Task-Based Language Teaching
Task-Based Language Teaching
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Of course, Dave and Jane require very little in the way of an introduction to task-based
teachers, having authored some of the best books on the approach. I highly recommend
anyone looking for more resources on TBLT to visit their website.
The following article was originally published in the March 2009 TBLT Special
Issue of the Japan Association for Language Teaching’s The Language Teacher,
33(3). It is reprinted here with the permission of the authors.
The aim of language teaching worldwide is to enable learners to use the language they
have learned in school or college to communicate confidently and effectively with other
4tyusers of English in the world outside. This aim prioritises fluency rather than
accuracy. Learners should be able to use the language with speed and confidence even if
this means sacrificing grammatical accuracy. A task-based approach, where learners
actively engage in meaning focused activities, for much (but not all) of their time in class,
is explicitly designed to achieve this.
How many learners leave Japanese high schools with a usable competence in English–
confidently able to take part in a conversation on everyday topics, able to surf the net in
English and to take advantage of the vast array of published material in English?
Japanese teachers have often told us, “Our students know the grammar, but they can’t use
the language.” This prompts the question, “Is there any point in knowing the grammar if
you can’t use it?” Japan is not alone in this.
English teachers all over the world express the same worries. Teachers of Spanish and
French in the UK have the same concerns. There is something seriously wrong with the
way languages are taught in many classrooms. We believe that one of the problems is a
failure to recognise that language is much more than a grammatical system. Learning a
language involves Learning How to Mean as given in the title of Halliday (1975). A
command of standard grammar is a part of this, but we need to recognise two things. As
we have seen it is possible to have some knowledge of how the grammar works without
being able to apply that knowledge. On the other hand it is possible to communicate
effectively in a language for all kinds of purposes without conforming closely to a
standard grammar. Most teachers are aware of this and many are aware that TBLT offers
a realistic alternative to the traditional grammar-based approaches which have
consistently failed our learners. Among grammar-based approaches we would include
PPP. In a PPP methodology learners are so dominated by the presentation and practice
that at the production stage they are preoccupied with grammatical form rather than with
meaning. We need to shift the emphasis in teaching foreign languages to a focus on
understanding and expressing meanings. This almost certainly entails beginning with a
more lexical approach and gradually integrating grammar once learners have a wide
enough vocabulary to be able to see how grammar can help fine-tune their message.
The purpose of this article is to address some of the questions which are constantly raised
about TBLT and which perhaps get in the way of a much wider application of TBLT
principles.
Learners may engage with a task simply because the topic is appealing. For example, a
group of teenagers asked to Work with a partner. What do you think makes a good party?
may well find the topic intrinsically interesting and engage in discussion. But they are
more likely to do this if they are given more specific instructions: Write a list and agree
on the three most important ingredients of a good party (Kay & Jones, 2000, p. 62). And
the chances of meaningful interaction may be further increased if there is a teacher led
introduction in which the teacher describes a really memorable party she attended and
gives one reason why she found it so memorable. So a successful task starts with a basic
idea but it is the way that idea is exploited that helps to ensure real learner participation.
It is possible to take a less promising starting point and generate a lot of meaningful
interaction. A written text comparing the climate at the North and South Poles may not
seem likely to engage the interest of teenage learners. But if you start with a question
Which is colder, the North Pole or the South Pole? Learners will begin to commit
themselves to an opinion. You can also introduce a questionnaire along these lines:
2. The ice is several metres thick in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
3. Water keeps in the heat of the sun better than dry land.
Learners then begin to apply their knowledge of the world in order to examine possible
arguments. This leads to animated discussion before the question is finally resolved in a
reading passage which learners approach with real expectation and interest (for a lesson
plan based on this idea see www.willis-elt.co.uk/taskbased.html). So even a relatively
unpromising topic can be presented and contextualised in a task sequence in such a way
as to maximise learner engagement and a focus on outcome and meaning.
Once we have established the importance of an outcome we can reasonably judge the
success of task performance in terms of the achievement of that outcome.
