Incorporating Task Based Language Learning Approach into a Kurdish Young EFL Learners' Classroom through Storytelling Technique in a Basic School in Kurdistan Region

Abstract

Effective teaching of English language to EFL learners has always been an important issue. There has been continuous efforts to find and adapt teaching methods and styles which suit learners' context, needs, and interest. This paper tries to devise a lesson for Kurdish young learners of grade six in a primary school in Kurdistan Region through integrating Task Based Learning aspects with the characteristics of Storytelling Method. Efficacious language learning approaches prioritise enhancing learners' communicative performance over teaching complex grammatical structures in the early stage of learning a foreign language. Similarly, Task Based Language Learning approach aims to develop learners' communicative competence via engaging them in authentic language activities and tasks. Storytelling technique on the other hand, can create an energetic, friendly ambiance in which learners are enthusiastically immersed in the lesson. They speak more confidently and are less afraid of making mistakes. The technique adapted, is new and novel in Kurdistan region's basic schools however, it falls within the scope of Communicative Teaching Approach which has recently become the popular approach for teaching English Language in basic schools of the region in the last few years.

Enhancing Thai EFL Students’ EFL Vocabulary Knowledge through the Use of Task-Based Language Teaching and Storytelling Technique Adopting Thai Folktales

“…The students reported that the learning design could help them improve their ability with the English language, engagement, motivation, and interpersonal relationships. Moreover, the findings reported by Hamamorad (2018) suggest that TBLL and the storytelling style could enhance learners' communicative ability and generate an active, pleasant environment in which learners are joyfully engaged in the class. According to Willis and Willis (2007) storytelling can heighten a person's pleasure and generally improve our social experience.…”

Storytelling and Teaching English to Young Learners: A Vietnamese case study

“…Storytelling also fits with the task-based approach as "[t]asks provide a framework for storytelling which can be manipulated by the task designer or teacher to both support and challenge the learner" (Kiernan, 2005, p. 59). Storytelling in the framework of pre-duringpost tasks can be found in many studies such as Essig (2005), Kiernan (2005), Saucedo (2005, Seedhouse (2010), andHamamorad (2018). There are two perspectives of taskbased storytelling: one considers that students' interactively listening to and joining the teacher telling the story is the main task and one considers students' telling the story to be the main task.…”