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Beglar - Hunt - Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching

The document discusses task-based language teaching and different types of syllabuses. It describes analytic syllabuses which focus on real-life communication and the purposes people use language. One type is the task-based syllabus, where tasks provide input and opportunities for meaningful language use. The document also discusses pre-task activities, negotiation of meaning during tasks, and using communication strategies.

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Florencia Martinez
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15 views

Beglar - Hunt - Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching

The document discusses task-based language teaching and different types of syllabuses. It describes analytic syllabuses which focus on real-life communication and the purposes people use language. One type is the task-based syllabus, where tasks provide input and opportunities for meaningful language use. The document also discusses pre-task activities, negotiation of meaning during tasks, and using communication strategies.

Uploaded by

Florencia Martinez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching

Beglar & Hunt


The synthetic syllabus segments the target language into discrete
linguistic items, such as points of grammar, lexical items, and functions. It
assumes that learners will be capable of resynthesizing these discrete
pieces of language into a coherent whole which can then be effectively
utilized in communicative situations.
The analytic syllabus aims to immerse learners in real-life
communication. It provides learners with samples of the target language
which are organized in terms of the purposes for which people use
language. Analytic syllabuses generally represent the educational value
system espoused by progressivism, which stresses the growth and self-
realization of the individual. The most salient characteristics of analytic
syllabuses are: a) concerned with how materials are learned; b) some
degree of negotiation between learners and the teacher occurs; c) the
content is fundamentally defined as what the subject means to the learner
and what the learner brings to the subject in terms of knowledge and
interest; d) assessment is partially decided based on the learners’ own
criteria of success; and e) the instructional situation is far more
cooperative than in more traditional, teacher-fronted classrooms.
One type of analytic syllabus is the task-based syllabus. Tasks
provide input to learners and opportunities for meaningful language use,
both of which are generally considered valuable in promoting language
acquisition. Opportunities for production may force students to pay close
attention to form and to the relationship between form and meaning.
Skehan proposes that a task is an activity in which meaning is primary,
there is a communication problem to solve, and the task is closely related
to real-world activities.
Pre-task activities: essential for providing adequate support to the
learners in their attempt to deal with a series of challenging tasks. In some
cases, new vocabulary, grammar, or knowledge of language functions are
presented in the pre-activities. Another benefit is the activation of
schemata. This can ease the processing load by allowing the learners to
consider ideas about the topic, retrieve relevant information, and organize
their ideas before undertaking the task.
The negotiation of meaning: Tasks that generate negotiation of
meaning appear to be more beneficial for inter-language development.
Engaging in negotiation should produce higher degrees of comprehension
as it will result in more finely tuned input as a result of paraphrasing and
lexical substitution. It should also promote greater flexibility in the
learner’s rule system by encouraging the exploration of new hypotheses
about the structure of the target language.
Communication strategies: Learners should be actively involved in
using communication strategies, such as clarification, confirmation,
comprehension checks, requests, repairing, reacting, and turn taking. The
underlying notion is that opportunities to modify and restructure
interaction until mutual comprehension is reached are what enable
learners to move forward in their interlanguage development.
Contextualized linguistic input: Much, or all, language use occurs
in a natural, communicative context.
Fundamental problems with tasks: Although early empirical
indications support the use of task as an effective way to conceptualize
language teaching, the amount of research is still insufficient. No task-
based program has been implemented and subjected to rigorous
evaluation. Little is known about task “finiteness.” For instance, if
examined carefully, a task is composed of a large number of “microtasks”
which must be successfully accomplished in order to complete the larger
task.
Increasing the focus on form: Skehan notes that there are two
contrasting approaches to using tasks: the first, a structure-oriented
approach, emphasizes form over meaning; the second, a communicatively
oriented approach, focuses very little on form. Skehan argues in favor of
an intermediate approach which strikes a balance between form and
meaning.
A closer analysis of the major tasks: Skehan proposes three
dimensions for the analysis of tasks. The first dimension involves code
complexity (the language required). This includes such factors as
linguistic complexity and variety, vocabulary load and variety, and
redundancy and information density. The second dimension, cognitive
complexity, involves the type of thinking required for the completion of
the task. The first aspect involves the consideration of cognitive
familiarity, which consists of topic familiarity, topic predictability,
familiarity with the discourse genre, and familiarity with the task. The
second, cognitive processing, includes the organization of the information,
the amount of computation necessary, the clarity and sufficiency of the
information provided, and the type of information provided. The third
dimension, communicative stress, takes the following factors into
consideration: time limits and time pressure, the speed of presentation, the
number of participants involved in the task, the length of texts used, the
type of response expected, and the opportunities the learners have to
control the interaction.

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