Given the limitations of space here this is necessarily a very brief introduction. The best
concise introduction to TBLT is probably Richard Frost’s excellent article on the British
Council/BBC Teaching English website: teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/a-
taskbased-approach To supplement this there are two papers (D. Willis Accuracy,
Fluency and Autonomous Learning: A Three Way Distinction and J. Willis Task-Based
Learning – What Kind of Adventure?) available online at www.willis-
elt.co.uk/books.html.
Researchers into second language acquisition over the last forty years disagree over
detailed findings, but there is one powerful consensus. There is overwhelming evidence
that learners need to engage with meaning if they are to develop a grammatical system.
This begins with the interlanguage studies of Corder (1967) and Selinker (1972), through
the work of Krashen (1981), Long (1988) to Skehan (1998) and Ellis (2003). There are
variations in the detail. Krashen, for example, argues that the explicit study of grammar
plays no part in the development of a usable language system. This is largely supported
by Long, although he argues for a focus on language within a meaning-based context.
Skehan accepts the value of studying grammatical form prior to use, but believes that
language use is central to the learning process and explicitly rejects an approach based
heavily on the presentation and practice of grammatical forms. The important thing,
however, is that almost all studies see language learning as a developmental process
which is mediated largely by the learner. In other words it is the learners’ experience of
using language which enables them to develop a usable language system. The question
for teachers is how best to provide that experience and how best to help learners exploit
it.
This is supported by our experience in the classroom. How many of these observations
match your own experience?
• In the early stages of learning, learners achieve meanings by putting words together
without paying too much attention to grammatical niceties. When producing language
spontaneously they consistently produce utterances like Yesterday I go cinema instead of
Yesterday I went to the cinema.
• In spontaneous production they continue to make mistakes even after they have learned
the relevant grammar. They go on using the base form of the verb to express past time
even after they have worked hard on learning the past tense and can produce past tense
forms with reasonable consistency under controlled conditions, in a grammar test for
example.
• Because of their concern, even obsession, with accuracy many learners are reluctant to
produce language for fear of making mistakes, and are quite incapable of attaining a level
of fluency which would be acceptable for everyday use.
Our own experience in the classroom, our observation of classrooms, and our discussions
with teachers over many years suggests that most, if not all, of these observations hold
good in the majority of classrooms. And all of these observations reinforce the findings
of SLA research. When we persist in a grammar-based approach with its overwhelming
emphasis on accuracy we are flying in the face, not only of research, but also of our own
classroom experience.
There are a number of research studies which are concerned specifically with
communicative language teaching and which are applicable to TBLT. Ellis (1994)
summarises the findings as follows:
By linguistic abilities Ellis means control of the grammar. Given that the proper goal of
language tuition is the development of fluency and effective discourse skills rather than a
narrow linguistic competence, Ellis can reasonably be taken as endorsing meaning-based
approaches. Even if we have some doubts about the efficacy of such approaches we
should still be prepared to give them a realistic trial, given the recognised failure of the
more traditional methods outlined above.
In the TBL approach proposed in Willis and Willis (2007) there is ample opportunity for
learners to pay careful attention to language within the task cycle, and an explicit focus
on form after the task cycle. Space does not allow us to provide a detailed discussion of
the relationship between task and language development, but we are sure that it is more
complex than suggested in Little & Fieldsend (2009), and Samuda, (2001).
There are often doubts expressed about the applicability of communicative approaches in
classrooms which are traditionally teacher centred and in societies which show a
preference for more transmissive styles of teaching. It would be right to be cautious if the
existing approach were producing the desired results. But we have seen that this is clearly
not the case. The great majority of Japanese learners leave school as remedial beginners,
without a usable competence in English. Since the current approaches have been shown
not to work it is necessary to try some sort of innovation.
How will this kind of innovation be received by Japanese learners? Again this question
leads us to question how current approaches are perceived by learners. The recognition
that English tuition does not enable learners to use the language is widespread not only
among teachers. Learners and parents know this as well. They will welcome change if it
can be shown to produce results.
