#63, Research Article: ‘TBL: a focused approach in teaching ESL’ by Dr. G.A. Ghanshyam

This paper “TBL: a focused approach in teaching ESL” is submitted by Dr. G.A. Ghanshyam, Head, Dept. of English, Govt. M.L. Shukla College, Seepat, Bilaspur (C.G.) India 495555. Email: gaglish@yahoo.com

A global language, a universal medium of communication, a bridge between cultures; there are as many epithets as forms of English that represent the face of contemporary global communication. With so much importance attached to a language that reverberates with colonial connotations, English has certainly to face several detractors. From being given a cold shoulder as a foreign language to being viewed as an enemy to indigenous culture and identity, the language has had to confront many obstacles in its journey to the current position of universal language.

In India, English came with the colonial rulers and stayed back long after the colonial masters left for their home shores. Accorded official sanction as the second language of the nation, it still has to deal with prejudices, contempt and hostility. The result is a general disinterest and complacency towards the learning and growth of the language except for acquiring the stipulated 17/25 passing marks or for landing up a job in the education department struggling with a shortage of well trained expertise in the language. The general scenario of the primary and secondary education excluding those of elite schools in terms of English language is pathetic and appalling. In many public schools the job of an English teacher is given to any Tom, Dick or Harry provided the person has an English medium background or the person has taken English as a subject in the under graduate class, irrespective of the fact that the person might be from some other field of study having no expertise or training in language teaching. The sort of education the students receive at this crucial primary and secondary level is open to speculation and the problem that it creates at the tertiary level of higher education is clearly understandable.

As college teachers we have to daily grapple with the problem of a maximum number of students who have zero knowledge of the basics let alone speak or write a complete meaningful sentence. Higher education also represents a sorry state of affair where ELT is concerned. Apart from the general level of students excluding a minor percentage from elite schools and CBSE backgrounds, it has to make do with poorly trained teaching staff. The imbalance in the level of students’ knowledge coupled with irregular and untrained staff is further aggravated with a syllabus that is mostly obsolete having been followed since years with no evaluation of its effectiveness and upgrade. Students either lack an interest due to its low level or simply are not equipped to handle the language.

Today when India has become a hot destination for multinationals, BPO jobs, outsourcing, and is also viewed as a hub for trained professionals in various fields, it is the students who are losing out despite their skill and expertise owing to a lack of communicative ability in English. Language is for communication, verbal as well as non-verbal but the syllabus that is followed (case study: Chhattisgarh) in higher education can hardly claim to be formulated for the purpose. Apart from being outdated it has nothing to offer to the students in terms of motivation and practicality. The syllabus classified into three levels of study in a graduate class: first year, second year and final, concentrates on culture in the first, science in the second and has a mixed content in the third. The course in fact seems to have failed to recognize or has completely ignored the very basic aim of ELT; and that is learning of the language. “Despite efforts during the last four decades or so ELT at the university level is not yet marked by a spirit of dedicated professionalism.” (Mohan 58).

In an ELT class the biggest hurdle that an English teacher has to face is the lack of motivation amongst the students. Student centred approach to ELT is a boon that aids the teacher to effectively overcome the obstacle. When the student is empowered and a justifiable balance maintained between guidance and freedom, the learner gets motivated to take positive steps towards language learning. The resultant expertise over the language and confidence gained thereof from individual achievement goes a long way in the overall progress of the student.

Another important aspect that interests the learner is the viability of the course in practical life. Today’s world is a highly competitive world and there is no scope for failure. Unless the student is confident that the acquirement of the language skills is going to help and improve upon his practical life, he will try to avoid it, as is usually the case.

Language should be accorded the same status as the other main subjects. The present competitive world is based upon the world of communication or soft skills. Expertise in a particular field is hardly sufficient today unless it is supplemented by a sound and effective command over soft skills. So, language is as important as any other subject in a professional or degree course.

