marinacobb,defenselanguageinstitute,emailaddress.docVIP

Marina Cobb, Defense Language Institute, email address: marina.cobb@ Natalie Lovick, Defense Language Institute, email address: natalie.lovick@ The Concept of Foreign Language Task, Misconceptions and BENEFITS in Implementing Task-Based Instruction While the concept of task-based instruction (TBI) has been around for a while, there appear to be some persistent misconceptions regarding what constitutes a classroom task and actual implementation of task-based teaching, especially in language programs where teachers are expected to introduce tasks into curricula that rely primarily on outdated (not task-based) textbooks. In our service, both as language teacher supervisors and as faculty development specialists working with all of DLI’s language programs, we have encountered quite a few persistent misconceptions as well as faculty concerns and perceived obstacles to implementing task-based instruction in the classroom. Some of the misconceptions and challenges of TBI involve core teaching beliefs and the underlying assumptions held by the faculty about how language learning takes place. To assist teachers, used to traditional classrooms in accepting the value of TBI, it is necessary to respond to their misconceptions and challenges of implementing TBI as well as discuss the numerous benefits that task-based pedagogy has to offer. The Concept of Foreign Language Task There is no single definition of a classroom task in the field of SLA research and language pedagogy (Pica, Kanagy Falodun, 1993). Here we offer just a few definitions that we believe to be representative of the variety found in the literature. According to Nunan (as cited in Ellis, 2003) a task is “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form” (p. 4). Ellis (2003) defines task as “a workplan that requires the learners to process lang