An Introduction to Task-Based Teaching

An Introduction to Task-Based Teaching

Your Instructor: Dr. David Nunan

Lesson 01

Chapter 1

Introduction

David Nunan talking about the ELT Advantage course An

Introduction to Task-based Teaching (videoscript)

"Hello and welcome to the Thomson ELT Advantage course on

Task-based Language Teaching. I'm David Nunan. The aim of this course is to introduce you to this important approach to language teaching. We will look at all aspects of task-based language teaching – what it is, how it developed and how it fits in to a broader curriculum framework, and, most importantly, how it works in the classroom. The course is meant to be a practical one, so there are lots of examples from teaching materials that I've written over the years. But I'll also introduce you to the concepts and principles that underpin the approach."

David Nunan talking about Approaches to Language

Curriculum Development (videoscript)

"In this first lesson, I want to provide a context and a framework for task-based language teaching, by looking at how it fits in to a broader curriculum picture. The first thing I want to do, then, is to set out my understanding of the concept of 'curriculum'. In doing this, I will introduce and define some key concepts and terms.

These include syllabus, methodology, assessment and evaluation.

I will also look at two different philosophies or models of education

– the 'transmission' model and the 'experiential' model. Finally, I will look at how the concepts of communicative language teaching and task-based teaching are related."

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:



Describe the key elements in curriculum design



Define the following terms: syllabus design , methodology , analytical approach , synthetic approach , assessment , and evaluation



Explain the difference between a 'transmission' and an 'experiential' approach to education



Explain the difference between traditional and communicative approaches to language teaching


Your Instructor: David Nunan

Lesson 01

Chapter 2

The Nature of Curriculum Development

The concept of curriculum is a large and somewhat messy one. Many books have been written about it and educators are not in agreement about what it means.

Traditionally, a curriculum will specify all of the planned learning experiences that an educational institution will make available to its learners. Such a plan needs to specify three things: 1) the content that learners will acquire, 2) the learning experiences through which they will acquire the content, and 3) the outcomes of the learning process. There should be some justification for the content that is selected. Additionally, the content and learning experiences should be graded and sequenced so that teachers and learners know what is to be taught first, what second and so on.

Content selection, justification and grading belong to the field of syllabus design . Selecting and sequencing learning experiences is known as methodology , and determining outcomes belongs to the area of assessment and evaluation . (Note: Assessment refers to the tools and procedures for determining what learners can and can't do, while evaluation has to do with making overall judgments about the effectiveness of a program.) These elements and processes are set out below.

Key Aspects of Curriculum Planning

Syllabus design (relating to content)

What? Selecting

Why? Justifying

When? Grading

Methodology (relating to learning processes)

How? Enacting

When? Sequencing

Assessment/evaluation (relating to outcomes)

How well? Assessing

How effective Evaluating

Traditional approach

In the traditional approach to language curriculum development, language was seen as a body of content to be mastered. The syllabus consisted of graded lists of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation items. These were specified as a first step in the curriculum development process.

Learning tasks and exercises were then designed to facilitate the learning of these language items.

Communicative approach

However, in the mid-1970s a different view of language began to emerge. According to this view, which came to be known as the communicative approach , language was seen not as a set of grammar rules and vocabulary to be memorized, but as a tool for expressing meanings. This new view had profound implications all aspects of the curriculum.



Lesson 01

Chapter 3

Two Approaches to Language Syllabus Designs

There are many different approaches and methods in language teaching. However, most of these evolve from one of two starting points. Generally speaking, the point of departure is either 1) an analysis of the target language to be taught or 2) a consideration of the communicative needs of the learner. Underlying these two points of departure are two different concepts of the nature of language. The first sees language as a body of knowledge; the second sees it as a tool for communication.

Around thirty years ago, the British applied linguist David Wilkins drew our attention to these two different orientations. In his ground-breaking 1976 book entitled Notional Syllabuses , he argues that curriculum developers had a basic choice when starting out to design a new language program.

They could either start with an analysis of the target language, breaking it down into its different components, or they could begin by specifying the communicative situations that learners would encounter in using the language. Wilkins labeled the first approach ' synthetic ' and the second approach ' analytical .'

Synthetic approach

In a synthetic approach, "different parts of the language are taught separately and step by step so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the whole structure of language has been built up." (Wilkins, 1976:2). The approach is called 'synthetic' because, in order to use the language for communication, the learner has to synthesize , or reconstruct, the different elements that have been separately presented. Items to be taught are selected because they happen to be there in the language rather than because they meet actual or potential communicative needs.

A wide range of methods are underpinned by the synthetic approach. These include the traditional grammar-translation method , based on grammatical analyses and the translation of sentences/texts, as well as the very different audiolingual method , which engages learners in drills for memorizing and manipulating grammatical structures.

Analytic approach

The contrasting approach begins, not with a prior analysis of the language, but with an analysis of the communicative needs of the learner. This approach is called 'analytic' because learners are confronted with naturalistic 'chunks' of language which they have to analyze or break down for themselves. According to Wilkins, a detailed analysis of the language prior to teaching is not necessary following this approach, in which the syllabus is organized according to the purposes for which learners are acquiring the language.

