Introduction

A task-based lesson can consist of three phases – a pre-task phase involving some kind of preparation for the performance of a task, the main task phase when the task is performed and a post-task phase involving follow-up activities. In an option-based approach to the design of task-based lessons described in this chapter, options for each of these three phases of a task-based lesson are outlined and illustrated. Options for the pre-task phase include both teacher-centred activities (e.g. modelling performance of the task and pre-teaching vocabulary and perhaps also grammar) and learner-centred activities (e.g. providing students with opportunities to plan before they perform the task). Options for the main-task phase include deciding whether to allow the students to see the input materials when they perform the task and whether to set a time-limit for completing the task. Also, there are online focus-on-form options for addressing communicative and linguistic problems as these arise when a task is performed. Options for the post-task phase are teacher-centred (e.g. asking students to repeat the task or reviewing learner errors) and also learner-centred (e.g. using consciousness-raising tasks to develop learners' explicit knowledge of aspects of language shown to be problematic when they performed the task). In this chapter I describe the various options involved in the three phases of a task-based lesson.

The Case for an Options-based Approach

In Chapter 8 I pointed out that TBLT is not a 'method' but an 'approach' that encapsulates a number of different possibilities. I pointed out, for example, that unlike Long and Skehan I do not reject the possibility of a modular curriculum that incorporates a more traditional component based on a structural syllabus. In Chapter 10 I spelled out my ideas of what such a modular syllabus might look like.

The fact that TBLT is not monolithic raises the question of how to present the methodology for doing TBLT. My solution is to adopt an options-based approach. That is, I propose to describe some of the key options available for each phase of a TBLT lesson.