Task-based Approach to Teaching English for Tour Guiding Students in EFL Context

This paper describes a task-based approach tc teaching English using an authentic material obtained from a guided tour. It begins with a brief discussion on forms*focused instruetion, then foiiows a discussion on meaning-focused and form-focused instruction. This paper also cites theoretical framework and research to justify the implementation oftask-based language teaching. It argues that task-based language teaching needs to be modified to accommodate the rreeds of tea€hing the language in EFL contexts. At the end of the paper, a procedure is proposed for the implementation of task-based language teaching using a sample material from tour guiding.

This structurai approach to teaching the language has been the sutrject of criticism because it is not based on needs anaiysis to identify what a particular group of learners nced.Needs analysis is an important element in a syllabus design.Teaching larrguage elemerrts one ai a time in an intuitively sequential order does not take into account the fact that language leaming processes do not happen sequentially in the way language items are taught.Many research findings show that learning new words or rules is not a one-time event, and that learners pass through different developmentai stages.As Rutherford (1988) noted, SLA is not a process of accurnulating entities in a linear fashion and yet, that is precisely what a structural syllabus tries to teach.
The research by Eliis and Light'oown (i983) aiso shows that aequisi- tion sequences do not reflect instructional sequences.They found that acquisition of German word order was determined by internal mechanisms rather than by input.Lightbown's study (1983) on the use of grammatical morphemes by young French speakers receiving formal ESL instruction and aspects ofthe language they heard in the classroom suggests that there is no direct relationship between the frequency with which certain forms appear in the classroom and the frequency or accuracy ofuse ofthese forms in the learner's language at the same point in time.
These studies show that language acquisition is not linear iike the order of teaching sequence and what is learned is not sequentially the same as how it is taught.It does not follow that instruction does not have a place in learning.Instruction may serve to speed up acquisition and also may help to achieve a higher level of mastery but 'the idea that what you teach is what they learn, and when you teach is when they learn it is simplistic and wrong' (Long, 1997:4).

MEANING.FOCUSED INSTRUCTION OR COMMUNICATIVE I,ANGUAGE TEACHING
As a response to the probiems of teaching wiih the focus of forms, language teaching focuses on rneaning.The starting point is not the lan- guage structure but the learner and learning processes.L1 and L2 acquisi-tion is thought to be essentially similar.so, if relatively similar conditions in L2 learning aie created and resemble those conditions in Lr leaming. it should be sufficient forL2learning to take place.unfortunately, this is not the case.Accordingly, lessons which f,ocus on meaning, are purely commu- nicative.Learners are presented with comprehensible samples of L2 use in a meaningful context, for example, in the form of content-based lessons, or lessons that are interesting and reie.;ant.Gramrnr rules are leamed induc- tively from exposure to comprehensible input.
However, though the meaning-focused instruction sounds promising, it is not without limitations.Many researchers have found increasing evi- dence for the operation of maturational constraints, including sensitive pe- riods in L2 acquisition (l,ong, 1990).A number of studies suggest that older children, adolescents and adults regularly fail to achieve native-like levels in anL? not because they lack opportunity, motivation or ability, but be- cause they have lost the opportunity to acquire native-like ability due to age-related factors and loss of neural plasticity in earlier childhood.Long (1990) argues that if this is the case, then it will be insufficient for later L2 learning simply to recreate the conditions for Ll acquisition in L2 crass- rooms although instruction places primary emphasis on communication.This approach, too, is not without flaws.
Limitations of communicative ESL to promote high level of accuracy in lenmerc rrc dicn,'""o.I :F ll/:ll:d*./1frn<.1 2\ LI^ -^.,^ rL^r lf rLî rr ivdiiiEis ciip utbui.jbbyliiii i"i'iiiiiiiiis\i)yiii.t1.rrc sdJS urar rr urs empha- sis of teaching and learning is on fluency and communication, it may not encourage learners io pay attention to the structure.communication in the classroom mav proceed quite successfully trut students may show a lot of grammaiical difficulties.Then, some attention to teach grammatical form shculd be necessarr''.The need ta focus on ianguage stniciure is e.ren more pronounced in contexts where learners do not have access to develop their grammatical ability outside the classroom such as that in EFL serrings.

