TASK-BASED LEARNING

Task-Based Learning

Task-Based Learning

1. Introduction

Teachers are frequently required to implement pedagogic innovations developed by external agents who may or may not be familiar with the teachers' viewpoints or the specific classroom context in which the innovation is to be implemented. If teachers' views are not sufficiently taken account of, the already challenging nature of implementing something new may be exacerbated. Within the Asia Pacific region, a number of attempts to introduce communicative or task-based approaches have often proven problematic, in South Korea ([Li, 1998]); in Hong Kong ( [Carless, 1999 and Evans, 1996]); in Japan ( [Browne & Wade, 1998 and Gorsuch, 2001]); in China ( [Hui, 1997 and Laio, 2000]); in Vietnam ( [Ellis, 1996 and Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996]); and Indonesia ( [Tomlinson, 1990]).

There is also a wide literature on communicative and task-based teaching often with adult ESL classes but as [Candlin, 2001] observes, there is a lack of empirical research on task-based teaching in school foreign language contexts. For school teachers in EFL state systems, the practicalities and challenges in task-based teaching are often very different from those reported in much of the literature to date. This paper thus seeks to meet the 'test of relevance' ( [Bygate et al., 2001]) whereby research aims to have something to say to teachers as well as researchers. Reporting on how teachers are implementing an innovation carries implications both for the management of change and the ongoing development of task-based teaching in school settings.

How teachers implement changes in pedagogy is an important area which does not receive sufficient attention. The aim of the paper is to provide a picture of how three teachers tried to come to terms with the planning and implementation of a task-based pedagogic innovation. Issues identified by these case study teachers as impacting on the implementation of the innovation are discussed, and through liberal use of quotations, the teachers' own voices are heard. Although the data focuses on a small sample of Hong Kong teachers, I believe it speaks to many researchers, teacher educators and practitioners who are involved in the implementation of communicative or task-based curricula in a variety of contexts.

1.1. Notion of task

In Hong Kong, task-based teaching was introduced as part of a so-called Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC) reform ([Carless, 1997, Carless, 1999, Mok, 2001 and Morris et al., 1996]). The TOC definition of task includes five elements as highlighted below ( [Clark et al., 1994]):

•a purpose or underlying real-life justification for doing the task, involving more than simply the display of knowledge or practice of skills

•a context in which the task takes place, which may be real, simulated or imaginary

•a process of thinking and doing required in carrying out the task, stimulated by the purpose and the context

•a product or the result of thinking and doing, which may be tangible or intangible

•a framework of knowledge, strategy and skill used in carrying out the task.

Tasks in TOC were distinguished from exercises defined as “learning activities that help acquisition of specific information and skills” ([Education Department, 1994], ...