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Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT: A decade of plenaries from the international conference
Edited by Martin Bygate
[Task-Based Language Teaching 8] 2015
► pp. 1–26

TBLT

Building the road as we travel

| University of Maryland
Developed since the early 1980s, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is informed by theory and research findings in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA), as well as general educational theory and practice, and responds to the growing demand for language programs tailored for learners with distinct functional needs in a second language (L2). The paper reviews TBLT’s rationale and psycholinguistic underpinnings, and then briefly describes procedures, problems, and findings in each of the six basic steps and components in designing, implementing, and evaluating a TBLT program – needs analysis, syllabus design, materials development, methodological principles and pedagogic procedures, student assessment, and course evaluation – before considering optimal and less than optimal settings for TBLT’s adoption. Expanded and modified considerably in response to developments in ISLA theory, research findings, and classroom implementation over the past 30+ years, TBLT remains a work in progress. As theorists, researchers, and practitioners, we are building the road as we travel.
Published online: 5 November 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.8.01lon
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