Task-based

Language Teaching
(TBLT)
Ahmed Bashir
[email protected]

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Outline
I. Historical Background
II. Definitions
a. What is a task?
b. What is Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT)?
III. Why do we use a task based approach?
IV. Principles of TBLT
V. Objectives of TBLT
VI. Types of Teaching and Learning Activities
VII. Instructional Materials
VIII. Research examples
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Historical Background:
• TBLT started in the 1970s when scholars argued that
language instruction should teach both grammar and
meaning (Skehan, 2003).
• The field widely takes Prabhu as one of the first
proponents for tasks or TBLT when he started the
approach in teaching secondary school classes in
Bangalore, India in the 1970s.
• From then on, TBLT began to be recognized and widely
discussed in language teaching and research in Second
Language Acquisition (SLA).
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• Some of its proponents (e.g., Willis, 1996) believe
that TBLT develops from communicative Language
Teaching (CLT), because TBLT shares the same
several principles with CLT.
• From the 1980s, “task” and “task-based language
teaching/instruction” have become increasingly
preferred terms to those of “communicative
activity” or “communicative language teaching”

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• Though TBLT is argued to have originated from
CLT, it has its own rationales from different
philosophies and approaches toward language
instruction.
• Nowadays TBLT is a broad term, which
involves not only research and teaching, but
testing and curriculum design in SLA.

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What is a task?

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Definitions:
1. What is a task?
A. Nunan (1989)
“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" (p. 10)

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B. Willis (1996)
An activity "where the target language is used
by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in
order to achieve an outcome" (p. 23).
It is more effective to use a meaning-based approach
than a form-based approach.

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C. Skehan (1996)
Tasks primarily focus on meaning and resemble
real-life situations. Since tasks are goal-directed
activities, participants decide which language
forms to use to achieve the goal.

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D. Van den Branden (2006) –
“An activity in which a person engages in order to
attain an objective, and which necessitates the
use of language" (p. 4).
It is evident in this definition that there is a language
form needed to perform a task; however, the
language is the means not the end.
Language is the vehicle to reach successful
communication when having real-life communicative
situations.
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The most commonly used and widely
accepted definition of task is that of
language activity in which there is a
focus on meaning.

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Skehan (1998), drawing on a number of other
writers, puts forward key characteristics of a task:
 A task is goal-directed.
 A task has a primary focus on meaning.
 A task has a clear pedagogic relationship to
real world language needs.
 A task has a clearly defined outcome.

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What is Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT)?
• TBLT is an approach based on the use of tasks as the
core unit of planning and instruction in language
teaching.
• TBLT offers students opportunities to actively engage
in communication in order to achieve a goal or
complete a task.
• TBLT seeks to develop students’ interlanguage through
providing a task and then using language to solve it.

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 Why do we use a task based
approach?
• Tasks can be easily related to students’ real-life
language needs.
• 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.

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Key assumptions of TBI by Feez
(1998)
(See Richards and Rodgers, p. 176)

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Approach: The Theory of Language
• TBLT is motivated primarily by a theory of learning rather
than a theory of language. However, TBLT is based on
the following assumptions about the nature of language:
1. Language is primarily a means of making meaning.
2. Language is a means of achieving real-world goals.
3. Lexical units are central in language use and language
learning.
4. Spoken interaction is the central focus of language and
the keystone of language acquisition.
5. Language use involves integration of skills.

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Approach: The Theory of Learning

• TBLT shares the general assumptions about the

nature of language learning as shown in CLT.
However, it draws more on SLA theory.

(See page 180, Richards and Rodgers)

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Design: Objectives

To facilitate students’ language learning by

engaging them in a variety of tasks that have
a clear outcome. (Larsen-Freeman, 2001: 156)
To give learners confidence in trying out
whatever language they know,
To give learners experience of spontaneous
interaction,

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Design: Objectives

 To engage learners in using language purposefully

and cooperatively,
 To make learners participate in a complete
interaction, not just one-off sentences,
 To give learners chances to try out communication
strategies,
 To develop learners’ confidence that they can
achieve communicative goals. (Willis, 1996: 35–6)

