219-7677
10
7500817
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Marketing Department / Karin Plijnaar, Pieter Lamers
onix@benjamins.nl
201608250415
ONIX title feed
eng
01
EUR
826014836
03
01
01
JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
JB code
TBLT 8 Eb
15
9789027267825
06
10.1075/tblt.8
13
2015035107
DG
002
02
01
TBLT
02
1877-346X
Task-Based Language Teaching
8
01
Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT
A decade of plenaries from the international conference
01
tblt.8
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.8
1
B01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
01
eng
349
xxiv
325
LAN020000
v.2006
CJA
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.APPL
Applied linguistics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.LA
Language acquisition
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.EDUC
Language teaching
06
01
This volume brings together contemporary position statements and research reviews which were originally presented as Plenary Addresses to the Biennial International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, between 2005 and 2013. It thus assembles up-to-date reflections, critiques, and recommendations from influential researchers working within the TBLT paradigm over the last 30 years, thereby also highlighting most of the major theoretical perspectives so far developed. While the plenarists structured their chapters around their original presentations, they have been invited to update their thinking as they feel appropriate and in response to recent developments in the field. The collection thus offers representative and accessible coverage of a range of approaches to the overall philosophy of TBLT, to the relationship between TBLT and the study of second language acquisition, and to the development and implementation of TBLT as a comprehensive approach to language education, curriculum, and pedagogy.
04
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475/tblt.8.png
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027207319.jpg
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027207319.tif
06
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/tblt.8.hb.png
07
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/125/tblt.8.png
25
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/tblt.8.hb.png
27
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/tblt.8.hb.png
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.001ack
vii
viii
2
Article
1
01
Acknowledgement
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.002pre
ix
x
2
Article
2
01
Series Editors’ Preface
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.003aut
xi
xiv
4
Article
3
01
Authors’ biodata
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.004int
xv
xxiv
10
Article
4
01
Introduction
1
A01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.01lon
1
26
26
Article
5
01
TBLT
Building the road as we travel
1
A01
Mike Long
Long, Mike
Mike
Long
University of Maryland
01
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.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.02nor
27
58
32
Article
6
01
Thinking and acting programmatically in taskbased language teaching
Essential roles for program evaluation
1
A01
John M. Norris
Norris, John M.
John M.
Norris
Georgetown University
01
Inquiry may play distinct roles in proposals for and practices of task-based language teaching (TBLT), from theorizing learning and developing taskbased pedagogy, to observing and judging the effectiveness of task-based ideas in practice, to ultimately understanding the value of TBLT as an approach to educational reform. In this paper, considering these diverse possibilities for inquiry in TBLT, I first reflect on the origins and practical impact of task-based ideas, highlighting their programmatic and educational scope. I then point to the lack of alignment between this programmatic orientation and prevailing emphases in much of the existing TBLT research. In response, I suggest that pragmatic traditions of program evaluation enable the critical articulation of inquiry with real needs of real educators to do real educational good in real program contexts. By examining published cases of TBLT program evaluation, I identify the ways in which they have contributed to both practical decision making in situ and to the accumulation of improved understandings about taskbased language education in general. I conclude with recommendations for the integration of program evaluation as a key development in advancing the value of TBLT endeavors.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.03ort
59
86
28
Article
7
01
Staking out the territory of technology-mediated TBLT
1
A01
Lourdes Ortega
Ortega, Lourdes
Lourdes
Ortega
Georgetown University
2
A01
Marta González-Lloret
González-Lloret, Marta
Marta
González-Lloret
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
01
In this chapter we survey areas of current interest in the use of technology for taskbased language teaching (TBLT) purposes and identify promising directions for pedagogy and research. We begin by reviewing the two vibrant topics of interaction and cognitive task complexity. We conclude that online interactions broadly promote the same processes that are known to facilitate second language (L2) learning in face-to-face interactions, albeit with interesting differences, whereas what constitutes cognitive task complexity online and how it may affect L2 learning remains ill understood. We then offer several exemplary illustrations of task-based investigations that have successfully leveraged the affordances of technology in non-trivial, creative ways. This is followed by a theoretical discussion of design principles for what we call technology-mediated TBLT. Finally, we examine two central benefits often boasted of tasks and technology: authenticity and motivation. We argue new technologies transform what counts as real-world within a traditional TBLT perspective and demand new understandings of “digital authenticity”; and we suggest theoretically principled ways must be found in the future to study motivational flows when experiencing specific tasks as well as complex motivational dynamics when adopting, integrating, or resisting any technology in general. Our hope is to help widen the scope of current discussions about the roles of technological innovation in TBLT and promote critical thinking about the harnessing of new technologies in task-based language education.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.04rob
87
122
36
Article
8
01
The Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
The
Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
1
A01
Peter Robinson
Robinson, Peter
Peter
Robinson
