4.1 Presentation, analysis and discussion of findings that address the first objective
4.1.3 Sources of the tasks that the teachers assign the learners
So it emerged from School C that not all the learners are excited by TBLT. Some learners would be excited and some show an attitude which Ms. P described asbad.Some even think that the teacher is lazy to teach that is why they are made to work in a pair or a group. This is a challenge to the teachers who need to work towards making the learners understand that they do need to work with their classmates at times. At the same time, this is evidence that teachers will always have a reason for not doing what they were expected to do according to the syllabus they are supposed to implement. The teachers seem to forget that they also have beautiful ideas because of their interaction with other teachers and intellectuals wherever they go. It is true that pair and group work is what facilitates the thinking as one gets to appreciate how others think towards a certain topic and it may help them in the near future.
With questionnaires, the data was revealed that six teachers believe that during TBLT a teacher becomes a facilitator. This means that the teacher sees to it that the learning goes on smoothly and easily. Two teachers believed that during TBLT a teacher becomes an instructor who just gives an authoritative advice and instruction. One teacher shared that TBLT makes a teacher someone who guides the learners. When he or she moves around the learners’ questions and concerns are addressed amicably. Another one responded by saying that during TBLT the teacher becomes just a supporter. Learners need to be supported all the time whether doing well or not as a form of encouragement or just making them to feel better even if they have not achieved what they had been asked to do. One participant said that a teacher becomes an observer during TBLT, a monitor and a resource person. All these do not suggest that a teacher does all the work but will be there to make sure that everything goes on as planned. It is for the teacher to create such harmony in the classroom so that the negative attitudes that are sometimes prevalent in the classrooms are minimized because they are unhealthy for the teaching and learning process. All these are teachers’ experiences of using TBLT at secondary school level in the Lubombo region of Swaziland.
listening comprehension passages cover subjects from all walks of life so exposing the learners to them through TBLT puts them at an advantage when it comes to the examinations. These learners will simply produce informed responses following what Willis (2011) has outlined in his PPP theory. Other teachers relayed that even the prescribed books become useful to them when they design the tasks. This is a sign that teachers cannot just say they do not have access to libraries or even the internet so they cannot come up with tasks to give to the learners as two teachers attested that the internet is a great source for them for these tasks. There are also teachers who believed in their own creation when it comes to the tasks to assign the learners during TBLT.According to Robinson (2005), task design should enhance balanced language development; students need to learn L2 accurately, paying attention to fluency as well as complexity of production because they will have been presented and practiced the pattern of the language during lesson time. The result then will be a relatively free language production. This cannot be successfully done if teachers are not going to be innovative more especially if they understand that language learning is a complex process. Another teacher cited the television as a source of the tasks that they assign the learners. Another pointed at contemporary issues as a source of the tasks that are assigned to the learners during TBLT as it is very common for examiners to set questions on current issues.
Another teacher relied on teaching guides and another said that he sometimes asked the learners to come with the tasks as a sign of empowering them so they may feel responsible and carry out the task with a sense of responsibility. In doing all these, the teachers are trying to come with tasks that will excite the learners so that they may have the urge to carry them out or be even motivated by the task itself. Such an environment is really a friendly one as learners too will prepare tasks that they will want to perform once they are well-train on TBLT.
Also FDGs were conducted to ascertain the sources of the tasks that the teachers assign the learners and these were the responses from the teachers:
School A
Ms. X:Sometimes we use the text books because there are prescribed books with these tasks.
Mr. Z:In as much as I use the recommended text books, I also source other material from other sources like the internet and television. So I can’t really say I over rely on the text book. I pick what will fascinate my students, something that will generate interest. I also find a newspaper then design a task-based learning activity. I kind of expose them to a number of things.
In as much as the teachers rely on the prescribed books when designing the tasks to be assigned to the learners, some teachers go out of their way to find tasks that will be appealing to the learners so as to generate interest in the learners. The metaphorical language planning and policy ‘onion’ by Ricento and Hornberger (1996), points that teachers consider the learners at their disposal and then decide to
implement TBLT the way they feel it will suite them. This gives the teachers the authority in the classroom that a good number of them so much enjoy.
School B
This is how teachers from this school responded to the question on the sources of the tasks that they assign the learners:
Mr. M:You rely on the text books and from your experience as a teacher, you sit down, in mind with the objectives on what you want to achieve as a teacher, come up with a lesson then use your experience to devise these discussions.
Ms. K:Ya, the books are always there but also googling the information works for me, it is also good.
Ms. T:Not always because most of the time the book will help you have tasks that are in line with the objectives of your lesson. So I don’t think it is something that is difficult. So you always rely on it for what you are going to do on that particular day. So coming up with the tasks is not a difficult thing to do.
It is worth noting that some teachers are well aware that technology cannot be overlooked. Ms. K from school B agreed that she would check from the goggle search engine what could be used in designing tasks to be assigned to the learners in an English class. Kissau (2014), who discusses the integration of new technologies into language learning, argues that computers bring about the shift from the traditional teacher student roles since in technology-enhanced environment; learners manage their own learning process by gathering information and negotiating meaning themselves and making their decisions and become responsible for their own work more independently. Even though this assertion supports the idea of learners assessing the knowledge themselves using computers but it highlights the importance of integrating new technology into language learning which is what the teachers who goggle are basically doing.
School C
Ms. S:As English teachers you always want to broaden the scope of the learners, so some of the tasks will come from things that are happening around, in the country or the school. You ask them to discuss what is happening.
Ms. T:Sometimes from their textbooks.
Ms. P: Sometimes we design the tasks from their experiences. Sometimes we give them a topic to talk about what they were doing over the holidays or something like that.
That was clear indication that there are teachers who want to expose the learners to a wide variety of issues by not just relying on the textbook. This is a sign that those teachers want to help the learners widen their scope thus making them better learners and future citizens of the global world by just following government policy of making English the medium of communication thus supporting the idea that competence in English undoubtedly enables learners to perform better in all the other subjects.