Speaker
Description
Summary
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) emphasizes meaning-focused communication and authentic language use. This session demonstrates an identity-centered storytelling task designed for adult ESL classrooms. Learners exchange personal and cultural stories and then retell a partner’s story from that partner’s perspective, creating a meaningful information gap that requires negotiation of meaning and narrative language use. The presentation illustrates how identity-based storytelling tasks can operationalize core TBLT principles while fostering intercultural awareness, empathy, and learner engagement.
Abstract section 3: Content/method
The presentation introduces a lesson structured around a TBLT task cycle. Learners interview a partner about their cultural background and personal experiences, creating an authentic information gap. They then present their partner’s story from that partner’s perspective. The session will show how the activity incorporates pre-task preparation, the communicative task, planning and reporting, and a post-task language focus. Practical strategies for scaffolding narrative language and facilitating reflection will also be discussed.
Abstract section 2: Contribution/research questions
This session demonstrates how a storytelling activity can be designed and implemented as a pedagogically principled TBLT task that promotes both communicative language development and identity-affirming classroom interaction.
Abstract section 5: References
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.
Long, M. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Wiley-Blackwell.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford University Press.
Abstract section 1: Relevance
TBLT positions communicative tasks as the central unit of language instruction, emphasizing meaning-focused interaction and the use of language to achieve authentic outcomes (Ellis, 2003; Long, 2015; Willis & Willis, 2007). Adult ESL classrooms are also increasingly characterized by diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Pedagogical approaches that draw on learners’ lived experiences can therefore enhance engagement and communicative authenticity. Storytelling offers one way to connect personal experience with meaningful language use. When framed as a task within a TBLT framework, storytelling can create information gaps that encourage negotiation of meaning while simultaneously fostering intercultural awareness, empathy, and meaningful learner interaction.
Abstract section 4: Outcomes/results
Participants will learn how identity-centered storytelling can function as a communicative task that aligns with core TBLT principles, including information gaps, meaning negotiation, and outcome-oriented interaction. They will also gain practical strategies for designing similar tasks that promote authentic communication, intercultural understanding, and learner engagement in adult ESL classrooms.
| Title | Telling Each Other’s Stories: A TBLT Approach to Identity |
|---|---|
| Teaching Context | Teaching mature/lifelong learners |