Sudanese EFL University Instructors’ Perspectives about using Task-Based Language Teaching in Enhancing EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence: A Case Study of University of West Kordufan (Published)
The aim of this study is to investigate Sudanese EFL university instructors’ perspectives about using task-based language teaching in enhancing EFL learners’ communicative competence in the Faculty of Education, at West Kordufan University in Elnnihud City in Sudan during the second semester of the academic year 2020-2021. Fifteen EFL university instructors are randomly selected as a sample of this study. To collect data, the study depends on a structured interview. The results of the study reveal that majority of the interviewed instructors believe that task-based language teaching enhances Sudanese EFL university learners’ communicative competence to large extent because it enables students to work with their peers in pairs or groups and this enables them to feel more comfortable in using language more naturally than with their teachers. However, the participants do believe that they have experienced some difficulties in using task-based language teaching approach for example slow and low-proficient students do not get more opportunities to enhance better communicative competence because group working, discussions and presentations are dominated and overshadowed by proficient students. In addition to that, some students lack the sufficient lexical competence and the topical knowledge in English. The participants think that these difficulties have impact on the developing and enhancing of communicative competence of Sudanese EFL university learners to large extent. Finally, the study recommends that the learning tasks should address students’ language needs and interests and the students should be grouped according to their levels of proficiency besides that teachers must simplify the language required to undertake the task and make it easier for the students.
Keywords: Communicative Competence, EFL Instructors, Perspectives, Task-Based Language Teaching, sudanese
The Place of Literature in a Task-Based Language Teaching Classroom: The Futo Experience (Published)
This paper examined the deployment of literature texts in the teaching of language using the task-based constructive approach. The theory of constructivist language learning is one which advocates a learner-centred, task-based approach, contrary to older teaching methods where the teacher dominates the classroom or where rote learning is encouraged. In a constructivist learning situation, the learner discovers new knowledge for himself as he undertakes certain language tasks with the guidance of the teacher-facilitator. This paper studied the use of literature texts, rather than isolated constructed sentences, as material for language tasks in the teaching of Use of English at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO). The two areas of language examined in the paper were coherence in text organization and descriptive writing. The use of literature texts was found to be closer to authentic data than de-contextualised constructed sentences and, therefore, challenged and excited the learners more. The paper recommends a greater adoption of literature texts and other texts taken from real-life or near real-life situations as material in task-based learning.
Keywords: Constructivism, Task-Based Language Teaching, literature texts in language teaching
A Literature Review of Task-Based Language Teaching In College Reading Comprehension – Exploration of Tasks Design to Foster Reading Strategies (Published)
In this study, the writer has conducted a literature review of task-based language teaching in reading comprehension under the framework of the sociocultural theory. The core concepts of sociocultural theory: the zone of proximal development (ZPD) theory, and the scaffolding theory are introduced to justify task-based approach in the reading instruction. Then, the task design are discussed with the Ellis`s task design criteria and reading strategies to show that tasks as the media can be viewed as scaffoldings to promote learners` ZPD.
Keywords: Reading Comprehension, Reading strategies, Sociocultural Theory., Task-Based Language Teaching