As with synthetic syllabuses, a wide range of methods can be found in the language teaching literature that subscribe to the analytical approach. These include content-based instruction (Brinton,

2003), project-based pedagogy (Ribe and Vidal 1993, Rudolph), and task-based language teaching

(Nunan, 2004). These methods all share one thing in common – the starting point for designing materials and courses is something other than an inventory of sounds, words and grammar.

Content-based instruction

Project-based pedagogy

Task-based language teaching draws on subject matter from other subjects on the school curriculum such as mathematics, history or geography is organized around large-scale projects such as

'organizing a school excursion', 'applying for a job', or 'buying a house'. (These can be thought of as 'super' tasks.) is organized around the 101 things we do with language in everyday life such as buying a coffee, asking a friend to pick up some dry cleaning for us, writing a resume, booking an airline flight, arranging to see a movie with a friend.

The organizing principle for all of these methods is some non-linguistic unit of analysis.



Lesson 01

Chapter 4

Two Approaches to Methodology

In the previous chapter, we looked at two different approaches to language syllabus design: synthetic and analytic. When it comes to methodology (how we select and organize learning experiences for the classroom) there are also two competing approaches. In fact these two approaches have been around for many years in the educational literature.

Transmission model

The first approach is known as the transmission model of learning. The word 'transmission' captures the philosophy of the approach. 'To transmit' is to send someone from one person or place to another. So this approach involves sending something, in this case knowledge, from a teacher to a learner. The teacher knows - the student doesn't. The teacher's job is to recreate the knowledge in the mind of the student. The philosophy leads naturally to a teacher-centered classroom in which the learners are passive recipients of input fed into them by the teacher. Language classrooms predicated on this approach are characterized by rote learning, memorization, and repetition.

Experiential model

The alternative view is that the transmission approach simply doesn't work, that if someone is to learn, then they have to do the learning for themselves. This approach is know as experiental learning. The role for the teacher is to create the conditions through which this can happen. Again, the label ' experiential' gives a clue as to the essence of the philosophy. Learners learn through active experiences in the classroom – ' learning by doing '. This philosophy leads to learner-centered classrooms in which learners acquire skills (rather than memorize facts) through hands-on experiences. Methodologically, students will engage in role plays, simulations and other active learning tasks. (For a comprehensive overview of this approach, see Kohonen, 1992.)



Lesson 01

Chapter 5

Summary

In this lesson we have looked at some broad background issues that will provide a framework for considering task-based language teaching. I began the lesson by considering the concept of curriculum , suggesting that the concept encompasses content selection and grading, the selection and sequencing of learning tasks and activities, and the development of instruments for assessment and evaluation.

I have drawn some fairly stark contrasts in this lesson: traditional versus communicative, synthetic versus analytical, transmission versus experiential learning. In reality, most language programs are a mixture of these different elements. The difference between them is one of emphasis.

Below I have summarized some of the key contrasts that were drawn.

Comparing Traditional and Communicative Approaches to Language Pedagogy

Theory of language

Theory of learning

Syllabus design

Methodology

Traditional Communicative

Language is a system of phonological (sound), lexical

(vocabulary) and morphosyntactic (grammatical) rules

Language is a resource for creating and exchanging meanings between individuals and groups

Habit formation, memorization and other means of internalizing rules

Activities involving real communication, simulating in class language performance out of class – 'learning by doing'

The selection and sequencing of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary items from target language systems

The selection and sequencing of communicative tasks that learners will undertake in reallife communication

Drill, memorization, repetition

Role plays, simulations of out of class communication

In the next lesson, we will look more directly at the concept of task-based language teaching.

Next Steps

After you have finished this lesson, test your knowledge by taking a short, multiple-choice quiz .

To access the quiz, click quizzes at the top or bottom of any page in this classroom. Select the quiz that corresponds to the lesson you have just completed. Then click submit. Good luck!

After the quiz, please complete the short assignment that follows. This will allow you to practice what you have just learned. To access it, click assignments at the top or bottom of any page.

Choose the appropriate lesson and follow the directions listed there.

Also, visit the discussion area to converse with your colleagues about the topics covered in this lesson. To access it, click discussion at the top or bottom of any page. Choose the appropriate lesson and follow the directions. You will be able to post on the discussion board until the 'close date' listed. After that date, you can read the discussions but not post.

