About TBLT

(Task Based Language Teaching)

This page contains answers to three common questions, with links to further information

What is Task-Based Language Teaching?

In TBLT the task, or task sequence, is central to the whole teaching unit / work plan. The teacher sets the task goals beforehand and might demonstrate the task. Learners might prepare for the task by thinking of ideas and assembling the words and phrases they may need to express their meanings or to understand what people might say.

Learners do the task as best they can, they share their results, (preferably after planning what to say or write in detail). Either before or after the task they may hear a recording of others doing the same task, or read a relevant text.

In the final stage learners examine the language that has occurred in the task cycle, both spoken and written. With teacher guidance they analyse and process specific linguistic features, identify and practice useful words, phrases, and patterns which they could use in the future. Learners get a far richer diet of language with TBLT. It builds up organically through their course and is recycled naturally in context.

For a concise 15 minute explanation of TBLT by York Fern, a TBL enthusiast, read
Task-Based Learning (TBL) in ELT – Plans, Scenarios & Assessment for TEFL and TESOL.

She offers lots of practical ideas, and a detailed look at lesson planning and task design. Good ideas on picking up on learner language but lacks a systematic way of focusing on form.

Finally for a description of a task-based lesson see Grammar and Lexis in a Task-based Methodology and for Consciousness Raising Activities.

Hear how Jane explains TBL.

For a video of TBL in action in a primary class watch Task Based Language Teaching: A Guide to Authentic Language Learning. Excellent 3.49 minute video showing mainly younger learners with their teachers doing tasks. Lively and informative.

What exactly counts as a ‘task’? How is it different from a traditional language activity?

There are many different definitions of the word ‘task’ in the literature, and these can be confusing. Rather than asking Is this a task? Use this list of criteria for judging how task-like an activity is (from Willis and Willis 2007) .
The more confidently you can answer Yes to each of these questions, the more task-like the activity is likely to be:

a. Will the activity engage learners’ interest?
b. Is there a primary focus on meaning?
c. Is there a goal or an outcome?
d. Is success judged in terms of outcome?
e. Is completion a priority?
f. Does the activity relate to real world activities?

For a detailed explanation of each of these criteria see Hobbs, J. 2011 Practical steps towards task-based teaching (start reading on page 490).

A example of a task sequence could be to plan in detail an end-of term party and then write an invitation to another teacher to join them. For more examples of tasks see Task leading to task in conference presentations.

To summarise

A task is a meaning-focused, goal-oriented communication activity during which learners listen, speak, read or write for a specific purpose. Learners are free to use whatever language they can recall; they are not expected to use any particular language forms. If they achieve the task goal and have an outcome that they can share, they have understood and communicated successfully. If it is a listening or reading task, they may not even have to speak, but just do something e.g. follow the instructions, to achieve the goal.

In TBLT, the focus is on meaningful communication first, and then on language form, so it encourages fluency first, and then accuracy later. Traditional language activities, on the other hand, are designed to practice specific language forms; accuracy is important. Meaning is often a secondary consideration.

I already do tasks in my lessons. Am I doing TBLT?

It depends how you integrate the task in a lesson. If the task comes early on before a tight focus on language form, and if you encourage learners to feel free to use any language they can recall to get their meanings across, then probably yes! But if the task comes after a focus on specific linguistic features and/or grammar practice, then you might just be doing task-supported language teaching (TSLT).

This is how we explained it in our new Framework for TBLT book. ‘These days, many teachers use communicative tasks in their lessons. Coursebooks often feature ‘tasks’, but the way in which they are implemented may not actually reflect the principles of TBLT. If these tasks come towards the end of a lesson or unit, at some point after the introduction of ‘new’ language, their main aim is often to give learners a chance to practice and reinforce the new language taught in the unit. This is now referred to as task-supported language teaching (TSLT) as it rests on the same behaviourist principles as PPP and the problems are similar. Speaking tasks are often designed to test whether students have mastered the previously taught language. So the focus is often still mainly on language form, rather than meaning’ (FTBLT p.182 ).