Introducing Task-based Language Teaching Rod Ellis University of Auckland

Task-based teaching – some introductory comments

TBLT advocates 1. Nunan 2. Long 3. Skehan 4. Ellis 5. Willis 6. Norris 7. Van den Branden

What is a task? 1. A task involves a primary focus on meaning?. 2. A task has some kind of ‘gap’. 3. The participants choose the linguistic resources needed to complete the task. 4. A task has a clearly defined outcome.

An example I am going to play a number game with you. When I have finished: 1. Play the game in pairs. 2. Imagine you are writing a book of games for children and want to include this game. Write an entry in the book for this game. 3. Compare your entry with that of another student. Whose entry is better? 4. Develop a set of criteria for evaluating written entries in the book.

Some questions 1. What type of task is this? - information gap/ opinion gap - one way./ two way - open/closed 2. What language skills were involved in performing this task? 3. What kinds of ‘processing demands’ does this task place on students? 4. Are there any linguistic forms that are ‘essential’ or ‘useful’ for performing this task? 5. How could you decide if this task has worked?

Why do TBLT 1. Tasks can be easily related to students’ real-life language needs (i.e. ‘pedagogic tasks’ can be designed to reflect ‘target tasks’). 2. Tasks create contexts that facilitate second language acquisition (i.e. an L2 is best learned through communicating). 3. Tasks create opportunities for focusing on form. 4. Students are more likely to develop intrinsic motivation in a task-based approach. 5. A task-based approach enables teachers to see if students are developing the ability to communicate in an L2.

Using tasks in language teaching 1. Task-supported language teaching i.e. the syllabus is a structural one and the approach is ‘focus on forms’. Tasks (really ‘situational exercises’) are used in the final stage of a PPP methodology 2. Task-based language teaching i.e. the syllabus is task-based and the approach is ‘focus on form’. The methodology centres around students performing a series of tasks.

The methodology of task-based teaching

Two aspects of methodology 1. The organisation of task-based lessons - pre-task phase - main task phase - post-task phase 2. The participatory structure of task-based lessons - individual student activity - teacher-class activity - small group work

Options for the Pre-Task Phase The purpose of the pre-task phase is to prepare students to perform the task in ways that will promote acquisition. Three approaches: - motivational - focus on cognitive demands - focus on linguistic demands

Procedural Options for the Pre- Task Phase 1. Supporting learners in performing a task similar to the main task 2. Providing learners with a model of how the task might be performed. 3. Engaging learners in non-task activities designed to help them perform the task. 4. Providing learners with the opportunity to plan how to perform the task.

Performing a Similar Task See Prabhu (1987) - the pre-task is a task in its own right - it is performed through teacher-class interaction with the teacher using questions to guide the students to the task outcome Rationale can be found in sociocultural theory – expert-novice interaction scaffolds zones of proximal development.

Providing a Model Providing a demonstration of an ideal performance Analysing the features of an ideal text Training in the use of a strategy (e.g. learning to live with uncertainty) Effects of such task ‘priming’ need investigating (cf. Lam and Wong 2000)

Non-Task Preparation Activities These centre of reducing the cognitive or linguistic load: Activating schema relating to topic of the task (e.g. brainstorming) Pre-teaching vocabulary (e.g. Newton predicting, co-operative dictionary search, matching words and definitions)

Strategic Planning Students have access to task. Options: Unguided planning Guided planning (focus on content vs. focus on linguistic form) Time allocated (Mehnert 1998) Participatory organisation

Example of Guided Planning – Foster and Skehan 1999 Strategic planning optionsDescription 1. No planningThe students were introduced to the idea of a balloon debate, assigned roles and then asked to debate who should be sacrificed. 2. Guided planning – language focusThe students introduced to the idea of a balloon debate and shown how to use modal verbs and conditionals in the reasons a doctor might give for not being thrown out of the balloon (e.g. ‘I take care of many sick people – If you throw me out, many people might die.’ 3. Guided planning – content focusThe students were introduced the idea of a balloon debate. The teacher presents ideas that each character might use to defend his or her right to stay in the balloon and students were encouraged to add ideas of their own.

Options for the Main Task Phase Two sets of options: Task-performance options (relating to decisions taken prior to performance of the task) Process options (relating to on-line decisions taken during the performance of the task – focus on form)

The Danger of Restricted Communication L1: What? L2: Stop. L3: Dot? L4: Dot? L5: Point? L6: Dot? LL: Point, point, yeh. L1: Point? L5: Small point. L3: Dot (From Lynch 1989, p. 124; cited in Seedhouse 1999).