We accept that it would be foolhardy for individual teachers to challenge the received
wisdom on their own. If innovation is to succeed it needs to be carefully managed.
Ideally this should be sanctioned and implemented at as high a level as possible. The
freedom to experiment should be sanctioned at a national level. Failing that, it is possible
to work at the level of an individual institution—a school or college. There are many
examples of teachers successfully applying task based principles in Japan. Willis and
Willis (2007) refer to Jason Moser’s work at Osaka Shoin Women’s University (pp. 182-
183). Moser was careful to set out explicitly the rationale for change and explain clearly
to learners, parents, and other interested parties the reasons for the new programme. It is
also important to give learners constant feedback to reassure them of their progress.
Why is it so difficult to introduce innovations like TBLT?
A second line of defence is to claim that the proposed innovation has already been tried
and found wanting. People claim that communicative language teaching has been tried
but that it was a failure so people have now gone back to teaching grammar. Although
communicative language teaching has been widely recommended in the literature it has
rarely been fully applied. A look at course-books and teaching materials worldwide will
confirm this. It is difficult to find commercial materials that are communicative on
anything but a very weak definition of that term. Overwhelmingly materials are
grammar-based, and begin each teaching cycle with the presentation of some kind of
language point. This is often the case even when the materials lay claim to some kind of
task-based methodology.
It is relatively easy to assess grammar-based approaches, but the important thing is not to
find out whether students know the grammar, but whether they can use it.
As a starting point for task-based assessment (TBA), both summative and formative, we
can take descriptors like the Common European Framework for Languages, the ACTFL
Guidelines, and the Canadian Language Benchmarks. These are attempts to describe
what learners can do with the language rather than how well they can manipulate it.
Ellis (2003, pp. 312-316) suggests that for formative assessment, the tasks used in
teaching can be used for testing. These “can contribute to the goals of monitoring
progress and guiding instruction” (p. 312), and can be carried out by the teacher, using
communicative rating scales, and possibly calling on a second rater for more objectivity.
Learners can also be trained to use self-assessment. Planned testing of oral performance
on tasks is more complex to set up (e.g., learners can be recorded doing tasks in pairs)
and more time-consuming than testing writing. However, Ellis distinguishes between
planned and incidental (day to day) testing, and, on the latter, quotes Brindley (2001, p.
128), “with experience, many teachers become skilled judges and observers capable of
evaluating the quality of language performances and making fine-grained diagnoses of
learners’ difficulties.”
Any well-designed task-based programme should provide learners with a rich exposure to
language and multiple opportunities to use the language for themselves. This experience
should result in a wide vocabulary and a feel for what is right and thus equip learners to
do better even in tests of a more traditional nature.
References
Ellis, R. (1994). Implicit and explicit learning of languages. London: Academic Press.
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Kay, S., & Jones, V. (2000). Inside out intermediate. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford:
Pergamon.
Little, A., & Fieldsend, T. (2009). Form-focused tasks using semantically enhanced input.
The Language Teacher, 33(3), pp.9-14.
Long (1988). Instructed interlanguage development in L. Beebe (Ed.) Issues in Second
Language Acquisition: Multiple Perspectives. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House
Samuda, V. (2001). Guiding relationships between form and meaning during task
performance: The role of the teacher. In M. Bygate, P Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.),
Researching pedagogic tasks, second language learning, teaching, and testing (pp. 119-
140). Harlow: Longman.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Jane Willis is a veteran teacher and prizewinning author. She taught most recently in the
TEFL/TESOL graduate programme at Aston University. She has authored and co-
authored many books, including the Collins Cobuild series (with her spouse, Dave
Willis), and co-edited Task-based Instruction in Foreign Language Education with Betty
Lou Leaver (Georgetown University Press, 2004) and Teachers Exploring Tasks with
Corony Edwards (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Her latest book, for young learners, is
English Through Music with Anice Paterson (Oxford University Press, 2008).
