Essay On Pedagogical Task

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The definition of a pedagogical task is
“an activity or action which is carted out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e. as a response). For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command may be referred to as tasks. Tasks may or may not involve the production of language. A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful completion of the task. The use of a variety of different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching more communicative… since it provides a purpose for a classroom activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake”
(Richards, et. al 1986:289)

Tasks are defined in terms of what the learners will do in class rather than in the world outside the classroom. They emphasize a non-linguistic outcome.
Breen (1987:23) defines pedagogical task as-

“any structured language endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and arrangement of outcomes for those who undertake the task. ‘Task’ is therefore assumed to refer to a range of work plans which have the overall purposes of facilitating language learning from the simple and brief exercise type to a more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem solving or simulations and decision-making”
In fact, this definition could be used to justify any procedure at all as task-based and it is not particularly helpful. More circumscribed is from Willis (1996) ‘a class room undertaking’ where the target language is used by the learner a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome” Here the notion of meaning is subsumed in ‘out-come’. Language in a commu...

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...emphasized process as well as product, elevated the teacher as an important agent of curriculum development and change and highlighted the importance of seeing the curriculum in action. Stenhouse’s focus on process and action make it an interesting model for those who are interested in task-based curriculum proposals. David Nunan draws distinction between the curriculum as plan, the curriculum as action and the curriculum as outcome. Curriculum as plan refers to the processes and products. This includes plans and syllabus text book and the resources, as well as assessment instruments. The curriculum as action refers to moment by moment realities of the class room. The curriculum as outcome relates to students learning as the result of instructional process. However, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) makes the syllabus design and methodology difficult to sustain.

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