The Role of Tasks On Second Language Teaching
The Role of Tasks On Second Language Teaching
The Role of Tasks On Second Language Teaching
1. What is a task?
“A task is an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allowed
teachers to control and regulate that process”1.
The use of tasks In second language teaching refers to a language teaching approach (Task based language teaching TBLT ) in which students are
asked to do meaningful activities using the target language. The activities have a relationship to real life / world and focuses on the use of authentic
language to solve some communicative problem, i.e.: drawing geometrical figures following verbal instructions, constructing a floor plan of a house
from a description and positioning hands on a clock to show a given time2.
c) Task based learning gives language learners opportunity to learn vocabulary. Usually teachers explain vocabulary in a pre-task and
learners are not involved, words taught that way are easily forgotten so it is beneficial for the students if the teacher thinks of creative
ways to involve students in the pre-task.
f) Experiential learning: Experiential learning is said to form an important conceptual basis for task-based language teaching. The learners’
immediate personal experience is taken as the starting point in this approach3.
c) Linguistic deficiency: Learners who are beginners with no linguistic resources find it very difficult to take part in a task.
1 Prabhu, N.S. (1987). Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1987
2
RICHARDS, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.235
3 Ganta, T.G. (2015). The strengths and weaknesses of Task-based learning (TBL) approach. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies.
3(16), 2760-2771
Juan Mauricio Giraldo Media-MATEFL
d) Learners’ needs neglected: Most of the language learners have specific needs. People learn a second language or foreign language, so
that it is of some use to them. A new language is learnt for a variety of reasons and not all learners need the same kind of tasks4.
4
Ganta, T.G. (2015). The strengths and weaknesses of Task-based learning (TBL) approach. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies.
3(16), 2760-2771
Juan Mauricio Giraldo Media-MATEFL