Major approaches to ELT-suitability of TBL in the Hong Kong’s School Contexts

Chan Ching Yi 10401288

Wong Wing Ka 10406026

Chan Ka Man Mandy 10401253

Guiding questions From teachers’ perspective:

1. Do you support the implementation of TBL? Why?

2(a). If yes, what would you do to facilitate it?

2(b). If no, what do you prefer to implement?

From students’ perspective:

1(a). Do you like to learn English by TBL? Why? Why not?

1(b). If no, what is your preferable way to learn English?

From the perspective of schools:

1. Do you support the implementation of TBL? Why?

2(a). If yes, how do you implement it or support the implementation in your school?

2(b) If no, what are the other preferable implementations?

Definition of TBL

Emphasize communication of meaning rather than study of grammatical form as the starting point for learning activities.

Skehan’s (1998) concept of TBLL:- Meaning is primary- Some communication problem to solve- Some sort of relationship to comparable real-world

activities- Task completion- The assessment of the task is in terms of outcome.

The learning process as a set of communicative tasks that are directly linked to the curricular goals they serve

Popularity of TBL in East Asia

Since 1980s dominant model – CLT

Nunan (2003) 7 countries in East Asia subscribe to principles of CLT and TBL Hong Kong, China, Korea Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand

Concept of ‘learning through task’

TBL in Hong Kong

Since 1990s Curriculum Development Council

1997 for primary school 1999 for secondary school

Current situation Does not seem to be firmly embedded The value and beliefs of teachers

not congruent with the principles of TBLT

Implementation

Define the learning outcomes Specify the task

Use general communication (unfocused tasks) Communicate using specific grammatical structures

(focused tasks) Usually these activities come early in the

teaching cycle, to be followed later by work on the language system.

TBL is usually used in information gap activities, sharing information or giving views on a topic.

LESSON STAGES:•Introduction

• Class / group discussion led by the teacher.• You may need to adjust the difficulty of the task to the level of your students.

•Post-discussion• Teacher led feedback.• Teacher summarize and introduce the language focus

•Language Focus • Gap-filling exercise.• Recall exercises.

•Controlled practice• Learners produce sentences based on target patterns.• Patterns are repeated to facilitate retention

lesson using TBL

Difficulties in implementation Classroom management Some students may depend on their

groupmates in the group works. New learning may yet be lost if the lesson did

not include sufficient planning. Difficult to implement where classes are large

and space is limited. Incompatibility with public assessment

demands. Students may stay within the narrow confines of

familiar words and forms.

From teachers’ perspective:

1. Do you support the implementation of TBL? Why?

2(a). If yes, what would you do to facilitate it?

2(b). If no, what do you prefer to implement?

Role of teachers in TBL (Curriculum Development Council, 1999)

Identify learners’ needs Create the best possible conditions for

learning Never dominate classroom interaction Motivate the learners Give feedback tactfully and positively Individual learners in the groups should

be given recognition

From students’ perspective:

1(a). Do you like to learn English by TBL? Why? Why not?

1(b). If no, what is your preferable way to learn English?

TBL VS Ss’ perspective

Ss have to take initiative to complete the tasks

Be passiveDemotivated due to repetitive failure in learning English

Emphasize grammatical form in the post-task stage

Get to learn grammar in the pre-stage

Grammar is not the focus, but communication

Need input before and during tasksdifficult to motivate below-average students to speak

Emphasize fluency instead of accuracy

Accuracy is counted in public exam

Much oral work Reading and writing count more in public examination

Emphasize on group work and oral work

Overuse of the mother tongue in discussionoff task easily by chit-chattingmake noisemore productive with higher achieving Ss

TBL from the perspective of students_1

TBL VS Ss’ perspective

Series of tasks; module learning

35-40 minutes per lesson, 8-10 lessons per week

Ss cannot keep their attention throughout the tasks

To learn through tasks in long timeframe

Exam-orientedInternal exams are traditional in formatwhat has been learnt by TBL seems not that directly to-the point, seems not to learn anything concrete

Large class size Limited space in the classroom; not bother to move and form group

TBL from the perspective of students_2

From the perspective of schools:

1. Do you support the implementation of TBL? Why? 2(a). If yes, how do you implement it or support the implementation in your school? 2(b) If no, what are the other preferable implementations?

References

Curriculum Development Council. (1999). Syllabuses for secondary school: English language (Secondary 1-5). Hong Kong: The Government Printer.

David Carless (2007). The suitability of task-based approaches for secondary schools: Perspectives from Hong Kong.

Ellis, Rod (2003). Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford. New York: Oxford University Press.

Littlewood,W. (2007). Communicative and task-based language teaching in East Asian classrooms. Language Teaching, 40 (3), 243-249.