Task-based language education:From theory to practice

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Task-based language educationFrom theory to
practice and back again

• Kris Van den Branden
• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• kris.vandenbranden_at_arts.kuleuven.be

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TBLT on Google

• Task 275.000.000 hits
• Task-based 1.320.000 hits
• Task-based language 607.000 hits
• Task-based language teaching 311.000
• Task-based language education 320.000

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Task as a crucial concept in

• Theories of language learning
• SLA research
• The theory and practice of language education
• The assessment of language proficiency/skills
• Real life

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Defining task

• by task is meant the hundred and one things
  people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and
  in between. Tasks are the things people will
  tell you they do if you ask them and they are not
  applied linguists (Long, 1985 89)

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Target tasks and pedagogic tasks

• Pedagogic tasks as increasingly complex
  approximations of target tasks (Long, 1996 Long
  and Norris, 2000)
• Example Following street directions
• Listen to fragments of elaborated descriptions
  while tracing them on a very simple 2-D map.
• Virtual reality map task. Using video from the
  target location and audio of the target
  discourse, complete a simulation of the target
  task.
• (Long, 2007 129)

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Target tasks and pedagogic tasks

• Tasks should result in a kind of language use
  that resembles that in the outside world (Ellis,
  2003)
• Work with three other students. You are on a ship
  that is sinking. You have to swim to a nearby
  island. You have a waterproof container, but can
  only carry 20 kilos of items in it. Decide which
  of the following items you will take (Remember,
  you cant take more than 20 kilos with you)

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Target tasks and pedagogic tasks

• Tasks should give rise to a number of
  interactional and cognitive processes, believed
  to enhance language learning
• Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996 451-452)
• ... negotiation for meaning, and especially
  negotiation work that triggers interactional
  adjustments by the NS or the more competent
  interlocutor, facilitates acquisition because it
  connects input, internal learner capacities,
  particularly selective attention, and output in
  productive ways
• ---- Jigsaw tasks/Information gap tasks

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Target tasks and pedagogic tasks

• Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1995) production
  of L2 output --- collaborative speaking and
  writing tasks, group work/pair work
• Cognitive psychology (e.g. DeKeyser, 2001
  Schmidt, 1998 Robinson, 2001 Skehan, 1998
  Doughty and Williams, 1998) conscious noticing
  and analyzing L2 forms ----- input enhancement,
  focus on form, error correction, explicit
  teaching

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Methodological principles for TBLT

• 1 Use tasks, not texts, as the unit of analysis
• 2 Promote learning by doing
• 3 Elaborate input
• 4 Provide rich input
• 5 Encourage inductive learning
• 6 Focus on form
• 7 Provide negative feedback
• 8 Respect learner syllabuses/develop-mental
  processes
• 9 Promote collaborative learning
• 10 Individualize instruction
• (Doughty and Long, 2003)

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Two questions

1. To what extent can we expect these cleverly
   designed tasks to elicit the same kind of
   interactional work and cognitive processing in
   authentic classrooms?
2. To what extent do these cleverly designed tasks
   really promote the students ability to use the
   target language outside the classroom?

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Teachers working with tasks

• Language teachers are active, thinking
  decision-makers who make instructional choices by
  drawing on complex, practically-oriented,
  personalized, and context-sensitive networks of
  knowledge, thoughts and beliefs (Borg, 2003 81)

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Putting principles to work

• 3 Elaborate input
• 4 Provide rich input
• Teachers reducing task complexity, avoiding to
  confront learners with challenges, with things
  they havent fully acquired yet
• In task-supported teaching, tasks are seen not
  as a means by which learners acquire new
  knowledge or restructure their interlanguages but
  simply as a way by which learners can activate
  their existing knowledge of the L2 by developing
  fluency (Ellis, 2003 30)

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Putting principles to work

• 2 Promote learning by doing
• 8 Respect learner syllabuses/developmental
  processes
• 9 Promote cooperative/collaborative learning
• Teachers need to maintain control
• An example Radio Tika task (cf. Berben, Van den
  Branden Van Gorp, 2007)

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Radio Tika

• Create a radio news bulletin, using Dutch (main
  medium of instruction) and other languages
• 3 primary school teachers were videotaped
• Grade 6, children aged 12, multilingual classes
• Result three different activities

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Radio Tika 3 versions
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Putting principles to work

• 6 Focus on form
• 7 Provide negative feedback
• Poor integration of focus on form in meaningful
  activity
• Inconsistent feedback and error correction
  behaviour

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The same task?