Glossary analytical approach : language courses and syllabuses that take as their point of departure an analysis of the things that learners will use language for outside of the language classroom approach : a general orientation to language learning assessment : sets of procedures and techniques for making judgments about what learners can and can't do audiolingal method : (also called audiolingualism) based on the behaviorist belief that learning another language is a matter of acquiring new linguistic habits, this method engages learners in drills for memorizing and manipulating the grammatical structures of the language communicative language teaching : a broad, philosophical approach to language teaching predicated on the assumption that programs and courses should help learners to communicate meaningfully in the target language content-based instruction : the teaching of language through content derived from the regular curriculum (for example, mathematics, science or geography) curriculum: a large concept which traditionally specifies all of the planned learning experiences that an educational institution will make available to its learners experiential learning : a philosophical approach to education in which the learner's immediate life experiences are taken as the point of departure for creating learning experiences – the term tends to be used interchangeably with 'experiential learning', 'experiential model', 'experiential approach', or 'experientialism' evaluation : processes and procedures for gathering information about a program, or aspects of a program, for making decisions about program improvement grammar-translation method : a language teaching method based on grammatical analyses and the translation of sentences/texts to and from the learner's first and target languages method : a coherent and internally consistent set of principles and techniques for teaching language derived, at least in part, for a theory of language learning (see, for example, grammar-translation) methodology : that subcomponent of curriculum development concerned with the selection and sequencing of classroom tasks and activities project-based pedagogy : teaching organized around projects such as planning a school sports day, creating a time capsule, etc. syllabus design : that subcomponent of a curriculum plan concerned with the selection, sequencing and justification of linguistic and experiential content – synthetic syllabuses focus mainly on linguistic content, while analytical syllabuses focus mainly on experiential content synthetic approach : in course development, the analysis of the target language into its discrete phonological, lexical and grammatical elements, each of which is to be taught separately and in isolation task-based language teaching : an approach to pedagogy based on an analysis of the things that people do with language rather than an inventory of grammatical and lexical items traditional approach: an approach to language teaching that sees language as a body of content

to be mastered transmission teaching : an educational philosophy based on the belief that the teacher's role is to

'transmit' knowledge to the learner

Follow-up Reading

Kohonen, V. 1992. Experiential language learning: Second language learning as cooperative learner education. In D. Nunan (ed.) Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

The most comprehensive overview of experiential learning in second and foreign language education.

Nunan, D. 2001. Syllabus design. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or

Foreign Language. Boston MA: Thomson Heinle.

A look at a range of syllabus proposals including synthetic and analytical syllabuses.

Nunan, D. and C. Lamb. 1996. The Self-Directed Teacher: Managing the Learning Process .

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1: A context for classroom action.

This chapter provides an overview of the concept of curriculum presented in this chapter.

Savignon, S. 2001. Communicative language teaching for the Twenty-First Century. In M. Celce-

Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston MA: Thomson Heinle.

A detailed discussion of five key components of the communicative curriculum.

Bibliography

Brinton, D. 2003. Content-based instruction. In D. Nunan (ed.) Practical English Language

Teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Kohonen, V. 1992. Experiential language learning: Second language learning as cooperative learner education. In D. Nunan (ed.) Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Nunan, D. 2004. Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ribe, R. and N. Vidal. 1993. Project Work Step by Step. Oxford: Heinemann.

Rudolph, S. 1993. Project-Based Learning . Tokyo: Newbury House.

Wilkins, D. 1976. Notional Syllabuses . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Assignment

Select a textbook that you are currently using or that you are thinking of using. Most textbooks are a compromise between 'traditional' and 'communicative' approaches.

See how many exercises and tasks you can find that exemplify the descriptions presented in

Lesson 1, Chapter 5. Complete the following table.

Traditional Communicative

Theory of language

Theory of learning

Methodology

Lesson 1 Quiz

1

This is a multiple-choice test. Please use your mouse to click the small round option button preceding the best answer to each question. Then, use the scroll bar on the right side of your screen to scroll down to the next question. Repeat as needed until you have answered all questions. Then, click the small gray 'Submit' button at the bottom of this page. Please click the button once only. Within 1-2 minutes, you will receive an evaluation of your answers.

Note: You can take this quiz as many times as you wish. Use the quizzes to test your knowledge of each lesson before you take your final exam.

Your quiz scores do not have any impact on your eligibility for a completion letter. Your final exam score alone determines your eligibility to receive a completion letter. Because you only have one opportunity to take the final exam, we strongly recommend that you prepare for the final by doing as well as you can on these quizzes.

1. A curriculum will specify... some planned learning experiences. all planned learning experiences. all planned and unplanned learning experiences. some planned and unplanned learning experiences.

2. Content selection, justification and grading belongs to... syllabus design. methodology. assessment. evaluation.

3. Assessment... is another word for evaluation. tells what the program did well. tells what learners can or can't do.

occurs at the end of the course.

4. Transmission teaching... suits passive learners. is difficult to do. requires learners to question the teacher. is unpopular these days.

5. Experiential learning requires... a teacher-centered philosophy. an active learning approach. highly experienced teachers. highly motivated learners.



Lesson 04

Chapter 3

Form Focused Work

In my task-based language teaching framework, form focused work is presented in the form of enabling skills . They are called enabling skills because they are designed to develop skills and knowledge that will ultimately enable learners to take part in authentic communication. In the framework, enabling skills are of two kinds: language exercises and communicative activities.

Linguistic or language exercises come in many shapes and forms and can focus on any aspect of the lexical, phonological or grammatical systems. Here are examples of lexically and grammatically focused language exercises.

Language exercise: lexical focus

Go for it!

Second Edition Book 2 Page 43

Language exercise: grammatical focus

Go for it!


The essential difference between these practice opportunities and those provided by pedagogical tasks has to do with outcomes. In each case above, success will be determined in linguistic terms.

Did the learners match the vocabulary items to the appropriate picture, and did they manipulate the grammatical forms appropriately?

