Module 4

Task-based Language Learning

This module is divided into the following sections:

Authors of this module 

4.0  Introduction
4.0.1  Overview
4.0.2  Working with colleagues
4.0.3  Designing your own task-based materials
4.0.4  Timing
4.0.5  Assessment
	4.0.6  Reading
4.0.7 The activity cycles
	4.0.8  Outcomes

4.1  Why task-based language learning? 
	4.1.1  Outcome
	4.1.2  Conditions for language acquisition
	4.1.3  Summary
	4.1.4  Belief check
	4.1.5  Readings
	4.1.6  References
	4.1.7  Assessment task
	4.1.8  Commentaries
	4.1.9  Transcripts of interviews

4.2  What counts as a task? 
4.2.1  Outcomes
4.2.2  Defining tasks 
4.2.3  Language in tasks 
4.2.4  Task types 
4.2.5  Summary
4.2.6  Belief check 
4.2.7  Readings 
4.2.8  References
4.2.9  Assessment task 
4.2.10  Commentaries
4.2.11  Transcript of interview

4.3	  Effective task design and use 
4.3.1  Outcomes
4.3.2  Features of successful tasks 
4.3.3  Speaking tasks 
4.3.4  Listening tasks 
4.3.5  Summary
4.3.6  Belief check 
4.3.7  Readings
4.3.8  References
4.3.9  Assessment task 
4.3.10  Commentaries

4.4  The task-based lesson framework 
	4.4.1  Outcomes 
	4.4.2  The sequence of stages in a task-based lesson
4.4.3  Teacher and learner roles in task-based lessons
4.4.4  The pre-task stage
4.4.5  The planning and report stages
4.4.6  The language focus stage
4.4.7  Summary
4.4.8  Belief check
4.4.9  Readings
4.4.10  References 
	4.4.11  Assessment task 
4.4.12  Commentaries
4.4.13  Transcripts

4.5  Text-based tasks
4.5.1 	Preliminary prediction task
4.5.2 	Outcome
4.5.3 	Reading tasks
4.5.4 	Listening tasks
4.5.5 	Choosing texts and grading tasks 
4.5.6	Writing in task-based lessons 
	4.5.7 	Summary
4.5.8 	Readings 
4.5.9   References 
4.5.10	Assessment task
4.5.11	Commentaries

4.6  Changing to TBL 
4.6.1  	 Outcomes
4.6.2  	 TBL and your course
4.6.3  	 Aims, objectives, outcomes and assessment in TBL
4.6.4  	 Preparing for change and troubleshooting
4.6.5  	 Feedback and evaluation
4.6.6  	 Summary and belief check
4.6.7  	 Readings
4.6.8	 References
4.6.9	 Assessment task
4.6.10	 Commentaries

Authors of this module

This Module was written by Corony Edwards, based on the book A Framework for Task-based Learning by Jane Willis. The material from the book has been summarized and re-organized for interactive online or CD-ROM study, with new examples and sections added, and accompanied by video clips of an interview with Jane in which she talks about various aspects of task-based learning (TBL).

Corony Edwards teaches in the Centre for English Language Studies at the University of Birmingham. A trained EFL teacher and trainer since 1986, she has run courses and workshops for language teachers in many countries, including Japan, Korea, Argentina, Hungary and Hong Kong. She is currently a course tutor and materials writer for a distance learning MA in TEFL, and is the Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Humanities. Her research interests are language teacher learning and the impact of teacher development programmes. She has published a number of articles on different aspects of language teacher preparation and development.
Contact: c.j.edwards@bham.ac.uk

Jane Willis has worked as a language teacher and trainer in Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. After a spell of freelance writing, she joined Aston University in the UK where she still works on a part-time basis teaching on their Masters in TESOL/TESP Distance Learning programmes. She travels widely, enjoys learning languages and is particularly interested in research into lexical chunks. Her books include Teaching English through English (Longman) and A Framework for Task-Based Learning (Longman), both of which won the English Speaking Union Duke of Edinburgh award; Challenge and Change in Language Teaching, jointly edited with her husband, Dave Willis, (Heinemann) and, more recently, co-authored with Mary Slattery, English For Primary Teachers: A handbook of activities and classroom language (OUP) which won two out of the three major ELT prizes in 2002. 
Contact: j.r.willis@aston.ac.uk 

4.0  Introduction

4.0.1  Overview
This module introduces you to a task-based approach to language teaching. The rationale for task-based learning (TBL) is presented by relating the approach to current thinking on second language acquisition processes, and explaining how TBL claims to fulfil essential conditions for the development of communicative competence in a way that some traditional approaches fail to do. Effective speaking and text-based task design issues will be explored. A lesson framework for a task-based approach will be described, based on the work of Jane Willis, including the incorporation of language focus work using a consciousness-raising approach. Although task-based approaches exist in a number of manifestations, the framework proposed by Jane Willis is probably described with the most clarity and detail, so it is this version of the approach which we will adopt here. 
	While the example materials and lesson plans are from English as a foreign language classes, they are not designed with only English in mind, and are adaptable to any modern language.

