The Educational End: how Learning Languages Should Prepare for the Future

Abstract

In a 21st century dominated by VUCA environments (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) and in an increasingly diverse and global society, education should rethink how to meet the real needs of the citizens of the present and the future. Educational methods for language instruction have received assiduous attention from researchers, that may have overlooked educational ends, and that is to serve real life purposes. Learning a language is more than just acquiring knowledge about a new linguistic norm and its rules: it is above all, a vehicle for communication, an open channel to the world and a new scope with which new cultures are explored and different views and perspectives are discovered and shared. This paper aims at exploring task-based learning approach for language instruction and presenting a study on the benefits attributed to this approach, relating them to existing trends in current educational innovation. In doing so, a comparison between meaning-based learning and instruction-based learning is needed. Here we will review some of the most relevant theories and approaches to better understand task-based learning and explore its potential.