What is Task-Based Learning (TBL)? - How to make lessons more interesting

What is ELT?

22 Oct 201805:08

Summary

TLDRThis video by Andrea explores Task-Based Learning (TBL), a teaching approach where students engage in real-life tasks to learn language. It outlines stages of TBL, including pre-task preparation, task performance, and post-task evaluation, emphasizing clear objectives, measurable outcomes, and holistic language use. Tips are provided for effective TBL implementation.

Takeaways

📚 Task-Based Learning (TBL) involves completing meaningful tasks that resemble real-life situations.
🎬 Examples of tasks include creating a marketing campaign, making a YouTube video, or writing a film review.
🎯 Tasks in TBL should have a clear purpose, focusing on the meaning and ideas conveyed rather than the language form.
📈 Measurable outcomes are crucial; tasks should result in a tangible product, like a completed YouTube video.
🔍 The lesson is typically broken down into stages: pre-task, preparation, task performance, and post-task.
🤔 The pre-task stage involves raising interest and preparing students for the task.
📚 During preparation, students focus on content and language needed for the task, with an emphasis on holistic language use.
🎥 Task performance involves breaking down the task into smaller parts, such as deciding on a topic, outlining, scripting, and rehearsing.
📊 Post-task involves evaluating and assessing students' work, with feedback on both linguistic performance and task completion.
👩‍🏫 The teacher's role is to monitor, support, and collect information for feedback during the task performance.
📝 Tips for successful TBL include ensuring tasks trigger genuine communication, planning adequate time for each stage, and anticipating content and language problems.

Q & A

What is the main focus of task-based learning (TBL)?
-Task-based learning focuses on completing meaningful tasks that resemble real-life situations, helping students focus on the meaning and ideas they are conveying rather than just the language form.
Why is it important for tasks in TBL to have a clear purpose?
-A clear purpose helps students concentrate on the meaning and ideas they are conveying, rather than just the language they are using, making the learning experience more meaningful.
What is the measurable outcome in TBL?
-A measurable outcome means that by the end of the lesson, students should have completed a task, such as a YouTube video, ready to share with their peers and the teacher.
What are the stages of a TBL lesson?
-A TBL lesson is usually broken down into stages including the pre-task, preparation, task performance, and post-task phases, each aiming to help students perform the tasks more confidently.
What happens during the pre-task stage in TBL?
-In the pre-task stage, the teacher raises students' interest in the topic and helps them prepare to perform the task, focusing on content and language needed.
How should language preparation be approached in TBL?
-Language preparation in TBL should not focus on discrete language items but rather a more holistic view of the language needed to successfully perform the task.
What is the role of the teacher during the task performance stage in TBL?
-The teacher's role during the task performance stage is to monitor, provide support, and collect information that might be useful for feedback given in the post-task phase.
What should be the focus of feedback in TBL?
-Feedback in TBL should not only be on the linguistic performance of the students but also on the completion of the task as a whole.
What are some tips for implementing TBL effectively?
-Tips include ensuring tasks trigger genuine communication, planning appropriate time for task preparation and feedback, and anticipating problems related to content and language.
Why is it important to compare students' work with real-life situations in TBL?
-Comparing students' work with real-life situations helps make the tasks more relevant and engaging, enhancing the learning experience.
How can teachers prepare for a TBL lesson?
-Teachers can prepare for a TBL lesson by anticipating problems related to content and language, planning the appropriate amount of time for each stage, and ensuring tasks are similar to real-life situations.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Task-Based Learning: Enhancing Classroom Engagement

In this video script, Andrea introduces the concept of Task-Based Learning (TBL), emphasizing its role in making language learning more engaging and practical. TBL involves students completing real-life tasks, such as creating marketing campaigns or making YouTube videos, which have clear purposes and measurable outcomes. The lesson is structured into stages: pre-task to raise interest and prepare students, task preparation focusing on content and language, task performance with tasks broken down into manageable parts, and post-task for evaluation and feedback. Andrea also highlights the teacher's role in monitoring, supporting, and providing feedback during these stages. Additionally, she offers tips for effective TBL, such as ensuring tasks trigger genuine communication, planning adequate time for the lesson cycle, and anticipating content and language problems.

05:00

🎬 Performing Classics: Not Just a Task

This paragraph briefly mentions the distinction between activities that are not tasks and those that qualify as tasks in the context of Task-Based Learning. It suggests that while discussing topics like global warming is not a task, designing a plan to reduce carbon emissions at the workplace is. The emphasis is on tasks that require students to engage in meaningful, real-life problem-solving activities rather than mere discussions or passive activities.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Task-Based Learning (TBL)

Task-Based Learning (TBL) is an approach to teaching where learning occurs through completing meaningful tasks that resemble real-life activities. This method emphasizes the use of tasks such as creating a marketing campaign or making a YouTube video, helping students focus on the purpose and meaning of communication rather than just language form. In the video, TBL is introduced as a way to make lessons more engaging and practical.

