Diane Larsen-Freeman

150 Content-based. Task-based, and Participatory Approaches
invo lves the gathering of any necessar y information. For exa mple, if the
students have decid ed to pu blish a school news pa per, then this stage
might involve their co nducting inte rviews, ta king photograp hs, and gat h­
ering pr inted or visual material. lt would also include writing up their
interviews and laying out an d printing and distr ibuting the first edition of
their newspa per. During this stage, students may well usc all four skills in
a na tu ral, integra ted fashion.
In the third and final stage, students review their project. Th cv monito r
their own wor k an d receive feedback from the teacher on their' performance.
At each of these th ree stages, the teac her will be working with the
students acting as counselor and consultant, not as the project directo r.
By encouraging students to move out of the classroom an d into the
world, project work helps to bridge the gap between language stu dy and
language use.
PARTI CI PAT O RY A P P RO ACH
Although it origina ted in the early sixties with the work of Paulo Freire,
and therefo re antedates modern versions of content-based and raskbased
approaches, it W ;lS not unt il the 1980s tha t the participato ry
a pproach starred being widel y discussed in the language teach ing literature.
In some ways the participatory a pproach is similar to the contentbased
ap proa ch in tha t it begins with content that is meaningful to the
students and any forms rhat are wor ked upon emerge fro m that content .
Wha t is str ikingly different though is the nature of the content. It is not
the content of subject ma tter texts, but rat her content that is based on
issues of concern to students.
In the ea rly 1960s, Freire developed a nati ve-language literacy progra m
for slum dwellers an d peasants in Brazil. Freire engaged learn ers in dialogues
a bou t problems in their lives. These dialogs not on ly becam e the
basis for literacy develo pment, but also for reflection and action to
impro ve st udents' lives. Freire believed tha t 'ed ucat ion is meaningful to
the exte nt that it engages learners in reflecting on their relationship ro the
w.or~d they live in and provides t hem WIth n means to shape their wo rld'
~ h elre an d Macedo 1987 in Auerb ach 1992 ). Educa tion is not value free;
It occurs .within a particula r context. Th e goa l of the participat ory
approach IS to help studen ts to unde rsta nd the social, histo rical. or cultural
forn 's that affects their lives, an d then to help empower students to
take action and mak e decisions in order to gain contro l over their lives
(Wallerstein 19lB ).
Content-based, Task-based, and Participatory Approaches 151
Experience'
~ t us now see a lesson in which the participatory approach is being pracriccd.
T he students arc recent immigrants to the United States fro m Central
Europe. They arc adults who wo rk pa n -time du ring the day and
study English at night . Although atte nda nce fluctu ates somewhat due to
famil y a nd wo rk demands placed on the stude nts, toni ght there arc ten
adults present as the cla ss gets underw ay.
The teacher begins, 'Good evening everyone. How are you tonight ?'
The students return the greet ing warmly and interact with the teacher and
each other, onl y inte rru pting to greet latecom ers. T hey know from previous
experience that this is a time to ca tch up on anyt hing of significance
that has happened in their lives since last week's class. One student discusses
th e fact th at one of her childre n is struggling at school. He never
want~ to go to schoo l. She does not know what the problem is, but she is
wo rr ied".Much of thi s con versation takes place in halting English and
g~s tur e since the s tu de nt~ are still of low-intermed iate English proficiencv,
Anoth er student discusses the problem she has been ha ving with
her landlord. She ca n never get en ough heat to make herself comforta ble.
When she tries to communica te with the lan dlord, he tells her that it has
always been that way, O ne bit of good news is that one of the students '
br~th e r s has just gotte n word that he will be permitted entry into the
Un lted. Stat~s soon and so will be able to join the rest of the fam ily.
Having h ste n~d to the students and ha ving taken note of their issues,
the teacher continues, ' Last week, we were ta lking about why it is difficult
for some of you to co me to class regularly. Now, I know that most of you
wor k during the day and you have your family to take care of in the
~ve n i ng _ However, severa l of the wo men were speaking about not choos­
II1g to come to class a few times because of no t wa nting to be out alone in
the city after dark, I wou ld like us to look at this situation a littl e more in
depth toni ght.'
The teacher shows the students a picture . It is a drawing of an apartment
building.
In on e of the windows of the building, there is a woman looking ou t.
O n the str eet below arc several young men standing aro und. Th e teach er
tells the students that the woman has an English cla ss sta rting in an hour
rhar she dOL'Snot wa nt to miss, T hen she begins a discussion.
l Th.is lesson is has"J nn Elsa Auerbach's pre-cnl.u ion at the School for International Tra ining
(SIf) on 18 Octobe r 199.1,"nt ill"d ·1'.l rIKipatury Approaches: Problem-Posing and Beyond.' ]
h,I"C also dra wn from Carolyn La yzr r and Hill Perry's wor kshoJl af SIT on 28 May 199,l and
Au"rbach (1992 ).