FORM-FOCUSED II$STRUCTION
According to Long (1997), focus on form (withour s) involves 'alrer- nating in sorire principled way beiweeri a focris on nieaning anil a focus on forn:r', or 'a range of pedagogical interventions that seek to attract and di- rect learners' attenticn to speciflc fonnal aspects of the language code in the context of meaningfu!language use' (Ortega, 1999 l l0).This is done when the leamers are engaged in a eommunieative activity within a task- based teaching.If a grammar problem arises, the reacher should deal with it in such a way that tle learners' attention is focused only to that particular prcblem, and then, continue with the comrnunicative activity.
Focus on form is, therefore, learner-controlied.It is carried out when a student has a communicaiion probiem during the activity due to incom- plete understanding of a particular form or function or when he or she is having difficulties in understanding inputs from other students.The pur- pose of drawing learners' attention to a particular form is to induce what Schmidt (1993) calls 'noticing'.Focus on form instruction is an alternative to both focus on forms and focus on meaning (Long, lggl).As mentioned in the preceding section, the form-focused instruction is carried out within a task-based teaching.This is discussed in the following section.
TASK.BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING Task-based language teaching is based on the view of language as a social means to carry out communication purposes.Long and Crookes (1992)   say that the rationale of a task-based syllabus derives from principles of human learning in general and second language learning in particurar.The units ofanalysis in task-baseci ianguage learning are not based on linguistic forms but on concepts of task (p.27).In addition, they mention that task- based language teaching also derives from sLA research indicating that formal instruction has sorne innpact on the use of some learning strategies, and that formal instruction clearly improves the rate of learning @.aZ).This may indicate the importance of drawing learners' attention to those lbrmal aspects to facilitate learning.
Research on task shows that learners are involved in negotiation of meanings during task activities where they receive the kind of inputs that are necessary to help facilitate learning and acquisition.It follows that if learning is facilitated through task fulfillment activities, tasks should form the basis of syllabus and teaching.Research on tasks also shows that language learners employ different leaming strategies through different kinds of classroom learning tasks.It is assurned that learning sFategies can be taught.Oxford and Nyikos (1989) suggest that, 'students should be encouraged to experiment with a great variety of strategies and to apply them to tasks which promote creative, communicative learning and ... the language program should take into account leamer's needs, including the need to gain self-control and autonomy through strategy use' (p.297).
One aspect of learning strategy that relates to teaching principles is interaction strategies.Bejarano et.al (1997) identify two types of, interaction strategies:.modifiedinteraction strategy and social interaction strategy.
The modified interaction strategy consists of strategies that enable inter- locutors to modify their speech in order to facilitate comprehension of messages, such as checking for comprehension, appealing fcr assis..ance, giving assistance, and repairing.The social interaction strategies arc those strate- gies that are necessary for mainiarning the flow of conversation or interac- tion between the speaker and hearer, such as elaboration, responding, seek- ing informarion or opinion, paraphrasing or facilitating the flow of conversations.In a task-based instruction, Iearners could develop these leaming strategi€s, a necessary feature of interaction.

NFFTNIN'] TAQI'S vlr ltrr\u laurtu
The word 'task' has been used to label various activities; everytiay lif'e activities and classroom ianguage activities such as gra.mmar exercises, practice activities and role-plays.The eiefinitions beiow are taken from Nunan ( I e89).
A r^^l-i^, n tdJA tJ.
Asrika, Ta-sk-based Appnach to Teching English fur Tour Guiding Students in EFL Conrext 53 'a piece of work uncienaken for oneseiior for others, freely or for some reward.Thus, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form...In other words, by 'task' is meant the hundred and one tl'rings people do in everyday life" at work, at play, and in tretween' (Lcng, 1986:89).
