Write a reflection paper on the task-based teaching by making references to the following points in two articles:
a) the ways of applicability and integration of task-based teaching into instruction in the teaching of EFL at various levels of proficiency and with students from different age groups in Turkey and in the teaching of various language skills
b) the possible advantages challenges, difficulties and obstacles in relation to the implementation of the task-based approach to young learners and the ways to cope with them
c) the impact of the implementation of the task-based approach on the rate of learner involvement and the rate and quality of learning in the EFL atmosphere
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In EFL context, the application of task- based teaching which requires students to use target language while dealing with the task may not be accomplished if the students are not motivated enough because all the students can easily switch to their mother tongue and so the main objective of the lesson cannot be accomplished. Of course, the level of proficiency also matters in this issue: the higher the level of proficiency of the students is, the easier they can use the language; the easier they can use the language through the task, the more motivated they become; and the more motivated they become, the more they engage the task and use the target language. For the lower level of students, teacher always should be alert and monitor the students when they are on task and encourage them to use target language by providing help when necessary.
ReplyDeleteAs it is stated by Carless (2002), there are some challenges in the implementation of task-based approach to young learners. In the article, these obstacles are mentioned mainly in four groups: noise and discipline, use of mother tongue, pupil involvement, and drawing and coloring. Firstly, noise and discipline issue is the concern of many young learners’ teachers. The suggestions stated by the author is that a teacher should pay attention to the characteristics of the task as well as the difficulty level of it while selecting the task, and should be clear enough while introducing and explaining it to the students. The second challenge is the use of mother tongue. In order to decrease it to minimum, teachers should be good model to their students by using the target language in interaction and negotiation of meaning. Thirdly, the degree of pupil involvement may sometimes be a problem. In order to provide equal involvement, by being flexible in time issue, teacher should circulate the different role among the students. Lastly, there should be balance between the uses of artistic elements like drawing and coloring and linguistic output. Too much emphasis on drawing which is a really interesting and engaging activity especially in young learners may hinder the use of language.
In conclusion, as long as the teachers are aware of the possible obstacles and try to decrease to the minimum, task- based approach provides more involvement than the traditional methods. Students are always active through the class. Not only they are busy with completing the task, they also are constantly in an interaction with their peers in the target language. It increases their confidence in speaking naturally and in a spontaneous way; and they become independent learners.
In the article about young learners there is an observation.It analyses four themes relevant to the task-based learning with young learners; noise/indiscipline, the use of the mother tongue, the extend of involvement and the role of colorful activities.
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at the issue of indiscipline, we see that some schools expect classrooms to be quiet and orderly, with pupils diligent execution of reading or writing exercises. In these classes the teacher is dominant and mostly speaking. The pupils only repeat the items as choral which is very boring for pupils. Teachers use this style may be because it is difficult to achieve a balance between carrying out communicative tasks and maintaining good behavior. Also having large class sizes is one of the effects of it.
In the classrooms noise is seemed to occur in three circumstances. Firstly, when students are not clear about what to do, secondly when the task is too easy or too difficult for them and thirdly, the features of task itself may provoke noise. To hinder these situations the instructions of teachers should be clear and comprehendible, the purpose of the task should be given to the students and the levels of activities should be appropriate to the pupils’ levels. Lastly the group work and pair work activities should be controlled by teachers at that time to provide less noise.
The second theme is the use of the mother tongue by pupils during tasks. In the observed classes it is frequently seen that pupil use their mother tongue. Because it is easy for them to clarify the meaning. However, the teachers should promote the use of the target language during classes. Firstly the teachers can be good language models by using the target language as far as possible. Secondly, some phrases which are frequently used in classrooms should be thought to the students as routines. Thirdly, teachers should state the expectations for language use at the outset of the activity. Fourthly, teachers need to tolerate certain amount of mother tongue dialogs. There should be great number of utterances in target language to make the task reasonably successful.
The third theme is the involvement of students to task-based learning activities. The teachers can rise the involvement using contextualizing. Also the teacher should encourage and support the students for speaking without any hesitation or fear. When grouping the teacher should be flexible to make the students feel comfortable to speak.
The fourth theme is the effect of colorful activities. This way of learning is very effective for young learners. It attracts their attention and they learn while they are enjoying. Also this activities are useful in terms of visualizing.
We know we should aim at as high a level of task involvement as possible. We should find attractive activities to catch the attentions of students to make it possible. Appropriate discussion or role play activities might provide a high level of involvement.
While teaching English as a foreign language, task-based teaching which is a different approach in teaching English becomes different at various levels of proficiency and with students from different age groups and in teaching various skills. Before all of these effects, the most important thing in this issue is the motivation because it has mainly tasks. If the students don’t like or haven’t motivation to do the task, then the teaching become meaningless.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the level of proficiency is important element here because proficiency means the knowledge that they know about the language and shows how much they master in using language. High level of proficiency gives the learners the opportunity to use the language easily while they are dealing with the task. When it comes to the low level of proficiency, the teacher should be careful about learning process. If the students have problem in using language, teacher should help them and always monitor them since they might switch to their mother tongue.
Secondly, as it is stated in the article by Carless (2002), there are some challenges for young learners, which are told under the four titles. They are noise and discipline, use of mother tongue, pupil involvement, and drawing and coloring. The suggestions for noise and discipline are paying attention to the task in terms of difficulty level while selecting it and being clear when introducing and explaining it. Use of mother tongue problem can be solved by being good model to their students by using the target language in interaction and negotiation of meaning. The degree of pupil involvement can be equaled by circulating the different role among the students. In this way each of the pupils has at least a little task and has a part in the lesson and automatically learns. Also if they are equal in the involvement, misbehaviors are prevented. As for the drawing and coloring, teacher should be careful about balancing drawing and coloring and linguistic output. Having too much drawing and coloring may hinder using language and learning it effectively, although it is very enjoyable and interesting for young learners.
