LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 10 : 7 July 2010
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.

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Importance of Task-Based Teaching in
Second Language Acquisition - A Review

Hossein Shams Hosseini, Ph.D. Candidate & N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.

Abstract

Task-Based language teaching has attracted the attention of second language learning which was coined and later developed by second language researchers and educators in reaction to other teacher-dominated, form-oriented methods. Since a better understanding of the theories of Task-Based English Teaching is a prerequisite to better understanding of the perceptions of teachers and how these perceptions affect their teaching, this paper attempts to deal with the issue of task-based in language teaching classrooms in detail.

Introduction

During the past decade, Task-Based language teaching has attracted the attention of second language learning. The term 'Task-Based' was coined and later developed by second language researchers and educators in reaction to other teacher-dominated, form-oriented methods (Long & Norris, 2000). Many researchers like Long and Prabhu advocated an approach in which students are given functional tasks that encourages their focus on the meaning and real world purposes.

A better understanding of the theories of Task-Based English Teaching (TBET) is a prerequisite to better understanding of the perceptions of teachers and how these perceptions affect their teaching. Therefore, the literature review will focus on the development of language teaching approaches towards TBET, and basic assumptions and the theories of TBET. These changes in teaching approaches should be made explicit to teachers; so that they can understand the rationale behind the implementation of TBET or that they may be aware of the inefficacy of the other approaches and the need to develop their knowledge and methodologies in adopting TBET.

The term task can mean different things to different people, and hence there are different interpretations of the word task. If we consider what the concept of task is and what other people have written about it, we find that the term has been defined in a variety of ways. In general education as well as other fields such as psychology, there are many different definitions of tasks. There is also quite a variety from within the field of second language teaching. A broad definition can be the following:

A task is an activity, which requires an individual, or a group of people to arrive at an outcome based on some given information. As a result, tasks include activities like cooking a meal, building a bookcase, buying a pair of shoes, filling out a form, making a hotel reservation, and finding an address. In other words, a task refers to different activities people do in everyday life.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

EAT Expressions in Manipuri | Learning from Movies - 'Slumdog Millionaire' and Language Awareness | Maternal Interaction and Verbal Input in Normal and Hearing Impaired Children | Role of L2 Motivation and the Performance of Intermediate Students in the English (L2) Exams in Pakistan | Problems in Ph.D. English Degree Programme in Pakistan - The Issue of Quality Assurance | Using Technology in the English Language Classroom | Teaching Literature through Language - Some Considerations | e-Learning of Japanese Pictography - Some Perspectives | Is It a Language Worth Researching? Ethnographic Challenges in the Study of Pahari Language | Using a Reading Material for Interactive Reading | Importance of Task-Based Teaching in Second Language Acquisition - A Review | Skill Enhancement Techniques - The Necessary Tools for the Indian Management Students | African American Literature and Ishmael Reed's Novels - Hoodism | Instances of Code Switching in Indian Television Serials | The Role of Compounding in Technical English Prescribed for Engineering Students in Tamilnadu | Polite Request Strategies as Produced by Yemeni EFL Learners | Manju Kapoor's Difficult Daughters - A Saga of Feminist Autonomy and Separate Identity | Reflections on Partition Literature - A Comparative Analysis of Ice Candy Man and Train to Pakistan | Mother Tongue! The Neglected Resource for English Language Teaching And Learning | Breaking the Good Mother Myths - A Study of the Novels of Amy Tan | Effect of Teachers' Academic Qualification on Students' L2 Performance at the Secondary Level | What Is Most Important? Fluency or Accuracy? Is Learning a Second Language a Conscious Process? | Let Us Learn from Our Standard 1 Textbook, Again! - A Brief Note on the New Standard 1 Tamil Textbook in Tamilnadu | Eugene O' Neill's The Hairy Ape - An American Expressionistic Play | A PRINT VERSION OF ALL THE PAPERS OF JULY 2010 ISSUE IN BOOK FORMAT | HOME PAGE of July 2010 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

Hossein Shams Hosseini, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Linguistics
KIKS University of Mysore
Manasagangotri
Mysore 570 006
Karnataka, India
h.shams.h@Gmail.com

N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Central Institute of Indian Languages
Manasagangotri
Mysore 570 006
Karnataka, India
nadarajapillai@rediffmail.com

 
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