[,ong takes examples of the kind of work from everyday life experi- ence to define tasks, so his definition is non-linguistic because they refer to non-ianguage related activities that take place outside classroorn environments.
Richards and Weber (1986) take a different perspecrive to define tasks.They say that a task is: 'an activity ofaction which is carried out as the result ofprocessing or understanding language.For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and pertorming a command, may be referred to as tasks.Tasks may or may not involve the production of language.A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful completion of the task.The use of a variety of different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching more communicative.sinceit provides a purpose for a class- room activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake' (Richards and Weber, 1986:289).
This definition has a pedagogic perspecrive.A task is defined in terms of teaching in the classroom setting refening to the kinds of activities that learners do in the classroom.It is different from Long's definition in terms of the setting where a *"ask is completed.The common feature of both definitions is that they both involve the use of language f,or communication purposes with the focus on meanings, not linguistic forms or structures.
The definition of tasks that Nunan uses also focuses on meaning rather than form, as he puts it: These ciefinitions suggest that ali tasks should have an outcome and that the outcome shouid be the result of some communication using the language.A task should have meaning, goal and activities (Skehan, 1998).
CRITERIA FOR.A TASK Skehan (1998) suggests that a task should fulfil the following criteria: a. meaning is primary b.there is a goal which needs to be worked towards c. the activity is outcome-evaluated d. there is a real-world relationship Thus, an activity that focuses on language forrns alone cannot be con- sidered as a task.For example, pattern drills on a particular structure.The primary focus is not on meaning and it does not happen in the real world.Tasks for classroom use could be developed according to the task's pro- cessing demands (Skehan, 1998) or distribution of information among differentparticipants and how participants are expected to act on this information (Long, 1989).
Within the framework of task-based insiruction, Fotos (i998) sug- gests that grammar should be taught implicitly by 'flooding' input with numerous usage, or'oy rnaking the stJ'Jctures prominent through highiighr ing or some other physical treatment.The iearners are expected to be able to notice, then process, linguistic structures, which have been introduced to them within communicative contexts.The 'attention focusing' and 'under- standing' are related to Schrnidt's (1990) claim that consciousness at the !eve! cf naticing the fcrm af input is necessary to subsequent L2 learning, and that consciousness at the level of rule understanding is strongly facilitative of later leaming.The 'attention focusing' format in teaching is con-si<tercd tc facilitate learning because it eauses learners to notiee salient aspects oi the structure being explaineci by the teacher or comprehending the explanation itself leads to understanding of the structure (Robinson,rqq6) Astika, Ta-rk-ba.sedAppmach to Teching English fitr Tttur Guiding Students in EI;L Conrex 55 Other researchers have suggested that iearners couid benefit from some type of explicit instruction prior to the task activity to help thern activate their previous knowledge of the target structures.or to facilitate awareness of the forms they wiii encounter (Skehan,i 996).Expiicit grammar instruc- tion could be combined with communicative activities by giving leamers short grammar lessons, which are then followed by communicative input containing instances of the instructed forni.Again, the communicative ac- tivities are often followed by a teacher-led review of the target grammatical form, and feedback on errors (Ellis, 1995).

TASK IMPLEMENTATION
Since a task-based approach to language learning requires student commitment and involvernent in the instructional process, it might be necessary to consider learner opinions of what they think enhances the learning process.This is important because students whose instructional expec- tations are not met may consciously or subconsciously question the cred- ibility of instructional approach in cases where corrective feedback is not appropriately provided.
