Task-based Language Teaching Principles Research Articles

Contextualization and authenticity in TBLT: Voices from Chinese classrooms

In view of ongoing debates about the future of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in contexts of English as a foreign language (EFL), we present a detailed case study of teacher beliefs and practices regarding TBLT conducted in a secondary school in mainland China with a long history of communicative and task-based teaching approaches. We used a mixed-methods approach to gather a broad range of triangulated data, combining individual interviews, material analysis and observations coded using a novel task-focused version of the scheme ‘Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching’ (COLT). Quantitative and qualitative findings revealed positive beliefs about TBLT principles in general, reflecting strong institutional support for communicative teaching. However, there was marked variability between beliefs and practices in using tasks, especially with beginner-level learners. Most teachers demonstrated an intrinsic lack of confidence in using tasks as more than a communicative ‘add-on’ to standard form-focused teaching. We argue that this demonstrates a need for building teacher autonomy, in implementing TBLT, even in supportive settings, to support successful authentic contextualizing TBLT principles in different EFL contexts.

Benefits and Implementation Challenges of Task-Based Language Teaching in the Chinese EFL Context

With the recent high profile and frequent use of tasks in language teaching, there exists a trend in the English as foreign language (EFL) classrooms in China that the long established traditional teaching methods b ased on the presentation practice production (PPP) model are now being replaced by task based language teaching (TBLT). Much research has been done concerning the application of TBLT, but less is known about its challenges for implementing TBLT in Chinese EFL context. Based on the analysis of the existing pedagogical problems caused by the traditional English teaching methods, this paper aims to identity benefits and challenges in TBLT implementation in Chinese EFL context context. It concludes by suggesting that a contextual adaptation to TBLT in Chinese EFL setting should be made and TBLT can be best feasible and useful if a context-sensitive TBLT approach in which Chinese traditional values, examination demands, teachers’ teaching beliefs and practices interact best with the principles of TBLT.

Microevaluating Learners’ Task-specific Motivation in a Task-based Business Spanish Course

Scholars of task-based language teaching (TBLT) advocate for the identification of learners’ communicative needs to inform syllabus design, particularly in language for specific purposes contexts (e.g., Long 2015). However, little research has applied TBLT principles in designing Spanish for specific purposes curricula. Moreover, despite the relationship between learners’ task-specific motivation and task performance (e.g., Dornyei & Kormos 2000; Yanguas 2011), it is unclear how learners respond to the design of tasks derived from a needs analysis. To address this issue, this classroom-based study employed a needs analysis to derive five major exit tasks for syllabus design and measured students’ perceptions of exit tasks through microevaluations following Ellis (2011). Adult heritage and second language learners of Spanish ( N = 26), enrolled in upper-level university Business Spanish courses in two institutions, rated high levels of motivation for all tasks, but a post-hoc analysis revealed a significantly lower degree of motivation for a task involving the evaluation of a case study. Results imply that conducting a needs analysis and designing exit tasks following TBLT principles appears to be a useful tool to design engaging and relevant tasks, but learners’ level of interest and satisfaction can compromise their task-specific motivation.

Language Teaching and Task Based Approach

During recent years, some notions about tasks have been considered as the major part of analysis in different teaching approaches and teachers are being more interested in the use of task-based approach both in foreign and in second language teaching. The word 'task' refers to some special activities that are carried out in the classroom. These activities are performed by putting an emphasis on meaning. In this approach Grammatical Competence and communicative competence are extremely emphasised, that is being able to adjust with grammatical norms and being able to convey ideas. Consequently, grammatical competence in this approach is made by 'internal self-regulating processes' and it helps to convey the meaning in 'appropriate conditions'. The main goal of this article is to introduce and discuss some major principles of task-based language teaching and indicates how teachers can apply them in their curriculum.

The Effect of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Content-based Language Teaching (CBLT) on the Iranian Intermediate ESP Learners’ Reading Comprehension

The present study investigated the impact of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Content-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) on reading comprehension of the Iranian intermediate ESP learners. There were two groups of thirty participants in the current research: a control group (CBLT) and an experimental group (TBLT). They were chosen randomly from the students of Islamic Azad University majoring in accounting. The subjects were given a reading comprehension pre-test (reading section of TOEFL) in order to make them homogeneous regarding EFL reading comprehension at the outset. Then, in group A, reading comprehension was taught to the subjects based on the principles of TBLT. However, in group B, reading comprehension was taught to the students through CBLT. The researcher used independent samples t-test and paired samples t-test to analyze the collected data. The data analysis using paired samples t-test showed that teaching reading comprehension in both group was influential. The data analysis using independent samples t-test revealed that the subjects in TBLT group performed better on the reading comprehension post-test than CBLT group. It means that TBLT has been more effective than CBLT in teaching reading comprehension to Iranian ESP learners. Some justifications for this priority were discussed in the final section of the paper.

