Using Task Based Learning
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This article focuses on the following quote from Jane & Dave Willis, The Cambridge Guide to TESOL, CUP 2001: 174.
'One feature of
TBL …… is that learners carrying out a task are free to use any language they
can to achieve the outcome'.
and considers the following questions:
a) What might be the advantages and disadvantages
of task-based learning?
b) In the light of the above quote from Willis, how can the teacher ensure
that the language syllabus is covered in task-based learning?
a) Advantages (underlined)
include:
1. TBL prepares the Ls to use language outside the c/r,
as it focuses on fluency and on communicating meaning and fluency. During the
task the learners are allowed to use whatever language they have at their
disposal – as they will need to do in the “real” situation.
2. TBL
is a process based approach which is possibly closer to current theories of
second language acquisition than product based approaches such as Presentation Practice Production. For example, the type of grading and
systematic coverage provided by PPP may not reflect how language is actually
acquired while TBL provides scope for the ideas
expressed by Swain in her “Output Hypothesis” – that it is by formulating and
reformulating ideas until they are understood that learners will gradually
acquire the “language that works”.
3. TBL
allows for more varied patterns of interaction; focuses on ‘real’ communication
within classroom limits and thus teaches communicative rather than purely
linguistic competence.For
example, while performing the task, learners will have to negotiate meaning,
turn-take, use repair strategies, ask for clarification etc as well as using
the lexical and functional/structural items that the task itself requires.
4. Except in
its most extreme form (Prabhu, the Procedural Syllabus), TBL does still provide
scope for a focus on form, but form-based instruction arises from naturally
occurring examples of use rather than any predetermined linguistic syllabus.
Learners are therefore focusing on “improved” versions of what they wanted to say, which may mean the
language is processed at greater cognitive depth than if it was just “the
next thing in the coursebook” with no personal relevance.
5.
TBL is good for mixed ability/mixed level
classes as the same task can
be completed successfully by weaker or stronger learners using different
language. Eg in a task involving
making suggestions, weaker or lower level learner may use “We could…” or “Why
don’t we…” while hearing stronger
learners use “it might be a good idea to…” or “Have you thought of…”.
Similarly, if they (inaccurately) say *“Why we don’t…” they might hear the
correct form (or be corrected by) the stronger learners.
a) Possible
disadvantages (underlined):
6. TBL is
difficult to implement at lower levels where Ls haven’t yet assimilated enough of the possible language items that could be used to perform the task.
7. Even at higher levels, focus on meaning could come at the
expense of focus on form as learners
just use language they are already familiar with (more or less
accurately) in the task. Whilst a focus on form does occur after the task stage
in TBL (eg comparing their own performance with a version of the task recorded
by native speakers or other expert users of the language), if Ls are not given
the chance to practise it and repeat the same or a similar task (as in the
Test-Teach-Test approach) it may not be internalised. Fluency may be increased
but not range or accuracy.
8. This potential lack of assimilation of the language
in TBL may also lead to dissatisfaction with the course as learners feel
they are not learning anything new.
9. Many TBL models include a Pre-task stage which feeds in
information, but also language items, useful for the task. This means that
ls are essentially moving straight from Language Focus to Free Practice (the
task itself) – or in other words from Presentation straight to Production
rather than having an intermediate Controlled Practice stage – as in the PPP
approach. Again, at lower levels this lack of a chance to manipulate the
language before having to use it may result in inaccuracy or avoidance of any new
items.
10. It is difficult
to grade and sequence a focus on form and function appropriately in TBL.
This may not match the learning preferences of serialist learners who like a
systematic “step by step” approach to learning.
11. TBL may
also be contrary to Ls’ cultural expectations – for example those of some
SE Asian learners who expect to be “told” what they have to learn.
b) Coverage of the
language syllabus
12. Tasks can
be organized in order to encourage (rather than compel) learners to use
particular language from the syllabus. For example, a task where learners have to explain how cook a specific
dish from their own country will naturally involve the use of sequencing
expressions and clauses, eg – First /
Next / After you XXXX (etc). If these items are not used, they can then be
highlighted in the language focus stages.
13. Tasks can
be done in parallel with language work (whether grammar, lexis, discourse or
pronunciation), as with a course-book such as ‘Cutting Edge’.
14. Alternatively,
a TBL lesson can be “inserted” into a course at regular intervals with the
tasks chosen to “match” the language that learners have been studying recently.
The language focus stage can highlight any item remembered and used accurately,
any used inaccurately, or any avoided in
preference of other more familiar items – eg if the
learners completed a task discussing how they spent their holidays as children
using only adverbs of frequency plus the
past simple (“We often went to the mountains” they can be “reminded” how to
express the idea in the same way using “used to” or “would”).
15. Post-task
analysis can focus on learner error with items on the syllabus, or items from
the syllabus which could have been used but were avoided. Eg.
If higher level learners are heard to say
“It rained a lot”, the T. can recycle more advanced expressions which
they have met in previous units such as
“It poured with rain all weekend” or “It rained really heavily”.
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