This was written by MBenevides. Posted on Sunday, June 6, 2010, at 15:04. Filed under
All, Guest posts, Task-based. Tagged CEFR, efl, PPP, task-based language teaching,
teaching in Japan. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed.
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4 Comments
1. MBenevides wrote:
The following comment thread is copied from my Facebook link to this article.
I’m moving it here so hopefully Jane and Dave will read it and comment
themselves at some point. That’s the beauty of blogging, after all!
***********************************************
Philip: Yokohama JALT had a very interesting day on 21st Feb. It’d be interesting
to see if it addresses some of the same issues that were raised there.
Yesterday at 5:55pm ·
Marcos: What were the issues raised, Phil? What I really like about this article is a
simple point raised by the Willises: Arguments against TBLT include that it
doesn’t target accuracy, conveniently forgetting that the current model doesn’t
especially lead to accuracy either; the argument that it can’t work in Japan
because it’s culturally inappropriate …
See More
about an hour ago ·
Jason: Hi Marcos, and thanks for posting this excellent article. If we could
reasonably safely argue that arguments against TBLT are (comparatively) invalid,
what is it do you suppose that makes teachers from so many contexts reject/avoid
approaches like TBLT and other progressive ones as well?
53 minutes ago ·
Marcos:s Yeah, that’s the million dollar question isn’t it? I think there are a
multitude of issues, but I think the big ones include:
My rule of thumb is, if a student starts out understanding 30% of the material and
moves up to understanding 60% by the end of the course because they honestly
engaged with the material and tried to express their ideas, then WHO CARES that
they didn’t catch the other 40%…
PS: Hey, if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to copy this discussion into the blog
comments thread (same link above). I’d love it if the Willises saw the comments
and perhaps replied at some point, and they aren’t on Facebook, as far as I know.
Hi Marcos,
The most common arguments I’ve heard against TBLT are basically oriented
around it being too hard to use with large classes of often mixed ability learners.
But to teachers I would say the validity of this criticism depends on other factors:
namely a teacher’s willingness to embrace learner-centred diversity (levels,
interests, personalities, etc.) and his/her belief in fostering learner autonomy
(emergent language and reflective learning) and genuine classroom socialisation
(especially the role group work). If those aspects are absent or relatively low in a
teacher’s approach, TBLT (and most other ‘progressive’ approaches to teaching)
is very likely to represent difficulties and a lack of faith in its potential.
In my experience, TBLT has worked BETTER in larger classes, and has catered
more effectively to learners’ individual levels and preferred learning and
interaction styles. I used Widgets with a class of 35 rather conservative Korean
adults in a university setting, and after some quick adjustment/growing pains, it
worked spectacularly. The best course/coursebook experience I’ve had in more
than 10 years of teaching.
It really does come back to a teacher’s essential beliefs about language learning,
and the roles of teacher and learners in that mix…
Yet another obstacle for TBLT is that it isn’t all that easy to ‘operationalise’ it in
pre-set coursebook form. Well, actually, it is easy to do that, but it’s not easy to
‘pitch’ or ‘sell’ it, because TBLT works on generating evidence of learning after
the (communicative/interactive) fact rather than in advance.
Given that coursebooks are at the eye of the EFL maelstrom – one that wants
most things guaranteed and sorted in advance (because of an epic scale of
impatience and intrinsic need for ease and conformity) – TBLT faces a huge
obstacle on that front.
And because coursebooks do run so much of the ‘industry’, I really do think that
it is in coursework materials that TBLT needs the most promotion and support.
Cheers,
- Jason
3. Chitra wrote:
That was a wonderful article from the Willises. As a teacher trainig students to
take up the Cambridge ESOL examinations in India, I have found TBLT to be a
very effective tool, which helps even shy students to get over their shyness,
participate in the activities, and improve their communcations skills considerably.
I have had very fruitful and satisfying sessions. The TBLT approach demands the
teacher or rather the trainer to be extremely creative, agile, and alert.
a very informative articule. why are there no empirical studies on the effect of tblt
on learners performance? if there are pls led me to there. thanks
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