What Is Task-Based Learning? A Guide to the Popular Teaching Method

Global language teachers have to keep evolving and bring modern methods into their lesson planning. That is how you stay up to date with recent developments in education and how you stay competitive when a dream job opens up. One method every ESL teacher should know is task-based learning (TBL), also called task-based language teaching (TBLT). So, what is task-based learning, and how do you use it with a class? This article explains how the method works and how to bring it into your lessons.

If you’re new to teaching, you’ll want to get initial training and qualification with a TEFL certificate. You can explore our online TEFL courses to get started!

What are the benefits of task-based learning?

• Students solve tasks that are relevant and interesting to them. They need the target language to communicate with their peers and complete the task, so they use authentic language instead of answering grammar or vocabulary questions about it. Students, especially younger learners, often do not feel that they are studying a language at that moment, because the task absorbs their attention.
• Task-based learning suits group work, and peer learning supports effective retention. Students take an important step toward acquiring the language when they collaborate with others and grow confident with it inside a group. Positive feedback from peers and teachers also builds their confidence and their motivation to learn and communicate.
• Students deepen their understanding of the language because they meet it in a realistic context that connects to their own lives. Ask your students about their hobbies and preferences at the start of a course, and build their interests into the tasks you set.
• The method also improves your job prospects as a teacher. Some TEFL jobs ask for task-based language teaching experience specifically.

These benefits also hold up in mixed-level classes. A task gives every student the same goal but lets each one contribute at the level they have reached, so stronger students stretch their language while the rest still finish the lesson with something they built.

How does task-based learning work?

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is one of many modern ESL teaching methods. It sets a goal for students, such as a report, a video, or a presentation, and then follows three main steps toward that goal.

1. The pre-task

The teacher introduces the task to the students and motivates them to solve it. This stage can take up a whole lesson if it needs to. Once everyone is engaged, the teacher explains what the task expects of them.

The teacher can support a verbal explanation with an example of their own or with a previous student’s work. They can then add further instructions and advice on how to approach the task.

Moving to the online classroom? Find out about teaching English online to groups.

2. The task

Students start working on the task in this main stage, usually in pairs or groups. They work in the target language, so they feel a real need to use the language they are learning in order to solve the task.

The teacher does not usually join the work. They monitor the students instead, and they offer hints when students genuinely need support.

3. The review (or post-task)

The review stage, also known as the post-task, starts once the students have completed the task and have something to present.

Let students evaluate each other’s work, and reserve your own review for the errors they made most often during the task. Students can give peer correction through comments, through a feedback discussion, or through a checklist that leaves room for free commentary.

The review stage gives students the chance to reflect on their work and analyze it, so they can improve their skills for the future.

The three stages do not need equal time. Give the task itself the largest share of the lesson, and keep the pre-task short enough that it stays an introduction rather than a grammar presentation. The review then has room to do its job properly.

What is the difference between a task and an activity?

Task-based learning uses a lesson structure that combines different activities to solve one task. A task can run for a full lesson, or it can stretch across several lessons when it becomes project-based learning.

The task is the big-picture assignment that students are trying to complete or solve, and the activities are the individual steps or exercises that get them there.

Examples of tasks include:

• Creating a presentation
• Making a video or short movie
• Writing a piece of text, such as a newsletter article
• Acting out a skit
• Creating an original game that includes writing down the game rules, playing the game, and evaluating the game
• Solving a practical problem, such as planning an upcoming trip or gathering missing information, like finding out who started a rumor at school
• Participating in a group debate or discussion, like arguing for a favorite competitor in a TV show

A quick check tells the two apart. Ask whether students finish with an outcome someone could read, watch, or use, and whether they chose their own words to get there. If either answer is no, you have an activity rather than a task.

You can develop some great tasks using these fun ESL games and activities for young learners and teens.

What is a task-based activity?

A task-based activity is a procedure in which students use the target language to achieve a specific outcome. The best TBL activities reflect real-life situations, so students can see that the lesson is relevant to their own lives.

These activities let students use the language they know freely and exploratively, as long as they can still complete the overall task, and that freedom is one of the main advantages of task-based learning. Do some error correction at the end of the lesson if necessary, but not during the activity, so you encourage fluency and keep students using the language.