To teach the various language skills, it is better than other traditional methods. In this type of learning, students are always active. Students’ being active is very important for a learning process and task-based teaching gives this opportunity for the students. The teacher should have effective management skills for applying this method; otherwise it will be a chaos for the students. Learning writing, listening, speaking and reading through tasks mean a lot of things for the students, it makes the learning meaningful.
In the article The task-based approach: some questions and suggestions by William Littlewood, first the term task is questioned and then task-based learning is analyzed.
ReplyDeleteLittlewood suggests that the term “task” has at first a negative connotation, but I’m not in the same opinion. Compared to lecturing and grammar-translation based instruction, when I first encountered the term task-based approach I thought it is better. However, I’m not sure which approach to adopt, the one that Ellis suggested (exercises and tasks), or the one that Estaire and Zanon suggested (enabling tasks and communicative tasks). At first it seems that tasks are about group works and communication, but after I read the article I think that Estaire and Zanon’s classification is more useful. We can use the term “task” for both form and meaning-focused activities.
In the article Implementing task-based learning with young learners by David Carless, four problems about task-based learning are discussed: noise and indiscipline, use of the mother tongue, pupil involvement in tasks and the role of drawing and coloring.
One of the basic dilemmas in task-based and generally communicative language learning is noise and indiscipline. We as teachers should not prevent them from speaking, but we should prevent chaos, too. Therefore we should state the purpose of the activity and be careful that the pupils don’t do off-task behaviors. Secondly, as we discussed several times in our lessons, use of mother tongue can be allowed as long as it doesn’t exceed English and it doesn’t hinder learning. I think that forcing the students to speak English might result in unwanted consequences such as error fossilization or not speaking at all. Therefore, as long as it serves our purposes, use of native language to certain extent can be tolerated. The third problem is about pupil involvement. Since classes are overcrowded in Turkish public schools, we as future teachers are likely to face this issue. Therefore, we need to be competent in classroom management and monitor every student as possible. The fourth problem is using drawing and coloring in the language classroom. I think it should go ahead with linguistic output. For instance, first drawing a picture and then describing it can be a beneficial activity. Especially for young learners not only drawing and coloring, which enhances visual intelligence, but also other activities appealing to other intelligences should be done.
Özge YOL
Task-based teaching has been one of the mostly applied methods in language teaching over the last decades because it brought a new perspective to the learning question as a whole. In language teaching, its starting point began with Prabhu, an Indian applied linguist, and it was the idea that if structures are to be taught, the focus should not be on the structure but on the message (or meaning) that we want to convey. This way, the structures would be mastered by learners unconsciously (at the first phase, then after completing the task, language focus would be made clear), while learners are trying to get what is said. But there was a problem at this point anyway when the syllabus requires that the teacher should focus on a certain language structure. It would be pretending to ask for the meaning while what the teacher actually wants seeks for is the grammar.
ReplyDeleteThe integration of task-based teaching into EFL teaching occurs as the name suggests; through tasks which could be listing, ordering and sorting, comparing, problem solving etc (Willis, 1996). We can define a task as any activity that learners engage in, as stated in the article. However in ELT they should be structured and authentic activities that serves our communicative purposes. Sometimes the classes can be organized around these tasks or they might take place just as short activities where learners try to complete communicating in target language. A common way of implementing of TBT is Prubu’s model of pre-task -> task -> post-task in which learners simply prepare for the task, do it and receive various follow up activities. However, Willis looks at it from a different perspective. In her pre-task, learners explore the topic of the task and what to do. Some focus on form is considered useful (contrary to Prabhu) and language items that will be used in the task are highlighted, so that it will be clearer for learners to understand that they are expected. In task cycle, learners do the task in groups or pairs and report to the class what they have done. All of these must be carried out using the target language (as much as possible). And in post-task language focus is made clear and if it is needed, language items that felt difficult might be practiced.
TBT can be easily applied to teach various language skills. The example of Peter in the article clearly shows that we can use TBT for a variety of purposes; to teach speaking, vocabulary, writing etc.
Integration of task-based language teaching might be problematic for Turkey, where students are used to learn deductively and with direct methods. It might be challenging for them to adapt, but it is very likely that such a method would bring us success in language teaching, as we saw in Prabhu’s experience. Another thing is that we should flexible with the implementation of TBT at different age groups and proficiency levels. For example, it would be just demotivating to expect beginner level students to do tasks using the target language. We should choose different activities for different age groups. For instance, we can plan more concrete-thinking demanding activities for young learners since this way of thinking is all they are capable of. To ask them to make a list about “how should a good friend be?” would not function at all.
