ANTOLOGÍA Nº 1-2

DISEÑO CURRICULAR NACIONAL:

ASPECTOS ESPECÍFICOS DE INGLES
 ANTOLOGIAS PRIMERA
TASK-BASED LEARNING (TBL) SESION

Task-based learning:

Jacky Murphy1

The approach called task based learning is the logical outcome of theories of second language
learning associated with the communicative approach. They all underline that there are three
essential conditions for second and foreign language learning:

(1) Learners need regular exposure to the target language in meaningful social
(communicative) contexts. They need a lot of comprehensible language input.

(2) Learners need frequent opportunity for the active use of the target language in
communicative situations. They must learn to produce comprehensible output.

(3) Learners need a strong motivation for language learning for else they will not make the
long and sustained efforts needed for coming to grips with the lexical and grammatical system
of the target language.

Compared to these three essential conditions instruction (explicit rule teaching) is not
essential. It may help, however, if the instruction is well timed in form and content to help a
learner take the next step in her/his language acquisition process.

The tacit model of task based learning are second language acquisition processes supported
by instruction in a target language environment. In such an environment learners are constantly
faced with many practical tasks which they must learn to cope with for ’survival purposes’. That
is a strong learning motivation and forces them to focus attention on linguistic forms and their
social (communicative) function (meaning).

In FLT, which takes place in a first language cultural and linguistic environment and under
extreme time limits, there are no equivalent learning conditions. The challenge is, therefore, to
find near equivalents to real world tasks and to provide learners with the kind of linguistic
input and learning objects as well as feed back which put them in a position to (a) create their
own hypotheses on the meaning and function of the lexico-grammatical forms of the target
language, and (b) critically check if their hypotheses are correct or need to be amended. The
magical trick is to manoeuvre learners into a situation in which they feel like saying something
and in which what they want to say requires the use of exactly those lexico-grammatical forms
which the syllabus prescribes they should learn to use. In classrooms that creates many
practical problems and has, in reality, led to comprise solutions which combine a basically form
focused grading of course content with its methodological presentation and practice in real or
simulated task based activities. (In German this method is called handlungsorientiertes Lernen).

TBL has also boosted a call for promoting learning strategies because learning how to learn is
more important from that perspective than a docile memorizing of long lists of vocabulary, rules
of grammar and tables with declensions and conjugations. This comes across vividly if we look
at the table of contents of the latest generation of FLT textbooks which feature a separate
column on ‘learning strategies’ in addition to the three traditional columns (structures, themes,
speech intentions).

Compared to traditional form oriented approaches which divide the learning process into the
three phases presentation – practice – production (the PPP-Model), in TBL the role of the
teacher changes from that of an instructor and prosecutor of errors to that of a supporter and
inventor of tasks which her/his learners enjoy doing. It proved useful to divide the learning
process in TBL in three phases: The pre-task phase, the the doing of the task, and the post-
task phase. Taken together they form a task cycle. The major role (task) of the teacher
changes from phase to phase. It also has a different focus in work with beginners than in work
with advanced students.

In a first language environment, which is typical of FLT, the major task of the teacher in the pre-
task phase is to find language materials (texts, videos, tapes, etc.) which are (a) from a lexico-
grammatical perspective not too difficult to understand, and (b) from a content and general
knowledge of the world perspective that considers the learners’ age and pre-knowledge
interesting enough to motivate the learners to work with the materials. This must (c) be
accompanied by an attractive and clearly phrased task which motivates learners to get involved
with it. In a learner oriented approach like TBL the learners are welcome, of course, to
themselves make suggestions for objects and aims of tasks. Ideally tasks should involve
learners holistically (Lernen mit Kopf, Herz und Hand).

Tasks motivate and promote language learning processes if they afford learners with a feeling
of success when doing them. For teachers it is essential, therefore, to make sure that their
learners have the skills and strategies necessary for successfully dealing with a given task.
This frequently requires that teachers first give the learners examples of how other people
competently deal with the given task type; alternatively they can themselves demonstrate in
class, setting a practical example, strategies for coming to grips with the type of problem
immanent to the given task.

The pre-task phase frequently ends with the teacher and learners deciding if the task is best
tackled in groups or partner work or with everyone working for herself/himself. Also a time limit
should be set for the work to be done in the upcoming task phase.
In the actual task phase the teacher steps back and lets the learners autonomously do their
work. Her/his role now is that of a monitor and advisor. S/he acts mainly when asked for
support, and the support should be of the type which shows learners how to strategically tackle
the given problem rather than giving them final answers which tend to suppress their active
involvement with the linguistic and non-linguistics aspects of the task. S/he should intervene,
however, if some learners fail to actively work on their task.