• Teachers reconstruct a given task, based on
• Their cognitions on language education
• Their personal needs, skills, and teaching style
• The context in which they operate
• Their perceptions of their students
• Turning tasks into personal task intentions
  (intended tasks)

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Task motivation (Dörnyei, 2002)

• Task motivation is influenced by
• Learner characteristics
• Features of the task
• Learning environment
• Learners task-related beliefs
• Expectancy of successful task completion
  (expected task)
• Personal goal setting (intended task)

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A process-oriented model of task motivation

• Preactional stage
• - setting goals that are worthwhile to pursue
• - perceiving the task as a reasonable challenge
  (goal can be reached, gap can be bridged)
• Actional stage
• - maintaining task motivation through
  action-control processes
• Postactional stage
• - evaluating past experiences
• - determining future activities
• (Dörnyei, 2002)

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School effectiveness research
Teachers tailor their instructional practices to
their perception of the academic level of the
group of students. This refers to the concept
of didactic fit adjustment of curriculum,
learning materials, method of instruction,
effective learning time, assessment, etc. to the
ability level of the class (Dar Resh, 1986,
1994). In most classes, the content and pace of
teaching are geared to the middle level of
ability in that class. In lower classes, there is
a more limited academic focus, poor use of
instructional time and a reduced opportunity to
learn ( De Fraine et al., 2002 424)
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Overt and covert task activity

• Underneath the actual verbal exchange lies a
  particularly strong current of highly
  personalised non-verbal mental activity task
  intentions and assessments influence task
  activity, and vice versa
• Task intentions, expectations and actions are fed
  by previous experiences and beliefs
• One persons task perceptions and actions can
  have a strong impact on interlocutors task
  perceptions and actions, and on the earning
  potential of the task
• The need for classroom-based, process-oriented
  research to explore these issues
• Teachers crucial role in TBLT

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High-quality interaction

• Interactional support
• Integrated in functional tasks
• In line with students task intentions
• Linked with students current behaviour, needs
  and level
• Assigning active role to student and promoting
  active thinking
• Differentiated

• Learning is
• Situated
• Goal-directed
• Cumulative
• Constructive
• Cognitive
• Individually different
• (De Corte et al, 2003)

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Making interactional decisions

• Teacher intuition estimating effect sizes
• If learner(s) exhibit behaviour X, and my
  reaction is Y, what will be the effect on
• - the process of task performance (estimate
  based on analysis of ongoing process)
• - the product(s) coming out of task performance
  (based on comparison between task goals and
  current product)
• - language learning (based on knowledge of
  curriculum goals (target tasks) and knowledge of
  how language learning comes about)

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Training teachers

• Explicit teaching wont suffice
• A need for intensive and sustained support
• Communication and support networks
• Providing teacher aids
• Creating favourable conditions
• Promoting and supporting teachers professional
  development

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Teacher training

• Task-based as well
• Training in real operating conditions
• Alernating action and reflection
• Cf. Van den Branden, 2006

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Cycle of reflection (Korthagen, 1993)

• Classroom experience
• Reflection (detailed analysis)
• Raising essential aspects of current and previous
  classroom experiences to consciousness
• Searching for alternatives
• Trying new ideas out in new classroom experiences

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Different worlds?