When it comes to learner involvement, things might get quite confusing. An appropriate activity may lead to low involvement, or learners may focus entirely on form or meaning while the teacher plans a balanced involvement for both.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTask-based Teaching
ReplyDeleteIn task based teaching, Prabhu has a very important place since he raised some important questions on the syllabus types. His starting point is to find an answer to ‘learning question’. In fact, this is another way to ask what to teach students in the classes. Should we focus on the meaning/the message or the form/the structures? The answer to this question is very important to understand what task-based teaching is. Also, the relation between these two is important. While you are focusing on structures, it is not expected to focus on the meaning at the same level. One of them is sacrificed to teach another. At that point Prabhu suggested that the task-based teaching can solve the problem. As far as I understood, by task he refers to the procedural process. When we look at the definition of task, it is defined as a piece of work that somebody has to do. From that definition it is understood that in task-based teaching, as Prabhu suggested, there should be something procedural to be completed. In ELT, this kind of syllabus; that is, the task is the basic thing to be covered, is called as either as procedural or task-based syllabus. They have some main features different from the other type of syllabus, of course. The first one is that the meaning is the primary focus. As I said before, while meaning is the main focus, sometimes the structures are sacrificed but that is not the situation here. In task-based syllabus design, first we give importance to the meaning (task cycle), then at the last part of the lesson language becomes our secondary focus. As it is understood from the name, during the lesson students have a task to complete and they usually have a communication problem to solve. In that part, they may work as pairs or group to create an environment for communication. Another characteristic of task-based teaching is having the real-like activities. The students need to draw a picture on their mind while solving a problem or reflecting their ideas about an event as a task during the lesson. Of course, the students have to complete the task which is the main aim of this type of lesson. Later, they may present their solutions to their friends. At the last point in the lesson the ‘language focus’ part comes. The teacher may explain different grammar topics related to the task and s/he may refer to the task which makes him/her job easier. In fact, task-based teaching can be very useful in EFL context. Since the context is already within the lesson, the teacher does not have to create another one at the beginning of the lesson (general warm-up part). Therefore, s/he can directly start teaching. The students focus on the language part at the end of the lesson after completing the task. This may be helpful for students because they feel themselves involved to the lesson while trying to figure out some rules related to grammar maybe. They do not just sit and listen to the teacher input which makes students passive in the lesson. About that, the students may have difficulty to complete the task and understand the target point in language but still they may enjoy the lesson because they may not have time to be bored while trying to complete their task. Especially, this is important for young learners, as we all know; they have a very limited attention span. They need to do something during the lesson rather than just sitting and listening to their teacher. When we give them some tasks to be completed during the lesson as a group that probably create an enjoyable English lesson for children. We may have some problems as noise and discipline, using mother tongue etc. However, I think, still we will probably have more enjoyable lesson with them with a task-based lesson plan.
In my opinion, task-based approach has some advantages and important disadvantages, so it is not applicable to every context in language teaching. Firstly, in task based teaching we don’t create a context because context is already there. However, I believe as teachers we need to create context in order to generate interest among students. Warm-up session is where teachers use their creativity, but task based teaching does not allow that. On the other hand I like way that task based teaching is emphasized on achieving the task. Considering that Turkish students always have to achieve tasks in the exams, this method is applicable to Turkish classrooms. To illustrate, Turkish students have to read passages and answer questions related to that passage in the YDS, KPDS or ÜDS, so if we teach them how to achieve this task, it will help them greatly. These exams are very task based so while preparing Turkish students to those exams we can adopt task based teaching.
ReplyDeleteAnother disadvantage of task based teaching is that it does not allow individual work. I believe, group work is beneficial for students but they also need to achieve some tasks on their own, because they will be alone while using the language. When they go abroad they will use then language for communication or when they apply a job they will be alone during the interview. Besides, during the group work some hard working students work on the task while others soldier. Therefore, I believe we do individual activities as well. In addition, language focus is task based teaching is implicit and teacher handles it at the end of the lesson. However, sometimes we need explicit teaching so that students feel comfortable everything becomes clear not ambiguous. Finally, I believe we can apply task based teaching from time to time but not always!
ARTICLE : The task based approach : some questions and suggestions, William Littlewood.
ReplyDeleteIn task-based learning, the tasks are central to the learning activity. It is based on the belief that students may learn more effectively when their minds are focused on the task, rather than on the language they are using.In the model of task-based learning described by Jane Willis, the traditional PPP (presentation, practice, production) lesson is reversed. The students start with the task. When they have completed it, the teacher draws attention to the language used, making corrections and adjustments to the students' performance. So, task is an improvisational event with a simple structure and very few rules. Task can be a planned, more formal set-up with an application process and a pre-determined number of selected participants . A more open structure without any limitations of size or divisions between viewers and participants or tailored for the use in classrooms.
TBLT is an approach which seeks to allow students to work somewhat at their own pace and within their own level and area of interest to process and restructure their interlanguage. It moves away from a prescribed developmental sequence and introduces learner freedom and autonomy into the learning process. The teacher’s role is also modified to that of helper. There two dimensions of tasks : focus on forms and focus on the meaning and task involvement. For the focus on forms and focus on the meaning, there are five stages: non communicative learning, pre communicative language practice, communicative language practice, structured communication, authentic communication. When it comes to task involvement, it is about the interaction of and between the students, the importance of actively involvement in class activities. I think a teacher should aim high level of task involvement as much as possible. When the students provide high level of task involvement to the focus on the form and the meaning, the task will be successful.
Taskbased approach has clear advantages over other approaches. Unlike a PPP approach, the students are free of language control. In all three stages they must use all their language resources rather than just practising one pre-selected item.A natural context is developed from the students' experiences with the language that is personalised and relevant to them. With PPP it is necessary to create contexts in which to present the language and sometimes they can be very unnatural.The students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBL. They will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.The language explored arises from the students' needs. This need dictates what will be covered in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the coursebook.It is a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time communicating. PPP lessons seem very teacher-centred by comparison. Just watch how much time the students spend communicating during a task-based lesson. And lastly, it is enjoyable and motivating.
Article : Implementing task based learning with young learners, David Carless.
ReplyDeleteTasks based learning is a new and useful trend in EFL teaching and there are too many debates over the use of tasks in different learning environments and with different learner profiles. When implementing tasks, teacher should consider many things such as class size, classroom design and equipment, available resources, the abilities and the ages of the students and so on. In the article, there three different teachers and their primary school students between the ages of 6-7. Throughout the article, it is clear that task based teaching is new and innovative, therefore there are some unfavourable conditions.
In this article, four main points related to the use of TBL with young learners ( age 6-7) is discussed : noise and indiscipline, use of mother tongue, pupil involvement in tasks and the role of drawing and coluring in task based learning. Let’s start with the noise and indiscipline. It is clear that there are some problem behaviors during the task implementation , and also the three teachers noticed a tension between carrying out activities and maintaining good discipline. As anyone can easily observe, young learners, namely children, are unaware of the noise they produce when they are playing games. So, during a task with young learners, sometimes noise is unavoidable. Therefore, the teacher should show some tolerance : he/ she should maintain the balance between carrying out the activities and maintaining reasonably quiet environment by using a sound disciplinary foundation. For instance, while doing a group work , the group leaders may be responsible for noise and indisciplinary behavior.