Communicative activities

Communicative activities share some characteristics of language exercises and some characteristics of pedagogical tasks. They are similar to language exercises in that they provide manipulative practice of a restricted set of language items. They resemble pedagogical tasks in that they have an element of meaningful communication.

In the example that follows, students are intensively practicing the question form "Would you ...?"

However, there is also a meaningful dimension in that they can't be sure what their partner is going to answer.

Expressions Book 3 Page 109

These are the basic building blocks of a task-based approach. They are represented schematically in the following framework.



Lesson 04

Chapter 4

Developing Units of Work

I use the following six step procedure to design lessons and units of work based on the task-based language teaching framework.

Step 1: Schema building.

Develop schema-building exercises that introduce the topic, set the context for the task, and introduce some key vocabulary and expressions.

Step 2: Controlled practice.

Provide students with controlled practice in using the target language vocabulary, structures, and functions.

Step 3: Authentic listening practice.

Involve learners in intensive listening practice by native speakers performing the target task(s).

Step 4: Focus on linguistic elements.

Get students to focus on pronunciation and grammar features.

Step 5: Provide freer practice.

Engage students in freer practice, where they move towards creative language use.

Step 6: Introduce the pedagogical task.

Complete the pedagogical task.



Lesson 04

Chapter 5

Summary

To recap, here is the six-step procedure for designing lessons around a task illustrated with examples.

Step 1: Schema Building

Create schema building tasks that introduce initial vocabulary, language and context for the task.

Example: Look at newspaper advertisements for renting accommodation. Identify key words and match people with accommodation.

Step 2: Controlled Practice

Give learners controlled practice in the target language vocabulary, structures and functions.

Example: Listen to a model conversation between two people discussing accommodation options and practice the conversation.

Practice again using information from the advertisements in step 1.

Step 3: Authentic Listening Practice

Give learners authentic listening practice.

Step 4: Focus on Linguistic Elements

Example: Listen to several native speakers inquiring about accommodation and match the conversations with newspaper ads.

Focus learners on linguistic elements

(for example, grammar and vocabulary).

Example: Listen again to the conversations and note intonation contours. Use cue words to write complete questions and answers involving comparatives (cheaper, closer, more spacious etc.)

Step 5: Provide Freer Practice

Provide freer practice.

Example: Do a pair work information – gap activity. Student A plays the part of a potential tenant. Make a note of needs and then call rental agent.

Student B plays the part of a rental agent. Use advertisements and offer partner suitable accommodation.

Step 6: Introduce the Pedagogical Task

Introduce the pedagogical task.

Example: Complete a group work discussion and decision making task.

Look at a set of advertisements and decide on the most suitable place to rent.

Next Steps






Glossary activation tasks: problem-solving tasks and information exchange tasks, such as role-plays and simulations, that are designed to activate a range of language skills communicative activities: activities that resemble both linguistic and pedagogical tasks in that they provide manipulative practice of a restricted set of language items, and also have an element of meaningful communication enabling skills: form-focused work that is designed to develop skills and knowledge that will ultimately enable learners to take part in authentic communication exercise : classroom procedures designed to give learners controlled practice at some aspect of pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar grammatical elements: the grammar items used in language language exercises/ linguistic exercises: exercises that come in many shapes and forms and can focus on any aspect of the lexical, phonological or grammatical systems macrofunctions : the three very general purposes for which we use language:

1) for enjoyment (the aesthetic macrofunction), 2) to obtain goods and services (the transactional or service macrofuction), and 3) to socialize with others (the interpersonal or social macrofunction) microfunctions : the specific purposes for which we use language – see functions rehearsal tasks: a task that bears a clear and obvious relationship to its corresponding real-world counterpart systemic-functional linguistics : a theory of language that attempts to establish formal relationships between grammar, meaning and use


Nunan, D. 2004. Task-Based Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 2. A framework for task-based language teaching. Elaborates and exemplifies the task framework described here.

Breen, M. 2001. Syllabus design. in R. Carter and D. Nunan (eds.) The Cambridge Guide to

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bibliography

Doughty, C. and J. Williams. (eds.) 1998. Focus on Form in Second Language Classroom

Acquisition . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. 1985. An Introduction to Functional Grammar . London: Arnold.

Krashen, S. and T. Terrell. 1983. The Natural Approach . Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Nunan, D. 2001. Expressions . Boston: Thomson Heinle.

Nunan, D. 2005. Go for it! Second Edition. Boston: Thomson Heinle.

Lesson 04

Describe a pedagogical task you could use in your classroom to exploit the following language functions:

1. Talking about likes and dislikes

2. Identifying people through physical description

3. Following a sequence of instructions

You should have a total of three tasks.

If possible, incorporate one of these tasks into an upcoming class. How did it work?

Join the discussion area to discuss your tasks and how they worked in your class with fellow teachers.

Lesson 4 Quiz

4


Note: You can take this quiz as many times as you wish. Use the quizzes to test your knowledge of each lesson before you take your final exam. Your quiz scores do not have any impact on your eligibility for a completion letter. Your final exam score alone determines your eligibility to receive a completion letter. Because you only have one opportunity to take the final exam, we strongly recommend that you prepare for the final by doing as well as you can on these quizzes.

