Introduction

Learning a foreign language is a difficult task which in the past was often associated with
memorizing words and phrases, thoughtless repletion of the material learned in class and
complete inability to speak outside the classroom. With time the use of teacher centred
methods that focus mainly on learning content through memorization and translation has
gradually shifted to more communicative methods and approaches, one of which is the task-
based method. Language ‘tasks’, if properly used, enhance the communicative abilities of
students. Gong and Luo (2003), insist that the main idea of the problem based approach is to
promote different types of tasks that people perform in society. That is the best way to learn a
language is to perform a variety of language tasks in which students actively uses the
language in communication, so the process of language acquisition occurs naturally.
Language tasks are mostly targeted and are developed with consideration of the life
experience of students. Emphasising the advantages of language tasks, Lambert (2019) insists
that task-based language learning is an unplanned process that addresses the needs of students
when they are focused on achieving communicative results.
Task-Based Language Teaching TBLT also known as Task-Based Instruction TBI, focuses
on the use of authentic language and on asking students to do meaningful tasks using the
target language. Such tasks can include visiting a doctor, con ducting an interview, or calling
customer service for help. Assessment is primarily based on task outcome. In other words,
the appropriate completion of real world tasks rather than on accuracy of prescribed language
forms. This makes TBLT especially popular for developing target language fluency and
student confidence.

The application of TBT in reading class

Willis puts forward three steps for task based teaching.

Step one pre-task stage

First of all, what the teacher should do is to help the learners to define the topic area. An
experienced teachers knows the complexity of the task. In this case once the teacher
introduces the topic, the students will recall and activate their knowledge of the topics and do
lots of brainstorming activities. So at this pre-task stage, priority should be given to
encourage the students to combine topic related words and phrases they know already. The
teacher even has to introduce vital-related words and phrases that students are unlikely to
know. All students should be engaged in the activities because the aim of pre-task stage is to
create the students interest in the topic if one students falls behind and distracts his or her
attention, he or she will have the so called ‘’chain reaction’’. Thus no self-confidence is
developed. The teacher has to be sure that every student in his or her class can concentrate on
the topics. This pre-task stage is important in that it is a warm up stage. The teacher should
activate students’ prior experience before they read and create their Interest by giving them a
predictive tasks and interesting activities. The teacher can start with showing a picture for
prediction, by asking them to guess what they are going to read on the bases of a few words
or phrases from the text or by having them look at headlines or captions before they read the
whole thing.

Step two task cycle

The second stage in the task based teaching is task cycle, which has three components-task,
planning or designing and report.
 Task :- the task stage is a good opportunity for all learners to communicate, working
in pairs or small groups to achieve the goals of the task. According to Willis, the
teacher’s role as a monitor should be emphasized at this stage. The teacher should
help the students by suggesting better ways of doing the task; the teacher has to make
sure that all pairs or groups are doing the right task; encourage all students to take
part, no matter how poor their language is, forgive about errors of form, errors don’t
matter at this stage, interrupt and help out only if there is a major communication
breakdown; appoint the talkative student to be the group chairperson, whose job is to
make sure that everyone gets the equal opportunity to speak in the group; too long
time will make students get bored of the activities. So we set a time limit which is
short. The teacher quality matters whether the implementation of task based approach
will be successful or not. The teacher needs special qualities such as maturity,
intuition, and psychological knowledge.
 Task designing/planning: - the hardest thing to do in a reading class is to design or
plan tasks. Willis have mentioned some main types of tasks.
o Listing :- tend to strike up a lot of talks as learners explain
their ideas. The outcome would be the completed list, or
possibly a draft mind map. Ordering and sorting: To fulfil the
ordering and sorting tasks, the students would have reasoning
ability and common sense.
o Comparing :- the process Involved are matching to identify
specific points and relate them to each other; finding
similarities and things in common; finding differences.
o Problem solving :- problem solving tasks require the students
reasoning power. The processes will vary enormously
depending on the type and complexity of the problem.
o Sharing personal experiences :- these tasks encourage
learners to talk more freely about themselves and share their
experience with others.
 Report stage :- the teacher will nominate who takes the floor turn by turn during
students presentations of their findings.

Step three language focus

Students will analyse and assess the completion of tasks by other group and practice the
language and tackle any difficulties under the direction of the teacher.