When it comes to the issue of mother tongue use, in my opinion teachers should tolerate a certain amount of natural use of mother tongue. As one of the teachers in the article suggests, I also believe that if the amount of target language use is more than the mother tongue use, the task is succesful. However, if the mother tongue use overlaps, then there is a problem and the students shoulf be encouraged to use target language. Third points is regarding pupil involvement in tasks. I think, some children can learn many more things just by observing others, but for a teacher it is not possible to understand their progress at first glance. The teacher should tolerate to some extent for t he reluctant students, but it is important to have every single learner involve in task. Young learners are interested in pictures, music and any kind of games. In order to make the tasks more attractive, the teacher should integrate pictures,music, games with the task. Young learners are also desired to produce their own drawing. So if any drawing or coloring is included in a task, it will be much more effective.
In conclusion, using TBL with young learners can be effective if the teacher is careful about mainly the four points mentioned above. TBL paves the way for more enjoyable classes with young learners. The duty of their teacher is to assess their features well and be tolerant where necessary.
According to my knowledge about task-based learning and teaching approach, it has so many advantages besides little disadvantages. We have lots of knowledge about the definition and the role of tasks, different stages in task-based lessons and task types. All these in hand, we have very little evidence, discussion or any writing about how tasks can be applied in different school settings. Because some conditions, including class size, resources, trained and efficient teachers and so on, are not always same or even similar. Before the effects of these, we can consider motivation factor. In an EFL classroom, applying task- based teaching to a context requires usage of the target language during tasks. ‘Motivated students’ means students that actively participate in the classes. If students are not motivated enough, they can easily lose their attention or switch to their first language. With this, the first goal of the class will fall through. So we can put the biggest part of the emphasize on the motivation. If the motivation is not provided, the teaching will be in vain and meaningless.
ReplyDeleteAs Carless mentions, while implementing task-based approach in our language classes of young learners, we may face with some problems. He refers these problems as four basic groups. They are noise and discipline, use of mother tongue, pupil involvement, and lastly drawing and coloring.
Noise and discipline issue can be faced by many teachers of young language learners. In such situations, Carless advices to us that a teacher should pay attention to the characteristics of the tasks while considering the difficulty level of it. Also at the time of explaining and giving instructions, the teacher should be clear. Teacher may give the underlying purposes of the tasks. Teacher should be aware of the levels of students and s/he define the appropriateness of the activities according to the students’ level. And in order to reduce the noise level, teacher should always control students in group or pair works.
The second problem is usage of mother tongue. Students sometimes use their mother tongue because it is easier for clarification of meaning and they think they will be understood clearly with this way. So, in order to decrease the usage level of mother tongue, teachers should motivate students to use target language. Teacher should also compose a good role model for student with using target language as much as possible. Looking at their teachers, students should feel the desire to imitate their teachers and speak as s/he does. In an event of students’ using their mother tongue, teacher also should be permissive and tolerant to some extent.
Third problem is about the pupil involvement to task-based learning activities. Teacher has the role to provide equal involvement of students. S/he should circulate the different role among the students for providing every pupil has a right to speak at least a little bit and for providing students to take part in classes. Teacher should always be flexible to make the students feel comfortable to speak during activities. S/he should always encourage learners for speaking with not having a fear of making a mistake. Teacher has a role of a supporter for this problem.
Our last problem concerns the phenomena of drawing and coloring. Teacher should provide the right balance between artistic elements like drawing and coloring and linguistic output. Too much of them may lead to ineffective usage of language while too little of them also cause.
May be as disadvantages, task-based teaching focuses on group work. For some students or for some situations, this may lead to a problem. Task-based approach tells us to teach implicitly. However, learners sometimes need explicit teaching. All in all, this approach makes it much more possible for students to participate in classes if we compare with other traditional methods. As we have seen, teachers have very important roles for this teaching type. We can apply task-based approach to our classes but not every time.
In my opinion, applying task based teaching to the students from a low level of proficiency may be a bit difficult. When we think of Willis' classification of task types, some of them require high level of thinking skills and a high language proficiency. As an example, we can consider one of the example tasks given in the article which says "Imagine you are working for a company which is at present facing a particular problem. With your partner, decide a course of action to solve the problem." Such kind of a task may not be easily used with students at a low proficiency level, I think. It may be a bit difficult for them because this task requires a high level of proficiency in language and in information processing abilities. When we evaluate this task in terms of its applicability with young learners, again it may not be easy to apply it because the young learners can not think about abstract things or the assumptions. So we should give them a familiar and concrete task to do. I mean, young learners are really imaginative but they can not assume that something exist or happens in another way from the one that they know or they can't assume something that doesn't exist as if it existed. In other words, they can find a way of putting together one of their toys in a different way, but they can't find a solution to the problems of a company because the company and its problems are so unfamiliar and abstract to them. Therefore we can say that any kind of task cannot be used with any students from any proficiency level or age group. Every age group has special characteristics which necessitates different task types. When we are to find some useful task types for young learners, we can choose the most concrete and the most familiar ones. For example, the students can tell the names of their close relatives of their partners and draw a family tree. This task is appropriate for very young learners because it is very concrete and a familiar topic to deal with. Choosing the right task type doesn't solve every problem that may arise. Still there is the possibility of facing a challenge or difficulty. Especially the young learners may cause some problems during this process. As an example we can give the task of telling their close relatives' names to their partners. During this activity, the students may be a bit selfish because at some ages the children can be extremely egocentric. So, they may have a desire to speak all the time about their own relatives without giving a turn to their partners. For such a situation each pair may be given the same amount of time or turn to speak or the tasks about sharing personal experiences may not be used much to avoid such problems.