Task Performance Options Main options are: Performance of task with or without task pressure (Yuan and Ellis 2003) Performance of task with or without access to input data (‘borrowing’ – Prabhu) Introduction of surprise element (cf. Foster and Skehan 1997)

Theoretical rationale for focus on form To acquire the ability to use new linguistic forms communicatively, learners need the opportunity to engage in meaning-focused language use. However, such opportunity will only guarantee full acquisition of the new linguistic forms if learners also have the opportunity to attend to form while engaged in meaning-focused language use. Given that learners have a limited capacity to process the second language (L2) and have difficulty in simultaneously attending to meaning and form they will prioritize meaning over form when performing a communicative activity (VanPatten 1990). For this reason, it is necessary to find ways of drawing learners’ attention to form during a communicative activity. As Doughty (2001) notes ‘the factor that distinguishes focus-on-form from other pedagogical approaches is the requirement that focus-on-form involves learners briefly and perhaps simultaneously attending to form, meaning and use during one cognitive event’ (p. 211).

Incorporating a Focus on Form Attention to form in the context of performing a task can occur: Reactively (through negotiation of meaning or form) Pre-emptively cf. Ellis, Basturkmen and Loewen

Implicit Focus-on-Form Two principal procedures: 1. Request for clarification (i.e. Speaker A says something that Speaker B does not understand; B requests clarification allowing A opportunity to reformulate) 2. Recast (i.e. Speaker A says something that Speaker B reformulates in whole or in part)

An Example of an Implicit Focus on Form Learner: He pass his house. Teacher: He passed his house? Learner: Yeah, he passed his house. Recasts provide learners with the opportunity to ‘uptake’ the correction but they do not always make use of it.

Explicit Focus-on-Form 1. Explicit correction (e.g. ‘Not x, y’) 2. Metalingual comment (e.g. ‘Not present tense, past tense’) 3. Query (e.g. ‘Why is can used here?’) 4. Advise (e.g. ‘Remember you need to use the past tense’).

Example of Explicit Focus-on- Form Learner 1:And what did you do last weekend? Learner 2:… I tried to find a pub where you don’t see – where you don’t see many tourists. And I find one Teacher:Found. Learner 2:I found one where I spoke with two English women and we spoke about life in Canterbury or things and after I came back Teacher: Afterwards … (Seedhouse 1997)

Pica’s research Pica (2002) examined the extent to which learners and their teachers modified the interaction that arose in content-based instruction in order to attend to developmentally difficult form- meaning relationships (for example, English articles) - Pica reported very little attention to form. She commented ‘one of the most striking findings of the study was that the majority of student non-target utterances went unaddressed in any way’ (p. 9). One reason for this was that the students’ utterances, although often ungrammatical, did not require any adjustment in order to be understood. In other words, the interesting and meaningful content that comprised these lessons drew learners’ attention from the need to attend to form.

Addressing the problem Three ways: 1. Pica (2005) suggested that one way of addressing this is to develop focused tasks (especially information-gap tasks) that direct learners’ attention to form. 2. Negotiation of form – i.e. teachers didactically address form even though no communication breakdown has occurred. 3. Reviewing the linguistic problems learners experienced in the post-task phase of the lesson.

The Post-Task Phase Three main options: Repeat performance Reflection on performance of the task Attention to form

Repeat Performance Research shows that when learners repeat a task their production improves in a number of ways (e.g. complexity increases, propositions are expressed more clearly, and they become more fluent). A repeat performance can be carried out under the same conditions as the first performance (i.e. in small groups or individually) or the conditions can be changed.

Reflecting on the Task Performance Students present an oral or written report: - summarising the outcome of the task. - reflecting on and evaluating their own performance of the task. - commenting on which aspect of language use (fluency, complexity or accuracy) they gave primacy to - discussing communication problems - reporting what language they learned from the task - suggesting how they might improve their performance of the task.

Attention to Form Options include: - review of learner errors (‘proof listening’ – Lynch) - CR tasks - Production practice - Noticing activities (dictation; making a transcript)

Some Problems and their Solutions

Pedagogical problemsSolutions 1. Students lack proficiency to communicate in the L2 Devise activities that develop ability to communicate gradually. 2. Students unwilling to speak English in class. Use small group work; allow planning time; learner training 3. Students develop pidginized language system Select tasks that demand fully grammaticalized language

Educational problemsSolutions 1. Emphasis on ‘knowledge’ learning Review philosophy of education. 2. Examination system Develop new more communicative exams 3. Large classesUse small group work; develop tasks suited to large classes.

Concluding comments

Advantages of task-based teaching 1. Task-based teaching offers the opportunity for ‘natural’ learning inside the classroom. 2. It emphasizes meaning over form but can also cater for learning form. 3. It is intrinsically motivating. 4. It is compatible with a learner-centred educational philosophy. 5. It can be used alongside a more traditional approach.