1. Tasks... are the same thing as functions. are more general than functions. are less general than functions. are completely different from functions.

2. Activation tasks... are a type of rehearsal tasks. require learners to work in pairs. require learners to use a wide range of structures. have an indirect relationship to target tasks.

3. Language exercises... do not involve pair or group work. have a non-linguistic outcome. have a linguistic outcome. are rare in task-based language teaching.

4. A communicative activity... is the same as a linguistic exercise. is the same as a pedagogical task. shares the characteristics of exercises and tasks. is another term for an activation task.

5. Controlled practice... usually requires reading. is designed to teach vocabulary. is designed to teach grammar. can involve grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation.



Lesson 05

Chapter 1

Task Components

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David Nunan talking about Task Components (videoscript)

"In this lesson we will look at some of the elements that go to make up a task. There are three central elements. The first of these is the task goal, which links the task to the broader curriculum. The second key element is the input data that forms the point of departure for the task. This can be a listening or reading text, some form of visual, or a combination of the three.

Third are the procedures or classroom undertakings that the learners carry out in relation to the input. In addition to these three core elements, we will look at the roles for teachers and learners that are inherent in the tasks, and we will also look briefly at the settings in which the tasks take place."


 describe the essential components of a pedagogical task

 analyze a task and identify the goal , input , procedures , learner and teacher roles and settings



Lesson 05

Chapter 2

Task Components: An Overview

A great deal has been written about the components that go to make up a task. Shavelson and

Stern (1981), who did pioneering work on task-based learning in educational settings, suggested that a task consists of:



Content : the subject matter to be taught



Materials : the things that learners can observe/manipulate



Activities : the things that learners and teachers will do during a lesson



Goals : the teachers' general aims for the task (more general and vague than objectives)



Students : their abilities, needs and interests are important



Social community : the class as a whole and its sense of 'groupness' (Shavelson and

Stern 1981: 478)

In language teaching, Candlin (1987) added the following components: input, roles, settings , actions, monitoring, outcomes and feedback . Another language teacher who did pioneering work on tasks was Tony Wright. He stripped tasks down to two basic elements: input data

(listening/reading texts or some kind of visual) to provide a resource for learners and an initiating question to tell learners what to do with the data.

Drawing on these various sources, in my 1989 book, Designing Tasks for the Communicative

Classroom, I suggested that tasks should minimally be made up of goals , input data and procedures . I also suggested that inherent in the task should be teacher and learner roles along with a setting .

The goal describes the pedagogical intention behind a task. Goals serve the general purpose of linking a task to the overall curriculum. They also provide a coherence that was sometimes lacking in some early task-based proposals.

Input data refers to the material that learners work with in the course of completing a task. Normally, the input will be a written or aural text, but it can also be visuals (photos, diagrams, etc.) and even real objects such as shopping items or the contents of a handbag.

Procedures specify what learners will actually do with the input. They are the steps to be carried out to realize the pedagogical tasks at the level of classroom action.

Goals, input data and procedures form the three central elements of a task.

However, in task design it is also important to consider teacher/learner roles and the settings in which the tasks take place. We will look in greater detail at all of these elements in the next section.

The elements themselves are represented diagrammatically below.



Lesson 05

Chapter 3

Task Components in Detail

Goals

As we saw in the preceding chapter, goals describe task outcomes - what learners should be able to do (or do better) after completing a task. Goals are therefore described in terms of learner performance.

General goals

In the previous lesson, I mentioned Michael Halliday's three macrofunctions. At a very general level, all language goals can be related to these three functions.

1. Social : Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships, and (through these relationships) the exchange of information, ideas, opinions, attitudes and feelings to get things done

2. Service : Acquiring information from more or less 'public' sources in the target language

(books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, documents, signs, notices, films, television, slides, tapes, radio, public announcements, etc.) and using this information

3. Aesthetic : Listening to, reading, enjoying and responding to creative and imaginative uses of the target language (e.g. stories, poems, songs, rhymes, drama) and, for certain learners, creating something themselves (Adapted from Clark, 1987:226)

Specific goals

The curriculum designer will begin with these general goals, and then specify more specific goals

(sometimes referred to as objectives), which are described in functional terms. For example:

Social : describe the family, arrange to meet for coffee, introduce a friend, discuss the weather

Service : ask for directions, buy a magazine, change money, check the time of a movie showing

While most goals will be communicative, a balanced program will have goals that relate to other aspects of the language learning process.

An innovative program developed in Australia, for example, had sociocultural, learning process and cultural goals as well as communicative goals. See below for examples of the program goals.

Goal Type

Sociocultural

Example

Have some understanding of the everyday life patterns of their contemporary age group in the target language community. Cover home, school and leisure.

Learning-how-to-learn

Negotiate and plan their work, learn how to set realistic objectives and devise the means to attain their goals.

Language and cultural awareness

Have some understanding of the systematic nature of language and the way it works.

(Adapted from Clark 1987: 227 – 32)



Lesson 05

Chapter 4

Task Components in Detail (continued)

Input

Input data can come from many different sources. These include publicly available media such as newspapers, magazines, television, public notices and the Internet.