Aoyama Gakuin University
01
This chapter first summarises the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that the cognitive demands of tasks be sequenced from simple to complex for learners, and describes a theoretically motivated model for syllabus designers and teachers to follow in planning and implementing such task sequences. This is followed by a description of the Triadic Componential Framework of task characteristics, which makes distinctions between task complexity, task conditions, and task difficulty. Next, I discuss the extent to which individual differences in cognitive and affective factors may mediate the effects of task complexity and task conditions on learning, interaction, and language production, and I argue for the need to research the interactions between task complexity/condition and task difficulty. The chapter concludes by identifying some points of contrast between the claims of the Cognition Hypothesis and Peter Skehan`s Trade-Off Hypothesis, and the differences in their intended scope of application to pedagogy.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.05ske
123
156
34
Article
9
01
Limited Attention Capacity and Cognition
Two hypotheses regarding second language performance on tasks
1
A01
Peter Skehan
Skehan, Peter
Peter
Skehan
St. Mary’s University, Twickenham
01
The chapter is part of a Point-Counterpoint (with Robinson, this volume), exploring the Limited Attention Capacity (LAC) and Cognition Hypotheses (CH) as alternative accounts of second language task performance. It starts by presenting five principles which underlie the LAC, covering memory and attentional functioning; the dimensions of performance; the role of research on task characteristics and conditions; the linkage with Levelt’s model of speaking; and the notion of, and influences on task difficulty. Then a survey is presented of the empirical work that is relevant to the LAC, organised in terms of the stages of the Levelt Model. Next, the Cognition Hypothesis is described, particularly resource-directing and resource-dispersing features, and the hypothesis is critiqued, both in relation to the constructs of the model and in relation to relevant evidence. This leads to a comparison between the two approaches, regarding hinterland, regarding how influences on second language task performance are analysed, and regarding what the two approaches say, or do not say, about acquisition. Finally some suggestions are made as to how the two approaches may be brought into resolution, at least to some degree.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.06moh
157
192
36
Article
10
01
Tasks, experiential learning, and meaning making activities
A functional approach
1
A01
Bernard A. Mohan
Mohan, Bernard A.
Bernard A.
Mohan
University of British Columbia and King’s College London
2
A01
Tammy Slater
Slater, Tammy
Tammy
Slater
Iowa State University
3
A01
Gulbahar H. Beckett
Beckett, Gulbahar H.
Gulbahar H.
Beckett
Iowa State University
4
A01
Esther Tong
Tong, Esther
Esther
Tong
Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
01
To address problems of low academic achievement by second language learners, task-based learning and teaching research must focus on academic content tasks that involve both form and meaning, language and content, academic discourse and disciplinary knowledge. How are such tasks 'experiential'? We draw upon a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) analysis of language and discourse to develop a more adequate model of Kolb's experiential learning cycle that can capitalize on linguistic evidence, illuminate the analysis and development of language as a means of experiential learning, and locate experiential learning in the wider context of socio-semantic meaning-making activities. We illustrate this model with two contrasting examples: young children learning about magnetism, and college-level students learning about marketing.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.07byr
193
224
32
Article
11
01
Linking ‘task’ and curricular thinking
An affirmation of the TBLT educational agenda
1
A01
Heidi Byrnes
Byrnes, Heidi
Heidi
Byrnes
Georgetown University
01
The article argues that an important challenge for TBLT, as a fundamentally education-oriented effort within language teaching and learning studies, is to arrive at a foundation for the construct of ‘task’ that captures its holistic understanding of language, language use, and language learning in a way that goes beyond affirming its orientation toward communication. If the construct of task is to facilitate learners’ ability to expand their meaning-making capacities in oral and written discourse, attaining that goal will require a repositioning of ‘task’ in a number of fundamental ways. The article highlights and discusses the opportunities for doing so by embedding task into a framework that is genre-oriented in its curricular thinking and task-based in its pedagogical manifestations. Specifically, it identifies parameters for curriculum development that would support fundamental TBLT interests; describes impediments to curricular thinking that must be overcome; introduces an understanding of curriculum that is suited to being translated into educational contexts; and offers a set of considerations that can provide the foundation for curriculum development. Ideally, these new forms of task-oriented curriculum development will involve a series of steps ‘from below’, a form of empowerment of educators, and a series of steps ‘from above’, where the adoption of a functional (as contrasted with a structural) theory of language, here represented by systemic functional linguistics, is likely to be crucial. When such a functional theory is further tailored to educational imperatives through the construct of genre, it is possible to reposition ‘task’ as a genre-based educative effort that can be expected to make significant contributions not only to the TBLT agenda itself but to the entire field of languages studies.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.08mcd
225
246
22
Article
12
01
Perceived benefits and challenges with the use of collaborative tasks in EFL contexts
1
A01
Kim McDonough
McDonough, Kim
Kim
McDonough
Concordia University
01
Drawing on interview data collected at a Thai university, this chapter gives voice to the experiences of instructors who have used tasks as the basis of EFL instruction. After highlighting the instructors’ positive impressions, this chapter focuses on their perceived challenges with task-based language teaching, specifically whether it elicits the type of interaction that is believed to facilitate language development. Drawing on the findings of classroom-based studies carried out in a variety of EFL classrooms in Asia, this chapter examines whether task research has addressed these perceived challenges. Through reference to task studies carried out in other instructional settings, strategies for positively impacting the quality of peer interaction and avenues for future research in EFL contexts are provided.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.09ell