4.0.2  Working with colleagues
As you work through the module, you will be invited to complete a number of teacher development tasks, all on the topic of TBL. The tasks you are asked to do are all examples of task types that you could use (with appropriate modifications) with language students.  For this reason, I recommend that you do at least some of these tasks with a colleague, if at all possible. That way you will get a much better feel for tasks from a learner’s perspective. You will also be able to see sample material designed for students to illustrate ideas and to provide the data or material for some of the teacher tasks.

4.0.3  Designing your own task-based materials
You will be encouraged to design some task-based materials and lessons to use with your own students as a practical outcome to the module and to present them, together with commentaries, for assessment purposes if applicable. Specific outcomes are given at the beginning of each activity cycle.

4.0.4  Timing
The unit is divided into six activity cycles designed to take, on average, two hours each. Activity cycles 2 to 5 are the core units which you need to complete for a good practical understanding of TBL. Activity cycle 1 revisits some of the materials covered in Module 2 (‘How students learn languages’), so you may prefer to treat this as optional, or a quick revision of the key issues. Activity cycle 6 is also optional, but useful if you want to introduce TBL and feel you may anticipate resistance from students, colleagues, directors of studies or others, or wonder how TBL can fit with an existing set book or syllabus. The two optional activity cycles should each take under an hour, depending on how long you spend on the suggested ‘action points’ and optional reading. Unless you are already familiar with TBL, it is probably best to work through the activities in order.
	In addition, you may spend a further twelve hours or so designing the task-based materials, planning a series of task-based lessons etc, and writing short commentaries on these, plus half an hour for the set reading. If you choose to follow up the optional reading suggestions, you will spend a further hour or two per activity cycle on reading.
	Because this module considers an entire approach to language teaching, it covers a much broader range of material than other DELPHI modules, and will almost certainly take longer to complete than a typical module. However, there are many areas of overlap between parts of this module and others – for example, the section on text-based tasks has much in common with Modules 6 and 7, on developing reading and working with written texts. If you have already completed other related modules, your work on this module will be much easier. Conversely, if you do this module in advance of other related modules, you will be doing useful preparation for later study.

4.0.5 Assessment
Material can be presented for assessment in the form of a two-part materials file (template provided), part I comprising written outcomes of activities such as a task definition, commentaries on tasks and lesson plans, and part II comprising a set of teaching materials, including lesson plans, teacher and student instructions, classroom handouts and worksheets, audio and / or video tape recordings, visual aids and lists of other teaching aids required. The commentaries in part I should relate directly to the materials in part II and should make appropriate reference to them. The materials in part II should illustrate the commentaries in part I, and should also be of real use, ie genuinely planned to use in your classes. If you can try out the materials before completing the file then brief evaluations of these will strengthen the accompanying commentaries.
	Part I should be prefaced by a table listing the learning outcomes (see 4.0.8) and a reference to each of the sections of the file that help to fulfil the particular outcome. To make this easier, it is recommended that you adopt a numbering system and number each item in the file. 
Specific instructions on preparing the materials are given in each activity.
A template for the materials file is available for you to use if you wish. Save this on your computer and type directly into it to create Part I of the file. You will need to do some editing on the title page and contents page (eg  adding correct page numbers) before you print it out.

