A practical introduction to task-based learning

Task-based learning (TBL) is a teaching and learning methodology which utilises specific and meaningful tasks and is based within the constructivist paradigm of the psychology of language learning (Richards and Rogers, 2001). The premise is that the meaningful language that occurs when learners are involved in working on a task is processed and internalised more effectively than language which is simply presented. David Nunan (in Richards and Renandya, 2005) also stresses the importance of the task itself being meaningful, that it has a 'sense of completeness, [of] being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right' (p. 224). Critics suggest that the language required to complete a task may be beyond the supposed level of a student, but in my experience, meaningful interaction actually promotes the required comprehension.