Task-based

Language Teaching
Learning

Robert J. Dickey
Keimyung University, S. Korea
What is a task?
Task = Doing for a purpose
Language Learning Objective(s)
• Not just an activity or exercise
• Not just language practice
• Not “teaching time”
• Intimately connected to current
language-learning syllabus objectives
(i.e., this is a language learning classroom)
 How is a Language-Learning
Task different from an Activity or
Exercise?
 Task-based Defined - Willis
• Activities where the target language is
used by the learner for a
communicative purpose (goal) in
order to achieve an outcome.
• is central to the methodological cycle
• learners are free chose
whatever language form they wish
 Task-based - Ellis
• A workplan (plan for learning)
• Primary focus on meaning
• Real-world processes of language
use (even if task is artificial)
• Any of the 4 language skills
• Involves cognitive processes
• Clearly-defined communicative
outcome
 Task-based - Nunan
• Syllabus is centered NOT on an
ordered list of linguistic items but on a
collection of tasks
• Distinction between
– Real-world tasks
– Pedagogical tasks
• Mobilizing grammatical knowledge in order
to express meaning
 Pedagogical Task - Nunan
a piece of classroom work that involves
the learners in comprehending,
manipulating, producing or interacting in
the target language while their attention is
focused on mobilizing their grammatical
knowledge in order to express meaning,
and in which the intention is to convey
meaning rather than to manipulate form.“
(Nunan, 2004, p.4).
 Project-based Learning
• Similar conceptually to tasks
– but longer-term
• More amenable to
– in-class plus out-of-classroom work
– team focus
• Fredricka Stoller argues “there is always a
tangible outcome” in project-based, not so
in task-based.
 Task Types (open/closed)
• Closed tasks
– Highly structured, specific goals
• Open tasks
– Loosely structured, non-specific goals
• Anything in-between

J. Willis, 1996
 Task Types (focus)
• Focussed tasks
– encourage the use of particular linguistic
items through noticing in pre-task
• Unfocussed tasks
– allow learners to use an array of
language features or structures
• Blending is possible
J. Willis’ “Framework” (1996)
 3 Stages (phases) of TBLL
1. Pre-Task
– Preparation
– A mini-task
2. Task – during the “main” task
– Outcome is principal focus
– Language-learning Objective
3. Post-Task
– Language-learning support
 1. Pre-Task stage
• Motivation
• “Framing” the task
– Inform what the learners will do
– Nature of the outcome
– Signposts along the way
• Preparation to perform the task
• How much? (time)

Addressing Cognitive Load in Task

Students
should
understand
that they
have to
“multi-task”
 Preparation to Perform Task
• Similar Task
– Teacher-led practice
– Observe a model (oral or written)
– Easier task, broken in parts
– “Task-designed to fail”
• Strategic Planning
• Non-task preparation
 Non-Task Preparation
• Pre-teaching vocabulary, grammar –
Strong vs. Weak forms of TBLL
(Ellis’ Task-Supported Language Learning)
• Examine similar but different
functions/setting
 2. Task (main) stage
a. Task Performance Options (planned
before class)
b. Task Process Options (determined
“live” inside the task event)
 a. Task Performance Options
• Time limit?
– Strictly enforced? Re-negotiated? More
time  more accuracy? (Lang, Content)
• Access to data during the task?
– How complex is the data?
– Can see notes or whole data, or nothing?
• Surprise? (change something)
• Pairs/Groups, moving around
 b. Task Process Options
• Classroom participants must forget where
they are and why they are there
• Classroom participants must believe in
learn by doing rather than by studying
• Teacher monitors learners’ performance to
impact future teaching and tasks
• Focus-on-Form classroom with teacher
interaction in tasks (error-correction)
 3. Post-task (stage)
• Repeat performance
• Reflecting on performance
– Individually or in groups
• Focus on Forms
– Consciousness-Raising
– Noticing
– Review of Errors (Explicit, Non-explicit)
– Production Practice activities/exercises
 Task Input
• Data
– “Text” (Written or Oral)
– Non-verbal materials
Realia, pictures, diagrams, tables,or other…
– Specific to the task (model) or less-
specific
• Procedures
– Consider “setting” (groups, etc)
 Factors Affecting Task Difficulty
• Context & Abstractness
• Degree of cognitive demand
• Access to background knowledge
• Level of learner support available
• Language complexity
• Emotional stress in task completion
• Interest and Motivation of the learner
 Task Varieties
• Listing
• Ordering & Sorting
• Comparing
• Problem-solving
• Sharing personal experiences
• Creative tasks (projects)
J. Willis, 1996
 Critique of TBLL
• Learners might be led to focus on
– meaning over form,
– “fluent” rather than challenging language
• “Practice” of inaccurate or simplistic
language
• Time away from instruction (new
materials)
 Observations on Willis ‘96
• “Event” (task) very short (1-5 min)
• Planning time for report of event is
substantial (though this too is a task)
• Reporting on the event is a third type
of task
• Language Focus (post-task) is approx
½ of lesson period
 TBLL in a nutshell
• Pre-Task • Objectives
• Task • Options
• Post-Task
• Definition
• Types