ReplyDeleteThe advantage of using TBT with young learners may be the fact that it is a method that helps students, especially young learners to use up their energy which can not be used up in an ordinary classroom environment. With TBT, since all the students are busy with an important task to complete, they won't have time to get bored. I think, this is the greatest advantage for them because we know that young learners get bored easily. Another advantage is that TBT provides active student participation. Every student takes an active role in the learning process and so they learn the language “actively”. Moreover, with TBT the students’ feeling of responsibility increases because TBT requires commitment from the students.
ReplyDeleteA possible disadvantage of TBT is about teachers. TBT requires a lot of effort and creativity on the part of the teacher. This can be a great challenge for the teachers who don’t like to work hard. As we know, in Turkey there are a great number of teachers who don’t want to work and most probably they won’t bother with a challenging method like TBT…
When it comes to the learner involvement, we can easily say that with TBT the student involvement is really high because TBT requires active student participation and this enables students to be interested in the lessons and involve themselves. The quality of learning also increases because with TBT the students don’t memorize the things, they “acquire” the language and so they will learn the language in a more effective way. And also their learning will be permanent.
Task based instruction is a type of instruction in which a meaningful task is performed in the target language. When students are focused on performing the task, they are likely to learn the language. After the task has been performed, teacher teaches the language structure. Task based learning has three stages; pre-task, task cycle and language focus.
ReplyDeleteIn the article about implementing task based learning with young learners by David Carless there is a classroom observation. It focus on four themes relevant to implementing task based learning with young learner. Noise, use off mother tongue, the extend of pupil involvement and the role of drawing and coloring activities. The article suggest some strategies for solving the problems in the class.
It can be applied in language classes in Turkey for various levels of proficiency and with students from different age groups. It can be applied in teaching of various language skills.
Task based learning has some advantages and challenges in young learners. Noise level can be high in task based instruction with young learners. When students are not clear about what to do, there can be noise in the class, therefore the teacher should give clear instructions. Another reason why there can be noise in the class is the level of the task. If the task is too difficult or easy, students can make noise. Teacher should know the level of his/her students and give tasks appropriate for their level. Another problem in task based instruction is use of mother tongue. The task shouldn’t be too complex in order to avoid this problem and the teacher should be a good model for using target language. Drawing and coloring activities can be seen as loss of time. However; this kind of activities are necessary for young learners. They can be done at the end of the lesson.
Rate of involvement can be another problem. In group works, while some students speak a lot some students may not involve the activities. Teacher should encourage and support all students to make oral contributions during the lesson. Students should have different roles in the group in every activity.
Task-based language teaching has been attempted to be used all over the world. However the implementation of task-based language teaching can be problematic due to some reasons such as time-related problems. “Conditions for task-based learning are not particularly favorable. Average class sizes in primary schools are not appropriate and classrooms are usually cramped, spartan, and with inadequate storage space. Just as principals and senior teachers may neither fully understand nor support the rationale for task-based learning, traditional pencil and paper tests are not aligned with methods which tend to place more emphasis on speaking, listening, and the communication of meaning.” I completely agree with the idea that the conditions are not appropriate for task-based language teaching. In Turkey, the same problems are also experienced and task-based methods can not be efficiently used in language classrooms. However, if we manage to improve the physical conditions of schools and if we attempt to train more equipped teachers this method can be used successfully.
ReplyDeleteOne of the teachers (Teacher C) has a good balance of maintaining discipline and keeping tasks going on. This is a vital point for effective classroom management and in my opinion is a very hard thing to do. Teacher C notes that:” I got them to talk more in class and I can bear all kinds of noise that they made. Of course, before that or even now, I always think that you shouldn’t make so much noise. Even if you talk you should talk softer, but I think I can bear it now, much more than before.”
About the issue of using mother tongue, I am not very strict. I think a foreign language teacher should use the target language as long as students can have an overall understanding of what is said. However, when the students can no longer understand what is going on, then using the target language in the classrooms turns out to be non-sense. In my opinion, a language teacher should use the mother tongue for clarification of some parts if it is necessary.
Pupil involvement has an important role in task-based method as students are involved in group work or pair work most of the time. I agree with the author about the level of involvement. Some students become more active, while some other students turn out to have fewer roles than others. This problem can be solved by the teacher by being more careful while forming the groups. Another solution may be encouraging those silent students a bit more than the other. However, the teacher should not discourage the students who participate more. I don’t agree with the author about this point.
About the drawing and coloring issue, I think such tasks are necessary for motivation unless a lot of time is allocated for them. We should provide the students for some enjoyment but it should not take too much time.
Zeynep ÇİÇEK
In task based instruction, the matter is to perform a valuable and meaningful task in target language all the time. It has been put forward that emphasizing a task and making students work on it is the main point of teaching language effectively. In task- based teaching classrooms, 3 main stages are followed; pre-task, task cycle and language focus. As it can be referred from the names of the stages, firstly students are prepared to the task, and then task is introduced and carried out. After the task has been performed, teacher teaches the language structure. In the article these processes and generally task-based teaching is handled from the point of applying it to young learners.
ReplyDeleteCarless (2002), in the article, stated four main groups of obstacles: noise and discipline, use of mother tongue, pupil involvement, and drawing and coloring. Firstly, noise and discipline issue is obviously the anxiety of the teachers who are dealing with young learners. Author suggests that the teacher need to be paying attention not only to the difficulty of the task but also to the style and features of the task. While preparing the lesson plan or the plan for the general lesson flow, the teacher should pick up activities and tasks according to that.
Use of mother tongue is another matter of fact challenging the application of task-based teaching for young learners. As far as I understand from the suggestions the article puts forward, I think the teacher can be a model by using L2 for interaction and discussions. But, it is argumentative that how much s/he can be successful using it as the students’ level would force him/her to switch to the native language. Thirdly, the degree of pupil involvement might occur as a problem in YL classes. This can be solved by giving different roles and circulating them each time. So, each pupil can have at least a little task and take part in the lesson which would make him/her learn and acquire the lesson.