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Design: Syllabus
• In a conventional syllabus only contents are specified.
• But in a TBLT syllabus the contents as well as the
learning outcomes are specified. Classroom teaching
and materials are design based on the syllabus.
• Nunan (1989) suggests a syllabus might specify two
types of tasks:
1. Real-world tasks
2. Pedagogical tasks
(See Richards and Rodgers, p. 184-185)
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Design: Types of learning and
teaching activities
• Many types of tasks are used.
• Willis (1996) talks about 6 types:
1. Listing – Brainstorming, fact-finding
2. Ordering and sorting – Sequencing, ranking,
categorizing, classifying
3. Comparing – Matching, finding similarities, finding
differences
4. Problem solving – Analyzing real or hypothetical
situations, reasoning, and decision
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Design: Types of learning and
teaching activities..
5. Sharing personal experiences – Narrating
describing, exploring, and explaining
attitudes, opinions, reactions

6. Creative tasks – Brainstorming, fact-finding,

ordering and sorting, comparing,
problem solving and many others.
(Willis, 1996)

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• Other types of tasks (Pica, Kanagy, and Falodun
(1993)
1.Jigsaw Tasks
2.Information-gap Tasks
3.Problem-solving Tasks
4.Decision-making Tasks
5.Opinion exchange Tasks
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Design: Learner Roles
1.Group Participant

2.Monitor

3.Risk-Taker and Innovator

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Design: Teacher Roles
1.Motivate students
2.Efficiently organize the tasks
3.Interactionally support the students (Van den
Branden 2006)
4.Selector and Sequencer of Tasks
5.Preparing Learners for Tasks
6.Consciousness-Raising
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Design: The Role of Instructional
Materials
1. Pedagogic books : Textbooks, Grammar books
2. Realia:
- Newspaper
- Magazine
- Radio programs
- CDs
- TV
- Internet
- Worksheets
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Procedure
• Van Gorp and Bogaert (2006) the sequence of
activities in a task-based lesson: (see page 190,
Richards and Rodgers)
1. Introducing the task
2. Supporting task performance
3. The post-task phase

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 Willis’ (1996) detailed sequence of pre-
while- and post-task activities
• Pre-task
Introduction to topic and task: Teacher explores the topic with the class,
highlights useful words and phrases, helps students understand task
instructions and prepare.
• Task Cycle
Task: Students do the task, in pairs or small groups. Teacher monitors.
Planning: Students prepare to report to the whole class( orally or in
writing) how they did the task, what they decided or discovered.
Report: Some groups present their reports to the class, or exchange
written reports and compare results. (Students receive feedback on
their level of success on completing the task).
Posttask listening: Ss listen to a recording of native speaker and
compare.
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Willis’ (1996) detailed sequence of
pre- while- and post-task activities
• Language Focus
Analysis: Students examine and discuss specific
features of the text or transcript of the recording.
Practice: Teacher conducts practice or new words,
phrases and patterns occurring in the data, either
during or after the analysis.
(Willis 1996: 38)

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Advantages of TBLT
• TBLT is applicable and suitable for students of all ages and
backgrounds.
• Students will have a much more varied exposure to language
with TBLT.
• Students are free to use whatever vocabulary and grammar
they know, rather than just the target language of the lesson.
• TBLT helps students pay close attention to the relationship
between form and meaning

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Advantages of TBLT
• TBLT allows meaningful communication.
• Students will be exposed to a whole range of
lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as
language forms.
• Encourages students to be more ambitious in the
language they use.
• The psychological dynamics of the group which
works together to complete a task will have a great
influence on the success.
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Disadvantages of TBLT
• TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative
on the part of the task.
• There is a risk for learners to achieve fluency at the
expense of accuracy.
• TBLT requires resources beyond the textbooks and
related materials usually found in language
classrooms.

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Disadvantages of TBLT
• Task-based instruction is not teacher-centered and it
requires individual and group responsibility and
commitment on the part of students. If students are
notably lacking in these qualities, task-based
instruction may, indeed, be difficult to implement.
• Evaluation of task-based learning can be difficult.
The nature of task-based learning prevents it from
being measurable by some of the more restricted and
traditional tests.
(Krahne, 1987)
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Conclusion
• TBLT may help to encourage students to use the
target language actively and meaningfully.
• But still, many aspects of TBLT have to be justified
such as task type, task sequencing and evaluation of
task performance.
• The basic assumption of TBLT -that it provides for a
more effective basis for teaching than other
language teaching approaches- remains in the
domain of ideology rather than fact.
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