What do you mean by ‘Task Based Language Teaching’? How can you use this to develop English Skills?

 “Task Based language Teaching” refers to the system where the language is acquired through practice. Teacher sets various types of tasks to the students, where they can find the opportunity to use the language either orally or in writing. Teachers ask our students to do something in class which they would do in everyday life using their newly learned language. Participation of the student in various task based activities will make the students active and a feeling of success. This will help the students to enjoy the class and give them a feeling of satisfaction.

The teacher can set various types of works to the students- activity in which students use language to achieve a specific outcome. He can set task on alphabets, literature, language, composition, vocabulary and so on. In other words, language learning task is an exercise which causes anything that a pupil might be asked to do in order to practice, learn, revise, test etc. The tasks will generate their own language and create an opportunity for language acquisition. The characteristics of language learning task are as follows:

(1)The learner must attain a task that has coherence and a unity for learning (a beginning/middle and end). A great linguistic planning is required in this regard.

(2)The learner must attain a task that has meaning and purpose.

(3) The learner must attain a task that has clear language learning goals.

(4)The learner must attain a task that involves learner activity.

(5) The learner must attain a task that is productive in the complete sense of learning units and linguistic achievements. 
(6) The learner must attain a task that must be supported by teachers as well as parents.

(7)The learner must attain as high a degree as possible of linguistic competence. That is, he must develop skill in manipulating the linguistic system, to the point where he can use it spontaneously and flexibly in order to express his intended message.

(8)The learner must distinguish between the forms he has mastered as part of his linguistic competence, and the communicative functions which they perform. In other words, items mastered as part of a linguistic system must also be understood as part of a communicative system.

(9)The learner must develop skills and strategies for using language to communicate meaning as effectively as possible in concrete situations. He must learn to use feedback to judge his success, and, if necessary, remedy failure by using different language.

(10)The learner must become aware of the social meaning of language forms. For many learners, this may not entail the ability to vary their own speech to suit different social circumstances, but rather the ability to use generally acceptable forms and avoid potentially offensive ones.

Each task will be organized in the following way:

Pre-task activity , an introduction to topic and task

Task cycle: Task > Planning > Report> Language Focus and Feedback

A balance should be kept between fluency, which is what the task provides, and accuracy, which is provided by task feedback. The main advantages of Task Based language Teaching are that language is used for a genuine purpose meaning that real communication should take place, and that at the stage where the learners are preparing their report for the whole class, they are forced to consider language form in general rather than concentrating on a single form Task Based language teaching can be used to develop vocabulary. 

For example, the teacher can set the following task to develop vocabulary:

I. Fill in with words of similar categories.

II. Use “less” and form the opposites of the following words.

III.Arrange the letters to form words.

IV. Form  words from the  puzzle.

For example, the teacher can set the following task to develop grammar:

I. Fill in with suitable forms of verbs.

II. Transformation of words.

III.Arrange the phrases to form sentences.

IV. Form correct sentences from the  incorrect ones.

For example, the teacher can set the following task to develop writing skills:

I. Writing letters, processes, paragraphs, notices etc.

II. Use “less” and form the opposites of the following words.

III. Project based works on literature.

 

Ardhendu De