In one example of a task-based activity, each student draws a comic picture and explains its content and the inspiration behind it to the group. The students then collaborate to put together a comic strip that includes every student’s picture, and that strip is the main task.

You can also use TBLT and task-based activities in the online classroom. Students submit their work, you share the results with the group, and everyone then works together on the main task you set.

Students will slip into their first language during a task, especially early on. Note the moments when it happens instead of interrupting, and bring those notes into the review stage. The gaps you spot there tell you what to teach before you set the next task.

How do you use task-based learning in the classroom?

Using TBLT will cover the usual stuff, such as grammar drills and vocabulary work, but in a different way. Your students will always need to practice all four skills: writing, reading, speaking, and listening.

When planning your lessons and creating your teaching materials, keep those drills and language exercises to the necessary minimum, and build more task-based learning into your curriculum. Students then use the target language immediately, and they retain words and grammar points more effectively.

Here are two examples of task-based lesson plans:

In the physical classroom (with a group of 10 – 15 teenagers)

• Greeting and warm-up: Play a song that is popular among your students while they settle in. You can let them sing along if they know the song well.
• Assign the task and give instructions: “Create your own music video in groups of 4 – 5 students using a song of your choice. Everybody has to have a role, from managing the camera to coming up with choreography to performing in the video. You have this lesson for planning and the next lesson for filming. We will watch all of the videos in the third lesson and give feedback to each other.”
• Do the task: Let students gather in groups and start planning their video. Monitor their language and teamwork, and take notes. Check that everybody stays engaged and involved, and that no student is just standing by.
• Review: Give the students brief, motivating feedback before the lesson ends, and praise them for their efforts and their use of the language. Remind them to be ready to start filming during the next lesson.

In the online classroom (with around 5 young learners)

• Greeting and warm-up: Call out each student’s name and show each of them a card with a different word on it. It could be “dog,” “play,” “boy,” “girl,” “sunny,” etc. Have each student read their word out loud.
• Assign the task and give instructions: “Create a short story that includes all of the words I gave you just now. You can decide the order of the words and how you use them in your story. You can add as many words and plot twists as you like. Each student has to contribute at least one sentence. Please start.”
• Do the task: Watch the students on camera and take notes. If communication between them comes to a standstill, support them with questions such as “What do you think could happen next?” or “Who can come up with the next idea?” or “Who wants to include their word next?” Your questions should encourage the students to participate without giving them an idea straight away. Finally, have the students write down the story that they created. They can then take turns reading it out loud, one sentence at a time.
• Review: Praise your students for their effort and teamwork, and applaud their story. Give the students time for self-reflection, and ask questions such as “What did you do especially well today?” or “What would you like to improve for next time?”

Both plans follow the same shape, and that shape travels to any class you teach. Set a goal students care about, step back while they work toward it, and close with feedback they can use next time.

Teaching remotely? See how to structure online ESL lesson plans before you set a task.

What are the disadvantages of task-based learning?

Task-based learning asks more of you than a drill-based lesson, but the difficulties are predictable. Knowing them before you start makes the first few attempts easier. Teachers should be aware that:

• Planning takes longer. You have to design an outcome worth reaching, then work backward to the language students need to get there.
• Quiet students can hide inside a group. Assign roles the way the music video plan does, so every student has something only they can do.
• Classes trained on drills may resist at first. Tell them why the lesson works this way, and show them what they produced once the task is finished.

Task-based learning changes what your students do with the language. They work toward an outcome, they reach for the words they already have, and they leave with something they produced. Planning a task takes longer than planning a set of drills, but students who have solved a problem in English tend to remember the language they used to solve it.

Do not let that discourage you if you are not comfortable with TBLT yet. Treat the method as your own task. Set a goal, try it in one lesson or two, and review how it went afterward. Judge the result by two things: how much of the talking your students did, and what they had to show at the end. The reflection you ask of your students works just as well on your own teaching.

Ready to learn many more methods? Enroll in Bridge’s 120-Hour Global TEFL Certificate and build the strong foundation you need to succeed in the TEFL market in person, online, and abroad.