ALR B3 | Task-based Language Teaching Flashcards

1
Q

In 1979, the Regional Institute of English in Bangalore, India, under the guidance of N.S. Prabhu, embarked on a five-year project that was to achieve legendary status in the _____ of English language teaching.

A

history

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2
Q

Referred to ever since as ‘_____’, the aim was to teach English to a small number of classes in local primary and secondary schools
using a syllabus that was based – not on a list of ____, as was customary in India at the time – but on a series of _____, where _____ are defined by Willis (1996) as ‘activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an
outcome’.

A

the Bangalore Project, grammatical patterns, tasks, tasks

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3
Q

Dissatisfied with the prevailing ‘_____’ methodology, but sceptical about replacing a syllabus of grammar items with a syllabus of functions or notions (as some proponents of
Communicative Language Teaching were advocating – see chapter 15), Prabhu opted instead for a _____ approach, and for ‘the creation of _____ in which learners engage in an effort to cope with
communication’ (1987).

A

structural-oral-situational, task-based, conditions

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4
Q

In this sense, he was following the lead of advocates of a ‘_____’ form of CLT, such as Dick Allwright (1979) who insisted: ‘If the “_____’s” management activities are directed exclusively at involving the learners in solving communication problems in the target language, then language learning will take care of itself’.

A

strong, language teacher

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5
Q

In other words, you learn to _____ simply by _____. And tasks – doing things that
involve real language use – provide the ideal _____ and _____ for communicating.

A

communicate, communicating, context, motivation

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6
Q

Prabhu, like many after him, rejected the view that a _____, whether of grammar items or of functions, and the PPP
methodology associated with it, are the optimal route to _____.

A

preselected syllabus, proficiency

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7
Q

Although supported by a long tradition in progressive education of ‘_____’, initially TBLT lacked a sound empirical basis.

A

learning by doing

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8
Q

Certainly, research into SLA was starting to cast doubt on the _____ of
teaching according to a syllabus of ‘_____’ (i.e. grammatical structures).

A

wisdom, forms

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9
Q

The learner’s ‘_____’ syllabus seemed to be immune to this kind of
_____.

A

inbuilt, manipulation

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10
Q

Moreover, research into the interactions between learners
when performing tasks, including the way that they negotiate and repair _____, suggested that these interactions might be a fertile site for _____.

A

communication breakdowns, acquisition

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11
Q

On the other hand, evidence from other ‘_____’ learning contexts, such as ______ (see chapter 1), indicated that an exclusive focus on communication – without some explicit attention to the
formal features of the language (called ‘_____’) – might result in ‘_____’, i.e. the temporary or permanent ______ of the language system.

A

deep-end, immersion, focus on form, arrested development, stabilization

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12
Q

Accordingly, the Bangalore model of TBLT – which discouraged ‘any
_____ to language itself’ (Prabhu 1987) – was reconfigured by scholars such as Mike Long so as to include a focus on form.

A

sustained attention

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13
Q

But it is a focus on form ‘which is by definition _____, i.e. _____ to the learner’s current stage of development’ (Long 2015). In other words, ‘_____ lead, the _____ follows’.

A

reactive, responsive, students, teacher

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14
Q

Much ink has been shed as to what constitutes a task, but there is general agreement that a task should be directed at achieving some outcome, where
language is the _____ but not the _____. Filling in the _____ in a gap-fill
exercise is not a task.

A

means, end, verbs

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15
Q

Finding the differences in two pictures, by
exchanging _____ with your partner, is.

A

spoken descriptions

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16
Q

As is the collaborative planning and taking of a class photo. Tasks can involve any one of the four skills, _____ or in _____.

A

together, isolation

17
Q

They are more often done _____, but they can be done _____, and in class or on line.

A

collaboratively, individually

18
Q

The selection and sequencing of tasks is more problematic, since it is not always clear in what ways one task is more difficult than another, or in what
way tasks may build on one another to form a _____.

A

coherent learning sequence

19
Q

A series of _____ – or one continuous _____, such as the design and
maintenance of a class website – offer possible ways of structuring a
course.

A

projects, project

20
Q

Attempts to sequence tasks according to the _____ that they are likely to require have been dismissed as task-supported learning,
and not the real thing.

A

grammatical forms

21
Q

Jane Willis (1996) reverses this sequence, so that viewing the _____ of the task occurs after learners have attempted it themselves (and reported on the outcomes).

A

skilled performance

22
Q

At some _____ stage, attention might be devoted to how the task performance could be improved, including an explicit focus on form.

A

post-task

23
Q

While the (somewhat delayed) evaluation of the Bangalore project was itself inconclusive, there is probably no method that has been more
persuasively championed than TBLT: it comes supported by an evergrowing research base into SLA, especially the school of SLA that subscribes to a _____ view of learning, i.e. one that construes the learner
as a ‘_____’.

A

cognitive, limited capacity information processor

24
Q

Performing tasks, and getting _____ on them, would seem to optimize this kind of processing.

A

feedback

25
Q

Laboratory-type studies of specific features of the method, such as different ways of focusing on form, have been encouraging. Evidence that _____ – such as PPP – work any better is scarce.

A

alternative models of instruction

26
Q

Why isn’t TBLT more widely applied, then? One reason might be the syllabusing issue, mentioned above. There is also the plausible concern that, without a language syllabus, learners will simply recycle their existing (_____) competences.

A

limited

27
Q

More acute still is the uncertainty, on the part of many teachers and their supervisors, as to how to deal with the
_____ of task outcomes.

A

unpredictability

28
Q

Not to mention the actual management
challenges of setting up, _____ and providing feedback on pair and group work.

A

monitoring

29
Q

Where TBLT seems to work best is when experienced teachers
are working with smallish groups of learners, e.g. _____, whose
practical language needs can be accurately predicted, such that the
_____ can be designed to address them.

A

immigrants, programme

30
Q

The idea that the ‘students lead [and] the teacher follows’ is a powerful one
– implying a fundamental redistribution of _____ in the curriculum.

A

power

31
Q

Taken to an extreme, it suggests the adoption of what is called a ‘_____’, that is, a syllabus that is in a constant state of _____, as
learners’ needs emerge, their interests fluctuate and their capacities evolve.

A

process syllabus, negotiation

32
Q

In this sense, ‘tasks are not isolated events but parts of a process whose goals are determined by the interaction between learners and their _____ and _____’ (Legutke & Thomas 1991).

A

expressed interests, needs

33
Q

Recent developments in some mainstream education systems, e.g. Finland, where
school subjects are no longer taught as _____, but are merged into the collaborative implementation of long-term projects
involving a whole constellation of tasks, might seem to offer a way forward.

A

independent disciplines