Definition of Task Task-Based Language Teaching TBLT

14 planning and instruction in language t eaching” p. 223. The Task-Based Language Teaching approach is logically the development of the Communicative Language Teaching approach as it draws on the principles of that approach Richards Rodgers, 2001. Richards and Rodgers 2001 also state that those principles involve activities containing real communication, the activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning, and the language that is meaningful to the students supporting the learning process. Based on the definition of TBLT from Richards and Rodgers 2001, the most important element in Task-Based Language Teaching is the task itself. Therefore, in the following part, the writer tries to define the task as follows.

a. Definition of Task

Nunan 2004 defines a task as a piece of classroom work that invokes the students to comprehend, manipulate, produce or interact in the target language. Meanwhile, their attention is focused on carrying out their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning. The same opinion is stated by Willis 1996 related to the use of the target language. She says that a task is an activity where the target language is used by the learners for communicative purposes goals in order to achieve an outcome. Related to the outcome, Larsen-Freeman and Anderson 2011 reveal that a task should have clear outcome so that the teacher and the students know whether or not the communication has been successful. Moreover, the task can be 15 said as the goal. As stated by Richards and Rodgers 2001 that a task is an activity or a goal that is carried out using language. Nunan 2004 divides tasks into real-world or target tasks and pedagogic tasks. Target tasks are the tasks that refer to the use of language in the world beyond the classroom and pedagogic tasks are those that occur in the classroom. Nunan 2004 also says that if the real-world tasks occur in the classroom, the real-world tasks become pedagogic tasks. However, not all real-world tasks can become pedagogic tasks. The tasks should require communication through language. Richards and Rodgers 2001 state that a task is a vehicle for applying the principles of the Communicative Language Teaching approach. They also state that involving students in a task serves a better context for the activation of learning processes than form-focused activities, and then it ultimately provides better opportunities for the language learning to take place. It is supported by Nunan 2004 that a task involves communicative language use where the user’s attention is focused on meaning rather than grammatical form. It does not mean that grammatical form is not important, but both grammatical form and meaning are highly related.

b. Component of Task