Task Based Learning

Task Based Learning (TBL)
The approach called task based learning is the logical outcome of theories of second language learning associated with the communicative approach. They all underline that there are three essential conditions for second and foreign language learning:    
(1)   Learners need regular exposure to the target language in meaningful social (communicative) contexts. They needa lot of comprehensible language input.
(2)   Learners need frequent opportunity for the active use of the target language in communicative situations. They must learn to produce comprehensible output.
(3)   Learners need a strong motivation for language learning for else they will not make the long and sustained efforts needed for coming to grips with the lexical and grammatical system of thetarget language.
Compared to these three essential conditions instruction (explicit rule teaching) is not essential. It may help, however, if the instruction is well timed in form and content to help a learner take the next step in her/his language acquisition process.
The tacit model of task based learning are second language acquisition processes supported by instruction in a target languageenvironment. In such an environment learners are constantly faced with many practical tasks which they must learn to cope with for ’survival purposes’. That is a strong learning motivation and forces them to focus attention on linguistic forms and their social (communicative) function (meaning).
In FLT, which takes place in a first language cultural and linguistic environment and under extremetime limits, there are no equivalent learning conditions. The challenge is, therefore, to find near equivalents to real world tasks and to provide learners with the kind of linguistic input and learning objects as well as feed back which put them in a position to (a) create their own hypotheses on the meaning and function of the lexico-grammatical forms of the target language, and (b) criticallycheck if their hypotheses are correct or need to be amended. The magical trick is to manoeuvre learners into a situation in which they feel like saying something and in which what they want to say requires the use of exactly those lexico-grammatical forms which the syllabus prescribes they should learn to use. In classrooms that creates many practical problems and has, in reality, led to comprisesolutions which combine a basically form focused grading of course content with its methodological presentation and practice in real or simulated task based activities. (In German this method is called handlungsorientiertes Lernen).
TBL has also boosted a call for promoting learning strategies because learning how to learn is more important from that perspective than a docile memorizing of longlists of vocabulary, rules of grammar and tables with declensions and conjugations. This comes across vividly if we look at the table of contents of the latest generation of FLT textbooks which feature a separate column on ‘learning strategies’ in addition to the three traditional columns (structures, themes, speech intentions).
Compared to traditional form oriented approaches which divide thelearning process into the three phases presentation – practice – production (the PPP-Model), in TBL the role of the teacher changes from that of an instructor and prosecutor of errors to that of a supporter and inventor of tasks which her/his learners enjoy doing. It proved useful to divide the learning process in TBL in three phases: The pre-task phase, the the doing of the task, and the post-taskphase. Taken together they form a task cycle. The major role (task) of the teacher changes from phase to phase. It also has a different focus in work with beginners than in work with advanced students.
In a first language environment, which is typical of FLT, the major task of the teacher in the pre-task phase is to find language materials (texts, videos, tapes, etc.) which are (a) from a...