Authentic Tasks for Adult Beginner Learners: Walking the Talk of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

Authentic Tasks for Adult Beginner Learners: Walking the Talk of Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT)

By Dr. Linh Phung

I just finished a module about understanding and talking about the weather in Pittsburgh as part of a course for new immigrants in Pittsburgh.

While we probably don't listen to the weather forecast as often, weather is still a daily topic and an important piece of information everywhere. These days, it can be easily checked on a phone app, which is a technology-mediated task itself.

To make the tasks immediately relevant while being suitable for basic learners, I use images and emojis to complement an simple audio and text-based task (see the picture below). In other tasks, learners can watch a video or see an image and talk with EdulingAI to show their understanding of the information presented. The information they'd like to gather is the main purpose of the task.

Visuals, text, and interaction with the AI make the content more comprehensible to learners while offering opportunities for output production and corrective feedback, all of which are important conditions for second language acquisition.

I also use an authentic video from the Jewish Family and Community Services here in Pittsburgh that gives tips to stay safe in the hot weather. The video is long (over 8 minutes) so I recycle the content in several tasks using simple infographics.

I created a few simple guessing games with AI to give the learners a reason to talk about the weather in a city or country. Role plays are common and can be useful, but there should be some kind of information gap to give learners the reason to communicate beyond pretending to be in a situation. I have found that these information gap tasks are usually much more engaging than an ambiguous role play activity.

What is also unique about EdulingAI is that it is finetuned to negotiate meaning with the learner and offering several corrective feedback moves during task performance. This incidental focus on form makes TBLT a balanced approach that prioritizes both meaning and form throughout a task cycle.

I included my book Four Seasons Together in the module too. As a learner, I'd love to have opportunities to hear stories instead of focusing on practical tasks all the time. 

The tasks are multimodal and have multiple supports (translation, read aloud, word definition ...), which creates a different kind of focus on form that may need further investigation through research.

I did include a small gapfill quiz with passages about the four seasons in Pittsburgh at the end as a review activity.

So far the course course has 8 modules focusing on 8 themes/topics/domains. I like the concept of "proficiency spikes" that I learned from Scott Douglas from the University of British Columbia. With these 8 themes, learners may have spikes in knowledge and skills in certain themes but we'll keep expanding their "spikes" from there. These 8 modules include:

• Self-introduction

• Navigating Pittsburgh on Google Maps and through simple videos

• Talking about family

• Grocery shopping online and in person

• Common utilities and how to pay utility bills

• Writing checks, addressing an envelope, and sending mail

• Checking the weather and stay safe in the summer weather

• Working for a food delivery service

I'm very excited about creating relevant task-based materials that put language in context instead of the kind of drills and repetition from common apps out there that become too easy and mechanical for learners. 

Doing this makes me want to have materials for other languages so I can also use the app to learn those languages. Eduling can certainly expand to those languages.

I'd be happy to work with organizations to create these highly tailored tasks for their learners. 

Other courses relevant for adult learners include:

• U.S. Citizenship Civics Test Preparation

• U.S. Citizenship Interview, Reading, and Writing

• Basic Communication

To try Eduling tasks, download the Eduling app from the App Store or Google Play or contact info@eduling.org for information and support.

About Dr. Linh Phung: Dr. Linh Phung is the CEO and Co-founder of Eduling, an application and technology platform that offers English and teacher development courses as well as content creation tools for the development of communicative tasks and games. As a researcher, she has papers published in high impact journals, including Language Teaching Research and Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Her professional experience also involves working as the Director of the English Language Program at Chatham University for 12 years and serving as an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State. As an author, she has published several language learning and children’s books.