1. Task-based language education:From theory to practice… and back again
Kris Van den Branden
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

2. TBLT on Google Task: 275.000.000 hits Task-based: 1.320.000 hits
Task-based language: hits
Task-based language teaching:
Task-based language education:

3. “Task” as a crucial concept in…
Theories of language learning
SLA research
The theory and practice of language education
The assessment of language proficiency/skills
Real life

4. Defining “task”
“… by ‘task’ is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between. ‘Tasks’ are the things people will tell you they do if you ask them and they are not applied linguists” (Long, 1985: 89)

5. Target tasks and pedagogic tasks
Pedagogic tasks as increasingly complex approximations of target tasks (Long, 1996; Long and Norris, 2000)
Example: Following street directions
Listen to fragments of elaborated descriptions while tracing them on a very simple 2-D map.
Virtual reality map task. Using video from the target location and audio of the target discourse, complete a simulation of the target task.
(Long, 2007: 129)

6. Target tasks and pedagogic tasks
Tasks should result in a kind of language use that resembles that in the outside world (Ellis, 2003)
Work with three other students. You are on a ship that is sinking. You have to swim to a nearby island. You have a waterproof container, but can only carry 20 kilos of items in it. Decide which of the following items you will take (Remember, you can’t take more than 20 kilos with you)

7. Target tasks and pedagogic tasks
Tasks should give rise to a number of interactional and cognitive processes, believed to enhance language learning
Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996: ):
”... negotiation for meaning, and especially negotiation work that triggers interactional adjustments by the NS or the more competent interlocutor, facilitates acquisition because it connects input, internal learner capacities, particularly selective attention, and output in productive ways”
---- Jigsaw tasks/Information gap tasks

8. Target tasks and pedagogic tasks
Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1985, 1995): production of L2 output --- collaborative speaking and writing tasks, group work/pair work
Cognitive psychology (e.g. DeKeyser, 2001; Schmidt, 1998; Robinson, 2001; Skehan, 1998; Doughty and Williams, 1998): conscious noticing and analyzing L2 forms input enhancement, focus on form, error correction, explicit teaching

9. Methodological principles for TBLT
1 Use tasks, not texts, as the unit of analysis
2 Promote learning by doing
3 Elaborate input
4 Provide rich input
5 Encourage inductive learning
6 Focus on form
7 Provide negative feedback
8 Respect learner syllabuses/develop-mental processes
9 Promote collaborative learning
10 Individualize instruction
(Doughty and Long, 2003)

10. Two questions
To what extent can we expect these cleverly designed tasks to elicit the same kind of interactional work and cognitive processing in authentic classrooms?
To what extent do these cleverly designed tasks really promote the students’ ability to use the target language outside the classroom?

11. Teachers working with tasks
Language teachers are “active, thinking decision-makers who make instructional choices by drawing on complex, practically-oriented, personalized, and context-sensitive networks of knowledge, thoughts and beliefs” (Borg, 2003: 81)

12. Putting principles to work…
3 Elaborate input
4 Provide rich input
Teachers reducing task complexity, avoiding to confront learners with challenges, with things they haven’t fully acquired yet
In task-supported teaching, “tasks are seen not as a means by which learners acquire new knowledge or restructure their interlanguages but simply as a way by which learners can activate their existing knowledge of the L2 by developing fluency” (Ellis, 2003: 30)

13. Putting principles to work
2 Promote learning by doing
8 Respect learner syllabuses/developmental processes
9 Promote cooperative/collaborative learning
Teachers’ need to maintain control
An example: Radio Tika task (cf. Berben, Van den Branden & Van Gorp, 2007)

14. Radio Tika
Create a radio news bulletin, using Dutch (main medium of instruction) and other languages
3 primary school teachers were videotaped
Grade 6, children aged 12, multilingual classes
Result: three different activities

15. Radio Tika: 3 versions L1? Topic control? Explicit teaching?
Freedom for students
Teacher 1 No
+++
+/-
Teacher 2 ++
Yes +
Teacher 3

16. Putting principles to work
6 Focus on form
7 Provide negative feedback
Poor integration of focus on form in meaningful activity
Inconsistent feedback and error correction behaviour

17. The same task? Teachers reconstruct a given task, based on
Their cognitions on language education
Their personal needs, skills, and teaching style
The context in which they operate
Their perceptions of their students
= Turning tasks into personal task intentions (“intended tasks”)

18. Task motivation (Dörnyei, 2002)
Task motivation is influenced by:
Learner characteristics
Features of the task
Learning environment
Learner’s task-related beliefs
Expectancy of successful task completion (“expected task”)
Personal goal setting (“intended task”)

19. A process-oriented model of task motivation
Preactional stage
- setting goals that are worthwhile to pursue
- perceiving the task as a reasonable challenge (goal can be reached, gap can be bridged)
Actional stage:
- maintaining task motivation through action-control processes
Postactional stage:
- evaluating past experiences
- determining future activities
(Dörnyei, 2002)

