Task-based language teaching (TBLT): How is its implementation possible at

the school level?

Marcela Herrera-FarfánDoctorate candidateUniversity of Alberta

Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

What do you know about TBLT?

What are its main characteristics?

Group discussion

TBLT has characteristics such as:

• Learner centered

• Free practice

• Spontaneous and meaningful

communication

• Errors allowed and necessary

• Grammar focus at the end of the lesson

• Student’s reflection and thinking.

TBLT

Pre-task

Task Cycle

Post-task (Language focus)

Introduction to the topic and task

Task Planning Report

Report Practice

Comprehensible Input(Krashen (1985; Willis, 1996

Motivation(Ellis, 2008; Ortega 2009)

Output hypotheses(Swain, 1995)

Meaningful interaction (Long, 1991)

Autonomous learning(Holec, 1980)

Noticing hypotheses(Schmidt, 1990)

MultipleIntelligences(Gardner, 1983)

SocialConstructivism(Vygotsky, 1987)

Experiential Learning(Kolb, 1984)

Cognitivism(Ertmer & Newby, 1993; Jonassen, 1991)

Benefits of TBLT implementationImpact on L2 lessons

Enjoyment and active classes

Impact on students

Enhances the students’ soft skills: Autonomous learningGroup work skillsLeadershipCritical thinking

Enhances Motivation: Overcoming social barriersSense of achievementStudents’ differences are celebrated

Promotes L2 Improvement: Real and meaningful communicationLanguage acquisitionFree language usage

Impact on teachers

Development of their personality and social skills

Every student may be a star

• Each of those stars are the children themselves. Because in the end everyone can shine according to their abilities. That is – everyone can contribute with something. Although he/she is not good in English, but still can contribute with something.

• I put it like with different sources of light. So, at the end, from the light that comes from the candle, which is like the most traditional one, to these modern light bulbs like LED and all that, all shapes, which would all be the children’s ways of thinking, are fed back with each other. And below, as with those 'double checks' –all are accepted and all ideas are valid.

Every student may be a source of light

Advantages when usingTBLT in SL settings

• The target language is also spoken outside the classrooms• There is wide access to authentic materials

(bus schedules, prescriptions, magazines, receipts, tourists brochures, street signs, etc).• Students tend to be more motivated to learn

the L2.• Students tend to be forced to use the L2 in

the classroom because most classmates do not share the same L1.

Challenges implementing TBLT

• Students may prefer grammar oriented lessons. • Students’ reluctance to speak in the target

language • Time constrains. • Teachers’ poor understanding of the

approach (they learned tblt in theory). • Lack of support, and/or a fear of making

changes in classrooms that were not theirs• Task difficulty• Teaching special needs students

A teacher may be like the Peruvian Ekeko

“There are several aspects, lots of things that you –darn! – it makes you think that teaching is not my only vocation; that helping my students learn is not my only role, but that there are so many other things that are a burden to me, backpacks that they [the school administrators and/or the educational system] are putting on me, that one looks like an ‘Ekeko’ with so many roles that one has to fulfill. "

Teacher in automatic mode• “I think there is one reason why many colleagues, don’t use it [TBLT]. I mean, they

learned it like, from books, and in the end you realize that you're worrying about so many things, because you juggle with the problems, you worry about managing the class, and you worry about the kid for this…, planning, the class book, upload stuff to the system, all the issues one has to deal with, that you forget the thing of being a teacher. • So, all that juggling that you are doing, in the end,

you stay in automatic mode, and the simplest automatic mode is to have the kids sitting, reading a text and translating.

The teacher under a magnifying glass• “So, Maria Eugenia, ended up in the psychologist,

and she's on medication. She has to take her pill every day so that she can do well. But sometimes, she does not take her pill and she gets aggressive. So, one has to have the ability to – ‘Let's see, this is Maria Eugenia, she is special, so I'm not going to put myself at Maria Eugenia's level, I'm not going to argue with her’ – So, what do I do? I let her be so as to avoid a quarrel?... But the whole class is expectant about how the teacher handles this situation. If I reprimand her, if I raise my voice, or if I send her out of the class, she is going to go to the PIE, to the integration program, then, the psychologist will come – teacher, Maria Eugenia needs a special treatment – so it is a burden”.

Proposed improvements for TBLT implementationInstitutional-related improvements

Teach TBLT through TBLTPeriodical assessment of the implementation (after PDs, what?)More specialized teacher training (in TBLT – special needs students)Show both the strengths and weakness of TBLTMore support from school administratorsShift from standardized examinations to a more communicative or task-based approach to assessment and evaluationBoth teachers and students should have time to adjust to TBLT.teachers should be given the opportunity to process and reflect o

TBLT implementation related improvements

a weak version of TBLTTBLT be adapted to local contextsa link between tasks and examinations (evaluations should be task-based as well)balance between oral tasks and other types of tasks based on reading and writing

Teacher-related improvements

teachers encourage students to participate and take risks by making them feel comfortable during task completion.use of group activitiesall the actors in the education system should support each other

Gracias

Comentarios o preguntas?

References

• Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.• Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford, England:

Oxford University Press.• Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: issues and implications. London,

England: Longman. • Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London,

England: Hodder Education.• Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London,

England: Hodder Education.