Second Language Acquisition through Task-based Approach – Role-play in English Language Teaching

A. Anne Dorathy

Assistant Professor in English, Department of Computer Applications,

Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Tamilnadu.

E-mail id: dorathy29anne@gmail.com

Dr. S.N. Mahalakshmi

Assistant Professor, Department of Science and Humanities,

Anna University of Technology, Coimbatore,

E-mail id: s.n.mahala@gmail.com

Abstract

Language teaching is not just about teaching languages, it is also about helping students to develop themselves as people.  Task-based language teaching (TBLT) proposes the use of tasks as a central component in the language classroom because they provide better contexts for activating learner acquisition processes and promoting second language learning.  Task-Based language teaching has attracted the attention of second language learning which was coined and later developed by second language researchers and educators in reaction to other teacher-dominated, form-oriented methods. Role play is a technique in which students are presented with a real or artificial environment and they are exposed with some find of case or situation and they need to exhibit the same in form of roles.  A brief outline of task-based teaching and a brief historical sketch of role-play is given in this paper.  This paper focuses on the need of task-based language teaching in classrooms and role play as a instructive method which serves as a multi-skill developing weapon where the students not only develop a broader perspective about a task or new role but also the horizon of understanding others behavior resulting into empathy, team work, better communication, interpersonal skills and management development. 

Keywords: Task-based teaching, Role-play.

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