20. School effectiveness research
Teachers tailor their instructional practices to their perception of the academic level of the group of students.
“This refers to the concept of ‘didactic fit’: adjustment of curriculum, learning materials, method of instruction, effective learning time, assessment, etc. to the ability level of the class (Dar & Resh, 1986, 1994). In most classes, the content and pace of teaching are geared to the middle level of ability in that class. In lower classes, there is a more limited academic focus, poor use of instructional time and a reduced opportunity to learn…” ( De Fraine et al., 2002: 424)

21. Overt and covert task activity
Underneath the actual verbal exchange lies a particularly strong current of highly personalised non-verbal mental activity: task intentions and assessments influence task activity, and vice versa
Task intentions, expectations and actions are fed by previous experiences and beliefs
One person’s task perceptions and actions can have a strong impact on interlocutors’ task perceptions and actions, and on the earning potential of the task
The need for classroom-based, process-oriented research to explore these issues
Teachers’ crucial role in TBLT

22. High-quality interaction
Interactional support
Integrated in functional tasks
In line with student’s task intentions
Linked with students’ current behaviour, needs and level
Assigning active role to student and promoting active thinking
Differentiated
Learning is
Situated
Goal-directed
Cumulative
Constructive
Cognitive
Individually different
(De Corte et al, 2003)

23. Making interactional decisions
Teacher intuition estimating effect sizes:
If learner(s) exhibit behaviour X, and my reaction is Y, what will be the effect on:
- the process of task performance (estimate based on analysis of ongoing process)
- the product(s) coming out of task performance (based on comparison between task goals and current product)
- language learning (based on knowledge of curriculum goals (target tasks) and knowledge of how language learning comes about)

24. Training teachers Explicit teaching won’t suffice
A need for intensive and sustained support
Communication and support networks
Providing teacher aids
Creating favourable conditions
Promoting and supporting teachers’ professional development

25. Teacher training Task-based as well…
Training in real operating conditions
Alernating action and reflection
Cf. Van den Branden, 2006

26. Cycle of reflection (Korthagen, 1993)
Classroom experience
Reflection (detailed analysis)
Raising essential aspects of current and previous classroom experiences to consciousness
Searching for alternatives
Trying new ideas out in new classroom experiences

27. Different worlds? Lack of empirical research
Task-based language assessment
Studies of SLA/FLA in naturalistic settings
Second language studies
Study abroad (foreign language students)

28. Integrating the two worlds
Creating favourable conditions for real-world L2 use in the classroom and for building self-confidence
Training communication strategies
Assignments with native speakers
Integrated language learning, e.g.:
Vocational training
School-based training
Through the use of multimedia

29. Conclusions
“If task-based teaching is to make the shift from theory to practice it will be necessary to go beyond the psycholinguistic rationale (…) and to address the contextual factors that ultimately determine what materials and procedures teachers choose.” (Ellis, 2003: 337).
Towards a process-oriented approach to classroom-based research and teacher training
Focus on people, on how they interact during task performance, rather than on tasks alone

30. References
Berben, M., Van den Branden, K., & Van Gorp, K. (2007). “We’ll see what happens.” Tasks on paper and tasks in a multilingual classroom. In K. Van den Branden, K. Van Gorp & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in Action. Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp ). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36,
De Corte, E., Verschaffel, L., Entwhistle, N., & Van Merriënboer, J. (eds.) (2003). Powerful learning environments: Unravelling basic components and dimensions. Oxford: Pergamon.
De Fraine, B., J. Van Damme, & P. Onghena, (2002). Accountability of schools and teachers: what should be taken into account? In: European Educational Research Journal,
DeKeyser, R. (2001). Automaticity and automatization. In P. Robinson (ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp ). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dörnyei, Z. (2002). The motivational basis of language learning tasks. In P. Robinson (ed.), Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning (pp ). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Doughty, C., & Long, M. (2003). Optimal psycholinguistic environments for distance foreign language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 7,
Doughty, C., & Williams, J. (1998). Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Korthagen, F. (1993). Het logboek als middel om reflectie door a.s. leraren te bevorderen. VELON Tijdschrift, 15, 27-34
Long, M. (1985). A role for instruction in second language acquisition: Task-based language teaching. In K. Hylstenstam & M. Pienemann (eds.), Modelling and assessing second language acquisition (pp ). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Long, M. (1996), The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition, in W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (eds.), Handbook of Language Acquisition. Vol. 2: Second Language Acquisition (pp ). New York: Academic Press.
Long, M. (2007). Problems in SLA. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Long, M., & Norris, J. (2000). Task-based teaching and assessment. In M. Byram (ed.), Encyclopedia of language teaching (pp ). London: Routledge.

31. References (continued)
Robinson, P. (ed.) (2001). Cognition and second language instruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmidt, R. (1998). The centrality of attention in SLA. In J. Brown (ed.), University of Hawai’i Working Papers in ESL, 16, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.
Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3-32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. Gass & C. Madden (eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition (pp ). Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.
Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In: G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (eds.), Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics: Studies in Honour of H.G. Widdowson. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Van den Branden, K. (2006). Task-based language teaching: from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.