Deconstructed Task-based Language Teaching (DTBLT): Deconstructing Tasks into Three Key Task Elements to Develop Learners’ Language Performance Abilities

This article first reviews and evaluates the development and empirical research in the field of task-based language teaching (TBLT), it then proposes a new pedagogical approach called deconstructed tasks in TBLT (DTBLT). Adhering to the general principles of TBLT, the new approach of DTBLT advocates to rethink tasks as a basic unit of analysis for a TBLT curriculum as it is too complex a unit for L2 learners to grasp. Instead, DTBLT proposes to further deconstruct a task into three essential elements based on task’s internal structures, which are task essentials (forms), task framework (functions), and authentic tasks (tasks across three communication modes). The teaching of three deconstructed elements of a task focuses on different aspects of a task. It can facilitate L2 learners’ task learning by breaking a task into three manageable sub-units, namely, task essentials, task framework, and authentic tasks. In addition to the operationalization of task deconstruction, the article provides readers with DTBLT related classroom teaching procedures and detailed techniques of implementation.

Keywords

deconstructed tasks in TBLT, task essentials, task framework, authentic tasks

source

International Journal of Chinese Language Education; Dec 2024; Issue No. 16; p.27-67

Language

Chinese