Lastly, for the drawing and coloring, they should be balanced with the linguistic input as it would be meaningless and illogical to turn the language class into an art lesson. The students would probably love to do that kind of stuff; however, overdoing them would cause hindering language learning and using effectively.
All in all, task based teaching is not something impossible for young learners but teachers need to be more careful and selective for them to provide effective learning conditions and prevent possible obstacles stated above.
Sözen Özkan
Task based teaching has been used in efl classrooms for many years. It requires learners to use the language for communicative purposes rather than focus on form. I agree with the authors in the point that the focus of the language should be on the meaning rather than the form. Task based learning is different from traditional PPP lessons. For instance, in PPP teachers provide students with an item of language in a context and then s/he wants them practise the language. In the end, the students are expected to create free production, but it is not possible and it is nonsense to want them to produce the language in this way. At the same time, the PPP creates an artificial usage of the language in the classrooms. Rather TBT gives the learners an opportunity the use the language in a context. TBT offers a holistic language experience in which the learners carry out a communication task by using the language learnt in previous lessons. At this point, TBT may be some kind of challenging and stressful for the learners since they are required to complete the task without being given any input. All they can use to complete the task is their previous knowledge. However, ı believe that it will increase their learning because they will have the chance to use the previously learnt items in a new context. All learners, young and old, may benefit from TBT in many aspects. It is seen that students who have experienced TBT have more confidence in speaking and interacting, they can cope with natural spontaneous speech much more easily and they become for more independent learners. These issues are very crucial for English teachers I think because our aim as English teachers is to have our students learn the language in a communicative way.
ReplyDeleteThe application of TBT in young learners’ classes may have some obstacles for the teachers, though. For instance, there may be classroom management problems with the students. Since they are young, they may create a lot of noise in the classroom and they may show some indiscipline behaviours. Noise and indiscipline occurs if students do not know clearly what they will do, the task is whether is too easy or too difficult for them and lastly, the characteristic of the task may provoke noise in the classroom. But at this point, there are some strategies that teachers can use to prevent these obstacles. First, the teacher should clearly indicate what the students will do. The teacher should give the purpose of the activity to the students. And before the task, the teacher may warn the students about the level of the noise. Another problem that teachers face is the usage of mother tongue while doing the task. The teacher can cope with this problem by being a good language model for the students and encourage the students to use the target language. The teachers may face also some insufficient pupil involvement in the tasks. Especially while working in groups, some students may not want to involve in the task. The teacher can monitor the groups closely while they are working on the task. She also chooses group leader and gives some responsibility to them.
If we want to define the basic tenets of TBLT,it is based on completing some tasks as its name indicates.The goal is to achieve these tasks.It has no preselection of language items and it gives importance to the natural integration of four skills.It is student-centered approach and we become more exposed to the comprehensible input inductively.
ReplyDeleteTasks have several special features. For example, they involve a primary focus on meaning and real-world processes of language use.Also,they should engage cognitive processes such as selecting,classifying,ordering,and evaluating information in order to carry out the task and finally they have a clear communicative outcome.
There are three phases of TBLT. The first one is pre-task phase whose purpose is to prepare students of perform the task in ways that will promote acquisiton. In during-task phase,students try to complete the task with the guidance of the teacher and in the last phase,the post-task phase, there are three major goals such as providing an opportunity for a repeat performance of the task, reflection on how the task was performed and attention to form.
There are also some limitiations or problems in school settings while applying to TBLT. For instance;in large class sizes, TBLT could be more time consuming when the task is complicated. Teacher may not be interested in every student and may not monitor their learning process or progress. Another problem is the lack of appropriate resources. Due to these limitations, teachers may not be successful in designing a task-based lesson. On the other hand, teacher may not be trained enough about TBLT methods or s/he may be limited language proficiency.
Maybe even if the problems given above are omitted, TBLT may not be applicable for our education system in Turkey because it needs alot of changes for this approach, so it is very difficult to practice TBLT with our prejudiced system and its stakeholders.
CENNET KAYCI
ReplyDeleteReflection on the article “Implementing task-based learning with young learners” by David Carless
Task based language teaching is a method in which students are required to accomplish a task without initial focus on the language itself. It has some advantages as well as disadvantages. TBLT is an effective way of teaching language because it provides a natural communication environment for students as they carry out tasks in pairs or groups. It also facilitates collaboration among peers. As students are expected to present how they completed the task to the rest of the class, their presentation skills and also interpersonal skills could be improved.
TBLT has some disadvantages, as well. Teachers may face some difficulties while implementing this method. Firstly, there may be noise while students are doing the task. Actually, noise is inevitable if there is a pair work or group work in the class. The crucial point is that teachers should promote students to do the task and not to do off-task behaviors. Secondly, overuse of the mother tongue may hinder practicing the target language. At this point, teacher should serve as a good model for the students. The use of mother tongue is not a ‘taboo’ but the amount of using it should be under the control of the teacher. Thirdly, teacher may not be able to check the amount of pupil involvement in tasks. This is valid especially for crowded classes. Division of labor can be a good solution for this problem.
The level of students has an impact on the effective use of TBLT. I agree that it can be used more effectively with students of higher levels because they are more aware of the language. The application of the method depends also on the class size. In crowded classes, it may not be possible to fulfill all the objectives of the method. Moreover, teachers not trained in task-based methodologies may be unable to apply it effectively. If we think of Turkey, it is very difficult to use TBLT because class size is not available for this method in state schools. The system of education also prevents the implementation of it. Student motivation and the state of teachers are other factors that influence TBLT usage.
