Foreign-language teaching often consists of exercises in which students read, write, tick boxes and fill in gaps without an obvious goal or purpose that they can see or understand (other than ‘getting it done’). The method of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) turns this classroom routine upside down by starting out with a meaningful task that students will have to master by the end of the lesson. This task is a classroom activity that challenges students with a realistic, meaningful assignment (e.g., writing a blog entry, making a demo leaflet, sending a voice message). TBLT aims to create a real need in students to use and improve their language skills to accomplish the task. Also, by working on tasks that resemble real-life challenges, students are able to cope with similar situations outside the classroom more easily.
In the seminar, we will look at both didactic background readings and TBLT lesson models. Participants will contribute a Micro-Teaching-Unit, in which they apply this knowledge, plan a TBLT lesson, and receive feedback and suggestions on their teaching. Through this hands-on approach, participants will learn how to choose an age- and language-appropriate task, how to divide a TBLT lesson into smaller steps, and how to align the lesson with the curriculum and EFL coursebook, in order to connect the method with later life at school.