Task-Based Language Teaching

Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)
1
Where have we come from as language

teachers?
Grammar-translation methodology
Audiolingual method
Communicative method
2
 CLT draws on authentic materials and concepts that

relate to the real world
 CLT focuses on learners as active participants in

their own learning. They become autonomous
learners.
 CLT takes the view that language exists for purposes

of real communication in the real world.
3
“Weak” CLT came from residues of

grammar-translation.
Weak CLT techniques are known as

PPP (classic lesson structure).
4
Presentation: The teacher draws

learners’ attention to a specific form
or structure.
5
Practice: Once the rules have been

made explicit, the grammatical
structure is practiced by various
activities.
6
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.
7
In “strong” CLT, there is an

emphasis on communication that
negated any role for grammar; an
anything-goes-as-long-as-you-get-
the-message-across approach to
second LT.
8
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
insufficient.
9
A communicative approach is
required which can reconcile fluency
(with its implications for motivation
and communication) with accuracy
(with its implications for proficiency).
10
So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found
wanting.
TBLT makes this

reconciliation a
possibility
11
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.
12
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.
13
A task is an activity in which a person engages in

order to attain an objective, and which necessitates
the use of language.
“…‘task’ is meant the hundred and one things

people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in
between. ‘Tasks’ are the things people will tell you
they do if you ask them and they are not applied
linguists” (Long, 1985: 89)
14
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 largely have to rely on their own resources

(linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to complete the activity;
and
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).
15
Some examples of tasks:
1 Earthquake safety
2 Guess what animal is this
3 “Harry Potter” movie trailer comparison
4 Giving directions
5 Radio talk show: Healthy teens?
6 Creating a newspaper
16
Tasks are increasingly complex approximations
of target tasks (Long, 1996; Long and Norris, 2000)
Example: Following street directions
– Listen to fragments of elaborated descriptions
while tracing them on a very simple map.
– Virtual reality map task. Using video from the
target location and audio of the target discourse,
complete a simulation of the target task.
(Long, 2007: 129)
17
Tasks should result in a kind of language use that
resembles that in the outside world (Ellis, 2003)
– Work with three other students. You are on a ship
that is sinking. You have to swim to a nearby
island. You have a waterproof container, but can
only carry 20 kilos of items in it. Decide which of
the following items you will take (Remember, you
can’t take more than 20 kilos with you.)
18
Form-focused pedagogy Task-based pedagogy
Rigid discourse structure - IRF Loose discourse structure -

adjacency pairs
Teacher controls topic development Students able to control topic
development
Turn-taking is regulated by the Turn-taking follows same rules that
teacher. govern everyday conversation.
Echoing Repetition
Students are placed in a responding Students function in both initiating

role and consequently perform a and responding roles and thus
limited range of language functions. perform a wide range of language
functions.
Scaffolding directed primarily at Scaffolding directed primarily at

enabling students to produce correct enabling students to say what they
sentences. want to say.
Little need or opportunity to Opportunities to negotiate meaning
negotiate meaning. when communication problems
arise
The Danger of Restricted Communication
L1: What?
L2: Stop.
L3: Dot?
L4: Dot?
L5: Point?
L6: Dot?
L2: Point, point, yeah.
L1: Point?
L5: Small point.
L3: Dot.
(From Lynch 1989, p. 124; cited in Seedhouse 1999).
20
Implicit Focus-on-Form
Two principal procedures:
1. Request for clarification (i.e. Speaker A
says something that Speaker B does not
understand; B requests clarification
allowing A opportunity to reformulate)
2. Recast (i.e. Speaker A says something that
Speaker B reformulates in whole or in
part)
21
An Example of an Implicit Focus-on-Form
Learner: He pass his house.

Teacher: He passed his house?
Learner: Yeah, he passed his house.

Recasts provide learners with the opportunity to

‘uptake’ the correction.
22
Explicit Focus-on-Form
1. Explicit correction (e.g. ‘Not x, y’)
2. Metalingual comment (e.g. ‘Not present
tense, past tense’)
3. Query (e.g. ‘Why is can used here?’)
4. Advise (e.g. ‘Remember you need to use
the past tense’).
23
Example of Explicit Focus-on-Form
Learner 1: And what did you do last weekend?
Learner 2: … I tried to find a pub where you don’t see –
where you don’t see many tourists.
And I find one
Teacher: Found.
Learner 2: I found one where I spoke with two English
women and we spoke about life in
Canterbury or things and after I came back
Teacher: Afterwards …
(Seedhouse 1997)
24
Some Methodological Principles For
Teaching Tasks
1. Ensure an appropriate level of difficulty.
2. Establish clear goals for the performance of the task.
3. Develop an appropriate orientation for performing the
task in the students.
4. Ensure the students adopt an active role.
5. Encourage students to take risks.
6. Ensure students are primarily focused on meaning.
7. Provide opportunities for focusing on form.
8. Require students to evaluate their performance and
progress.
25

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Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

Where have we come from as language

 CLT draws on authentic materials and concepts that

 CLT focuses on learners as active participants in

 CLT takes the view that language exists for purposes

“Weak” CLT came from residues of

Weak CLT techniques are known as

Presentation: The teacher draws

Practice: Once the rules have been

Production: Learners engage in open

In “strong” CLT, there is an

In “strong” CLT, there was a premise

Purely communicative lessons can be

TBLT makes this

Learners learn to communicate by

The most effective way to teach a

Scenarios that reflect real-world

A task is an activity in which a person engages in

“…‘task’ is meant the hundred and one things

The primary focus should be on “meaning”;

Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources

There is a clearly defined outcome other than the use of

Some examples of tasks:

Rigid discourse structure - IRF Loose discourse structure -

Students are placed in a responding Students function in both initiating

Scaffolding directed primarily at Scaffolding directed primarily at

Learner: He pass his house.

Recasts provide learners with the opportunity to

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