Task-Based Learning

Task-Based Learning

1. Teacher's role

   • The teacher in TBL has three roles
     • Selector and sequencer of tasks
       • In this role, the teacher has to
         • Adapt
         • Select
           • The tasks themselves and then forming these into an instructional sequence in keeping with learner
             • Interests
             • Needs
             • Language skills level
         • Create
     • Consciousness-raising
       • This is referred to as “Focus on Form
         • TBLT proponents stress that this does not mean doing a grammar lesson before students take on a task.
           • It does mean employing a variety of
             • Attention-focusing pretask activities
             • form-focusing techniques
             • text exploration and guided exposure to parallel tasks
     • Preparing learner for tasks
       • This role consists of preparing students by performing pre-tasks so that students can develop tasks in a better way
         • For example, activities that may include
           • Helping students learn or recall useful words and phrases to facilitate task accomplishment
           • Topic introduction, clarifying task
           • Providing partial demonstration of task procedures

2. Student's role

   • A number of specific roles for learners are assumed in current proposals for TBI.
     • Primary roles that are implied by task work are:
       • Group participant
         • Many tasks will be done in pairs and small groups
           • For students more accustomed to whole-class and/or individual work
       • Monitor
         • Class activities have to be designed so that students have the opportunity to notice how language is used in communication
           • Learners themselves need to “attend” not only to the message in task work, but also to the form in which such messages typically come packed.
       • Risk-Taker and innovator
         • Many tasks will require learners to create and interpret messages for which they lack full linguistic resources and prior experience
           • The skills of guessing from linguistic and contextual clues, asking for clarification, and consulting with other learners may also need to be developed

3. Characteristics of TBL method

   • The main features of the TBL method are:
     • Instruction should support learner-centeredness rather than teacher-centeredness.
     • Assessment is primarily based on task outcome
     • Students are encouraged to use language creatively and spontaneously through tasks and problem solving
     • Students focus on a relationship that is comparable to real world activities
     • Communicative tasks are especially suitable devices for such an approach.

4. Activities of TBL method

   • “An activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process” (Prabhu 1987: 17)
     • Willis (1996) proposes six task types built on more or less traditional knowledge hierarchies
       • Listing
       • Ordering and sorting
       • Comparing
       • Problem-solving
       • Sharing personal experiences
       • Creative tasks

5. Materials of TBL method

   • The materials are divided into two parts in relation to the role they fulfill
     • Pedagogic materials
       • Instructional materials play an important role in TBLT because it is dependent on a sufficient supply of appropriate classroom tasks
         • Some of which may require considerable time, ingenuity, and resources to develop
     • Realia
       • TBI proponents favor the use of authentic tasks supported by authentic materials wherever possible.
         • The following are some of the task types that can be built around such media products.
           • Television
             • Students take notes during the weather report and prepare a map with weather symbols showing likely weather for the predicted period.
           • Newspaper
             • Students examine a newspaper, determine its sections, and suggest three new sections that might go in the newspaper.
           • Internet
             • Given a book title to be acquired, students conduct a comparative shopping analysis of three Internet booksellers, listing prices, mailing times, and shipping charges, and choose a vendor, justifying their choice.