One controversial point concerning input has to do with authenticity . Authentic data refers to listening and reading material that were produced in the course of normal communication, rather than for language teaching purposes. Some people argue that we should only expose learners to authentic data, because that is what they will encounter outside of the classroom.

While I agree that we should expose learners to authentic data, I also believe there is a place for specially written listening and reading material. This is particularly true for beginners, who will have a great deal of difficulty in learning the language if they are only exposed to authentic input data.

In fact, it has been argued that the authentic/non-authentic distinction is an oversimplification, and that input data can be placed on a continuum from 'genuinely authentic' to 'minimally authentic.'

This continuum can be represented as follows:



Genuine : created only for the realm of real life, but used in the classroom for language teaching



Altered : while there is no meaning change, the original has been altered in other ways (the insertion of glosses, visual resetting, the addition of visuals)



Adapted : although created for real life, vocabulary and grammatical structures are changed to simplify the text



Simulated : although specially written by the author for purposes of language teaching, the author tries to make it look authentic by using characteristics of genuine texts



Minimal/incidental : created for the classroom with no attempt to make the material appear genuine (Brown and Menasche, 1993)

Procedures

Procedures specify what learners will actually do with the listening, reading or visual input that forms the point of departure for the task. As with input, when designing pedagogical procedures, we need to consider the issue of authenticity. Procedural authenticity has to do with the extent to which what they do with the data mirrors what students will have to do in the real world.

This takes us back to the discussion in Lesson 4, A Framework for Task-based Language Teaching where I drew a distinction between rehearsal tasks and activation tasks. A rehearsal task has procedural authenticity because it mirrors very closely the communicative use of language that outside of class. An activation task, on the other hand, does not pretend to simulate out of class communication.

Roles

Role refers to the part learners and teachers are expected to play in carrying out learning tasks as well as the social and interpersonal relationships between the participants. It is a very useful exercise to reflect on your teaching from time to time and think about the roles that are inherent in the tasks you ask your learners to perform.

In particular, it is worth asking the question "Who is in control?". In traditional instruction, it is the teacher who is very much in control. In task-based language teaching, a great deal of the control is

passed to the learner.

In any classroom, there is a rich array of learner roles. These include:

 the learner as a passive recipient of outside stimuli



 the learner as an interactor and negotiator who is capable of giving as well as taking the learner as a listener and performer who has little control over the content of learning

 the learner involved in a process of personal growth

 the learner involved in a social activity where the social and interpersonal roles of the learner cannot be divorced from psychological learning processes

 the learner as responsible for their own learning, developing autonomy and skills



Lesson 05

Chapter 5

Task Components in Detail (continued)

Settings

The setting in which learning takes place is an important consideration in task-based language teaching.

In task-based language teaching, instruction is no longer confined to teacher-fronted classrooms where the teacher directs and the students follow. Learning takes place in whole class, small group, pair or individual settings. It can also take place outside of the classroom as learners activate and apply what they have learned.

The advent of technology and the explosion of the Internet as a resource for learning has also forced us to reconceptualize our understanding of the 'classroom'.

"These changes challenge our selfconcept as foreign language teachers, because… we are now called upon to redefine our roles as educators, since we need to mediate between the world of the classroom and the world of natural language acquisition." (Legutke, 2000: 1).

Other technology, including satellite and cable television, as well as increasingly mobile workforces are also forcing us to restructure our understanding of the notion of the classroom. The community outside of the classroom is increasingly seen as an important venue for learning and tasks that use the community as a resource have important benefits for learners for the following reasons.

1. They provide learners with opportunities for genuine interactions with a real-life purpose.

2. Learners can adopt communicative roles which bypass the teacher as intermediary.

3. They can change the in-class role relationships between teacher and pupils. (Strevens,

1987: 171)

In the next lesson we will focus on another part of the task: task types.

Next Steps






Glossary authentic data : listening or reading texts that were produced initially in the course of natural communication rather than for the purposes of language teaching goal : a statement of what learners should be able to do as a result of instruction input data : texts (spoken and written) and other data (e.g. pictures and visuals) that learners work on in completing a task procedure : the steps carried out to achieve the task roles : parts that learners and teachers play in completing a task settings : situations and contexts in which learning takes place


Nunan, D. 2004. Task-Based Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 3 elaborates on the task elements described here.

Bibliography

Brown, S. and L. Menasche. 1993. Authenticity in materials design. Paper presented at the 1993

International TESOL Convention, Atlanta, Georgia. Cited in Helgeson, M. 2003. Listening. In D.

Nunan (ed.) Practical English Language Teaching . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Candlin, C. 1987. Towards task-based language learning. In C. Candlin and D. Murphy (eds.)

Language Learning Tasks . Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Clark, J. 1987. Curriculum Renewal in School Foreign Language Learning . Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Legutke, M. 2000. Redesigning the foreign language classroom: A critical perspective on information teachnology (IT) and educational change. Plenary presentation, International Language in Education Conference, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, December 2000.

Shavelson, R. and P. Stern. 1981. Research on teachers' pedagogical thoughts, judgments, decisions and behavior, Review of Educational Research , 51, 4, 455 – 398.

