SHINE

This course is designed to deepen and expand participants’ understanding of task-based approaches for second/foreign language learning and teaching, providing teachers with the necessary knowledge to co-design and execute a future teacher-educator course on TBLT. This course will address 1) approaches to grammar instruction in task-based language learning, 2) approaches to methodological principles underpinning task design and development, 3) how technology, including AI, and can be leveraged to support tasks, 4) tasks for younger learners, 5) task complexity and relevant mediating factors, and 6) the role of the teacher in the task-based classroom. Following a brief review of the underlying theoretical foundations of TBLT, we will explore different frameworks and practical applications for different populations. In addition, we will discuss younger learners more explicitly, particularly how technology can be used to support TBLT in the secondary classroom.

By the end of the course, the teachers will be able to:

• understand key concepts in TBLT pedagogy and research, including different approaches to TBLT (e.g., TSLT) as a basis for critically understanding and developing TBLT practices;
• critique and design TBLT activities;
• understand the ways in which tasks can be used in the online or traditional language classroom and how affordances of technology can facilitate task-based learning;
• understand different approaches to task sequencing and task complexity;
• understand how tasks can be used with primary and secondary aged learners, including how technology can support this population;
• understand the relationship between theory, research, and classroom practice in relation to the development of a task-based methodology;
• understand how to read and apply research on task-based learning and teaching;
• design task-based materials for teaching or assessing student learning.

COURSE CONTENT

Session 1) Introduction to course and review of TBLT foundations: In this session we will discuss the theoretical foundations for TBLT and other teaching approaches that have influenced TBLT (like communicative language teaching). We will talk about what TBLT is and is not, as well as different approaches to syllabus design. We will discuss different approaches to TBLT, including task-supported language teaching, and how the role of the teacher might vary across these different frameworks. In addition, we will discuss how to teach grammar using tasks. We will also discuss the needs of learners in teachers’ own contexts, and consider how tasks could help meet these needs.

Session 2) Methodological principles and task design: In this session, we will define target tasks and pedagogic tasks, and review methodological principles related to task design. Building on session 1, we will address different design principles from Ellis and Long, and consider which approach might work best in teachers’ own contexts. We will address features like planning and repetition, and other features of task design. In addition, we will address how task design can be leveraged for young learners. We will also work on pedagogic tasks and target tasks for your teaching practice.

Session 3) Task complexity and task sequencing: In this session we will introduce task complexity and discuss the effects of task complexity on learning. This includes an introduction to two of the major approaches to task complexity and sequencing, the cognition hypothesis by Peter Robinson and the limited attentional capacity model by Peter Skehan. We will then talk about how these different approaches to designing and sequencing tasks can be applied to your pedagogic tasks and keep working on task development during class. 

Session 4) Technology-mediated TBLT: In this session we will discuss various affordances of different technology-mediated tools and how these could be used to support learning in the classroom. We will also address how different tools, such as video creation, and task design, including repetition, can be particularly beneficial for primary or secondary aged learners.