Criteria for identifying tasks for TBL

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In this first article I start by looking at what we mean by ‘task'. This will enable us
to identify activities in our textbooks which have most of the characteristics of
tasks. It will also enable us to identify activities which we can adjust and turn into
tasks.

When is an activity not a task?

Task-based teaching is about creating opportunities for meaning-focused
language use.

In other words, learners doing tasks will not just be

speaking to practise a new structure e.g. doing a drill or enacting a dialogue or

asking and answering questions using the ‘new' patterns;
or writing to display their control of certain language items,

These are primarily form-focused activities, designed to practise language items

that have been presented earlier. There is a place for form-focused activities in
task-based learning (TBL), but activities such as these are not tasks.

Learners doing tasks (i.e. focusing on meanings) will be making free use of
whatever English they can recall to express the things that they really want to say
or write in the process of achieving the task goal.

What kind of activity is a task?

Willis and Willis (2007:12-14) offer the following criteria in the form of questions.
‘The more confidently you can answer yes to each of these questions, the more
task-like the activity.

1. Will the activity engage learners' interest?

2. Is there a primary focus on meaning?
3. Is there a goal or an outcome?
4. Is success judged in terms of outcome?
5. Is completion a priority?
6. Does the activity relate to real world activities?'

Let us consider the task ‘Planning a class night out' in the light of these criteria.

I think the lesson would certainly engage my learners' interest, especially if they
knew they would actually be going on the chosen night out, so a) is Yes.
Learners have strong preferences about nights out and would definitely be
meaning what they say, so Yes to b).

The first outcome for each pair is their finished plan for the night out, (which
must be complete before they tell the class about it so the class can vote on the
best plan) and a second outcome might be the real-world night out, so a
confident Yes to c), d), e) and f).

Next is an example of an activity designed for an adult class. Which of the

questions a) to f) might you answer with a fairly confident Yes? How task-like do
you think it would be, and why?

Think of the busiest day you have had recently. Work in pairs.

Tell your partner all the things you did.

Decide which of you had the busiest day, then tell the class about it.
Decide who in the whole class had the most hectic day (and say why.)

Finally, from memory, write a list of the things one person did on their busiest
day, and, without revealing their name, read it out to the class (or display it on
the wall) to see how many people can remember whose day it was.
Generally adults enjoy talking about (even bragging about) how busy they
are/have been, so this would score a Yes for a), b) and f). The first goal is to
compare their busiest days. The natural completion point for each learner is the
end of their day - and the final outcome - the selection of the busiest person is also
clear, so we can answer Yes quite confidently to the other questions. The final
writing activity sets up an engaging memory challenge game with a clear outcome
- to identify the person written about.

Both the above activities, then, would count as tasks, and both generate several
kinds of genuine meaning-focused interaction amongst learners and teacher.

How can you upgrade a less task-like activity?

This activity comes at the end of a unit focusing on the language of past time:

Work in pairs. Talk about your grandparents.

Tell each other what you know about their past lives.
Use the phrases and patterns from the box above.

Think about this activity and apply the questions a) to f) above. Which questions
would you answer with a Yes, and which would be Not sure or No? How could you
adapt it to make it more task-like and get more Yes answers?

Commentary

You might answer Yes to a) and f) with some degree of confidence. We do, in real
life, occasionally talk about our grandparents and our memories of them. If the
topic ‘Grandparents' does not engage all learners, let them choose instead an
elderly person they knew well.
For b), the answer would probably be No, because the final instruction (Use the
phrases and patterns from the box above) shows that this activity is intended
largely to practise these particular ways of expressing past time presented earlier
in the unit. Co-operative learners will be trying to make sentences about their
 grandparents not simply to give information but primarily to show mastery of
the new forms. This is unlike natural language use. To make it more task-like, we
could delete the final instruction, and do this activity early on in the unit, so
learners are focusing more on meanings i.e. sharing their memories of their
grandparents in a natural way rather than trying to incorporate particular
language forms. Then the answer to b) would be Yes.
For c), d) and e) the answers are also likely to be No; there is no goal or purpose
given for talking about grandparents and learners have no way of knowing when
they have said enough to complete the activity, or whether indeed they have
succeeded or not. Some learners might end up saying very little.

Adding a goal or outcome to make a task

For the ‘Grandparents' activity we need to add a goal to give the activity a purpose
and make the outcome more specific so that learners know when they have
completed the task. Some sample outcomes follow here and you could add one of
these sets of instructions, depending on which outcome you think would best
engage the learners in your class.

1. Try to find out three things that your grandparents' and your partner's
grandparents' lives had in common. What was the biggest difference between
them?
2. Or
3. Decide which one of your partner's grandparents was / is the most interesting
person and give two reasons why you think so. Then tell the class about him/her
and vote to decide on the three most interesting grandparents in the class.
4. Or
5. Describe two early memories you have of one particular grandparent. Tell your
group. Take notes when listening to each other.
Compare your memories - whose were the most interesting, most vivid,
most amusing, saddest or strangest?
And/Or:
Compare your groups' memories and try to find ways to classify them (e.g.
to do with food or meal-times? games? outings? being ill? negative /
positive things?) Then report your categories to the class, with examples.
Did you all have similar ways of classifying?

So there are several potential outcomes (and you might well think of others) that
could be created out of this activity to make it more task-like. In fact each of these
would make a different task.

If learners are clear what the outcome should be, and know the number of things
to list or describe, they are more likely to engage with the task, speak with more
confidence and know when they have completed it. Successful task achievement
will greatly increase their satisfaction and motivation. When, after completing the
task cycle, they look more closely at language forms used by others doing similar
tasks, they will already be familiar with the contexts and have experienced the
need for some of those forms.

Conclusion
In this article, we have looked at six characteristics of a task and analysed two
activities that would count as tasks. We have also turned one less task-like activity
into a task by moving it to near the beginning of the text-book unit, making it
meaning-focused rather than form-focused, adding a definite outcome and
making the instructions as precise as possible so the completion point is clear.

In my next article we will look at different types of task, and see which kinds are
most often used in textbooks and how we can incorporate more task types into
our teaching.

Further reflection

1. Look at the three alternative sets of instructions (1 - 3.2) for the

‘Grandparents' activity above. Try to predict which of these (i.e. which
outcome) would generate the most varied interaction patterns and the richest
use of meaning-focused language amongst your learners.

2. Look at a unit in your textbook. How many primarily form-focused activities

are there? And how many primarily meaning-focused? Choose one that your
learners might engage with and try to ‘upgrade' it to generate richer meaning
focused interaction and become more task-like.
 3. Read Chapter 1 ‘The basis of a task-based approach' in Doing Task-based
Teaching by Dave and Jane Willis OUP 2007.

If you are not sure what task-based teaching is all about, start by reading Richard
Frost's article ‘A Task-based approach'.

Richard's article presents an excellent overview of a task-based learning approach

(TBL) and highlights its advantages over the more traditional Present, Practice,
Produce (PPP) approach. He has a link to a detailed lesson plan for the
task ‘Planning a class night out'.

Reference
Dave and Jane Willis 2007 Doing Task-based Teaching OUP

Written by Jane Willis, Consultant, Writer, UK

Next article > Six types of task for TBL

This is the first in a series of four articles which will explore how to integrate a task-based approach into a typical
textbook to maximise learning opportunities for your learners and to save teacher preparation time.