The effect of task based instruction on reading comprehension

Developing reading comprehension ability is an important aspect in acquisition of
language. Reading is a dialogue between the reader and the writer and comprehension is a
procedure through which a reader builds meaning from the text using his or her
knowledge, experience, and the information from the text. Reading comprehension is the
ability to read and process a text and understand its meaning. It is the process of
constructing meaning from a written or printed text. There are a lot of approaches and
methods to improve reading comprehension of SL/FL learners. Task-Based Instruction
(TBI) as an application for communicative approach is a methodology which focuses on
functional tasks and invites the students to use language for real world. It ‘’starts with a
task-based needs analysis to identify the target tasks for a particular groups of learners
what they need to be able to do in the new language’’ (Long, 2015,p.6).
Pre reading activity tasks
Before you read here are some key words that you need to know:
Modernisation:-to create modern ideas or method.
Industrialisation:-to make industries develop.
Overlooked:- To fail to see or notice something.
Revolutionary:-Involving a great or complete change.
Foundations:- A principle, an idea or a fact that something is based on and that it grows
From.
Sensibility:- A person’s feelings, especially when the person is easily offended or
influenced by something.
Revealed:- To show something that previously could not be seen.
Impoverished:- Very poor without money.
Miserable:- Very unhappy or uncomfortable.
Public:- People.
Deny:- To say that something is not true.
Outrageous:- Very shocking and unacceptable.
Epoch:- A period of time in history, especially one during which important events or
changes happen.
Foster:- To encourage something to develop.
Interpret:- To explain the meaning of something.
Apostles:- any one of the twelve men that Christ chose to tell people about him and his
Teachings.
Heretical:- A belief or an opinion that disagrees strongly with what most people believe.
Authority:- The people or an organization who have the power to make decisions or who
have a particular area of responsibility.
Sphere:- An area of activity, influence or interest; a particular section of society.
Credibility:- The quality that some body or something has that makes people believe or
trust them.
Pave :- to create a situation in which somebody will be able to do something or
something can happen.
Consistently:- approving or the quality of always behaving in the same way or of having
the same opinions, standard etc.
Privileged :- having special rights or advantages that most people do not have.
Criticise :- careful judgements about the good and bad qualities of somebody or
something.
Wisdom :- The knowledge that a society or culture has gained over a long period of time.
Justification :- an explanation of why something exists or why somebody has done
something.
Cognition :- the process by which knowledge and understanding is developed in the
mind.
Proclaimed :- to publicly and officially tell people about something important.
Theology :- the study of religion and beliefs.
Nutshell :- to say or express something in a very clear way.
Optimism :- a feeling that good things will happen and that something will be successful.
Rational :- able to think clearly and make decisions based on reason rather than
emotions.
Pre reading activity tasks
Make a prediction about the text based on the title which says ‘’ What does it mean to be
modern?’’
Discuss with a partner about the following:
What is modernization? Is there anything that you can tell us regarding the outcome of
modernization?
Create your own modernized world and discuss and present it in the classroom.
While reading activity tasks
Copy the questions in your exercise book. Listen to the text and write the answers.
1. What is the other aspect of modernity?
2. How the word ‘’ modernity ‘’ is used in different contexts?
3. What is excommunication?
4. Who wrote a book that undermines the older ideas of the foundations of knowledge?
5. Tell us the specific themes and major themes of the essay.
Read the following sentences and decide if they are true or false as you listen to the text.
1. There is no other aspect of modernity than industrialization.
2. For medieval Europeans the great edifice of human learning rested up on the very solid
foundation of revealed truth.
3. According to the passage excommunication means not being able to communicate well
with others.
4. The true ideas we get from the bible or from Plato are true simply because they came
from the mouths or the pens of the apostles or Plato.
Write the tense of the sentence which is taken from the essay.
1. The modern world was the world of modern art and music.
2. This concerns the foundations of knowledge.
3. The assumption was that they were obvious.
4. These were heretical thoughts.
5. There is some continuity though.
6. Each ideology was proclaimed to be universal.
7. Descartes made the same claim about his own ideas.
Identify weather the sentence is simple, compound, complex, and compound complex.
1. If we listen to the news we also hear people frequently talking about the need for
developing societies to modernise, referring to things like an increasing respect for
human rights, democracy and the privatisation of the economy.
2. There is another aspect of modernity, which is often overlooked but which is equally
revolutionary.
3. Before the emergence of a more modern sensibility knowledge wasn’t much of a
problem.
4. It doesn’t matter if you were not born with all the innate ideas Plato talked about, and
it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the faith that theology presupposes.
What does it mean to be modern?
The word ‘’ modern ‘’ is used in many different contexts in many different ways. For
some people modernization was synonymous with industrialization. For others the
modern world was the world of modern art and music. If we listen to the news we also
