Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task Based in Language Teaching (TBLT) could be very different; however both have some features in common. In both methods is used the real situation, this feature helps to understand the language into our ordinary life. Students learn to use and practice in their daily life. To do this, dynamic and interactive activities open the mind of students to understand how language is used. For this reason, it is relevant that these activities will be creative, dynamic, and interactive. Also, students feel motivation to interact to others. Now we will analyze some differences of both methods. First, the main goal for CLT is to enable to students to communicate in target language, teacher, in this case, is a co-cooperator or facilitator of the learning. Whereas, in TBLT the main goal is to facilitate student´s language learning by engaging them in a variety of tasks that have a clear outcome. In other words, teacher´s role is to choose tasks, based on an analysis of students´ learning needs, that are appropriate to the level of students, and to create pre task and task follow up. Another significant difference is communicative competence, in CLT students can develop this component but in TBLT cannot. However, in TBLT students have the opportunity to use linguistic sources and these are more than linked aspects of language, but in CLT students cannot to do this. Finally, another difference is that in TBLT students can develop a variety of tasks and this involves to students into different styles of learning. Yet this does not happen in CLT. In conclusion, we can understand both methods from their perspectives, similitaries, differences, and applications. I think that both have positive and useful principles and these would be indispensable in my lesson plans. 

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Task-based Language Teaching

In 1976,Wikins divided two types of syllabi:synthetic syllabic and  analytic syllabic. However, we will focus on analytic syllabic because TBLT falls into this category. The main difference among synthetic syllabic and analytic is that the second one is composed of tasks, not a sequence of linguistic items. The task is the most important vehicle that teacher use to get an effective learning and teaching process.There are variety of tasks but teacher is the responsable to stablish what focuses use, and this depends on students' needs and level of learners. TBLT also has certain principles or characteristics which these identify it.The first principle is the lesson plan and its parts, this should have three important components such as:pre-task, during the task, and post-task. These will develop different skills that sometimes teacher does not take account, for instance the logical thinking process necessary to complete the task. Another characteristic is reformulating and recasting what students have said, teacher use the the correct target language.For this reason, it is important that teacher provides good models of the target language. Moreover, the jigsaw task permmits that students can figure out it, interacting and communicating with their classmates. Also, 'Listen-and-doing' task is another significant principle, this promotes acquisition of new vocabulary and provides a good model for grammatical form.At this moment, we could analyze its principles, now we will see its interesting techniques.

-Information gap task:is the vehicle to exchange information among the learners.

-Opinion gap task:feelings, opinions, emotions, personal preferences are take account to complet the task.

-Reasoning gap task:student might derive some new information, by inferring it from information they have already been given.

-Unfocused task:provides opportunities for communicating in general way.

-Focused task: also provides opportunities for communicating but using some specific linguistic item.

-Input providing task:focuses on reading and listening.

-Output providing task: emphasizes on speaking and writing.

In conclusion, TBLT is an efficient method that teachers could implement into their class. Promoting an confortable social environment where students interact and share their feelings though the assigned task. 

University of Costa Rica

Atlantic-Branch Turrialba Campus

Lesson Plan

Date: May 2nd,2014.

Teacher: Carolina Diaz

Group: 9-5