The French Digital Kitchen

This paper reports on the French Digital Kitchen, a design-based project which drew on digital sensor technology to take the principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) out of the classroom and into the real-world environment of a kitchen. The project aimed to produce a situated language learning environment where learners could learn aspects of French language and cuisine whilst performing a real-world task. The article describes the blend of TBLT, human-computer interaction (HCI) and user-centred design (UCD) principles the authors adopted in constructing and trialling the kitchen, using multiple data sources. An example of a task cycle is then presented to illustrate (by using CA analysis of transcripts) how learners have used the resources of the kitchen to accomplish the task. The authors’ findings show how the integration of the pedagogical and technological design enabled learners to notice and manipulate new vocabulary items.

The Effects of Task Characteristics on L2 Learners’ Production of Complex, Accurate, and Fluent Oral Language

One recent fruitful development in the area of second language (L2) acquisition has been Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). Consequently, L2 researchers have paid particular attention to the role that the employment of tasks plays in the development of interlanguage competence. Of particular interest have been the factors that increase the difficulty with which L2 learners perform and process pedagogical tasks. The present paper is an attempt to present a review of factors that have been found to affect learners’ task performance, along with studies that have provided empirical evidence as to how these factors increase the cognitive demands of learners’ task performance. Understanding the functioning of these task performance factors are of paramount importance to language teachers who are to follow TBLT principles since such understanding can provide them with sequencing criteria that can guide the order in which they employ tasks in their everyday teaching efforts.

Taking teacher education to task: Exploring the role of teacher education in promoting the utilization of task-based language teaching

Despite its theoretical appeal and research-based support, task-based language teaching (TBLT) continues to have a somewhat limited influence on actual second language teaching practices in many contexts. This study considers the relationship between teacher education and the broader use of TBLT. It investigates the effects of a constructivist-based curriculum course on student teachers’ disposition towards the principles of TBLT. It also addresses their utilization of the approach during their teaching practicum. Based on both quantitative and qualitative analyses, the findings suggest that the course increased the student teachers’ disposition towards TBLT, but that the positive disposition did not tend to translate into actual use or implementation during the practicum. The article argues that while teacher education programs have the potential to promote innovation in educational practices, several factors remain to be addressed, including cultural norms in education and the lack of support for student teachers.

COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: Use of Target Language and Learner Perceptions

Among the challenges many teachers face in facilitating the improvement of speaking skills are sparing sufficient time for practice to enable students to achieve fluency in speaking through internalizing the structures, and establishing a balance between fluency and accuracy. This study aimed to seek an answer to the question as to whether Computer-Mediated Communication Technologies be a solution for overcoming these problems. The study was conducted as additional practice to the foreign language lessons with the participation of 60 students. Task-based language teaching principles were taken as basis in preparation of the teaching materials in the study, in which text and voice chat applications among the Computer-Mediated Communication Technologies were used. During the applications data were collected in several ways: participants’ perspectives regarding their changing experiences and the types of tasks used were investigated through the use of open-ended questionnaires after each session; a general insight was obtained into the students’ experiences with close-ended questionnaires given at the end of the study; and the use of the target language in communications among students were determined by investigating the text communication logs. From a user-oriented perspective, the results of the study shed light on the strategies that can be used in computer-mediated communication technologies valuing the experiences and perceptions of the learners.

OPTIMAL PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENTS FOR DISTANCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Rational choices among the numerous technological options available for foreign language teaching need to be based, in part, on psycholinguistic considerations. Which technological advances help create an optimal psycholinguistic environment for language learning, and which may be innovative but relatively unhelpful? One potential source of guidance is offered by the 10 methodological principles of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT; Long, 1985, and elsewhere), each realizable by a variety of pedagogic procedures. Interest in TBLT derives from several sources, including its responsiveness to learners' precisely specified communicative needs, the potential it offers for developing functional language proficiency without sacrificing grammatical accuracy, and its attempt to harmonize the way languages are taught with what SLA research has revealed about how they are learned. TBLT's 10 methodological principles are briefly defined and motivated, and illustrations provided of how the principles can inform choices among technological options in the particular case of distance learning for the less commonly taught languages.