Task based teaching has been used all over the world for many decades. It has many advantages in addition to its disadvantages. First of all, Prabhu brought the concept of task based language teaching into the field. Its main focus is on the meaning rather than form and Prabhu’s idea was that while the messages are conveyed the focus shouldn’t be on the structure (form) but on the meaning. Students should get the language focus unconsciously after they complete the task. However in this sense it seems a bit difficult to implement this approach into a class in Turkey since teachers have to follow the curriculum or the course book and give the students lots of grammar points in the lessons; therefore it seems a bit difficult to implement such a lesson in Turkey. Moreover, task based teaching is different than PPP. In PPP method teachers give a language focus and want the students to practice on that language focus; however in task based lessons the students use all the language knowledge they have from the previous classes. Besides, PPP has an artificial environment in terms of communicative aspect where teachers create a context for students’ communication. Therefore, in this sense there is a clear cut difference between PPP and task based teaching methods. When it comes to the applicability of task based teaching to the activities in language classes, it is very easy to apply task based teaching to the speaking, writing or listening activities because we as teachers create a context and in this context students try to complete the tasks. However we may have some problems with young learners while we are trying to make them complete the task because they may have difficulties in understanding the instructions or they simply may not interested in the task that is given, in such cases we should consider the students’ ages and level of proficiency in English. As for the impact of the implementation of the task-based approach on the rate of learner involvement and the rate and quality of learning in the EFL atmosphere, I think in task based approach more students are involved in the lesson than in the lecturing ones because teachers cannot involve students to the lessons while they are lecturing, namely that when they use task based approach teachers want the students to complete a task and in those lessons students are active and they are motivated to be involved in the activities. In addition to the advantages above we should also think about the physical conditions of the classrooms. In Turkey for instance, there are very crowded classes and many schools do not have sufficient technological equipment. Therefore teachers may have difficulties in implementing task based approach’s requirements.
ReplyDeleteTask-based teaching has been among the mostly applied methods in language teaching over the last decades because it brought a new perspective to the learning question as a whole. In task based instruction a meaningful task is performed in the target language. During the time in which students are focused on performing the task, they are likely to learn the language. After the students has performed the task, teacher teaches the language structure. Task based learning has three stages; pre-task, task cycle and language focus.
ReplyDeleteIn the article about implementing task based learning with young learners by David Carless there is a classroom observation.
The article suggest some strategies for solving the problems in the class. It can be applied in language classes in Turkey for various levels of proficiency and with students from different age groups. It can be applied in teaching of various language skills.
The application of Task Based Teaching in young learners’ classes may have some obstacles for the teachers, though. For instance, there may be classroom management problems with the students. Since the students are young, there may be a lot of noise in the classroom. Noise and indiscipline occurs if students do not know clearly what they will do and lastly, the characteristic of the task may provoke noise in the classroom. But there are some strategies that teachers can use to prevent these obstacles. First, the teacher should give clear instructions about the task. The teacher should give the purpose of the activity to the students. And before the task, the teacher may warn the students about the level of the noise. Another problem encountered in language teachng classes is the usage of mother tongue while doing the task. The teacher can cope with this problem by being a good language model for the students and encourage the students to use the target language. The teachers may face also some insufficient pupil involvement in the tasks. Pupil involvement has an important role in task-based method as students are involved in group work or pair work most of the time. The author makes a point that some students participate less than some group of students in language classes. And the author offers a common suggestion; encouraging the students who don’t participate in the lessons more. But the aouthor makes one more suggestion to enhance the participation of the students who are mostly silent in class. This is somewhat discouraging the students who participate in the lesson. This is not acceptable.
Task-based teaching is not familiar to Turkish students and teachers as we are more accustomed to more traditional ways of teaching such as Grammar Translation Method in EFL classrooms. Transition to task-based teaching may actually be difficult in Turkey because there are a number of factors that may hinder the teachers apply it in the classrooms. First of all, the examination system in Turkey makes the students focus on certain and limited number of lessons and the in-class activities and tasks becomes the secondary-important things. That makes both the teachers and families change their focus in order to help the students, which force language teachers use traditional methods in classrooms. The second and most important thing is the fact that both the students and teachers in Turkey are not accustomed to task-based teaching. It may not be a problem for students if they are young learners especially; however, it is apparently a problem for teachers who are lack of the knowledge of how to apply task-based teaching in their classrooms. It may not be a problem for a teacher who tries to keep up with progress in language teaching; however, applying it in the classroom is different as in the classroom everything may not go as the teacher expects. The first problem that may arise in task-based classrooms is noise according to Carless. The teacher should tolerate the noisy environment that is the result of the interaction of students who try to complete the task. However, the teacher should be sure about this noise level is for the completion of the task. The teacher should give tasks according to the level of the students because if the ask is too easy or too difficult the noise level increases according to Carless. The second problem is the use of mother tongue and the teacher should check whether the students communicate in target language or mother tongue. The teacher should give clear instructions and explain the students why they have to use target language. Moreover, s/he should tolerate a limited use of mother tongue if it aims at completing the task such as clarifying an instruction. The third problem is the involvement of the students to the activities. There won’t be many problems with younger learners; however, the adults may create some problems. The teacher should monitor well whether all students are engaged in the task and s/he should motivate them because if they are not motivated enough they won’t try to do anything even if they are given a responsibility by the group or the leader of the group. Lastly, Carless states the problem of using artistic materials too much. This also is related to the competency of the teacher as the teacher should not exaggerate the use of such materials and while using s/he should aim at using some communicative ways. Despite these possible problems, the application of task-based teaching in Turkey will certainly increase the quality of the lessons because the students have some prejudices against learning a new language thinking that it requires a lot of memorization. Using task-based teaching may help them learn what they have to memorize while completing a task. The effective and enjoyable activities of task-based teaching may create a more motivating environment in language classrooms in Turkey.