hear people frequently talking about the need for developing societies to modernise,
referring to things like an increasing respect for human rights, democracy and the
privatization of the economy.
There is another aspect of modernity, which is often overlooked but which is equally
revolutionary. This concerns the foundations of knowledge. Before the emergence of a
more modern sensibility of knowledge wasn’t much of a problem. Nobody bothered to
write books about the foundations of knowledge. The assumption was that they were
obvious. For medieval Europeans the great edifice of human learning rested up on the
very solid foundation of revealed truth.
In practice what this meant was that certain books were authoritative and unquestionable
sources of knowledge, and if you wanted to come up with some new idea you had to
explain how it agreed with the ideas in those scared texts, and if you couldn’t do that you
risked being arrested by the thought police and then being thrown out of the church-what
they called ‘’ excommunication ‘’ – which would mean the loss of your job and income,
and so you would die a lonely, impoverished and miserable man.
In 1632 a book was published by the Frenchman Rene Descartes that undermined these
older ideas about the foundations of knowledge. It was a brave book because at the same
time as Descartes was writing in Catholic France Galileo was being brought before the
catholic court in Italy to force him to publicly deny the outrageous theory that the sun, not
the earth was at the centre of the universe. It was also the first of the huge number of
books about knowledge that have been written in our epoch-and the first book in a whole
new branch of learning: epistemology.
In his own quite way Descartes helped to foster the understanding that human knowledge
cannot rest upon something external to it, like the word of God. Wherever ideas come
from, we have to interrupt them and fit them together with the other ideas we have to
ensure that everything makes as much sense as possible. The true ideas we get from the
bible or from Plato are not true simply because they came from the mouths or the pens of
the apostles or Plato, rather they are true because they fit in to the best arguments human
minds can construct.
These were heretical thoughts. They undermined the idea of the authority in the sphere of
human knowledge, and without that idea there was no justification for the medieval
thought police of the Catholic Church. They also helped to give greater credibility to the
emerging science of Copernicus and Galileo.
Arguably, they also helped pave the way for modern democracy because to be
consistently Cartesian is to believe that no group of people have some privileged access to
the truth everyone is in an equally good position to criticise received wisdom and so
everyone should have an equal right to have their voice heard. The attack on the authority
also weakened the justification for the practice of sacrificing the individual for the sake of
the greater good of society, and this helped clear the ground for the modern culture of
society, and this helped clear the ground for the modern culture of the individual.
Descartes broke with the Christian tradition in depicting the world of human cognition as
something quite independent. It observes things in the world and receives stimuli, but the
human mind itself provides the criteria for deciding how to make sense of those things.
There is some continuity, though. Cartesianism shares with both Christian and the
Platonic traditions a claim to universality. Both Plato and the Christian Churches believed
that their ideas were valid for everyone. Plato didn’t think he was just summing up what
was true for the Greeks, and the Christian Churches didn’t think they were promoting a
religion that was just for disaffected Jews, or Greeks or Ethiopians or Romans. Each
ideology was proclaimed to be universal.
Descartes made the same claim about his own ideas. In fact, he made an even stronger
claim to universality. It doesn’t matter if you were not born with all the innate ideas Plato
talked about, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the faith that theology presupposes.
All you need is to be able to think and to take an intellectual step back and look critically
at the received wisdom you have inherited. The assumption is that everyone who does
this will end up agreeing perfectly both with Descartes and with each other.
In a nutshell, as far as knowledge is concerned, the modern world began in 1632 when a
new cognitive self-understanding came on the scene-an acute awareness that all our
knowledge is a human artefact, combined with an optimism that if we can only free
ourselves from our local intellectual heirs of Descartes whenever we strongly believe that
there must be one ultimate theory of man, the universe and everything; that there is really
only people could drop the silly ideas of their peculiar traditions we would all have a
great time together and there would be universal peace.
Post reading activity task
Talk with a partner to see if your predictions were correct.
Retell the text to your partner in your own words.
Talk with a partner about the following:
Is it rude to be open to any new findings?
Do you think all knowledges that human preserve is part of modernity? Why? And Why
not?

Conclusion
TBLT focuses on how to learn rather than what to learn. The task is a means of using the
language in order to learn the language. It has meaning for students who have solve
communication problems, and that meaning along with the authenticity in the use of real
life situations, becomes internalized as linguistic competence. At last, the process of
understanding, performing, and reflecting on the task produces a wealth of ‘real’ use of
the target language, all of which foster language learning in cyclical, ongoing manner.
Therefore compared with traditional approaches, these positive results confirm the
feasibility of implementing TBA.