Task-based learning (TBL) is typically a group or pair activity where the target language is used in roleplay type of ‘real-life’ situations to achieve some communicative purpose.
N.B. Click the little triangle in the menu to access the two sample articles how to use TBL in everyday situations and in teaching grammar.
TBL is a simple but marvellous way to introduce situations where the students are in ‘real-life’ roles, the aim being a rehearsal for the same actual situation later on in their lives. Still, we should not rush into a TBL task just like that since the TBL task has to be based on things already learnt in class. We can simplify the whole process as follows: 1 Careful planning, 2 Pre-task, 3 Main task and 4 Feedback session
1 Careful planning: The success of the task is based on the teacher being able to foresee where the problems may emerge:
- a) explain to the students what they will be doing and why you think this kind of practice is important;, even in our mother tongue once you get them to agree they are more willing to try it out, spend enough time on the preparatory work, the pre-task.
- b) many students feel shy about talking to others in a foreign language, which is perfectly natural, so encourage them, tell them not to worry about mistakes (everybody makes them anyway, even in our mother tongue)
- c) differentation is also vital: the weaker students have to be given prompts (vocabulary and phrases on paper or on the screen) to be used, they will learn at least some of the phrases by repeating them during the practice, most importantly they will have the guts to use the target language
- d) the advanced students should be encouraged to use utterances of their own as well as help and challenge the others to talk
- e) get hold of ‘authentic materials‘ (airport: electronic tickets – boarding passes, restaurant: a real menu – a white towel for the waiters etc.) to direct the focus off from the pressure of making mistakes and to create a more ‘authentic’ situation
2 Pre-task: Study the content, chapter, vocabulary or grammatical point in a normal way in class. Use google to find free videos on various situations in the internet. Teachers often stop at this point and the students do not get a chance to try out what they have learnt.
3 Main task: In its simpliest form once the pre-work has been done the idea is taken one step further in a roleplay where the students can use and develop their fluency. The teachers, in their CLT role, just have to organize and facilitate the oral learning situation.
4 Feedback session: The students give feedback to the teacher and the teacher gives general constructive feedback to the whole class. The teacher can ‘secretly’ pay attention to the level of fluency of the students while the acting is on. However, if there is any kind of assessment going on the students should know about it. I would recommend self-assessment.
In this article I am introducing two most common TBL task types that I have been using over the years: 1 Coping with everyday situations or 2 Using a particular grammatical structure in these situations. I am by-passing the extra theory and jargon on purpose in this context.
SITUATION-BASED or GRAMMAR-BASED TASKS
The most typical TBL tasks are either mimicking real-life situations such as ‘at the zoo’, ‘in hospital’ , ‘at the police station’ , ‘at a hotel’.
I hear you say ‘at the zoo’? What can you practise in that situation? Honestly, the sky is the limit: Making hundreds of questions about the life of the animals at the zoo and in nature, giving answers ‘as an expert worker at the zoo’, comparing the animals with each other using comparative forms of adjectives. TBL tasks boil down to imaginative roleplays that are as close to real life as they can ever be in schools.
At its best TBL tasks are an oral extension of a text or dialogue which was dealt with in the class.
TBL examples
After the pre-task the students are given phrases in a handout or on the screen which they can use while speaking and the advanced students can use utterances of their own. For example: At a hotel
A: Good afternoon madam/sir? How can I help you?
B: I’d like a double room for two nights with a shower, please. / We have booked a room with a bath for one night. Mr and Mrs Perks. …
A: That’s perfectly ok. We have some beautiful rooms facing the sea/the mountains/ the beach if that is ok with you.
B: Wonderful! How much is it for a night? …
OR grammar oriented tasks / situations where a some grammatical structure is practised in an ‘authentic’ situation. For example, the passive voice in the present tense to describe making food following a recipe. For example:
A: What is done first when mutton meatballs are made?
B: Well, of course the incredients are bought well in advance. The mutton is put in a bowl, half a kilo, and two eggs are mixed with the meat. Some bread crumps are added with mustard into the bowl.
A: What would you do in the following situations?
A questionnaire is given to the students and they move about in class asking a response from others. After 5 minutes they get in groups and explain others what kind of responses they got (using their notes).
Model: you see a child struggling in water >> If I saw a child struggling in water, I would run and save him. Then I would …
| you see a traffic accident | If I saw … , I would … |
| you hear an old lady scream | If I heard … , I would … |
| you forget you phone at home | If I forgot …, I would … |
| … |
OR using comparative and superlative forms of adjectives: A jury is deciding which of the three plans for a new recreational centre is the best one. (The plans were made by the students themselves in the previous lesson.)
In other words, TBL means student-centred learning, ‘learning by doing’ tasks, roleplays that help the students to cope with authentic communicative situations in the future. The aim is to increase the self-confidence and fluency of the students in speaking.
The motivational trick in TBL is to direct the focus away from language learning as such towards using the target language without the fear of making mistakes.
If the listener understands what is going on and can respond accordingly, we have a winner. This is also the way we can measure success in TBL: how well the task was completed rather than looking at the accuracy of the language. Assessment is primarily based on the task outcome (in other words, the appropriate completion of real-life tasks) rather than on the language being accurate. This makes TBL especially effective in developing target language fluency and student confidence.
Other examples of TBL tasks:
- Real-life situations such as ‘at a restaurant’, ‘at the doctor’s’, ‘at a railway station’, ‘at the airport’
- Showing a friend the sights in the home community
- Being in a job interview
- Introducing oneself at a summer camp
- Interviewing a film star: What have you been doing this week? What did you do last week? What will you do next month? etc.
As you have probably now realized nearly any material you are using in class can be turned into a TBL task after the pre-activity. However, this is not the whole story. There are certain logical steps we must take to achieve the communicative goals we have in TBL tasks.
I will give a couple of more practical and even more detailed examples of communicative task-based activities in my next article: ‘At the airport’ ‘Using comparative forms in explaining about a long holiday trip’
I am using ‘at the airport’ as an example of a TBL lesson. For many students this may be the only time in their lives someone gives them practical information on airports.