ReplyDeleteÖzge Ceren ÇELİK
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteREVIEW OF “TASK -BASED APPROACH: SOME QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS”
ReplyDeleteIn the article, William Littlewood discuss about the term ‘task’ and the conflicts about it in the introduction part. He mentions the definitions of ‘task’ in the dictionaries and states that task means a piece of work to be done especially unwillingly or with difficulty or a study imposed by a teacher. Task could be defined in this way in the dictionaries, but ‘task’ as an ELT term has reached different points from its dictionary meanings since it was first presented as an approach. Actually, I am also not really sure about what the definition of task could be according to the task-based approach. I think that task should be defined as meaningful works carried out with the purpose of achieving a language aim. We should focus on its meaning for the language learner rather than its difficulty. I believe that a language learner could not see a task as a difficult process, or couldn’t be unwilling if s/he can see the aim and the meaning of the task.
There are some contradictions and conflicts about the content of the task. In the article, whether everything the teacher and the students do in the classroom is a task or not is asked. Skehan suggests the idea that any aspect of language can be presented to the learners according to the task-based learning approach. When we accept the word ‘aspect of language’ in Skehan’s statements as the ‘language skills required for the competence of language’, I can accept the statement above. However, I couldn’t accept the idea that everything done in the classroom should be assumed as a task. For example, if we make the students present a role-play by making them write and then memorize the dialogues, some teachers could assume this as a task. But, actually it only requires memorization rather than acquisition. At this point, the definition of the term ‘task’ has great importance. I think that a task should be novel and authentic for the students so that they can use their second language in order to produce something in their second language.
In the article there are some points according to the definitions of task according to the perspective of communicative purpose. In the first point in which the writers believe that communication purpose is not an essential criterion, I liked the view of Estaire and Zanon. They distinguished task between two main categories: communication tasks in which learners’ attention is focused on meaning rather than form and enabling tasks in which the main focus is on linguistic aspects such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, functions, etc. I think it is a proper way of identifying tasks.
In the second point of task according to the communicative purpose, Stern associated tasks with ‘realistic language use’ and thinks of a task primarily as involving communication. Realistic language use by means of tasks could be very effective in language learning, but we are not even sure about whether a classroom environment could be a realistic environment for language learning or not. Therefore, we could not assure a realistic language use for the language learners even with the help of tasks.
In the article, there are two dimensions of task-based approach: focus on forms and focus on meanings. The two focuses are placed into five sections: Non-communicative learning, pre-communicative language practice, communicative language practice, structured communication and authentic communication. I think that these two dimension and these five sections enables us to define our language purposes and choose the proper tasks according to our language focus and language aim.
As we tend to use traditional teaching methods such as grammar trasnlation method in our English language teaching classes, a modern method such as task-based learning may be difficult to apply in Turkey. In grammar translation method, accuracy is the most, even the only important thing. All the things taught by this method is grammar rules in an explicit way and there is no place for speaking or communication, the students are passive. But in task-based teaching, interaction and participation are vital. Language forms are taught in an implicit way. Focus is on meaning rather than form and structures. So transition to task based teaching is a bit challenging in Turkey as there will be too much radical changes. In task-based teaching, the teacher creates a meaningful context in which a task is given to students, the students focus on the task and by performing the task, they learn the language implicitly. But the article, implementing task-based learning with young learners by David Carless suggests that there are some challenges in application of task-based learning in young learner classes. One is noise and indiscipline in class. Since pair and group works are good to use in task-based learning, the students will speak in this interaction and there will be noise inevitably in the class and as they are young children, some undesired indisciplined behaviour can be seen and the solution to this problem is warning them about making noise beforehand, giving clear instructions (because if they do not understand what they are supposed to do, they can start to make noise); closely interact with them by wandering around while they are performing the task, this also helps some students who may have difficulty in the task; furthermore the difficulty level of the task must be decided according to the proficiency level of the students, because if they find the task difficult, they may make noise and behave in an improper way.
ReplyDeleteAnother challenge in task-based learning is usage of the mother tongue in classroom. Even the most motivated and successful adult students tend to use Turkish in class, so it is too difficult to prevent this in a young learner class. The solution suggested in the article is teacher's being a good model for them. The teacher should speak in English and encourage the students to do so. He or she should make everthing about the task clear, warn them about talking in English and explaining the rationale behind this warning. In addition, wandering around the students who are performing the task decreases students' talking in Turkish as they feel that the teacher is observing them closely.
The other problem in task-based learning is the extent of pupil involvement. As pair and group works are good to use in task-based teaching, some students work much more than others and since they are in a group, when they complete a task, the teacher can not discover who has worked harder. This problem can be solved by monitoring the students closely, then everybody will have to work on the task. I think motivation is another solution to this problem, if a student is motivated enough, he or she does not avoid working and performing the task; so encouraging the students is very important.
The last problem is about the role of drawing or colouring activities. Many people regard these activities as waste of time and think they have nothing with lesson academically, but they are necessary tasks to be performed in the class. Besides improving the students visual, bodily-kinesthetic intelligences, they improve their artistic abilities. And I think they are very useful in vocabulary learning. For example, color dictation activity is appropriate for the level of young learners, they find it interesting and it helps learning vocabulary items in an enjoyable way.
“It is informed by the belief that if students are focused on the completion of a task, they are just as likely to learn language as they are if they are focusing on language forms” As it is stated in one of the articles the students will use the language if they are expected to complete a task. For young learners it is always important to have different kinds of tasks or activities to complete, otherwise they will be easily bored. In TBL, this is the way how teachers teach English. They use tasks for which the students will speak inEnglish always.
ReplyDelete“Language focus” is also very important in TBL as students need to learn some grammar. But, this focus must be enjoyable, with activities so that the students are not bored. It is clear from the experiences that the students learn with activities not by memorizing the rules.
There can still some problems in a language class learning in TBL. Espeacially with young learners it is really difficult to manage to cope with the group work. The teacher has to make a lot of effort, and set her limits very well to prevent disruptions.
In our country, however, it is really difficult to use TBL in language classrooms in state schools, because, the classes are really crowded and there are not enough equipments to use a variety of activities. For the teacher it will be very difficult to manage the group work and the students will immediately start to speak inTurkish and the teacher will not be able to realize it.
ruken,