• Lack of empirical research
• Task-based language assessment
• Studies of SLA/FLA in naturalistic settings
• Second language studies
• Study abroad (foreign language students)

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Integrating the two worlds

• Creating favourable conditions for real-world L2
  use in the classroom and for building
  self-confidence
• Training communication strategies
• Assignments with native speakers
• Integrated language learning, e.g.
• Vocational training
• School-based training
• Through the use of multimedia

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Conclusions

• If task-based teaching is to make the shift from
  theory to practice it will be necessary to go
  beyond the psycholinguistic rationale () and to
  address the contextual factors that ultimately
  determine what materials and procedures teachers
  choose. (Ellis, 2003 337).
• Towards a process-oriented approach to
  classroom-based research and teacher training
• Focus on people, on how they interact during task
  performance, rather than on tasks alone

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References

• Berben, M., Van den Branden, K., Van Gorp, K.
  (2007). Well see what happens. Tasks on paper
  and tasks in a multilingual classroom. In K. Van
  den Branden, K. Van Gorp M. Verhelst (Eds.),
  Tasks in Action. Task-based language education
  from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 32-67).
  Cambridge Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language
  teaching A review of research on what language
  teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language
  Teaching, 36, 81-109.
• De Corte, E., Verschaffel, L., Entwhistle, N.,
  Van Merriënboer, J. (eds.) (2003). Powerful
  learning environments Unravelling basic
  components and dimensions. Oxford Pergamon.
• De Fraine, B., J. Van Damme, P. Onghena,
  (2002). Accountability of schools and teachers
  what should be taken into account? In European
  Educational Research Journal, 1. 403-428.
• DeKeyser, R. (2001). Automaticity and
  automatization. In P. Robinson (ed.), Cognition
  and second language instruction (pp. 125-51).
  Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2002). The motivational basis of
  language learning tasks. In P. Robinson (ed.),
  Individual Differences and Instructed Language
  Learning (pp. 137-158). Amsterdam John Benjamins
  Publishing Company.
• Doughty, C., Long, M. (2003). Optimal
  psycholinguistic environments for distance
  foreign language learning. Language Learning
  Technology, 7, 50-80.
• Doughty, C., Williams, J. (1998). Focus on form
  in classroom second language acquisition.
  Cambridge Cambridge University Press.
• Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning
  and teaching. Oxford Oxford University Press.
• Korthagen, F. (1993). Het logboek als middel om
  reflectie door a.s. leraren te bevorderen. VELON
  Tijdschrift, 15, 27-34
• Long, M. (1985). A role for instruction in second
  language acquisition Task-based language
  teaching. In K. Hylstenstam M. Pienemann
  (eds.), Modelling and assessing second language
  acquisition (pp. 77-99). Clevedon Multilingual
  Matters.
• Long, M. (1996), The role of the linguistic
  environment in second language acquisition, in W.
  Ritchie T. Bhatia (eds.), Handbook of Language
  Acquisition. Vol. 2 Second Language Acquisition
  (pp. 413-468). New York Academic Press.
• Long, M. (2007). Problems in SLA. Mahwah, NJ
  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Long, M., Norris, J. (2000). Task-based
  teaching and assessment. In M. Byram (ed.),
  Encyclopedia of language teaching (pp. 597-603).
  London Routledge.

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References (continued)

• Robinson, P. (ed.) (2001). Cognition and second
  language instruction. Cambridge Cambridge
  University Press.
• Schmidt, R. (1998). The centrality of attention
  in SLA. In J. Brown (ed.), University of Hawaii
  Working Papers in ESL, 16, 1-34. Honolulu
  University of Hawaii.
• Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson
  (ed.), Cognition and second language instruction
  (pp. 3-32). Cambridge Cambridge University
  Press.
• Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to
  language learning. Oxford Oxford University
  Press.
• Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence some
  roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible
  output in its development. In S. Gass C. Madden
  (eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition (pp.
  235-256). Rowley, Mass. Newbury House.
• Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in
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  125-144.
• Van den Branden, K. (2006). Task-based language
  teaching from theory to practice. Cambridge
  Cambridge University Press.