Kern (1995) supports the view that learners beliefs about learning are important to language learning in institutional settings because understand- ing their beliefs could help teachers minimize the potential of expectation conflicts occurring in the class.This conflict may contribute to student' lack of motivation and frustration.Schulz's (1996:348) study on students' irltitudes towards enor correction indicated that they had favorable atti- tudes toward a focus on forms inLZ|FL language learning.He speculates rh^r /l \ Q+"Aaat ^^i-l^-o tnrrzorzl f--,{h.^L^-f^m" *.r, h-hooorl lo*ol.' llrd.\ r/l Jluuvlr! vlJrrllvrrr LvvY4u rvvuusvA vrr rvrluo rrlBJ vv usJvs rsSvrJ on a myth regarding the usefulness of grammar study, passed on from gen- cration to generation of FUL2leamers.
(2) Student opinions may be strongly influenced by the grammar-based curriculum and discrete point testing rncthods that are still practiced in many FL classrooms.This may have convinced learners that a focus on forms is what language learning requires.
(.]) Student opinions may be actuaily based on personal experiences that have convinced them their iearning is enhanced by rule awareness and corrcc:live feedback on forms.
Learners' expectation of feedback to ttreir ianguage iearning is not uncommon.They view the teacher as someone who has the knowledge to provide feedback and this attitude is very strong in FL learning where the classroom is the only appropriate place where students can expect to get ieedback.Therefore, feedback is an inevitable practice in classroom inter- actions.As Chaudron (1988) points out: the prirna"a role oflanguage teachers is often considered to be the provision of both error eorrection, a form of negative feedback, and positive sanctions or approval of leamers' production.In most other social interactions, no one participant is specified as having the automatic right to impose judgement on the other's behavior, especially linguistic behavior (p.132).
Corrective feedback may take different forms such as intemrpt, pro- vide, repeat etc., but chaudron cautions that it is dangerous to assume that students would learn just because the teacher provides feedback on their errors during classroom interaction (p.152).
It may bernecessary to make a balance between what students' expec- tation for feedback and how to realize it in a form-focused instruction as suggested by Long.student's need for error correction is variably different from one another.Form-focused instruction may aceornmodate individual student needs for correction since form-focused work should be dcne incidentally when the need arises.

THE ROLE OF PLANNING PRIOR TO TASK ACTIVITIES
Before students are asked to complete a task, they may as well be given errough time to plan what they lvant tc say or <io.The importance for the roles of planning prior to task compleiiorr has been documented in rnany siudies.Ellis (1987:11i) for example, says thar siudents wilr be abie ro use ianeuage forms if they are given time to pian and exercise the forrns.
If that is the case, he argues, providing opportunities to pian their language shouid increase the iikelihood of diffrcult forms being eventually acquireci and used into their language riuring task activities.crookes (lggg) says that piarrned outprii pushes ihe students' language io its iimits and thus facilitates second larrguage acquisition processes.Skehan (1994, i996, and  1998) views planning as a task condition that regulates cognitive ioad.The opportunity to pian beiore L2 tasks lessens communicative stress and en- ables ieamers io free up atientional resources and redirect them toward a focus on form.Ortega's study (1999:132) on task planning shows that: l.Under conditions of planning, adult non-native speakers of Spanish were able to produce significantly more fluent and complex ianguage.
2. Opportunity to plan before an L2 speaking task can enhance learners' attention to form during pre task planning.
These results provide supporl for the claim that planning before per- forming an L2 task can promote a conscious focus on form, even when leamers are not directed specifically to attend to language.
Loschky and Bley-Vroman (1993) propose that if a teacher wants to make progress, one has to use the 'necessary' condition; meaning that one needs to devise tasks which 'force' the use of a particular structure.In this way, they suggest, one obtains the benefits of a task-based approach.Fotos and Ellis (1991) also take this position.Results of their study demonstrated that learners were able to increase their knowledge of a difficult L2 rule by cornpleting a grammar task through interaction with other learners.Learners were provided with grammar problems they must solve interactively in rneaningful communication.Long (in press) takes a different approach to choosing tasks and task implementation.He derives real-world task from some kind of needs analysis.Then pedagogic tasks are designed but there is no attempt to base task activities on any particular structure.He argues that if a task is accessible and motivating to the students, they will engage in the task and this wiii facilitate their language development.