247
270
24
Article
13
01
Teachers evaluating tasks
1
A01
Rod Ellis
Ellis, Rod
Rod
Ellis
University of Auckland and Shanghai International Studies University
01
Conducting action research is not something that teachers always find easy. Nunan (1990) reported that teachers’ action research proposals tended to be rather grand and unmanageable because they had failed to identify specific research questions. I propose that one practical way in which teachers can research their teaching is by carrying out micro-evaluations of instructional tasks. In this paper I report my experience of requiring students enrolled in a course on task-based teaching as part of their MA studies to undertake an evaluation of a task. They were first asked to design their own task in groups. They then planned a micro-evaluation of the task, taught the task and in the process collected data for the evaluation, and finally wrote a report. I use examples of their reports to discuss how they planned their evaluations, the process of conducting the evaluations, and the kinds of findings they came up with. I also examine the utility of such micro-evaluations as a means of developing teachers’ understanding of task-based teaching.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.10sam
271
302
32
Article
14
01
Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces
1
A01
Virginia Samuda
Samuda, Virginia
Virginia
Samuda
Freelance
01
This chapter focuses on teachers’ uses of pedagogical tasks in the classroom. It has long been recognised that the task-as-workplan inevitably changes once in process in the classroom (Breen, 1987). However, since relatively little empirical attention has been given to tasks in action in the classroom, we know remarkably little about how far workplans actually do change, and in what ways. This chapter highlights the role played by the teacher, intentionally and unintentionally, in making adjustments to the workplan prospectively in pre-lesson planning and dynamically while implementing the task in the classroom. To this end, I propose conceptualising the task as a succession of workplans, open to change at different phases of classroom use, and outline a framework for tracing those changes as the task unfolds in process. In the second part of the chapter, I apply this framework to the analysis of two teachers working with the same task. Drawing on teacher interviews, classroom transcripts and stimulated recalls, I show how one teacher appears to successively ‘re-task’ the original workplan, while the other appears to unintentionally de-task it, and track the cumulative impacts of each change on the opportunities for language use created. I conclude the chapter with a brief consideration of how insights from a multidimensional approach to the workplan, such as the one proposed here, could be drawn on to support beginning teachers or those transitioning to TBLT.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.11van
303
320
18
Article
15
01
Task-based language education
From theory to practice … and back again
1
A01
Kris Van den Branden
Van den Branden, Kris
Kris
Van den Branden
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
01
Task-based language teaching has been claimed to promote language acquisition by inviting learners to use language for meaningful purposes and focus on form while doing so. In this article, a range of classroom observation studies conducted in Flanders (Belgium) are reported, vividly illustrating the many ways in which teachers reinterpret tasks which were designed by professional syllabus developers. Some of these reinterpretations appear to be at odds with the basic principles underpinning the rationale behind TBLT. Moreover, different learners reinterpret the same task in various ways, and this may have a profound impact on the interactional and mental activity that the task gives rise to, and the actual learning that results. As such, these studies indicate that the practice of task-based classroom activity can and should inform the theory-building behind TBLT as much as the theory has been claimed to inspire practitioners.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.12ind
321
326
6
Article
16
01
Index
02
JBENJAMINS
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
NL
04
20151105
2015
John Benjamins B.V.
02
WORLD
01
245
mm
02
174
mm
13
15
9789027207319
01
JB
3
John Benjamins e-Platform
03
jbe-platform.com
09
WORLD
21
01
06
Institutional price
00
99.00
EUR
R
01
05
Consumer price
00
33.00
EUR
R
01
06
Institutional price
00
83.00
GBP
Z
01
05
Consumer price
00
28.00
GBP
Z
01
06
Institutional price
inst
00
149.00
USD
S
01
05
Consumer price
cons
00
49.95
USD
S
874014835
03
01
01
JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
JB code
TBLT 8 Hb
15
9789027207319
13
2015029381
BB
01
TBLT
02
1877-346X
Task-Based Language Teaching
8
01
Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT
A decade of plenaries from the international conference
01
tblt.8
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.8
1
B01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
01
eng
349
xxiv
325
LAN020000
v.2006
CJA
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.APPL
Applied linguistics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.LA
Language acquisition
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.EDUC
Language teaching
06
01
This volume brings together contemporary position statements and research reviews which were originally presented as Plenary Addresses to the Biennial International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, between 2005 and 2013. It thus assembles up-to-date reflections, critiques, and recommendations from influential researchers working within the TBLT paradigm over the last 30 years, thereby also highlighting most of the major theoretical perspectives so far developed. While the plenarists structured their chapters around their original presentations, they have been invited to update their thinking as they feel appropriate and in response to recent developments in the field. The collection thus offers representative and accessible coverage of a range of approaches to the overall philosophy of TBLT, to the relationship between TBLT and the study of second language acquisition, and to the development and implementation of TBLT as a comprehensive approach to language education, curriculum, and pedagogy.
