CBI and TBI: Process-Based Language Learning
Why Are CBI and TBI Called Process-Based Approaches?
Both are called “process-based” because they expect that in the process of learning the content or doing a task, students will learn the language. They share a common starting point: a focus on creating classroom processes that are believed to best facilitate language learning. This includes:
- Interaction between the learner and users of the language.
- Collaborative creation of meaning.
- Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language.
- Negotiation of meaning as the learner and their interlocutor arrive at understanding.
- Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language.
- Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and trying to incorporate new forms into one’s developing communicative competence.
- Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things.
Advantages of CBI and TBI
Students will learn a language through being taught content in a particular language because that will create rich learning environments.
Content is always present in any class, but in traditional language classes, content is chosen after other decisions have been made. It’s not the most relevant part.
Potential Issues with CBI and TBI
- Students may (studies show that they do) skip over grammatical accuracy.
- Are teachers knowledgeable enough to teach content?
- Assessment: Language? Content? Both?
Task-Based Instruction (TBI)
TBI claim: Tasks are the best way to create rich, interactive language processes. Language acquisition is a by-product of engaging in task completion.
Main Characteristics of a Task
- Language is used as a resource (tool).
- It has an outcome.
- Meaning-driven.
- Learners need to use their communication strategies and interactional skills.
Types of Tasks
- Pedagogical Tasks: Tasks that people may not necessarily have to do in real life, but because of the way they have been designed, they are useful in providing rich opportunities for language acquisition.
- Real-Life Tasks: Tasks that students will probably have to do in real life.
What Does the Reading Suggest About Drills?
They don’t have the characteristics of tasks. Therefore, they are not useful for language acquisition.
Main Issues in Implementing TBI
- Lack of enough empirical data that supports the adoption of the approach.
- Criteria for task selection is problematic.
- Accuracy may be left aside.
- TBI may seem too vague to use as a methodology.
Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT)
What Is the Main Issue in Implementing CBLT?
It appears that adopting a CBLT approach has a predictable result: learners will gain high levels of fluency and poor levels of accuracy because of the focus being exclusively on meaning. There needs to be a balance between meaning and form focus. This will depend on how content-knowledgeable and language-teaching-knowledgeable the teacher is.
How Can CBLT Be Carried Out More Effectively?
There needs to be an intentional balance between form and meaning.
How Is the Main CBLT Issue Similar to the Explicit/Implicit Interface?
These issues are similar because both ends of the continuum create the same results: high levels of something and low levels of something else.
Four Criticisms Related to TBLT
- It may not be appropriate to use it as the foundation for beginner classes.
- It needs to create its own syllabus, taking into account developmental sequences.
- Accuracy vs. Fluency.
- Suitable assessments.
How Can the Above Issues Be Dealt With?
- Adjust the tasks for beginner students, use of visual cues, etc.
- More focus on form.
- Use tasks as a means of assessment.