• Task-based Language Teaching• What is task?• Task-based Language Teaching Background• Types of Task in TBLT• Macrofunctions• A framework for TBLT• Syllabus Design

• It refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching.

• It is presented as a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching.

• Some researchers (Kumaravadivelu, 2006) argue that TBLT is significantly different from CLT but some (Ellis, 2003) thinks that TBLT is at the very core of CLT. This pedagogy puts the use of TASKS at the core of language teaching.

• A task is any activity that learners engage in to process of learning a language. (Williams and Burden, 1997:168)

• A task is a range of learning activities from the simple and brief exercises to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem-solving or simulations and decision-making. (Breen, 1987:23)

• An activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process was regarded as a task. (Prabhu , 1987:24)

• Task can be thought of as Function + context.

• Task allows for functions (and grammar) to be activated in a particular communicativeparticular communicative context.

• The communicativecommunicative task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in ComprehendingComprehending; ManipulatingManipulating; ProducingProducing; Interacting Interacting

The communicativecommunicative tasks is “as a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is primarily focused on meaning rather than form. The task should also have sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicativecommunicative act in its own right”.

Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is an approach which offers students opportunities to actively engage in communication in order to

achieve a goal or complete a task. TBLT seeks to develop students’ inter-language through providing

a task and then using language to solve it.

• It was first developed by N. Prabhu in Bangladore, Southern India. • Prabhu believed that students may learn more

effectively when their minds are focused on the task, rather than on the language they are using. (Prabhu, 1987; as cited in Littlewood, 2004)

• TBLT makes the performance of meaningful tasks central to the learning process. • Instead of a language structure or function to be

learnt, students are presented with a task they have to perform or a problem they have to solve. (Harmer, J. The practice of English Language Teaching, 2007:71)

• TBLT constitutes a strong version of Communicative Language Teaching. (Skehan, 2003) • Teacher’s dominant authority turns into teacher’s guiding

in TBLT; because, teacher centered learning (PPP) becomes learner centered. • It can be seen as both a refinement of Communicative

Language Teaching (CLT) and a reaction to the use of PPP. (Ellis, 2003)

• Tasks can be easily related to students’ real-life language needs. • They create contexts that facilitate second language acquisition. • Tasks create opportunities for focusing on form. • Students are more likely to develop intrinsic motivation in a task-

based approach.• A task-based approach enables teachers to see if students are

developing the ability to communicate in an L2.

1. Target tasks: • which students must achieve beyond the classroom.• Much more specific and more explicitly related to classroom instruction. • Specifies a context.

2. Pedagogical tasks: • Form the nucleus of the classroom activity • Include series of techniques to ultimately teach students to perform the target

task. • Involve students in some form of simulation of the target task. • Distinguished by their specific goals that point beyond the language classroom to

the target task.

• Tasks ultimately points learners to the application of language in real-life situations.

• Tasks are not heavily guided by the need for correct grammatical and structural aspects of the language.

• Tasks specifically contribute to communicative goals. • Their objectives are well specified so that you can at some later point

accurately determine the success of a task over another. • Tasks engage learners, at some level, in genuine problem-solving activity.

1.To exchange goods and services (transactional or service macrofunction)

2.To socialize with others (interpersonal or social macrofunction)

3.To enjoy (aesthetic macrofunction)

1. Communicative involvement in pedagogical tasks is the necessary and sufficient condition of successful L2 acquisition. • L2 acquisition is a subconscious process in which conscious teaching of

grammar is unnecessary.• Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages

not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning. (Krashen and Terrell 1983:55)

• The classroom should attempt to simulate natural process of acquisition, and that form-focused exercises are unnecessary.

2. Nunan believes:• Language classrooms are unnatural by design,• They exist precisely to provide for learners the kinds of practice

opportunities that do not exist outside the classroom.• Students in early stages can benefit from a focus on form. (Doughty

and William 1998; Long 1985; and Robinson 1998)• A pedagogy that reveals to learners systematic interrelationships

between form, meaning and use is needed. (Larsen-Freeman 2001)

• A kind of ‘half-way house’1.Similar to language exerciseslanguage exercises: provide

manipulated practice of restricted set of language items.

2.Similar to pedagogical taskspedagogical tasks: have element of meaningful communication.

• Task are tied together:1.Units of work or lessons through the

principle of chaining2.At the broader syllabus level, topically/

thematically through macrofunctions, microfunctions and grammar elements

• Synthetic syllabus: a static target language product orientation, just one or two “shots” at the item in the question P. 29

• Task-based syllabus: allows for a great deal of naturalistic recycling,grammatical and functional items: numerous times in diverse range of

contexts, favors an organic view of language acquisition, is spiral rather than ‘one-shot’.

1. Schema building2. Controlled practice ‘communicative context’3. Authentic listening practice4. Focus on linguistic elements5. Provide freer practice ‘pushed output’6. Introduce the pedagogical task

1.1. ScaffoldingScaffolding: Lessons should provide supporting framework within which the learning takes place.

2.2. Task dependencyTask dependency: Within a lesson, one task should grow out of, and build upon, the ones that have gone before.

3.3. RecyclingRecycling: Recycling language maximizes opportunities for learning and activates ‘organic’ learning principle.

4.4. Active learningActive learning5.5. IntegrationIntegration: Learners should be taught in a ways that make clear the relationship

between linguistic form, communicative function and semantic meaning.

6.6. Reproduction to creationReproduction to creation7.7. ReflectionReflection: Learners should be given opportunities to reflect on what they have

learned and how well they are doing.

Shavelson and Stern (1981):1. Content2. Materials3. Activities4. Goals5. Students6. Social community

Candling (1987):Tasks should contain input, roles,

setting, actions, monitoring, outcomes and feedback.

Wright (1987a)Tasks need to contain only two elements:1.Input data2.Initiating question

• Input • Genuine• Altered• Adapted• Simulated• Minimal/incidental

• Task types:• Information gap• Reasoning gap• Opinion gap

• Procedure• Procedural authenticity• Focus and goal in a procedure• Accuracy VS Fluency• Locus of control in a task

procedure• Teacher-Learner Role• Setting

Thank you for your patience.

For any further question refer to:

•Dickinson, Paul. Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching in a Japanese EFL Context

•Priyana, Joko. Task-Based Language Instruction•Littlewood, William. The Task-Based Approach :Some Questions and Suggestions

•Skehani, Peter. Task-Based Instruction• Skehan, Peter. A Framework for the Implementation of Task-BasedInstruction