TBLT- Task Based Language Teaching: What is Task? , Concept, Characteristics, History, Merits, Demerits, Activities

 

TBLT- Task Based Language Teaching: What is Task? , Concept, Characteristics, History, Merits, Demerits, Activities

     IITE B.ED. SEM-2 Pedagogy of English-L2 2.1 

By. Dr. Alpeshkumar Nakrani 

Assistant Professor 

                                Smt. J. J. Kundalia Graduate Teachers’ College                            

Concept of Task

A concept, earlier known as the "communicative activity" was later replaced by task.

Willis (1996) has defined a task as a goal based activity involving the use of the learners' existing language resources, that leads to the outcome. Examples include playing games, and solving problems and puzzles etc.


Ellis (2003) defines a task as a work plan that involves a pragmatic processing of language, using the learners' existing language resources and attention to meaning, and resulting in the completion of an outcome which can be assessed for its communicative function.


Nunan (1989) defines task as ‘a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than on form'.


David Nunan (2004) draws upon the definitions given by other experts, of two types of tasks:

(1) Targets tasks refer to doing something outside the classroom and in the real world;

(2) pedagogical tasks refer to the tasks students perform inside the classroom and in response to target language input or processing.


According to Rod Ellis, a task has four main characteristics:

1. A task involves a primary focus on (pragmatic) meaning.

2. A task has some kind of ‘gap’. (Prabhu identified the three main types as information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap.)

3. The participants choose the linguistic resources needed to complete the task.

4. A task has a clearly defined, non-linguistic outcome.

Categories of task

According to N. S. Prabhu, there are three main categories of task: information-gap, reasoning-gap, and opinion-gap.

1. Information-gap activity, which involves a transfer of given information from one person to another – or from one form to another, or from one place to another – generally calling for the decoding or encoding of information from or into language. One example is pair work in which each member of the pair has a part of the total information (for example an incomplete picture) and attempts to convey it verbally to the other. Another example is completing a tabular representation with information available in a given piece of text. The activity often involves selection of relevant information as well, and learners may have to meet criteria of completeness and correctness in making the transfer.

For example, students in pairs should ask and answer questions so as to learn each other’s weekly schedule, aiming to find a common pastime such as going to the movies.

2. Reasoning-gap activity, which involves deriving some new information from given information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or a perception of relationships or patterns. One example is working out a teacher's timetable on the basis of given class timetables. Another is deciding what course of action is best (for example cheapest or quickest) for a given purpose and within given constraints. The activity necessarily involves comprehending and conveying information, as in an information-gap activity, but the information to be conveyed is not identical with that initially comprehended. There is a piece of reasoning which connects the two. For example, you can ask your students to work on a timetable and on some variables and solve a problem.

3. Opinion-gap activity, which involves identifying and articulating a personal preference, feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation. One example is story completion; another is taking part in the discussion of a social issue. The activity may involve using factual information and formulating arguments to justify one's opinion, but there is no objective procedure for demonstrating outcomes as right or wrong, and no reason to expect the same outcome from different individuals or on different occasions. For example, you could set up a debate on a current social topic

Examples of Task

Examples of tasks include:

1. Creating a presentation
2. Making a video or short movie
3. Writing a piece of text, such as a newsletter article
4. Acting out a skit
5. Creating an original game that includes writing down the game rules, playing the game, and evaluating the game
6. Working out the solution to a practical problem, such as planning an upcoming trip or gathering missing information, like working out who started a rumor at school
7. Participating in a group debate or discussion, like arguing for a favorite competitor in a TV show
8. Report writing
9. Narrative
10. Review writing (book review, film review)
11. Seeking/giving advice
12. Writing a letter to the editor
13. House selling or buying
14. Instructions “how to…”
15. Designing a brochure
16. Designing a menu
17. Preparing for a job interview
18. Writing a CV
19. Writing a reference
20. Choosing the best candidate for a job
21. Conducting an experiment
22.  Listing words, things, people, places, actions, questions within some situation or topic, e.g. making a list of holiday-making activities, questions for a hotel receptionist, etc.
23. Ordering and sorting – working out a set of information or data that has been ordered and sorted according to specified criteria, i.e. sequencing jumbled paragraphs, ranking items from least important to most important, categorizing pieces of furniture to fit into different rooms, classifying different kinds of food as either good or bad for you.
24. Comparing - matching non-verbal texts (pictures) and their verbal descriptions, finding similarities or differences between texts or pictures
25. Problem solving - doing puzzles, logic problems, or solving real-life problems
26. Sharing personal experience - narrating, describing, exploring and explaining attitudes, opinions, reactions.
27. Creative tasks - creating a product which can be appreciated by a wider audience.

