One of the methods I discussed in the Language Teaching Methods post is Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT). TBLT is about using a purposeful task and asking the students to work towards that goal in the target language.
I think this is one of the effective ways in language teaching. The advantages are this is close to natural way we all learned our first language, the kids are motivated to work on this if we can also make this task interesting, and there is no language drill. The language will be acquired naturally and the grammar is acquired inductively.
As discussed in the above post (Language Teaching Methods), there are several language teaching methods. However, there seems to be primarily two major approaches. Interestingly, these are two opposing views that look at language teaching from two different directions and go in the opposite direction to each other.
One approach says "learn the language elements and use them in your communication." The second approach says, "use the language in real life and develop language skill." The obvious question is how can we use the language without learning. Let us look at how we acquired our first language. Did we "learn and use" or "use and then learn"? So, the second view makes lots of sense.
Most language programs are focused on the first approach. That might explain why most students don't learn much language even after spending several years in the language school. But, if we change our goal to help them use the language from beginning, at least the students would have acquired some basic language skill on which they can enhance their language skill.
Why task based teaching makes sense.
"Tasks are meaningful, and in doing them the students need to communicate. The task has a clear outcome so that the teachers and students know whether or not the communication is successful" - Diane Larsen-Freeman.
What is TBLT?
TBLT is about teaching a language through purposeful task with a well defined end result. The students will work on the task in the target language. During this process, they will communicate with each other and with the teacher in the target language. They will also demonstrate the process, the plan, and the actions they took, all in target language. They will use the target language for communication.
What problem does it solve?
The traditional approach teaches the language element by element and hopes (or expects) that the learners will make sense of what they learned and use it in real life communication. Unfortunately, the languages are too complex to learn in such sequential and structured manner, as Dr. Kumar said.
When the kids learn their first language, they have a motivation to communicate something to others. They will use what all they heard, understood, and internalized. The TBLT takes advantage of just that.
How do we do this?
Steven Covey's Habit 2 is Begin with end in mind. Define a task such as "make a travel plan to go to Europe" for example. Provide the students all the necessary information required to make this plan. All the directions, materials, and final product must be in the target language. As a teacher facilitate discussion and guide them to work towards the end result.
Principles behind TBLT.
- The class activities have a perceived purpose and a clear outcome.
- Teacher provides good model of the target language.
- Students receive feedback on their level of success.
- Students have input into the design and the way they carry out the task. This gives them more opportunity for interaction.
- Listen and do tasks that promote acquisition of new vocabulary and provide a good model for grammatical form. This task can enhance the learning that has taken place earlier.
Types of tasks
The following task types can be used in the class.
- Information gap task
- Opinion gap task
- Reasoning gap task
- Unfocused tasks
- Focused tasks
- Input providing tasks
- Output prompting tasks
Conclusion
Explore TBLT and experiment in the class. I am positive the students will enjoy the class, and acquire more language. This will sure enhance the efficiency of our language teaching program.
Thanks
Logu
