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.