When we focus our attention on the present course followed in colleges in Chhattisgarh, we find hardly any scope or space for improvisation and development of language skills- verbal as well as non-verbal. The course of all three levels of graduation comprises of text based lessons covering topics that hardly hold any interest for the students and their life, a few exercises on vocabulary, composition and grammar. Local markets are flooded with language guides of dubious quality that encourage the students to bunk language classes and are also largely responsible for the poor quality of language skill amongst them.

Language is the life and soul of communication. As such the syllabus that aims to teach language should not be made a handmaid to teach the students culture or science. Communication should be the goal set to achieve for any language course. Every graduate student should be trained and equipped to have a basic level of competence in the usage of English language in his personal and professional life outside the language classroom and after college.

Pondering over the dismal situation of ELT, various experts and linguists, teachers and trainers have come up with innovative and effective approaches. One method that has gained widespread acceptance and mobility in contemporary times is TBL or Task Based Learning. Distinguished from Text Based Learning, TBL as the name itself explains is more student oriented and practical in approach.

• Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is an approach which offers students material which they have to actively engage in the processing of in order to achieve a goal or complete a task. Much like regular tasks that we perform everyday such as making the tea, writing an essay, talking to someone on the phone, TBLT seeks to develop students’ interlanguage through providing a task and then using language to solve it. (http://www.tblt.net/ Published by admin on 05 Mar 2008)

TBL equips the student with the necessary basic language skills and a task or problem or project is introduced that involves the active participation of the students to use their language skills in accomplishing it, just as they will do in a practical situation in life. The language classroom is a preparatory place that prepares the student to use what knowledge they have acquired in the class outside the class in actual life. TBL is an effective method for preparation and practice that the student will use in later life.

Grammatical and linguistic knowledge imparted to the students through well defined course structure will also miss the target of enhancing communicative ability of the learner unless their knowledge is put into practical use. Tasks should be incorporated into the language syllabus based on the knowledge, needs and requirements of the learner in mind. Even simple activities like filling up a bank form or writing an application or resume can be done by the students as part of their project work or task because maximum numbers of students are incapable of performing them accurately. Tasks should basically aim to enhance the ability of the learner to procure and produce meaning rather than form. To quote Nunan, TBL gives more prominence to meaning than to the grammatical form. In fact according to him a task is a:

• . . . piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language [English] while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end.  (Nunan 4)

The points to be kept in mind while implementing TBL in Indian classroom are the level of the students and the environment; topics that the learners’ can relate to; aims to be achieved and most importantly task design. Before undertaking a TBL approach in ELT and designing the task it is necessary that the tasks are practical in approach, help in the development of language skills and communication ability of the learner, are learner centred and interactive, involves project work and oral as well as written tasks.

Topics to be considered:

Sports

Cinema

Games

Hobbies

Holidays

TBL should involve the aforesaid topics that are close to a student’s life and interest that they can relate to without much difficulty.

Tasks that can be incorporated:

Interview

Dialogue

Reports

Role Play

Creative Writing

Practical Projects

On the topics mentioned above a number of tasks can be incorporated. Students can prepare reports, summarize or write stories. They can utilize their oral communicative skill through role play, dialogue delivery, presentation or mock interview session. Emphasis should be given on practical tasks or projects that relate to real life situations. Tasks can be performed within the stipulated time period in the classroom or as a part of work outside the class in the form of projects or home task.

Basically TBL requires a certain degree of prior knowledge and a lot of planning. The task has to be well defined and thought out before execution; in addition the way to perform the task, clues, hints, required information and knowledge as well as the expected outcome or result needs to be recognized, defined and communicated to the students before embarking on the task itself. The students should be clear about the task and what and how they are required to perform it, as to achieve the pre-defined outcome. TBL thus involves three stages of development and implementation:

Pre-Task Stage

The stage involves planning of the task to be implemented and providing of the necessary inputs by the teacher to the students. The task is explained and discussed with the learner, giving him clues and hints as to its proper execution. Demo tasks can be undertaken jointly with the aid of the teacher for a better comprehension of the task and its aim. The expected outcome of the task is clearly explained to the students so that they can work out in the proper direction.

