Page 55 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Task-Based Learning

•the pre-task stage in which the new language is introduced and ex-
plained,
•thetaskstagewherethepupilsperformthetask in pairsorsmallgroups
and prepare a report to the class,
•the language focus stage in which the learners study and practice the
linguistic elements included in the task.

Rather than focusing on selected language forms, the emphasis is on lan-
guage use for authentic, real-world purposes where fluency is more impor-
tant than accuracy. On the other hand, TBL is an attempt to improve the com-
municative approach in the sense that attention is paid also to language,
first by focusing on the language required for the task to be completed in
the pre-task part and then attending to language in the final stage for exam-
ple by finding and classifying common words and phrases (Willis, 1996). The
teacher’s role is to encourage and support the learners by providing the lan-
guage they need to carry out the task. ‘A guiding principle in this approach is
that pupilsaremorelikelyto rememberthelanguagetheyhavedecidedthey
needratherthanthelanguagetheteachershasdecidedtheyneed.’(Brewster
et al., 2002, p. 46). Several types of tasks can be carried out in this way, for ex-
ample, preparing an information booklet with illustrations, carrying out sur-
veys, acting out or recording a story and many others (Brewster et al., 2002).
Thetasksmayinvolveactivities,suchaslisting,categorising,comparing,find-
ing differences and similarities, solving problems (Willis & Willis, 2007).
Some authors have expressed their doubt whether TBL can be applied to
YLs’ levels but we would like to argue that several activities can be modified
to suit YLs. For example, tasks in which pupils have to carry out surveys in
their classrooms in order to find out the opinion of their schoolmates on a
certain topic (e.g. their favourite toy, food, colour etc.) can easily be adapted
for different levels.

Reflection Point
1. Which of the approachesand methodsdiscussed above haspredominated
in your own experience as a learner?
2. WatchhowHerbertPuchta(QRcode)engagesagroupofveryyounglearn-
ers by using an action story and identify the elements of the TPR approach.
3. Discuss the TPR, MI, story-based and task-based approaches consider-
ing the following aspects: teaching focus, communication, pronunciation,
grammar, language skills, error correction, and teacher-student role.
4. Analyse different lessons or lesson plans and discuss which approaches are
used.

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