Communicative Tasks
and the Language
Curriculum
Jason Hung-chi Chao
(趙鴻基)
Introduction

In task-based language teaching (TBLT), syllabus
content and instructional processes are selected
with reference to the communicative tasks which
learners (either actually or potentially) need to
engage in outside the classroom and also with
reference to theoretical and empirical insights
into those social and psycholinguistic processes
which facilitate language acquisition.
Features of TBLT
1.
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3.
4.
5.
An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction
in the target language
The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation
The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only
on language, but also on the learning process itself
An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as
important contributing elements to classroom learning
An attempt to link classroom language learning with language
activation outside the classroom
The Conceptual Basis
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While teacher education programs taught trainees to plan,
implement, and evaluate their programs according to “rational”
model which begins with objectives and moves through tasks to
evaluation (Tyler, 1949), the reality was that once they began
practicing, teachers tended to focus on pedagogic tasks
Task-based learning’s close relationship with experiential learning:
Learning is thus seen as a cyclical process integrating immediate
experience, reflection, abstract conceptualization and action
(Kohonen, in press)
Definitions of Tasks
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Long (1985a) suggests that a task is nothing more or less than
the things people do in everyday life
The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics suggests that a
task is any activity or action carried out as the result of
processing or understanding language
Breen (1987) suggests that a task is any structured language
learning endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate
content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes
for those who undertake that task
Nunan suggests that tasks can be conceptualized in terms of the
curricular goals they are intended to serve, the input data which
forms the point of departure for the task, and the activities or
procedures which the learner undertake in the completion of the
task
The Curricular Basis
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Traditionally, selection of classroom activities was driven by
curriculum goals specified in phonological, morphosyntactic,
and lexical terms
In a task-based curriculum, two different routes in decisionmaking process:
1. based on the rehearsal rationale
2. based on the psycholinguistic rational
Ideally, task selection should occur with reference both to
target task rationale and psycholinguistic principles
Conceptually, TBLT has been influenced by developments in
mainstream education as well as by major conceptual shifts in
our understanding of the nature of language and language
learning
The Empirical Basis
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One of the strengths of TBLT is that the conceptual
basis is supported by a strong empirical tradition
Tasks can be conceptualized in terms of the key
elements:
- goals
- input data
- activities/procedures
- roles
- settings
Goals
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Typical goal statements:
1. To develop the skills in academic study
2. To obtain a promotion from unskilled worker to site supervisor
3. To communicate socially in the target language
4. To develop the survival skills necessary to obtain goods and services
5. To read the literature of the target culture
Brindley (1984):
- programs in which the goals were explicit and reflected the
communicative needs of the learners had greater face validity than
those in which the goals were either unstated, inexplicit, or which did
not reflect learners’ goals
Input Data
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Key question: What factors are implicated in the difficulty of aural and written tasks?
Listening comprehension:
- factors found by Brown and Yule (1983):
1. the number of elements in the text and the ease and difficulty of distinguishing
between them
2. the text type
- factors found by Anderson and Lynch (1988)
1. the way the information is organized
2. he familiarity of the topic
3. the explicitness and sufficiency of the information
4. the type of referring expressions
5. the text type
Reading comprehension:
- Nunan (1984):
1. logical relationships of the type marked by conjunctions were more
difficult than referential and lexical relationships
2. content familiarity was more significant than grammatical complexity in
determining the difficulty or reading
Activities/Procedures
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Key question: What tasks seem to be most helpful in facilitating second language
acquisition?
Long (1981):
- two-way tasks stimulated significantly more modified interactions than oneway tasks
Doughty and Pica (1986):
- required information-exchange tasks generated significantly more modified
interaction than tasks in which the exchange of information was optional
Berwick (1988, in press):
- the different functional purposes stimulated different morphosyntactic
realizations
Nunan:
- the different task types stimulated very different interactional patterns
- with lower-intermediate to intermediate learners, the relatively closed tasks
stimulate more modified interaction than relatively open tasks
Teacher/Learner Roles
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Bruton and Samuda (1980):
- learners are capable of correcting each other
successfully
Porter (1986):
- learners produce more talk with other learners than
with native-speaker partners, and learners do not learn
each other’s errors
Gass and Varonis (1985):
- there were advantages, when conducting groupwork, to pairing
learners of different proficiency levels as well as from different
language backgrounds
Setting
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Long, Adams, and Castanos (1976):
- small-group tasks prompt students to use a
greater range of language, functions than
teacher-fronted tasks
Montagomery and Eisenstein (1985):
- supplementing classroom tasks with
community-based experiences resulted in
significantly increased language gains
Future Directions: Extending the Research Agenda
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Two recent investigations:
1. Berwick (1988; in press):
- research: explored differences at the level of lexicogrammar attributable
to different task
- result: task type is an important determinant of lexicogrammatical
exponents
- significance: exemplifies the value of research programs into task-based
language teaching and learning
2. Duffy (in press):
- study: carried out a longitudinal case of a single learner, investigating the
extent to which performance on different types of tasks yield different
types of information on the subject’s interlanguage
- result: while there was some evidence of task-related variability, the
subject’s performance from one date-collection period to the next also
exhibited variability
- significance: represents a departure from the cross-sectional research
which has typified the field since its inception
Questions for discussion
1.
2.
3.
What would you do to help students improve
their listening comprehension?
How to make everyone participate in a group
discussion actively?
If you are going to teach for 3 hours, will you
teach for 3 hours in a day, or will you divide
the 3 hours to teach in different days?
Reference
Nunan, D (1991). Communicative Tasks and the
Language Curriculum, TESOL Quarterly, 25(2),
279-295.