Task-based learning focuses on the use of authentic language through meaningful tasks such as visiting the doctor or a telephone call. This method encourages meaningful communication and is student-centred.
Students are encouraged to use language creatively and spontaneously through tasks and problem solving
The conveyance of some sort of meaning is central to this method
TBLT is student-centered
Assessment is primarily based on task outcome
Students focus on a relationship that is comparable to real world activities
focus on Meaning
way meanings are comprehended
Framework
Tasks are a feature of everyday life in the personal, public, educational or occupational domains. Task accomplishment by an individual involves the strategic activation of specific competences in order to carry out a set of purposeful actions in a particular domain with a clearly defined goal and a specific outcome.
types of tasks
creative
skills based
problem solving
routine transactions
, interpreting a role in a play, taking part in a discussion, giving a presentation, planning a course of action, reading and replying to (an e-mail) message, etc
Task
Pedagogic task
‘real-life’, ‘target’ or ‘rehearsal’ tasks
communicative task is on successful task completion
There is no acquisition of new grammar or vocabulary features
Everything is left to the teacher
Not all students are or will be motivated by TBLT
Students typically translate and use a lot of their L1 rather than the target language in completing the tasks.
Inside the classroom. Communicative pedagogic tasks aim to actively involve learners in meaningful communication, are relevant (here and now in the formal learning context), are challenging but feasible (with task manipulation where appropriate), and have identifiable (and possibly less immediately evident) outcomes.
These ‘real-life’, ‘target’ or ‘rehearsal’ tasks are chosen on the basis of learners’ needs outside the classroom, whether in the personal and public domains, or related to more specific occupational or educational needs.