Concept of Task Based Language Teaching

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) or Task-based language learning (TBLL), also known as task- based instruction (TBI) focuses on the use of authentic language to complete meaningful tasks in the target language. Such tasks can include visiting a doctor, conducting an interview, or calling customer service for help.


In education, a task refers to an activity where communication is necessary: for example; deciding something, solving a problem, designing or organizing something, or telling someone to do something.

Task based Language Teaching is a teaching approach which focuses on offering learner's tasks so that they can actively engage in using and practicing language in communicative situations, and on measuring the language outcomes that will arise from those tasks. For example, a speaking task can develop student's ability to speak fluently and accurately when communicating with their peers.

TBLT is an approach which offers students material that they have to engage in order to achieve a goal or complete a task. It aims to both enable learners to acquire linguistic knowledge and to monitor their existing knowledge.

Task-based learning uses a lesson structure that incorporates different activities to solve a task. The task can span the length of an entire lesson or, if it’s project-based learning, it can take up several lessons to complete.

Task-based language learning is an approach where the planning of learning materials and teaching sessions are based around doing a task.

According to Richards and Rogers, Task-Based Language Learning strategy focuses on communication through task completion. Students get engaged with a task they are truly interested in, and they aim to carry it out only using the target language and its taught elements.

History of Task Based Language Teaching

TBLT was first proposed by an Indian scholar Prabhu and was popularized while working in Bangalore, India. The object of the method was to teach learners communicative competence in English through meaningful and authentic activities. TBLT can be considered a branch of communicative language teaching (CLT).

Task-based language learning has its origins in communicative language teaching, and is a subcategory of it.

Principle of Task Based Language Teaching

According to David Nunan, there are seven principles of TBLT. They are:

(1)Scaffolding: Lessons and materials should provide supporting framework within which the learning takes place.

(2)Task - dependency: Within a lesson one task should grow out of and build upon, the ones that have gone before.

(3)Recycling: Recycling language maximizes opportunities for learning and activities the “Organic" learning principles.


(4)Active learning: Learners learn best by actively using the language they are learning.

(5)Integration: Learners should be taught in ways that make clear the relationships between linguistic form, communicative function and semantic meaning

(6) Reproduction to creation: Language should be encouraged to move form reproductive to creative language use.

(7)Reflection: Learners should be given opportunities to reflect on what they have learned and how well they are doing.

Characteristics of Task Based Language Teaching

Students are encouraged to use language creatively and spontaneously through tasks and problem solving

Students focus on a relationship that is comparable to real world activities

The conveyance of some sort of meaning is central to this method

Assessment is primarily based on task outcome

TBLT is student-centered


The core of the lesson is the task.

Assessment is primarily based on task outcome (the appropriate completion of real-world tasks) rather than on accuracy of prescribed language forms.

The aim is for the students to acquire language skills using real-world activities and complimenting them with pedagogical tasks.

In task-based learning the language content is defined, not by a grammar syllabus, but by what learners need to complete the task.

The teacher plays the role of a facilitator who ensures the necessary conditions for the learning to take place by providing exposure to the language and guiding learners to use the correct language for fulfilling the task.

There is a natural progression from the holistic to the specific. On the whole, the task cycle offers learners a holistic experience of language in use. The language gradually emerges through the stages of initial drafting, rehearsal, report and final practice.

