1. CONTENT BASED TASK BASED & PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES
LING 306 TEFL METHODOLOGY
CONTENT BASED
TASK BASED
&
PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES

2. CONTENT-BASED, TASK-BASED, AND PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES1
giving priority to process over predetermined linguistic content 2
Students ‘use English to learn it’, rather than ‘learning to use English; teaching through communication, rather than for it 3
Difference – their focus

3. CONTENT BASED INSTRUCTION
For years, specialised language courses have included content relevant to a particular profession or academic discipline, e.g., for airline pilots, medical practitioners, lawyers
It integrates the learning of language with the learning of some other content, often academic subject matter – academic subjects provide natural content for language instruction
Motivated “language across the curriculum” movement for native speakers in England
Snow (1991) referred the approach as “a method with many faces”

4. CONTENT-BASED APPROACH - MODELS
LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM
ADJUNCT MODEL
SHELTERED INSTRUCTION
COMPETENCY-BASED INSTRUCTION

5. CONTENT BASED APPROACH
In a second language environment, it offers the significant advantage that second language students do not have to postpone their academic study until their language reaches a high level
Competency-based instruction – an effective form of content-based instruction for adult immigrants – offers an opportunity to develop their language skills and vital ‘life-coping’ skills

6. CONTENT-BASED APPROACH - PHILOSOPHY
Uses the WHOLE LANGUAGE APPROACH – calls for language to be regarded holistically rather than by pieces
Claims that students learn best when they are working to understand the meaning of the whole text
Work from top-down – understand the overall text before work on the linguistics forms

7. CONTENT-BASED APPROACH - PHILOSOPHY
Whole language educators provide content-rich curriculum where language and thinking can be about interesting and significant content (Edelsky, Altweger, and Flores 1991)
Errors are seen as part of learning process
Embraces Vygotsky’s idea about social nature of learning – learning is best served by collaboration between teacher and students and among students

8. CONTENT-BASED APPROACH
GOALS OF TEACHERS
give priority to process over predetermined linguistic content
ROLES OF TEACHERS
Assist learners in understanding subject matter
ROLES OF STUDENTS
Study academic subject matters and learn a foreign language
CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
Integrates the learning of language with the learning of some content. Language objectives are dictated by content. Students are engaged in purposeful use of language
NATURE OF STUDENT-TEACHER/STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTION
While completing the academic tasks all interaction types are possible

9. CONTENT-BASED APPROACH
FEELINGS OF STUDENTS
No principles
VIEWS OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Since the purpose is content, it is easier to master the target language
LANGUAGE AREAS
Dictated by texts that are used for content
LANGUAGE SKILLS
All 4 skills
ROLE OF STUDENTS’ NATIVE LANGUAGE
No role for native language
EVALUATION
Evaluated for the content

10. TASK-BASED APPROACH
A task-based approach aims to provide learners with a natural context for language use
As learners work to complete a task, they have abundant opportunity to interact
Learning can be facilitated by the interaction in which learners work to correctly understand others and make themselves understood
Learners will have opportunity to acquire language that beyond their current level and use them later

11. TASK-BASED APPROACH
Prabhu (1987) identified 3 types of tasks: an information-gap activity, an opinion-gap activity, and a reasoning-gap activity (p. 148)
An information-gap activity involves the exchange of information among participants in order to complete a task
An opinion-gap activity requires that students give their personal preferences, feelings, or attitudes in order to complete a task
A reasoning-gap activity requires students to derive some new information by inferring it from information they have been given

12. TASK-BASED APPROACH Prabhu feels that reasoning-gap tasks work best:
Information-gap tasks often require a single step transfer of information, rather than sustained negotiation
Opinion-gap tasks tend to be rather open-ended
Reasoning-gap tasks encourage a more sustained engagement with meaning, though they are still characterized by a somewhat predictable use of language

13. TASK-BASED APPROACH GOALS OF TEACHERS
Provide learners with a natural context for language use
ROLES OF TEACHERS
Acts as counselors and consultants
ROLES OF STUDENTS
Learning language both functionally and linguistically by solving problems with the help of knowledge that students have
CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
Tasks practiced in the classroom have perceived purpose and clear outcome
NATURE OF STUDENT-TEACHER/STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTION
All interaction types are possible – student-student when completing the task, student-teacher when counseling and consulting
FEELINGS OF STUDENTS
Low anxiety and high motivation are vital

14. TASK-BASED APPROACH VIEWS OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Linguistic and cultural knowledge are of great importance
LANGUAGE AREAS
Functional properties of language are stressed
LANGUAGE SKILLS
All skills
ROLE OF NATIVE LANGUAGE
Without simplifying the target language only foreign language is used
EVALUATION
No formal tests but through in class observation and feed back
ERROR CORRECTION
Reformulating and recasting what the students have said
TECHNIQUES
Information, opinion and reasoning gap

15. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH
In some ways the participatory approach is similar to the content approach -
It begins with content that is meaningful to the students
Any forms that are worked upon emerge from that content
Difference – the nature of the content
It is not the content of subject matter texts, but rather content that is based on issues of concern to studen

16. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH - PHILOSOPHY
What happens in the classroom should be connected with what happens outside that has relevance to the students
Education is most effective when it is experience-centred, when it relates to students’ real needs
A goal of the participatory approach is for students to be evaluating their own learning to increasingly direct it themselves
Students are motivated by their personal involvement
Teachers are co-learners, asking questions of the students, who are the experts on their own lives

17. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH - PHILOSOPHY
The curriculum is not a predetermined product, but the result of an ongoing context-specific problem- posing process
Students can create their own materials, which, in turn, can become texts for other students
Focus on linguistic form occurs within a focus on content
Language skills are taught in service of action for change, rather than in isolation
When knowledge is jointly constructed, it becomes a tool to help students find voice and by finding their voices, students can act in the world

18. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH
GOALS OF TEACHERS
Expose language learners to the target language through issues of concern to students
ROLES OF TEACHERS
Conducts the flow of the lesson
ROLES OF STUDENTS
Active participants
CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
Content is determined by learners’ social, cultural and historical background
NATURE OF STUDENT-TEACHER/STUDENT-STUDENT INTERACTION
All types can be observed
FEELINGS OF STUDENTS
Motivated by their personal involvement
VIEW OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
Both go hand in hand

19. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH
LANGUAGE AREAS
Classroom experience and the outside world should be connected
LANGUAGE SKILLS
All skills
ROLE OF NATIVE LANGUAGE
No need for mother tongue
EVALUATION
No formal tests but students are evaluated in ongoing way in the classroom
ERROR CORRECTION
Self-correction
TECHNIQUES
Discussions, debates, and problems posed by the teacher