taking task-based learning online
TRANSCRIPT
Taking task-based learning onlineNeil Anderson / Neil McCutcheon
English Australia EdTech SIG conference 2021
Why TBL?
● A communicative framework
● Supported by SLA theory
● Authenticity
● FonF (varied)
● Task repetition
Some experienced teachers are used to…. controlling learner language in order to avoid mistakes.
TBLT requires a willingness to surrender some of that control.
Dave Willis
A task-based methodology is based on the belief that out of fluency comes accuracy, and that learning is prompted and refined by the need to communicate. Dave Willis
Characteristics of a task:
• primary focus on meaning not form
• students’ own linguistic resources
• goal or outcome, based on...
• …a gap: need or desire to share information
For example...
A: “Talk to your partners about the weekend. Use be going to.”
B: “In pairs, plan a weekend doing things you’ve never done in Budapest. Present this to the class - listen and decide whose weekend you would like to join.”
Some sample task types:
- Listing / Ranking:
- Problem-solving:
- Opinion Gap:
- Information Gap:
- Sharing experiences:
- Creative Tasks:
e.g. list and then agree on your most hated domestic chores
e.g. allocate lottery money to improve your school
e.g. plan an ideal meal that shows off your country’s cuisine
e.g. read different news stories. Share them. Which one is fake?
e.g. discuss summer holidays from childhood. Similar or different?
e.g. listen to this soundtrack. Now design the movie.
Reminder: lesson is centred around task and its completion, not the use of particular forms
The task cycle:
Taking the task cycle online:
Three Jamboard examples:
Domestic Robot (listing / ranking; pyramid discussion)
The National Banquet (opinion gap)
Post-pandemic Travellers (listing / opinion gap / information gap)