In the task phase the learners must use and further develop their ability to come to grips with a
given task. They must learn to autonomously plan and execute suitable task solving strategies.
To give their work a sense of direction the aim must be to finally report the results of their
activities to the other learners and to share their knowledge with them. The teacher’s task is to
make sure that everyone works on her/his task to the best of their abilities.

The post task phase is both content oriented and form focused and has important
psychological and linguistic functions. It is content and meaning oriented because it gives
learners the opportunity to report what they found out on the given topic. They discuss it with
other learners. That honours the content of the work done by them, which is important in
psychological perspective. In this phase formal linguistic errors are of minor interest. The report
and its discussion will generate lexico-grammatical questions, however, which give reason to
also turn to formal aspects of language.

The results of the joint discussion of content and form oriented issues must find their way in a
final review and clean copy of the issues discussed, and that must aim to be linguistically
correct. That again puts the focus on form oriented aspects of voicing and writing down speech
intentions. The clean copy can also serve for later revisions of the work done.
Methodology: task-based learning

Author: Scott Thornbury

Level: starter/beginner, advanced, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-
intermediate Type: reference material

An article discussing task-based learning consciousness-raising activities.

I've been looking into TBL recently trying to get the methodology straight before I try it in class.
It seems to me that the consciousness / awareness /-raising activities are one of the essential
elements of the model (after all that's what makes it a lesson and helps the students to
improve). This stage, however, is normally mentioned just in passing without much explanation.
Can you please explain what exactly a CR activity is in this situation and how it is different from
normal feedback i.e. is it something planned and prepared in advance or is it a direct
/spontaneous/ response to spotted mistakes.
Dani Zheleva

• Answer by Scott Thornbury

• Answer by Phillip Kerr

Answer 1: Scott Thornbury

The term consciousness-raising (CR) is used to describe how the attention of learners is
deliberately directed at features of the language, e.g. grammar or lexis. It’s what used to be
called presentation. But the term consciousness-raising is now preferred in some quarters,
since it credits the learners with some active role in the process of learning, whereas
presentation does not. Also, whereas presentation assumed some form of subsequent practice
and production (PPP), CR may occur solely at the level of understanding.

How does this fit into Task Based Learning? If TBL were simply “learning by doing” – as it was
first conceived – there’s always the risk that some learners wouldn’t learn much because they
would be so caught up in the “doing” that they wouldn’t notice features of the language being
used, or, worse, they would take linguistic short cuts, rely on words rather than grammar etc – in
short they would take the first steps down the slippery slope of fossilization.

Therefore, proponents of TBL Mark 2 recommend that the task sequence include some directed
attention on features of the language. That is, CR. Purists argue that this should emerge out of
the task and in response to the learners’ needs and interests. This is what was once known as a
test-teach-test instructional cycle. In this sense the “teaching” stage cannot really be planned –
although an experienced teacher might well be able to predict it. One way of engineering this
stage is: once the students have attempted the task – let’s say it’s a ranking task – play them a
tape of more proficient speakers doing the same task, and let them follow the transcript.
Language features can be noted (with or without overt intervention on the part of the teacher),
and then appropriated for use in a subsequent re-run of the task, perhaps with different
partners.

Of course, these stages could be reversed, so that the learners first hear the proficient
speakers, note features of the language they use, and then seek to incorporate these features
in their own performance. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it’s hardly TBL in the strict sense
of the term. Other ways of engineering a post-task CR stage might be:

1. Record the learners doing the task and then they transcribe all or some of the
recording. This often draws attention to features of their output that they might like to
modify. They can “correct” the transcript, and then have an other go at the task.
2. The learners perform a task and then write a summary of what they did. The chance to
reflect on their performance may throw up language issues that are then available for
discussion – with each other and with the teacher.
3. Learners perform the task in pairs, while a third student observes and makes notes.
These notes can be framed like this: Did you say…? Did you mean…? These questions
can then be discussed post-task. The students then change roles and repeat the task.
4. Students work in small groups and improvise a conversation, which is recorded,
utterance-by-utterance. This is then played back to the class, the teacher pausing the
tape strategically, in order to elicit comments from the class. The conversation can also
be transcribed on to the board. (This is based on the standard Community Language
Learning activity).
5. Learners form groups of three. One learner talks to another for, say, two minutes about
a pre-selected topic. The “listener” then re-tells the “speaker” as much as he or she can
remember, without commenting, interpreting, evaluating, etc. The “observer” then asks
questions to elicit their individual responses to the interaction, and makes comments
about anything deemed noteworthy. Out of this retrospection language issues may
emerge. Then the learners switch roles and a new round begins. (This is based on a
technique called Non-directive listening).

