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Date Posted: 15:05:03 07/01/03 Tue
Author: Andréa Maria da Silva
Subject: Task 9

In order to acquire the target language effectively, learners need to engage actively in processing the meanings of whatever they hear and read. A variety of communication tasks can be designed which will motivate and give learners a purpose for doing this. In other words, a task-based approach is one that aim to learn/teach the target language through task that should give learners practice in the skills they will need. There are many ways to define a task. Wills defines task as a goal-oriented activity in which learners use language to achieve a real outcome, learners use whatever target language resources they have in order to solve a problem, do a puzzle, play a game, or share and compare experiences. Richards, Platt and Weber define task as an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e. as a response). Skehan sees task as activities which have meaning as their primary focus.
Task-based activities have a goal or purpose that requires the use of the target language, but is not itself centered on that language. For example, each student writes and tape records a story about an invented vacation. Students then listen to the stories and evaluate them in terms of which vacation they would most like to take themselves. The students' goal is to tell a story that interests and excites their peers. The focus is on the story rather than on the language itself; however, the means to the end is through effective communication in the target language. Another characteristic of a task-based activity is that it involves the student in a way that intrinsically motivates, lowers the affective filter, and creates a desire to excel. One element of motivation is to want something. "To want something is to be motivated, and motivation initiates and sustains involvement in learning" (Spithill, 1980, p.72). Task-based activities, then, can be designed to provide students with the opportunity to want something.
The role of task-based activities is to provide learners with opportunities to use the target language contextually, and to explore the target language through situational activities.A activity, however, is only as effective as its implementor, and thus the role of the teacher is central to the success of task-based activities. The role of the teacher is to create, or stimulate student creation of, the types of situations in which interaction naturally blossoms and in which students can use for actual communication what they have been learning in a more formal fashion.
It is important that the tasks are presented in an authentic context because they allow learners to gain access to the standpoint that enables practitioners to act meaningfully and purposefully. Authentic activity also provides experience. which is plainly important for subsequent action. While how a person perceives activity may be determined by their competencies, what they perceive contributes to how they act and learn. Different activities produce different competencies, not equivalent, universal ones. And, thus, the activity that led to those competencies plays a central role in learning. So authentic task requires learners to work with the target language, with the purpose of preparing learners to meet the challenges of real-world functions.
Different kinds of task should be given to learners in order to stimulate and develop different skills. Tasks can engage learners in listing, classifying, matching, comparing, problem-solving, sharing experiences, and anecdote telling. Some can have more creative goals, such as writing a story or designing a brochure. A task may be reading a text quickly to extract specific information, taking part in spontaneous spoken interaction, or giving planned oral or written presentations.

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