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Article published In:
Register in L1 and L2 Language Development
Edited by Bethany Gray and Jesse Egbert
[Register Studies 3:2] 2021
► pp. 180–206

How can register analysis inform task-based language teaching?

ORCID logo | Northern Arizona University
ORCID logo | Texas Tech University

For over 30 years, corpus research on register variation has expanded our understanding of language use by illustrating how linguistic features co-occur and vary in different situations of use (Biber & Conrad 2019). Over the same period, Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) has provided a theoretical and empirical basis for research in instructed Second Language Acquisition/SLA (Ellis 2012). This paper illustrates how the methods and approaches used in register analysis offer a useful framework for understanding critical issues in TBLT (e.g., describing tasks and interpreting task performance). The paper compares register analysis and TBLT and then draws upon recent empirical work demonstrating how a register approach (a) identifies a wider range of linguistic and non-linguistic variables than are generally in TBLT; and, (b) provides a useful framework to functionally interpret task performance. The paper ends by discussing how a register perspective can benefit future areas of investigation in task-based second language research.

Keywords: corpus research, grammatical complexity, instructed SLA, register analysis, task-based language teaching
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic analyses in TBLT research and register analysis
    • 2.1Analyzing linguistic performance in TBLT research
    • 2.2Analyzing language variation in register analysis
  • 3.How can methods of register studies inform linguistic analyses in TBLT?
    • 3.1Task input: Situational analysis and task description
    • 3.2Task output: Lexico-grammatical, lexical bundle, and multidimensional analysis
      • 3.2.1Lexico-grammatical analysis and TBLT research
      • 3.2.2Lexical bundle analysis in TBLT research
      • 3.2.3Multi-dimensional analysis and its potential use in TBLT research
  • 4.Future directions applications of RA to TBLT
  • 5.Conclusions
  • References
Published online: 7 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.20021.cra
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