The Task-based Instruction1. Definition of a task(1) A task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. Task is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play and in between—Long (1985:89)(2)Task is assumed to refer to a range of workplans. It has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and arrange of outcomes for those who undertake the task. It has the overall purpose of facilitating language learning.--Breen (1987:23)(3) A task is an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process--Prabhu(1987:24)(4) A piece of classroom work, which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating (make good use of) producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.--Nunan (1989:8)(5) Tasks are activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome.--Willis (1996:23)Summary about a definition of a taskTask means the hundred and one things people do in a real life. It has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedures/process; based on a range of outcomes the learners undertake the task. It focused on meaning rather than form in a real context through comprehending, manipulating, producing, interacting, the process of thoughts in pairs or groups. The product can be observable in the oral way or written form.3. Four components of a taskA purposeA context•A process:•A product:•E.g., Going shopping•Look at Mary’s shopping list. Then look at Susan’s list of items in Susan’s store.(1) Mary’s shopping list:Orange, eggs, flour, powdered milk （奶粉）biscuits, jam.(2) Susan’s store:bread, salt, apples, Coca Cola, tins of fish, flour, chocolate, sugar, biscuits, powdered milk, dried beans.( requirements) Work with a partner one person be Mary and the other be Susan. Make a conversation like this:•Mary: Good morning, do you have any flour?•Susan: Yes, I do.•Or•Mary: Good morning, do you have any jam?•Susan: No, I am sorry. I do not have any.real-life tasks•Purpose: used to communicate, message delivering and problem-solving•Content for activity is a kind of contextualized, whole and authentic language materials •Teaching principles for implementation based on task.1. Meaning and form 形式与意义结合2. Recycling (在某时间段内或材料内，不断复现知识）循环性原则3. Learning by doing (active learning, accommodation some experience, individual learning, reproduction 模仿to creation)做中学原则4. Scaffolding (help, aid)扶助性原则6. Components(组)成(部)分of TBL Framework•.①Pre-task: introduction to topic and task•.②Task, Planning, Report•.③Language focus: Analysis and practice•7. Types of tasks•1. Jigsaw tasks (拼图任务）：•2. Information-gap tasks（信息差）：•3. Problem-solving tasks（解决问题）：4. Opinion exchange tasks/sharing personal experience (交换观点型）•5. Decision-making tasks（选择决定性）：•6. Memory-challenge tasks（挑战记忆型）•7. Listing8. Ordering and sorting•9. Comparing•10. Creative tasksForms for activity are used to give an analysis, reasoning, discussions, associations and the like •Results for activity are both language forms or non-language forms, eg. Tables and graphs. Every group can have a different result. It is meaning- focused•Forms for activity are to fill in the forms, rewrite, translate, check their answers by the students on their owns•Result for activity is form-oriented and consistency 一致性or only one answer is correct••learner rely on their own linguistic resources•Supplying a genuine need to communicate•Genuine purpose•A free exchange of ideas summarizing learner’s achievements•To consider appropriateness and accuracy of language form•Provide a context for grammar teaching and•The context is already established by the task itself•The process is used to encourage students to think and analyze•Students are free to ask about something they notice•TBLT cycle leads from fluency to accuracy•In TBL，all four skills are naturally integrated, PPP only provides an example for grammar and form-focused lessons. It needs to be supplemented (补充) by skills lessons to give learners practice in listening and reading and more exposure to language.Teachers and students interact with each other, using tasks as the interface between them. Social interactionism holds the view that learning occurs through social interaction within a social environment.TBLT provides settings and opportunities for autonomous-learning, research-oriented learning and co-operative learning, which will promote all-round development of students’ ability and lay a solid foundation for life-long learning.Disadvantages and problems in employing TBLT1) The tasks or questions chosen in task-based or procedural syllabus are lack ofconvincible foundation or criterion.2) TBLT can’t tell the inner relationship between certain activities and learners’ currentneeds.3) Before the task begins, if teachers don’t explain any concerned lang uage knowledge,learners will have many language obstacles when they carry on the task.4) Because the time for task performance is limited and at the same time students willhave to accomplish the task within the time frame, students tend to neglect thelanguage forms and they will heavily depend on the communicative strategy.5) TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative on the part of the teacher.6) It is very difficult to ensure the systematisation and sequence of tasks, for example,the grading and coherence of the task7) Sometimes, the classroom is difficult to control, so it looks like chaos.8) Evaluation of TBLT can be difficult. Traditional discrete-point achievement tests areoften not a good measure of assessing learners’ language achievement that isacquired in TBLT.Solutions to the problems1) Scientific groupingOur classroom English teaching is on a small scale. That is to say, when the Englishclass comes, the original natural class will be divided into two small sections. Suchclass division will be good for teachers to monitor learners’ classroom activities and good for learners to have more chances in the use of the target language.2) Integrated assessmentIn traditional examination, we often design listening test and written work. However,this is not enough or fair to a learner’s assessment. In TBLT, we focus on the development ofa learner’s integrated qualities. It is very necessary to design a few oral tests besides writtentests.teaching process.3) More out-of-class activitiesTBLT heavily focuses on the individual creativity and the cooperation of the group. Ifwe often hold such out-of-class activities as English corner, English drama, Englishstory-telling etc, a student’s timidness or shyness will disappear and they can take what theyhave learned to the classroom.4) Ideas sharingTeachers who teach in the same grade prepare a teaching plan together in order to settlethe problems when they meet the difficulty.5) Full use of school recoursesActually the school facilities will affect whether the teaching and learning succeed ornot. The multi-media classroom not only optimises the teaching process in TBLT, but alsosaves time so that learners can have greater space and more time to consider and carry outthe classroom activities.6) Developing the teacher’s qualitiesTBLT requires teachers much more, including a high level of teaching skill and subject knowledge. In TBLT, we have to focus on the meaningful English communication, ratherthan language form. TBLT requires teachers so much so that they should have strongerlistening and oral competence.7) Transfer from CAIn the past 10 years, we have used Communicative Approach (CA) in ELT. Each of ushas successful experience. TBLT belongs to CA category. We advocate making a gooddistinction among them and try to use the experience available in TBLT.8) Learning from the experts or colleagues。
