use of language
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
There is a clearly defined outcome
other than the use of language (i.e. the
language serves as the means for achieving the
outcome, not as an end in its own right).
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
The primary focus should be on “meaning”;
There should be some kind of “gap”;
Learners should largely have to rely on their own
resources (linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to
complete the activity
There is a clearly defined outcome other than the
use of language (i.e. the language serves as the
means for achieving the outcome, not as an end in its
own right).
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
TBLT & the NZC
TBLT is only implicit in the new
learning area.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Ellis’ Principles:
In Principle 2, tasks are presented.
Such tasks provide students with
opportunities for interaction,
thinking, problem solving, and
genuine social interactions.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
So….
How could this look in the classroom,
or Give us some examples of tasks.
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
So….
How could this look in the classroom,
or Give us some examples of tasks.
From Dave Willis and Jane Willis: “Doing Task-based
Teaching”, OUP 2007
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
1 Earthquake safety
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
2 Text puzzle: profits and media
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
3 Family values
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
4 Guess what animal this is
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
5 “Moulin Rouge” movie trailer
comparison
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
6 Junk we carry around with us
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
7 Giving directions
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
8 A new cafeteria
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
9 Radio talk show: Healthy teens?
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
10 Scientific presentation:
Atmosphere and weather
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
11 Creating a newspaper
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
Give us some examples of tasks.
12 Fictitious marriage scenario
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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
These notes are based on
presentations from Dr Martin East
(University of Auckland)
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