Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

256
Box 13.5 The communicative style of language teaching
Typical teaching techniques
●
information gap, role plays, tasks
Goals
●
getting students to interact with other people in the second language, in
the classroom and outside
Type of student
●
field-independent students rather than field-dependent students, extroverts
rather than introverts, and less academic students
Learning assumptions
●
learning by communicating with other students in the classroom: laissez-faire
●
some use of conscious understanding of grammar
Classroom assumptions
●
teacher as organizer, not source of language knowledge
Weaknesses from an SLA research perspective
●
lack of views on discourse processes, communication strategies, etc.
●
black box model of learning
●
lack of role for the first language
Suggestions for teaching
●
use with appropriate students in appropriate circumstances
●
supplement with other components of language
●
avoid trivialization of content and aims

---

13.4 The task-based learning style
The task-based learning style 257
●
What is the ideal way of organizing what students do in the classroom?
●
What relationship does what happens in the classroom have to the world
outside the classroom?
Focusing questions
task: ‘A task is an activity which requires learners to use language, with empha-
sis on meaning, to attain a goal’ (Bygate et al., 2001)
task-based learning (TBL): the notion that learning and teaching should be
organized around a set of classroom tasks
focus on form (FonF): discussion of grammar and vocabulary arising from
meaningful language in the classroom