A review: Task Based Language Teaching

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an approach that differs from traditional approaches by emphasizing the importance of engaging learners' natural abilities for acquiring language incidentally through the performance of tasks that draw learners' attention to form. Drawing on the multiple perspectives and expertise of five leading authorities in the field, this book provides a comprehensive and balanced account of TBLT. Split into five parts, the book provides an historical account of the development of TBLT and introduces the key issues facing the area. A number of different theoretical perspectives that have informed TBLT are presented , followed by a discussion on key pedagogic aspects-syllabus design, the methodology of a task-based lesson and task-based assessment. The final parts consider the research that has investigated the effectiveness of TBLT, address critiques and suggest directions for future research. TBLT is now mandated by many educational authorities throughout the world and this book serves as a core source of information for researchers, teachers and students.

2005

Procedia-Social and Behavioral …, 2012

Task-based teaching and learning is becoming more and more popular in the world and especially in Iran English classes now, and the aim of task is to create a real purpose for language use and provide a natural context for language study. This article is to introduce ...

This paper begins by offering a definition of 'task' and by emphasizing that there is no single 'task-based teaching' approach. It then evaluates a number of criticisms of TBT, drawing on recent critiques by Widdowson, Seedhouse, Sheen, and Swan. It is argued that many of these criticisms stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of what a 'task' is, and of the theoretical rationales that inform task-based teaching. These criticisms also reflect a failure to acknowledge that multiple versions of task-based teaching exist. In particular , it is argued that task-based teaching need not be seen as an alternative to more traditional, form-focused approaches but can be used alongside them. The paper concludes with an examination of a number of genuine problems with implementing task-based teaching, as reflected in evaluation studies.

Poster presentation at 2nd International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching. 20.–22.9.2007. Honolulu, USA, 2007

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) represents a modern approach to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Combining TBLT with socio-culturalism and socio-constructivism helps us create a new kind of synthesis. Via TBLT, FL teaching methodology may profit from novel knowledge creation mechanisms of the two metaphors (acquisition and participation). It is also worth considering how TBLT can be implemented in foreign language teaching in which only a few lessons a week are available. We suggest that TBLT may be represented by cooperative schema-based and elaboration tasks, i.e., communicative tasks.

International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 2020

Task based learning is an effective and prominent language teaching tool. The development of a modern, innovative language teaching and learning method is helpful and essential. There are lots of changes taking place in today’s classroom context and syllabus design. Challenges have increased and innovative methods of teaching and learning have become mandatory to build the requirements of the technologically advanced learning world. Task based language teaching or the TBLT method is one among the effective ways among many others to cope up with the classroom challenges especially, because of the mixture of students from various backgrounds, influence of regional languages and fear or lack of command over the English Language in terms of fluency, usage and articulation. All these are just some of the challenges that a language teacher has to face in a classroom set up. Though it’s impossible to satisfy all the needs and requirements, the process of innovation in teaching and learning...

International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2009

Task-based language teaching has become a prominent topic for researchers and practitioners of second language teaching in recent years. In second language acquisition research, little was written about tasks prior to Prabhu's (1987) work. Since then, the use of tasks has become central both as a means of eliciting data from participants and as an object of study in and of itself. The growing prominence of tasks in research is attested by the number of books published on this topic

Background and summary The framework for task-based learning as described in this paper was developed over a period of time in the 1980s, working with students aged 14 and upwards in both multilingual and mono-lingual classes in a number of teaching environments. It is illustrated in more detail in 'A Framework for Task-based Learning' first published in 1996 but now out of print and available as an e-book from http://www.intrinsicbooks.co.uk/title_by_title/framework.html This paper explores the rationale behind task-based learning, defining and giving examples of tasks and their outcomes. It explains the stages in a typical task cycle which focus on using language to exchange meanings, then looks at the importance of a subsequent study of language forms in the context of the task. It shows how the stages in the framework generate optimum conditions for language learning Finally it reports the reactions and findings of novice teacher trainees trying out task-based teaching for the first time. Note: This is a revised version of the paper written originally in 1995 for inclusion in the collection 'Challenge and Change in Language Teaching' (now out of print) alongside a paper on Consciousness-raising activities in TBL, for which see http://www.willis-elt.co.uk/articles/ This Task-based Learning (TBL) framework has since been adapted for use by teachers in many countries round the world – and their experiences are reported in 'Doing Task-based Teaching' Willis and Willis, 2007. For a summary and sample TBL lessons, see http://ihjournal.com/doing-task-based-teaching-2 Sample TBL lesson plans are available free from www.willis-elt.co.uk Introduction We began to experiment with task-based learning in the early eighties, frustrated by the limitations of methodologies that prioritized form-focused language teaching, even when supplemented with`skills' lessons. The Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) model, which focused on accurate use of the grammatical forms taught at the Presentation stage, was in common use at the time. But very few students who finished their English courses were able to use their English to communicate adequately with others. We were encouraged by the success of Prabhu's Communicational Teaching Project in primary and secondary schools in Bangalore (Prabhu 1987), where the focus throughout was almost entirely on meaning rather than grammatical forms. We felt supported by recent research findings in the field of Second Language Acquisition such as those reported by Ellis (1993) and summarized by Skehan (1996) earlier in this volume. This task-based framework differs from a PPP cycle because the focus on language form comes at the e nd. The communication task itself is central to the framework. Such a task may involve student production of language and/or may be linked to a spoken or written text. A single task would normally involve both productive skills, eg speaking and note-taking, and receptive skills, eg listening and often reading. Learners begin by carrying out a communication task, using the language they have learnt from previous lessons or from other sources. They then talk or write about how they did the task and compare fi ndings. At some point they might listen to recordings of other people doing the same task, or read something related to the theme of the task, again relating this to their own experience of doing the task. Only after that is their attention directed towards specific features of language form-features that occur naturally in the recordings they have heard or the texts they have read. In other words, learners begin with a holistic experience of language in use. They end with a closer look at some of the features naturally occurring in that language. By that point, the learners will have worked with the language and processed it for meaning. It is then that the focus turns to the surface forms that have carried the meanings.