Process versus product? : personal reflection and experimentation in task-based learning with the Hiroshima Teacher Trainees 2008

Abstract

In my ten years of teaching, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time devising the best ways to teach linguistic elements, such as grammar or pronunciation targets. Increasingly it seems to me that this vantage could be fundamentally flawed, as it focuses too heavily on product rather than process. Here, I’m thinking of classes where teachers strive to develop ‘authentic’ practice situations that require the use of certain targets or products. Their lesson plan focuses on the target and the learners are encouraged to do the same with practice activities. It begs the question, wouldn’t it be more authentic to start with the process? To start with the task and see what kind of linguistic structures this engenders