Although most everyone would like to know multiple languages, there’s a perfectly good reason most don’t ever achieve that goal – learning a new language is exceptionally difficult. Many young people put in years of study as kids and young adults only to later find that whatever basic skills they had once attained in the classroom have evaporated over time. Consider the following example.
Misha, a young junior executive at a marketing firm, is approached by her boss. He says, “Misha, I had the HR Department review everyoneโs CV and they told me that you took Spanish for a few years in college. We need to send someone to Ecuador next month to meet with a local oil company there. Can I count on you?”
Misha flashes back to her classes and remembers that the Spanish word for “shoe” is for some reason masculine and that in Spanish roosters say “ยกKikirikรญ!” instead of “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” Nothing else springs to mind.
“Um, boss,” she says. “Let me get back to you on that.”
Unfortunately, Misha’s experience with foreign language classes is all too common. Though well-intentioned, many classes put too much emphasis on complicated grammar structures and archaic literature and vocabulary. When you’re trying to get around in a foreign country, what is going to be more important – knowing the pluperfect tense of the word “govern” or knowing how to tell a taxi driver to take you to the airport?
There is, however, one foreign language teaching methodology that aims to eliminate all the fluff and give students tools to actually communicate and get things done, and that is the aptly named Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) system.
TBLT is all about real-world skills, whether your world is a university abroad or a foreign office. TBLT is much more than just memorizing phrases for common situations, as this methodology puts a premium on developing real communication skills and collaborating with others in order to complete a task.
Typical Lesson
Adult Business English class for native Romanian speakers
- Topic: Job Interview
- Pre-Task Preparation
The teacher leads a group discussion about how one-on-one interviews are usually conducted, asking students about their own good and bad experiences with job interviews. The teacher may share interview-related vocabulary words via a PowerPoint presentation or hand-outs, then discuss common interview questions in English-speaking countries and how they may be different than in Romania.
- One-on-one Interview Practice
Students are paired up as interviewer and interviewee for a potential job. They are to simulate a professional interview in English as realistically as possible, then provide feedback on how each person did. The roles are then reversed and another mock interview is conducted.
- Group Feedback Session
Students return to the group and discuss what went well and what could have gone better. The teacher comments on positive things students did during the mock interviews.
Role of the Teacher
The teacher has a dual role with TBLT, as they must not only provide students with the specific language skills they’ll need to complete the task, but also serve as a sort of cultural guide. The bulk of discussion and communication should be student-student, but the teacher also needs to help steer the direction of the class and make sure that everyone stays on-topic. Positive feedback is important, as is encouraging students to push past hesitancy and fear of making mistakes in order to accomplish the task.
Positives
- Encourages critical thinking in addition to language skills;
- Authentic and dynamic practice;
- Prepares students and gives them confidence to handle real-world situations.
Negatives
- Lack of focus on grammar and writing skills;
- Assessments can be subjective and a group may fail to complete a task because of non-language related issues, such as poor organization, time management, etc.;
- Though younger students usually enjoy these types of activities, they usually require much more teacher intervention;
- Does not usually prepare students well for most standardized tests at the high school level.
Final Thoughts
TBLT is all about communicating and getting things done, and if your goal is acquiring functional foreign language skills, those are really two of the best abilities you could ask for. In the right contexts, especially Business English and with adult learners, TBLT has significant advantages, and even younger ages will benefit from (and enjoy) occasional task-based learning activities