Answer 2: Phillip Kerr

Task-based learning (TBL) means different things to different people – to such an extent that it
normal for writers on the subject to begin their discussion by a definition of what they mean.
Rod Ellis’s recent study (see the suggested reading list below) provides a long and
comprehensive description of the various issues and an account of the disagreements as to
how we should implement a task-based approach in the classroom. However, most variants of
TBL have a number of things in common:
 • They are more interested in the processes of language learning than in the products.
Learning a language is seen as being centrally concerned with learning activities, rather
than lists of language items to be learnt.
• They recognize that learning is an unpredictable process and that we cannot assume
that students will learn what we teach them. For this reason, they tend to reject any
syllabus that is based on lists of grammatical items.
• They see the main business of acquiring a language as happening while learners are
attempting to communicate and deal with meanings.

Consciousness-raising learning

Consciousness-raising (CR) activities draw students’ attention to language forms (grammatical

and lexical patterns, for example) and, as such, are not necessarily oriented towards
communication or meaning. CR activities are classroom activities (within a task-based
approach) that draw students’ attentions to the forms of language. There is now a lot of
research that suggests that such activities help students to acquire more language more
efficiently, but not long ago, many people would have disagreed with you that CR activities were
an essential part of a task-based approach. This may explain why, in some of the literature,
references to CR activities is made only in passing – or not at all.

What exactly is a CR activity? The best way to answer the question is by considering, first of all,
what a CR activity is for. Although task-based models reject traditional building-block
approaches to language learning (where one structure is taught after another in a
predetermined order), they generally accept that students can only benefit from having their
attention drawn to features of the language that they might otherwise not notice. This is not to
say that students will learn or acquire bits of language to which their attention has been drawn
in this way, but the potential for learning is increased if their conscious awareness of language
features is raised.

Many traditional classroom procedures can act as CR activities, but the teacher’s objectives will
be different in a task-based framework. A simple drill, for example, can be an effective way of
raising students’ awareness of a particular grammatical pattern. In more traditional approaches,
a teacher will continue drilling until she feels that students have ‘learnt’ the language. In a task-
based framework, on the other hand, the teacher recognizes that no amount of drilling can ever
guarantee that the students will actually learn (i.e. acquire) a particular piece of language. They
may be able to reproduce it accurately for a short while, but tomorrow (or next week) is another
matter entirely! So a task-based teacher will only continue drilling up to the point where she
feels that awareness has been sufficiently raised.

This shift in perspective means that CR activities will take place towards the end of the task
cycle. CR activities could be done before a communicative task, but the danger here is that the
communicative task will become an opportunity for freer practice of a particular language item.
In TBL, it is vital that the tasks are centrally concerned with meaning (not particular language
items). Once a communicative task has been carried out, a teacher can focus on bits of
language without this effecting the task itself.

There will obviously be a link between the language that is focused on in CR activities and the
language that is needed for the earlier task. We can often predict what sort of language will
cause the students problems during a task and we can prepare, in advance, CR activities that
will focus on it. However, to some extent, we also need to be ready to respond more
spontaneously, because there will always be bits of language that we want to focus on that we
haven’t been able to predict. These won’t necessarily be mistakes, either. It may be the case
that students have used language perfectly accurately, but in a limited way. CR activities can
provide opportunities for students to extend their range, just as much as they can be used to
draw attention to error.

Practical suggestions

The simplest way of raising awareness is by providing feedback (e.g. “you said X, but you
should have said Y”). Depending on how it is done, there is nothing wrong with this, but (1) it
can be perceived negatively, (2) does not particularly involve the students in the learning
process, and (3) tends to become rather repetitive. Jane and Dave Willis, two of the most well-
known names in TBL, suggest a much richer menu of CR activities to add to our repertoire.
They include the following ideas in their list:

1. Ask students to search a set of data (this could be a text or examples you have selected
yourself) to identify a particular pattern.
2. Ask students to group a set of language examples according to similarities or
differences.
3. Give students a generalization about language (a language ‘rule’) and ask them to
check it against a set of data.
4. Ask students to find similarities or differences between English language patterns and
patterns in their own language.
5. Ask students to recall and reconstruct elements of a text that will draw their attention to
significant language features.