💡Pre-task Stage

The Pre-task Stage is the initial phase in a TBL lesson where the teacher engages students' interest in the topic and prepares them for the task. This preparation involves focusing on the content and language needed to perform the task. The video describes this stage as crucial for building a foundation, using activities like watching related YouTube videos to understand the characteristics of a successful video.

💡Measurable Outcome

A Measurable Outcome refers to a specific, observable result that students should achieve by the end of the task. In TBL, this means that tasks must have clear, concrete goals, such as producing a YouTube video ready to share. The video emphasizes the importance of having measurable outcomes to ensure that students have a tangible product to show for their efforts.

💡Holistic Language Preparation

Holistic Language Preparation involves preparing students to use language in a comprehensive and meaningful way, rather than focusing on discrete language items. In the context of TBL, this preparation is about helping students communicate effectively during the task. The video explains that in the preparation stage, students should understand the overall use of language needed for their tasks, such as identifying successful elements of a YouTube video.

💡Real-life Situations

Real-life Situations in TBL are tasks that mimic scenarios students might encounter outside the classroom. This approach aims to trigger genuine communication and practical language use. The video contrasts talking about global warming (not a task) with designing a plan to reduce carbon emissions at the workplace (a task), highlighting the importance of real-world relevance.

💡Feedback

Feedback in TBL is provided after the task and should address both linguistic performance and task completion. Effective feedback helps students understand their strengths and areas for improvement. The video discusses the teacher's role in giving feedback that includes error correction, language expansion, and evaluation of the task's success, such as comparing their YouTube videos with others.

💡Post-task Phase

The Post-task Phase is the final stage in a TBL lesson where students receive feedback and reflect on their performance. This phase is essential for consolidating learning and addressing any issues that arose during the task. In the video, this phase includes evaluating students' YouTube videos, providing feedback, and carrying out error correction.

💡Teacher's Role

The Teacher's Role in TBL involves monitoring, supporting, and providing feedback throughout the task. Teachers guide students through the different stages of the lesson, ensuring they are on track and helping them overcome challenges. The video highlights the teacher's responsibility to collect useful information for feedback and to facilitate effective learning.

💡Task Design

Task Design in TBL refers to the process of creating meaningful and engaging tasks that promote learning. Good task design should involve clear purposes, real-life relevance, and measurable outcomes. The video illustrates this with examples like creating a marketing campaign or making a YouTube video, emphasizing the importance of designing tasks that students find relevant and motivating.

💡Preparation Stage

The Preparation Stage is a phase where students get ready to perform the task by focusing on necessary content and language. This stage involves activities that help students understand what they need to do and how to do it. The video describes this stage as crucial for setting students up for success, using activities like brainstorming and scriptwriting for a YouTube video.

Highlights

Fast-paced learning is an approach to teaching where learning takes place through the completion of meaningful tasks resembling real life.

In task-based learning (TBL), learners can be asked to perform tasks such as creating a marketing campaign, making a YouTube video, or writing a film review.

Tasks in TBL should have a clear purpose to help students focus on the meaning and ideas they are conveying.

All tasks in TBL should have a measurable outcome, such as a completed YouTube video at the end of the lesson.

The lesson in TBL is usually broken down into different stages to help students perform the tasks more confidently.

The first stage in TBL is the pre-task, where the teacher raises students' interest in the topic and helps them prepare to perform the task.

In the preparation stage, students focus on the content and language they need to perform the task, with a holistic view rather than discrete language items.

For example, students preparing a YouTube video can watch successful videos and list characteristics that make a video successful.

The task performance stage involves breaking the task down into smaller parts, such as deciding on the topic, brainstorming ideas, outlining, writing a script, and rehearsing.

After the task is performed, it's time to evaluate and assess students' work, giving feedback not only on linguistic performance but also on the completion of the task as a whole.

The teacher's role in TBL is to monitor, provide support, and collect information for feedback during the post-task phase.

Feedback in TBL should include error correction, language expansion, and work on language that emerged during task performance.

Tasks in TBL need to trigger genuine communication, making sure they are similar to real-life situations.

Planning the appropriate amount of time for students to prepare for the task and perform it is crucial in TBL.

Anticipating problems related to content and language before teaching a TBL lesson helps in being better prepared to give feedback.

In TBL, tasks should have a clear purpose and measurable outcomes, and the teacher's role is crucial in monitoring and providing feedback.

The completion of the task and the linguistic aspect of the task are both important in TBL.

Different stages in TBL help students perform tasks, and merely assigning tasks to students is not enough.