Strevens, P. 1987. Interaction outside the classroom: using the community. In W. Rivers (ed.)

Interactive Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lesson 05

Select one of the tasks you described in the assignment from Lesson 4.

Design the task in detail. This will involve selecting aural and/or written input data, setting out the procedural steps and identifying the teacher and learner roles underlying the task.

Discuss your ideas with your fellow teachers. In addition, visit the discussion area to share your ideas online.

Lesson 5 Quiz

5



1. The essential components a task are: goals, input, procedures, teacher roles, learner roles and settings. goals, content, procedures, teacher roles, learner roles and settings. goals, input, objective, teacher roles, learner roles and settings. goals, input, materials, teacher roles, learner roles and settings.

2. Goals... do not exist in traditional language programs. spell out the purpose of the task. help teachers select input data. are more important for teachers than learners.

3. Language input data... should only contain authentic source material. should only contain material written specially for language teaching. should contain both authentic and non-authentic material. should not contain language that is beyond the learners current level of proficiency.

4. Procedures... spell out what teachers have to do. spell out what learners have to do to complete the task. spell out the roles for learners. spell out the functions of the task.

5. Spelling out roles is important in task-based language teaching... because of the number of role plays involved. because of the range of different roles that learners must play. because of the potential for conflict between teachers and learners. because of the fact that learners must take responsibility for their own learning.



Lesson 06

Chapter 1

David Nunan talking about Task Types (videoscript)

"There are many ways of classifying tasks, and in this lesson, we'll look at some different task types. We'll look first at a general classification scheme that was developed during the early days of task-based language teaching. Next, I will introduce you to a couple of classifications that are skills-based, the first looking at listening/speaking tasks and the second looking at reading tasks.

When you've completed this lesson, you should be able to find examples of these task types in teaching materials of various kinds."


 describe a range of task types for teaching both individual and integrated skills

 find textbook examples of a representative sample of these skills



Lesson 06

Chapter 2

Introduction to Task Types

Since the advent of task-based language teaching, many task typologies have been proposed. One of the first was developed by Prabhu, who introduced an early version of task-based language teaching in India almost thirty years ago.

Prabhu's typology is based on the idea that there is usually some kind of communication gap that must be bridged for successful communication. Language use and language learning occur when learners have to make an effort to bridge such a gap.

Communication gaps

The three main communication gaps in Prabhu's approach are: information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap.

The descriptions below are taken from (Prabhu, 1987: 46-7)

1. Information-gap activity : This involves a transfer of given information from one person to another (or from one form or place to another) and calls for the decoding or encoding of information from or into language.

One example is pair work in which each member of the pair has a part of the total information (for example, an incomplete picture) and attempts to convey it verbally to the other. Another example is completing a tabular representation with information available in a given piece of text. The activity involves learners having to meet criteria of completeness and correctness in making the transfer.

Here is an example of an information gap.



2. Reasoning-gap activity : This involves deriving some new information from given information through inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or a perception of relationships or patterns.

One example is working out a teacher's timetable on the basis of given class timetables.

Another example is deciding what course of action is best (for example, the cheapest or quickest) for a given purpose and within constraints. The activity necessarily involves comprehending and conveying information, as an information-gap activity, but the information to be conveyed is not identical with that initially comprehended. There is a piece of reasoning which connects the two.

3. Opinion-gap activity : This involves identifying and stating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a situation.

One example is story completion. Another is taking part in the discussion of a social issue.

The activity may involve using facts and formulating arguments to justify one's opinion. But there is no objective procedure for determining the outcomes as right or wrong and no reason to expect the same outcome from all students.

Here is an example of an opinion gap.




Lesson 06

Chapter 3

Listening and Speaking Tasks

More recently, Richards (2001: 162) has proposed the following typology of pedagogical tasks.

These task types are jigsaw , information-gap , problem solving , decision-making and opinion exchange tasks.



Jigsaw tasks : These tasks involve learners in combining different pieces of information to form a whole (for example three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together).



Information-gap tasks : Tasks in which one student or group of students has one set of information and another student or group has a complementary set of information. They must negotiate and find out what the other party's information is in order to complete an activity.



Problem-solving tasks : Students are given a problem and a set of information. They must arrive at a solution to the problem. There is generally a single resolution of the outcome.



Decision-making tasks : Students are given a problem for which there are a number of possible outcomes and they must choose one through negotiation and discussion.



Opinion exchange tasks : Learners engage in the discussion and exchange of ideas. They do not need to reach agreement.



Lesson 06

Chapter 4

Reading Tasks

The typology presented in this chapter relates to reading tasks. Developed by Jose Lai and colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the typology relates to the development of academic and more advanced reading skills.

Lai (1997) argues that by matching strategies, texts and reading purposes, second language readers can significantly increase both their reading speed and their comprehension. The strategies in this typology, along with explanations, are set out below.