TASK.BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING IN EFL CONTEXTS
Form-focused instruction within a task-based approach suggests that l'cedback to students' ianguage difficulties be given impiicitiy.The extent to which this approach works sr.lccessfully rnay depend on sutrsequent availlbility of input in communication that contains particular language forms.Unlike L2 contexts where opportunities to use the language outside the classroonn setting are acce.ssible,a F[situatie'rn is depnv,'ed of sueh a-n ac- cess and the classroom is the only place where learners can practice the tranguage and get feedback.Even within EFL classrooms, target language use rnay be very infrequent.
However, if the focus-on-form approach is modified in such a way to ailow for formal practice on iikely targei fon-ns necessary-for task coniple- tion before the task activity, and then provide feedback on the most perva- sive and 'communicatively damaging' language problerns, then this approach may offer considerable hope.It should be pointed out that form-focused practice before the task should not follow the practice in the forms-focused instruction, which ignores the context of language.The form-fucused instruction here should be targeted towards increasing the awareness of whatever the necessary structures are needed for task completion activities.
So, instead of 'forcing' particular structures into a task (Loschky andBley-Vroman, 1993, Fotos andEllis, 1991), iearners could be presented with authenticimaterials and then under the guidance of the teacher, the students are asked to study particular structures used in the materials.Then learners carry out the task.During the task work, learners' language prob- Iems are dealt with (focus-on form principle).Then, following the sugges- tion by Willis (1996), a language focus activity is carried out at the end of the task work. in an EFL setting, this is necessary because practice opportu- nities of practicing the language structures are not available outside the classroom.

MATERIAL FOR TASK.BASED ACTIVITIES
The sample material below follows what has been discussed in the preceding sections.It is a live commentar-y of a tour guide, audio+aped in the bus fram the airport to a hotel in BaH.The guide was standing at the iront of the bus, beside the driver.i{e hari a microphone and the recording was done from the back section of the bus.The transcript was not an accu- rate, precise representation of the guide's commentary presentation as it did not indicate the points where the guide made pauses as the bus was going, duration of pauses, intonation markers, speed of delivery, etc.During the transcription, gramrnatical mistakes were not corrected.The corn- mentary was transeribed as closely as possible as it was presented.The purpose was to provide students with an authentic commentary with all its limitations in terms of content and language.PROCEDURES t.Pre-task Introducing the task: One of the jobs of a tour guide is to meet tourists at the airport and then take them to a hotel.On the way to the hotel, the guide gives some general information such as the distance of the hotel from the airport, the facilities of the hotel, the things that tourists can and should not do.This information is given in a bus that takes them to the hotel.
Z. Thsk cycle a.The teacher asks students to form small groups of three or four.In the group they discuss things ihai tourists can do and should not do when they go out from the hotel and take a walk, or they can discuss what irrrportant places around the hotel those tourists should know.
The students shouid make a list of things that tourisis should know b.Each group presents the list to the class anci the teacher wntes them on the board so that everybody can read the list.A brief riiscussion can fallow based on the iist.c.The teacher gives the handout (the guide's commentlry) to the stu- dents.(Please note that the commentary has a lot of problems linguisticaily and this is not the main t-ocus of the iesson.)Then in the sarne group, they are asked to make a list of things that the guide commenteti on.
rl. Compare their list from the commentary and the one on the board and discuss the differences.c.In the group, ask them to make a similar commentary.Pretend that they are raking a group of tourists to a hotei.They shouid inciude as many as they can the items in the list that they think relevant' They can divide the rvork among group members the$ eornpile them at the end, or they can work together as a group.At this point the teacher can move around the class to help students with language difficulties as they are writing their commentary.f.When they finish writing the commentary, they are askeci to pre- piue a presentation.They are given enough time to prepare.Each member should take turn to practice giving commentary in the group as a preparation for in-class presentation' g.The students are asked to present the commentary in front of the class.The teacher acts as a chairperson seiecting who wiii speak next.During each presentation, other students are asked to make notes of what items are commented on by the student guide.After each presentation, the teacher and the students may briefly give feedback on the content of the commentary such as items in their written preparation that did not get commented on.
