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Activities and tasks of a task-based syllabus are sequenced according to difficulty.
6 The difficulty of a particular task depends on a range of factors including the
previous experience of the learner, the complexity of the task, the language required to undertake the task, and the degree of support available.
b. The Procedure of Using Task-Based Learning
In Task-Based Learning, the focus of the lesson is the task, not the structure. The following is a framework for Task-Based Learning by Jane Willis
1996: 38:
Figure 2.2: A Framework of Task-Based Learning
Based on the figure 2.2, there are three stages of procedure of using Task- Based Learning according to Willis 1996: 38 which are presented as follows.
1 Pre-task
In pre-task the activities are about introduction to topics and tasks. It is including brainstorming, a pre-task, introduction of useful words and phrases,
preparation time or listening to native speakers doing the tasks. TASK CYCLE
Task Planning Report LANGUAGE FOCUS
Analysis and practice
PRE-TASK Introduction to topic and task
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Task cycle In this part, the activities are about task planning report. The students are
pleased to improve their language un der the teacher‟s guidance while planning
their reports on the tasks. In this cycle, there are three steps; they are task, planning and report. The students do the tasks in pairs or small groups under the
teacher‟s monitoring. Then, the students plan how they will tell the rest of the class what they did and how it went and last they present their report to the class
orally or exchange written reports and compares the results. 3
Language Focus In language focus, the activities are about analysis and practice. In
analysis, the students examine and discuss specific features of the text or transcript of the recording. Meanwhile, in practice cycle the teacher conducts
practice of new words, phrases and patterns occurring in the data, either during or after the analysis.
c. Types of Activities
According to Pattison 1987 as cited in Nunan 2004: 57-58 there are seven types of activities and tasks which are described as follows.
1 Questions and answers
These activities are based on the notion of creating an information gap by letting learners make a personal and secret choice from a list of language items
which all fit in to a given frame, for instance the location of a person or an object.
26 2
Dialogues and role plays These can be wholly scripted or wholly improvised. However, if learners
are given some choice of what to say, and if there is a clear aim to be achieved by what they say in their role plays, they may participate more willingly and learn
more thoroughly than when they are told to simply repeat a given dialogue in pairs.
3 Matching activities
In this activity, the learners need to recognize matching items, or to complete pairs or sets. „Bingo‟, „Happy families‟ and „Split dialogues‟ where
learners match given phrases are examples of matching activities. 4
Communication strategies These are activities designed to encourage learners to practice
communication strategies such as paraphrasing, borrowing or inventing words, using gesture, asking for feedback and simplifying.
5 Pictures and pictures problems
Many communication activities can be stimulated through the use of pictures, such as spot the difference, memory test, sequencing pictures to tell a
story. 6
Puzzles and problems This activity requires learners to make guesses, draw on their general
knowledge and personal experiences, use their imaginations and test their powers of logical reasoning.
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Discussion and decisions These require the learners to collect and share information to reach a
decision e.g. to decide which items from a list are essential to have on a desert island.
According to Nunan 2004, by using „task‟ the students are expected to able to plan and monitor their own learning and begin to break down some of the
traditional hierarchies. Therefore, the researcher chooses TBL as the method which is appl
ied to the SAC materials since it supports the students‟ independences.
6. Self-Access Center SAC