Merits of Task Based Language Teaching

TBLT is applicable and suitable for students of all ages and backgrounds.

Students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBLT.

Students are free to use whatever vocabulary and grammar they know, rather than just the target language of the lesson.

TBLT helps students pay close attention to the relationship between form and meaning. TBLT allows meaningful communication.

Students will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.


Encourages students to be more ambitious in the language they use.

The psychological dynamics of the group which works together to complete a task will have a great influence on the success.

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.

Task-based learning is advantageous to the student because it is more student-centered, allows for more meaningful communication, and often provides for practical extra-linguistic skill building.


10. It can take teaching from abstract knowledge to real world application.

11. The tasks are closer to real-life communicative situation, learner engagement in real world scenarios is “done by designing tasks, discussion, problems, games and so on – which require learners to use language for themselves”.

Demerits of Task Based Language Teaching

TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative on the part of the task.

There is a risk for learners to achieve fluency at the expense of accuracy.

TBLT requires resources beyond the textbooks and related materials usually found in language classrooms.

Task-based instruction is not teacher-centered and it requires individual and group responsibility and commitment on the part of students. If students are notably lacking in these qualities, task-based instruction may, indeed, be difficult to implement.

Evaluation of task-based learning can be difficult. The nature of task-based learning prevents it from being measurable by some of the more restricted and traditional tests.

While Task-Based Instruction may fruitfully develop learners’ authority of what is known, it is significantly less effective for the systematic teaching of new language. This is especially so where time is limited and out-of-class exposure is unavailable


Task-Based Language Teaching is not easy to prepare a task which is suitable to the students' level. Tasks may be too simple or challenging for students.

Some students need more guidance and will not or cannot `notice´ language forms (grammar) or other elements of accuracy. • Students typically translate and use a lot of their L1 rather than the target language in completing the tasks.

There is no acquisition of new grammar or vocabulary features. Everything is left to the teacher.

Process/ Activities in Task Based Language Teaching

Task-Based Designed Curriculum: Elementary (Primary Age) 

Diagrams & formations 

Naming parts of a diagram with numbers & letters of the alphabet as instructed Drawing  

Drawing geometrical figures/formations from sets of verbal instruction Clock faces 

Positioning hands on a clock to show a given time Monthly calendar

 • 

Calculating duration in days and weeks in the context of travel, leave, and so on Maps 

• Constructing a floor plan of a house from a description, School timetables 

• Constructing timetables for teachers of particular subjects Programs & itineraries • Constructing itineraries from descriptions of travel Train timetables 

• Selecting trains appropriate to given needs Age & year of birth 

• Working out year of birth from age Money 

• Deciding on quantities to be bought given the money available

Process/ Activities in Task Based Language Teaching

Pre - Task: The teacher introduces the topic and gives the students clear instructions on what they will have to do at the task stage and might help the students to recall some language that may be useful for the task. The pre-task stage can also often include playing a recording of people doing the task. This gives the students a clear model of what will be expected of them. The students can take notes and spend time preparing for the task. It aims to introduce the topic about how to spend a day through learning language focusing on words and phrases.

Task: Students do the task in groups and plan for a day. They state their own plan and compare different ideas with their group partners. The students complete a task in pairs or groups using the language resources that they have as the teacher monitors and offers encouragement. Pair work and small group work

Planning: Each group rehearses presenting their plan. The teacher walks around, helping if students have a problem and noting any language items or grammatical problems on which to give feedback later.

Report: Each group selects a speaker to report their plan and give detailed reason for it. Other students can choose the best one after the presentations. Students then report back to the class orally or read the written report. The teacher chooses the order of when students will present their reports and may give the students some quick feedback on the content.

Post task: The teacher hands out the Fill in exercises and true of false questions for the students according to the listening in class. According to the group discussion, they write a 150-word assignment as homework. The students then do practice activities to increase their confidence and make a note of useful language.

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