Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

Martin Weren, Hillcrest High School.TPDL participant 2011.….TPDL?Teacher Professional Development in Languages, which involves…Language LearningIn-class visits and supportPedagogy (EDPROFST, Uni of Auckland)

Overview:

Where have we come from as language teachers?Where are we going?What is TBLT?What is TBLT not?Acknowledgements

Overview:

If during the course of this presentation you reflect on aspects of your own language teaching and ask yourself how you can do things differently and better, Martin will be a happy man.

Where have we come from as language teachers?In the beginning there was….

Grammar-translation methodology

Where have we come from as language teachers?

Grammar-translation methodologyAudio-lingual method

Where have we come from as language teachers?

Grammar-translation methodologyAudio-lingual methodCommunicative method

Let’s assume that most of us in NZ are familiar with, and use, the communicative method (CLT).What are some features/characteristics of this method?

Let’s assume that most of us in NZ are familiar with, and use, the communicative method.What are some features/characteristics of this method?

What are some of the benefits of CLT?

CLT draws on authentic materials and concepts that relate to the real world outside the classroomCLT 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.Strategic competence is the ability to make up for gaps in knowledge by making the best use of resources available to them – they negotiate meanings.

This all sounds great.So, what’s the problem? Is there a problem?Is there more than one problem?

Or, why is TBLT being considered as an alternative to CLT?

“Weak” CLT came from residues of grammar-translation.

“Weak” CLT came from residues of grammar-translation.Weak CLT techniques known as PPP (classic lesson structure).

Presentation: The teacher draws learners’ attention to a specific form or structure.

Practice: Once the rules have been made explicit, the grammatical structure is practised by various activities.

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.

A crucial weakness is that the approach tends to produce boring lessons.

That was “weak” CLT.Is/was there another CLT?

(Hint: What’s the opposite of “weak”?)

STRONG CLT

Stop right there!Strong is not necessarily better than weak.

In “strong” CLT there was an emphasis on communication that negated any role for grammar; an anything-goes-as-long-as-you-get-the-message-across approach to 2LT.

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….

…comprehensible 2L input is necessary, but insufficient.

So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found wanting.

So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found wanting. A communicative approach is required which can reconcile fluency (with its implications for motivation and communication) with accuracy (with its implications for proficiency).

Guess what comes next

So CLT, at least in its weakest and strongest forms, is found wanting.

TBLT makes this reconciliation a

possibility

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.

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.

A task is an activity in which a person engages in order to attain an objective, and which necessitates the use of language….

…Using language is a means to an end: by understanding language input and by producing language output i.e. by interacting with other people in real-life situations through the use of language, the goals that the learner has in mind can be (better) achieved.

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 be mainly concerned with processing the semantic and pragmatic meaning of utterances)

The primary focus should be on “meaning”;

There should be some kind of “gap” (i.e. a need to convey information, to express an opinion or to infer meaning)

The primary focus should be on “meaning”;There should be some kind of “gap”;

Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources (linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to complete the activity

The primary focus should be on “meaning”;There should be some kind of “gap”;Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources (linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to complete the activity

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

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).

The primary focus should be on “meaning”;There should be some kind of “gap”;Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources (linguistic and non-linguistic) in order to complete the activityThere 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).

TBLT & the NZCTBLT is only implicit in the new learning area.

Ellis’ Principles:In Principle 2, tasks are presented. Such tasks provide students with opportunities for interaction, thinking, problem solving, and genuine social interactions.

So….How could this look in the classroom, or Give us some examples of tasks.

From Dave Willis and Jane Willis: “Doing Task-based Teaching”, OUP 2007

Give us some examples of tasks.

1 Earthquake safety

2 Text puzzle: profits and media

3 Family values

4 Guess what animal this is

5 “Moulin Rouge” movie trailer comparison

6 Junk we carry around with us

7 Giving directions

8 A new cafeteria

9 Radio talk show: Healthy teens?

10 Scientific presentation: Atmosphere and weather

11 Creating a newspaper

12 Fictitious marriage scenario

These notes are based on presentations from Dr Martin East (University of Auckland)

Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

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