As per the task designed and decided upon it can be an individual activity, group activity, class activity or home activity. The necessary aim has to be ascertained before the type of activity is decided upon.

Task Stage

The main task stage comprises of the student performing the task as decided in the prior stage. The teacher plays an important role. He is to observe and act as a facilitator and counsellor to the students.

The students complete the task accorded to them as per the guidelines provided to achieve the outcome. They chalk out the plans for presentation of the result in the form of a presentation/report/discussion/paperwork.

Post-Task Stage

The post task stage accesses the outcome of the task: mistakes are identified and rectified, task is evaluated through discussion and teacher guidance, task is repeated.

The stage also identifies the stages of error committed by the students, discusses their problem areas and endeavours to overcome the obstacles to effective communication and language learning that they are facing.

Problems addressed by TBL:

Motivation: Tasks should tickle the student’s mind into alertness, raising curiosity and the

interest to perform.

Learner Centred: Since the students are the one who perform the task with the teacher acting as the facilitator, the teaching process becomes learner centred and more students friendly.

Student-Teacher Interaction: Teacher-student interaction is enhanced particularly in the pre-task and post-task stage with their respective interactive sessions and discussions on planning and preparation, and then on evaluation, assessment and correction.

Language Form: With emphasis shifting more to the meaning than merely the grammatical form, students learn to use language form more completely; drawing on their latent knowledge of form and grammar in a meaningful context.

Practical Language Usage: Tasks are predominantly based on practical usage of the language that enhances the learner’s ability to use their linguistic skill in real life situations and context.

Communication: TBL is a communicative approach to ELT, as such it greatly develops the verbal and non-verbal communicative ability of the learners practically.

Comprehension: Meaning being given a priority in TBL, the level comprehension is enhanced among the students for the task has to be clearly understood in order to be executed properly and give a comprehensible and complete outcome.

Spontaneity: Tasks may involve individual or group activity which requires spontaneous thinking and execution on the part of the students. Learners have to develop their thinking process to understand and execute the task.

Group Interaction: Whatever the form of task that is incorporated it involves group interaction as a part of the pre-task, task or post-task phase in the form of discussion, evaluation, repetition, etc.

Confidence: When the learner performs a task successfully it raises his level of confidence upon his accomplishment that further gives an impetus to the learning process as well as to his communicative ability and skill.

Decision Making: Since a task involves ways to perform, so it develops the decision making ability of the students when they decide how and in what way they will perform the task.

Independence: The teacher plays a relatively passive role in the task process. This enhances the quality of independence amongst the students encouraging them to think and communicate independently.

TBL is an active learning approach to ELT that breaks the monotony of a traditional ELT classroom totally dependent upon theoretical teaching and teacher oriented approach. The students work freely in an interactive and independent atmosphere; working out their own meanings, formulating their own approach to the problems and completing the task assigned. By shifting the emphasis on to the student, the learning process is made more students’ friendly, interesting, active and practical.

The students are benefitted by a language learning environ that suits to their life and activities, areas of interest and concern. They learn to actively use the language learned, in practical real life situations that gives an added incentive to motivate them further in learning the language. In fact it has completely transformed the image of ELT through its innovative and practical approach. David Nunan analyzing the concept has put together the principles and practices strengthened by TBL:

• A needs-based approach to content selection.
• An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
• The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
• The provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on language but also on the learning process itself.
• An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.
• The linking of classroom language learning with language use outside the classroom.          (Nunan 1)

TBL or Task based learning links the language classroom to the world outside, playing the role of a bridge that connects the two worlds together and empowering the students to move across confidently from the former to the latter.

Works Cited

Mohan, Krishna and Meera Banerji. “ESP and Course Design for ELT.” English

Language Teaching. Ed. Meenakshi Raman. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2004. 57-67.

http://www.tblt.net/ Published by admin on 05 Mar 2008

Nunan, David. Task-Based Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2004.