STRATEGY

1. Having a purpose

2. Previewing

EXPLANATION

It is important for students to have a clear purpose and to know what they want to gain from the text

Conducting a quick survey of the text to identify the topic, the main idea, and the organization of the text

3. Skimming

4. Scanning

5. Clustering

6. Avoiding bad habits

7. Predicting

8. Reading actively

Looking quickly through a text to get a general idea of what it is about

Looking quickly through a text to locate specific information

Reading clusters of words as a unit

Avoiding habits such as reading wordby-word

Anticipating what is to come

Asking questions and then reading for answers

9. Inferring

10. Identifying genres

Identifying ideas that are not explicitly stated

Identifying the overall organizational pattern of a text

11. Identifying paragraph structure

Identifying the organizational structure of a paragraph (for example, whether it follows an inductive or deductive pattern)

12. Identifying sentence structure

13. Noticing cohesive devices

Identifying the subject and main verb in complex sentences

Assigning correct referents to proforms and identifying the function of conjunctions

14. Inferring unknown vocabulary

Using context as well as parts of words (prefixes, suffixes, and stems) to work out the meaning of unknown words

15. Identifying figurative language Understanding the use of figurative

16. Using background knowledge

17. Evaluating

18. Integrating information

19. Reviewing

20. Reading to present language and metaphors

Using what one already knows to understand new ideas

Reading critically and assessing the true value of textual information

Tracking ideas that are developed across the text through techniques such as highlighting and note-taking

Looking back over a text and summarizing it

Understanding the text fully and then presenting it to others

Although these task types were originally designed for advanced readers, they can also be adapted for all learners. Here is a list of strategies from level 1 of the Go for it! series designed for post-beginning learners. You can see that there is quite a lot of overlap between this list and the more comprehensive list presented by Lai.

Strategies from Go for it!

 activating background knowledge

 evaluating information

 identifying reference items

 inferring

 transferring information

 personalizing

 predicting

 scanning

 skimming (Nunan, 2005:136)

Here is an example of the first strategy.

Go for it!


Here, in the pre-task (part 2a) the students are both activating their background knowledge and also personalizing the learning process. This pre-task will then provide a structure to help them with the reading proper.



Lesson 06

Chapter 5

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have looked at a number of task typologies. Many such typologies have been proposed and, in the space available, we have only been able to look at a selective few.

This lesson is closely related to Lesson 9 in which we look at the learning strategies underlying different types of tasks.

Next Steps






Glossary decision-making activity/task : students are given a problem for which there a number of possible outcomes and they must choose one through negotiation and discussion information gap task : involves the transfer or exchange of information between two or more people jigsaw task : a task involving learners in combining different pieces of information to form a whole

(for example. three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together) opinion exchange task : learners engage in discussion and exchange of ideas and do not need to reach agreement opinion –gap activity : an activity that involves identifying and stating a personal preference, feeling or attitude in response to a situation problem solving task : students are given a problem and a set of information to arrive at a solution to the problem (there is generally a single resolution of the outcome) reasoning-gap activity : an activity that involves deriving new information from given information through inference, deduction, practical reasoning or a perception of relationships or patterns task types : a classificationtasks based on goals and procedures task typologies : strategies of developing tasks based on specific ideas about the learning process


Nunan, D. 2004. Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 3.

This chapter introduces and elaborates on the task typologies presented in this lesson.

Bibliography

Bailey, K. 2005. Speaking . New York: McGraw Hill

Lai, J. 1997. Reading Strategies: A Study Guide . Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Nunan, D. 1995. Atlas 4: Learning-Centered Communication . Teacher's Extended Edition . Boston

MA: Thomson Heinle.

Nunan, D. 2005. Go for it! 1.

Student Book. Boston: Thomson Heinle

Prabhu, N. 1987. Second Language Pedagogy: A Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J.C. 2001. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching . Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Lesson 6 Quiz



1. An opinion gap involves... transforming information from an aural/written text into a table/chart. deriving new information from given information. working out a grammar rule from samples of language. articulating personal preferences, feelings or attitudes.

2. Arguing the advantages and disadvantages of a set of school rules is an example of... a reasoning gap. an information gap. an opinion gap. none of the above.

3. Which type of task generally has a single solution?

Problem-solving

Opinion exchange

Decision-making

Small group

4. Readers can increase their reading speed significantly by... developing academic reading strategies. using strategies that match their reading purposes. reading familiar texts. discussing the texts with the teacher before reading.

5. Predicting involves... asking questions and then reading for answers. anticipating what is to come. conducting a quick survey of a text to identify the topic and main idea. identifying ideas that are not explicitly stated.

Lesson 06

Analyze a number of textbooks and identify examples of the following tasks. Or, if you prefer, design and analyze 2-3 of your own tasks. Listed below are the tasks and short explanations of each.



Jigsaw tasks : These tasks involve learners in combining different pieces of information to form a whole (for example three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together).



Information-gap tasks : Tasks in which one student or group of students has one set of information and another student or group has a complementary set of information.

They must negotiate and find out what the other party's information is in order to complete an activity.



Problem solving tasks : Students are given a problem and a set of information. They must arrive at a solution to the problem. There is generally a single resolution of the outcome.



Decision-making tasks : Students are given a problem for which there are a number of possible outcomes and they must choose one through negotiation and discussion.



Opinion exchange tasks : Learners engage in the discussion and exchange of ideas. They do not need to reach agreement.

Join the discussion area to share your ideas with your oline colleagues.

An Introduction to Task-Based Teaching

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