Korean Pedagogy Workshop: Task-Based Language Teaching (2001)

    • July 30-August 1, 2001
    • Project Lead(s): Michael Long
    • More info

    The opening session of this three-day summer institute will provide an overview of the rationale for Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and for focus on form as one of its (ten) methodological principles. We will briefly review the six basic stages in designing, implementing, and evaluating a TBLT program:

    • needs and means analysis
    • syllabus design
    • materials development
    • choice of methodological principles and pedagogic procedures
    • student assessment
    • course evaluation.

    For the remainder of the course, the focus will shift to an exploration of several problems currently facing any task-based approach:

    • how to conduct a methodologically adequate task-based learner needs analysis
    • how to select among target tasks identified by the needs analysis
    • how to classify, sequence, and design pedagogic tasks when constructing a task syllabus
    • how to deal with groups of learners with varyingly heterogeneous abilities and needs
    • how to assess task-based language abilities
    • how to evaluate task-based programs

    At each stage, trial applications of TBLT in the University of Hawaiʻi’s Korean as a foreign language program will be described, including results of a needs analysis, prototype modules of task-based KFL materials, and a video of their classroom use. Parts of the materials design and use segments will be in Korean, but the institute as a whole will be conducted in English, via a mix of informal lecture presentations and demonstrations, classroom discussion of required readings, and project work in small groups.