4.0.6 Reading
The set reading for this module is: 
‘Task-based instruction’ by Peter Skehan, in Language Teaching 36 (2003), 1–14. You can probably access this online through your institution’s e-journals facility.
Health warning! This is a very comprehensive review article and includes a substantial section on research into tasks. If this is not your cup of tea, you could try reading the first part (pages 1–3) that gives some historical background and discusses the notion of task, and then skip the section on research and go straight to page 9 and the sections on ‘tasks and pedagogy’ and ‘critiques of tasks’.  If even this is too much, an alternative, much shorter overview can be found in:
‘Task-based language learning’ by Dave Willis and Jane Willis in The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, ed R Carter and D Nunan, pp 173–79, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,  2001. 
It will be suggested that you complete the set reading towards the end of the module. 
	I also strongly recommend chapter 6, ‘A flexible framework for task-based learning’, and chapter 7, ‘Consciousness-raising activities in the language classroom’, in Challenge and Change in Language Teaching, eds. J Willis and D Willis, Macmillan Heinemann, Oxford, 1996. These give an accessible description of TBL and a user-friendly guide to consciousness-raising approaches to language focus work respectively.
	If you are seriously interested in adopting task-based learning, I strongly recommend that you invest in a copy of A Framework for Task-based Learning by J Willis, Longman, London, 1996. This is a highly readable and practical book full of ideas for language teachers, and as the main inspiration for this module, you will find frequent reference to it in these materials.
	You will also find within each activity cycle a number of suggestions for further readings from additional sources, and references to other works. These are listed in their entirety in the list of References.

4.0.7  The activity cycles

4.1	Why task-based language learning (TBL)? (OPTIONAL) Revises some key issues from Module 2 (‘How students learn languages’) and introduces TBL as an approach that can fulfil essential conditions for second language acquisition (SLA). Asks you to reflect on your own beliefs about the essential conditions for SLA and the extent to which current methods achieve these. 
4.2	What counts as a task? (CORE) Explores definitions of tasks for pedagogic purposes and presents a classification of task types as the basis for task design. Asks you to consider what the term ‘task’ means to you in the context of a language classroom, and to consider modifying your personal definition in the light of new information. 
4.3	Effective task design and use (CORE) Serves as an introduction to, or revision of, some of the issues covered in the units on reading, writing, speaking and listening. Identifies the features of successful language classroom tasks and the materials needed to support them. Asks you to reflect on / research into what makes your classroom activities effective and to summarize these ideas into a set of task-design principles appropriate for your context, which you can then apply to the design of speaking and listening tasks. 
4.4	The task-based lesson framework (CORE) Introduces the stages of a task-based lesson including a consideration of the roles of the teacher and learners at each stage. Discusses the final stage in the task-based lesson with a particular emphasis on a consciousness-raising approach to language work. (This relates to material covered in Module 3).
4.5	Text-based tasks (CORE) Presents ways of planning task-based lessons around texts, and considers how a process approach to writing relates to TBL. Asks you to reflect on / research into traditional approaches to teaching ‘the four skills’ and to compare these with skills work within a task-based approach. (This relates to material covered in Modules 7, 8 and 9). 
4.6	Changing to TBL (OPTIONAL) This short concluding unit suggests ways in which a task-based approach might fit with your own language syllabus. It also asks you to consider how you could introduce TBL while taking into account the expectations of your students and other stakeholders, and notes how feedback and evaluation can play an important role in ensuring success. (Part of this will relate to issues covered in DELPHI Module 1). 

4.0.8  Outcomes
If you complete all of this module, you should be able to do all of the things listed below. However, there are just four key objectives which are shown here in bold.

After completing the four core Activity cycles in the module (numbers 2– 5), you will be able to:
1.	understand what is meant by ‘task’ for language teaching purposes (Activity cycle 2);
2.	describe a range different task types (Activity cycle 2);
3.	describe the features of effective tasks, both in general terms and with specific reference to your own teaching situation (Activity cycle 3);
4.	design effective speaking, listening, writing and reading tasks for your own students (Activity cycles 3 and 5);
5.	describe a task-based lesson framework and explain the function and rationale of each stage of a task-based lesson, including an account of the roles of the teacher and learners during each stage (Activity cycles 4 and 5);
6.	plan lessons based on a TBL framework for your own students (Activity cycle 4);
7.	explain what is meant by ‘consciousness-raising’ (Activity cycle 4);
8.	design consciousness-raising and language practice activities appropriate for your own students (Activity cycle 4).

If you also complete optional Activity cycle 1, you will be able to:
9.	specify the conditions that are essential and desirable for successful learning of an additional language (Activity cycle 1);
10.	explain how a task-based approach might fulfil these conditions (Activity cycles 1 and 4).

If you also complete optional activity cycle 6, you will be able to:
11.	demonstrate how task-based lessons can fit into a programme or syllabus  (Activity cycle 6).
12.	make a case to present to learners and other stakeholders to explain and justify your use of TBL in your classes (Activity cycle 6);