Matthew Walker, 2010

 Pre-Task
Stage Objectives Stage Options
• attention on how to • non-task
complete the task • task instructions
• motivation • modeling
(passive/active)
• similar task
• strategic planning
 no planning
 focus on language
 focus on content
 Task
Definition of Task Task Types
• meaning • open / closed
• gap • focused / unfocused
• resources • input / output/ 4-skills
• defined outcome
other than the use of • Performance
language Options
• language as the • time pressures
means not the end • access to input
• learner’s experience • surprise element
 Post-Task
Stage Objectives Stage Options
• review language • repeat performance
used in the task • reflecting on the task
 personal reflection
 Groupwork

• focusing on forms
 learner error
 noticing
Matthew Walker, 2010  produce and practice
 Lesson Conceptualization
• Aims/Objectives –
Why are you teaching this class?
– Linguistic
– Content
– Other
 Purpose of the Lesson Plan
• a clear working document, another
teacher could pick up it and use
• Coverage of subject matter
– Comprehensive
– Organized
• Cohesion & Variety
• Inter-lesson consistency?
• Exploitation of materials
Pre-Planning (Harmer, 1983)
Lesson Development Framework
1. Identify the specific 6. Design student
course & group of responses to the text.
students to teach. 7. Students check their
2. Identify the content to own work, and of their
be utilized. peers.
3. Identify why the 8. Groupwork.
students should care. 9. Students create new
4. Identify the specific stories / endings, and
“leaning ojective.” tell groupmates.
5. Develop/locate an 10.Testing.
exemplar text.
 Lesson Plan Stages (Phases)
• PPP(+P)
• XXX(+X)
• IDC
• TTT
• ARC
• ESA
• OHE & I-I-I
• Deep-end Strategy
 PPP
• Presentation
Lecture
• Practice
Exercises, Drills
• Production
Controlled,
Substitutions

Presumption of “linear development”

 PPP(+P?)
• Presentation
Lecture
• Practice
Exercises, Drills
• Production
Controlled,
Substitutions
• Personalization?
Not Traditional
 XXX(+X)?
• X – eXplain

• X – eXample

• X – eXercise

• X - eXamination
 IDC
• Introduction
(Less than 5 minutes)

• Development

• Consolidation
 Test-Teach-Test
• Pre-test (Do I need to teach this?)
– Eliciting – “Who knows this?”
– “Mini-Task”
– How well do they know this (comparison)?
• Teach
(Method not specified)
• Post-Test (assess Learners & Lesson)
– Did they learn – Do I need to re-teach?
 ARC (J. Scrivener)

• Authentic use
(e.g., a communicative activity)

• Restricted use
(e.g., Drills, guided writing, elicited dialogue)

• Clarification & focus

(e.g., Explaining grammar, giving examples,
analyzing errors)
mix the order
 ESA (J. Harmer)

• Engage
teachers try to arouse the students’ interest

• Study
students focus on language / construction

• Activate
students use language as freely and as
communicatively as they can
mix the order
 OHE (M. Lewis)

• Observe
(read or listen to language) which will then
provoke them to

• Hypothesize
about how the language works before going
on to

• Experiment
on the basis of that hypothesis
 I-I-I (McCarthy & Carter)

• Illustration
examining real data in specific contexts
• Interaction
consciousness-raising activities designed to
focus on the inter-personal use of language
and the negotiation of meaning
• Induction
encouraging students to notice the different
functions of the lexio-grammatical features
 Deep-end Strategy (K. Johnson)

• Turn PPP, etc on its head

– Encouraging the students into
immediate production
– Followed by instruction (as needed)
• The extreme --
Set a task and
ask students to
perform.
 Other Elements to consider
• Warmer • Homework
• Review last Assignment
class • Review this
• Elicitation class
• Check • Preview next
Homework class
• Peer-Coaching • Fillers
• Extension • Wind-down
One Lesson Pattern (Blend)
 Classroom Tools
• Visual Aids
(more than powerpoint)
– visual impact
– helpful
– replace words
– fun
– show students you
understand their difficulties
• Multimedia & Audio Aids
 Instructional Techniques
• Consciousness-Raising
– Activities
• Teacher (or Learner) -driven
– Drawing awareness to
– Language properties
– for FUTURE noticing
• Noticing
– Where “input” may become
“intake”
 Features of a Lesson Plan
• Aims • Materials needed
• Timing – Book/handouts
– Visuals/realia
• Stages (Phases) – Audio/multimedia
• Motivations • Classroom setting
• Teacher does • Number of learners
• Learners do • Anticipated
– Problems
• Assumptions
– Outcomes
• Classroom Setting
 Other Considerations
• Learner Focus
– not just “teaching steps”
• Interactions
– T-Ss, S-S, Ss-Ss(4s)…
• Recent Work
• Share aims and usefulness (and
steps? with the learners?
• Instructional Scripts
Lesson Plan Features (TKT)

TKT [book] (2005)

Lesson Planning Template
Hope this Helps!

Robert J. Dickey
Keimyung University
Daegu, S. Korea
rjdickey@content-english.org