The Pros and Cons of Task-based Instruction in Elementary English Classes

The Pros and Cons of Task-based Instruction in Elementary English Classes

The task has become a fundamental concept in teaching English as a second or foreign language. It is argued that engaging in tasks helps a learner develop target language skills in several advisable ways. For example, tasks can provide an opportunity not only to get a rich and comprehensible input of real language, but also to produce the target language to exchange meanings. However, there is a lack of studies which present a holistic analysis and evaluation of the interaction produced by tasks in real language classrooms. Thus, based on a database of lesson extracts in elementary English classes in Korea, this article attempts to discuss some advantages and disadvantages of the taskbased approach to language teaching. The aim of this article is not to denigrate task-based instruction, but rather to balance the theoretical claims with textual evidence of the drawbacks encountered in real language classrooms. This article suggests that it would be unsound to take a strong task-based approach at the expense of the other varieties, especially in elementary English classes. It may be time to take a more holistic approach, and to examine dispassionately the pros and cons of task-based instruction, on the basis of the interactional evidence and its relationship to language learning process.