3. Language focus a.After the presentation stage, the teacher and students work on the real commentary by the guide.They identify and discuss the lan- guage features that are used in the commentary, such as common phrases, verb tenses, tourist-related vocabulary, pragmatic features, etc.
b. Then follows brief practice of those language features under the teacher's guidance.c.For homework, each group is asked to edit and revise their written commentary for submission on the following lesson'

CONCLUSION
A task-based language teaching with modified form-focused instruc- tion is another pedagogical alternative for teaching the language in EFL contexts.Unlike the forms-focused approach, the form-focused in this dis- Astika, Task-based Apprcach ta Teching English for Tour Guiding students in EFL Context 6l cussion integrates iinguistic aspects before and after task activities in mean- ingful contexts within a partieuiar task.L.anguage knowledge is a rneans to thc successful completion of task demands at every stage of task cycles, not ln end in itself as cornmonly practiced in the forms-focused instruction.drink mineral water.Please buy in your hotei or outside there wiil be many a... you know, shops or bars selling mineral water.Please don't try to buy rninera!water; sorry don't drink pipe water because atherwise you will spoil your holiday because oi Bali Belly.Because you useci to drink pipe water in your eountry, I should remind vou to buy mineral water.
Ladies and Gentlemen, so if you are going to change money you can do it inside your hotel or outside your hotei.A week ago your money is around five thousand rupiah per dollar, and now approximately four thousand three hundred rupiah, ya.I-adies and Gentlemen, if are you going to change rnoney ytlu should remernber oE I remind you if are you going to change, you know, outside of your hctel, ycu should, you know, which cne is the irest or which one is better.Because you know, there are money changers, which offer very much, some money changers are illegal, and rnost money changers are legal one.
So how to change money, you should read you know, the rate, no commission.So that you not charged ten percent or sometimes you know, you will be ripped off, because the calculator had been set up in the wrong number or something like that.Or sometimes you know, in the bundle of rnillion rupiah, you know, original because the biggest money is fifty thousand rupiah, afterwards less one is twenty thousand rupiah, and then ten thousand, and after you know, five thousand and one thousand rupiah.Sornetimes in the bundle of money of fifty thousand rupiah, sometimes inside there is twenty thousand too.You should really check one by one.And also please recount with your calculator.
Ladies and Gentlemen, so if are you going to buy something there will be many people will offer you one dollar which actually not real one dollar.It is a trick of selling sCImething.If you are interested to buy please negotiate as much as you can.And there will be many hustlers on the street, which offer you copy watches or something, copy of silver or copy of woodcarving also.If y'ou buy the real one please buy in a departrnent store, and also in a gallery of something like that.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your hotel, we call it Bali Bintang Hotel, so don't worry, your iuggage is being transferred.Welcome to your hotel, Bali Bintang Hotel.Astika, Task-based Appmach to Teching English for Tour Guiding Students in EFL Context 65 I-adies and Gentlemen, next hotel will be Santika Fiotel.Aiso the next one is KartikaPlaza.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me tell you what you should do in Bali, rnay be are you going to plait your hair, there will be many people who offer you plaiting your hair.Sometimes there will be five people and they will ask you for the price.So you are doing this, you should negotiate how mr-lch .,^,,.h^.'ll ^^" f-^* 1L-l---i--i--r^ G*i-1, tvq orrvuru PoJ rrviM urv ueSlruurrS !v rrruoar.
Over there is Kuta Square, where you can find department store and supermarket, called Matahari, not far from Santika, just turn left then, take approximately ten minutes to Kuta Square.And also you can find, you know, a... Kentucky Fried Chicken as you find in your country, but I think you sure prefer Indonesian cuisine to, you knoq American.
W'ell, this is Santika Hotel and please enjoys your time.