04
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475/tblt.8.png
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027207319.jpg
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027207319.tif
06
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/tblt.8.hb.png
07
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/125/tblt.8.png
25
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/tblt.8.hb.png
27
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/tblt.8.hb.png
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.001ack
vii
viii
2
Article
1
01
Acknowledgement
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.002pre
ix
x
2
Article
2
01
Series Editors’ Preface
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.003aut
xi
xiv
4
Article
3
01
Authors’ biodata
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.004int
xv
xxiv
10
Article
4
01
Introduction
1
A01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.01lon
1
26
26
Article
5
01
TBLT
Building the road as we travel
1
A01
Mike Long
Long, Mike
Mike
Long
University of Maryland
01
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.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.02nor
27
58
32
Article
6
01
Thinking and acting programmatically in taskbased language teaching
Essential roles for program evaluation
1
A01
John M. Norris
Norris, John M.
John M.
Norris
Georgetown University
01
Inquiry may play distinct roles in proposals for and practices of task-based language teaching (TBLT), from theorizing learning and developing taskbased pedagogy, to observing and judging the effectiveness of task-based ideas in practice, to ultimately understanding the value of TBLT as an approach to educational reform. In this paper, considering these diverse possibilities for inquiry in TBLT, I first reflect on the origins and practical impact of task-based ideas, highlighting their programmatic and educational scope. I then point to the lack of alignment between this programmatic orientation and prevailing emphases in much of the existing TBLT research. In response, I suggest that pragmatic traditions of program evaluation enable the critical articulation of inquiry with real needs of real educators to do real educational good in real program contexts. By examining published cases of TBLT program evaluation, I identify the ways in which they have contributed to both practical decision making in situ and to the accumulation of improved understandings about taskbased language education in general. I conclude with recommendations for the integration of program evaluation as a key development in advancing the value of TBLT endeavors.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.03ort
59
86
28
Article
7
01
Staking out the territory of technology-mediated TBLT
1
A01
Lourdes Ortega
Ortega, Lourdes
Lourdes
Ortega
Georgetown University
2
A01
Marta González-Lloret
González-Lloret, Marta
Marta
González-Lloret
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
01
In this chapter we survey areas of current interest in the use of technology for taskbased language teaching (TBLT) purposes and identify promising directions for pedagogy and research. We begin by reviewing the two vibrant topics of interaction and cognitive task complexity. We conclude that online interactions broadly promote the same processes that are known to facilitate second language (L2) learning in face-to-face interactions, albeit with interesting differences, whereas what constitutes cognitive task complexity online and how it may affect L2 learning remains ill understood. We then offer several exemplary illustrations of task-based investigations that have successfully leveraged the affordances of technology in non-trivial, creative ways. This is followed by a theoretical discussion of design principles for what we call technology-mediated TBLT. Finally, we examine two central benefits often boasted of tasks and technology: authenticity and motivation. We argue new technologies transform what counts as real-world within a traditional TBLT perspective and demand new understandings of “digital authenticity”; and we suggest theoretically principled ways must be found in the future to study motivational flows when experiencing specific tasks as well as complex motivational dynamics when adopting, integrating, or resisting any technology in general. Our hope is to help widen the scope of current discussions about the roles of technological innovation in TBLT and promote critical thinking about the harnessing of new technologies in task-based language education.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.04rob
87
122
36
Article
8
01
The Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
The
Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
1
A01
Peter Robinson
Robinson, Peter
Peter
Robinson
Aoyama Gakuin University
01
This chapter first summarises the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that the cognitive demands of tasks be sequenced from simple to complex for learners, and describes a theoretically motivated model for syllabus designers and teachers to follow in planning and implementing such task sequences. This is followed by a description of the Triadic Componential Framework of task characteristics, which makes distinctions between task complexity, task conditions, and task difficulty. Next, I discuss the extent to which individual differences in cognitive and affective factors may mediate the effects of task complexity and task conditions on learning, interaction, and language production, and I argue for the need to research the interactions between task complexity/condition and task difficulty. The chapter concludes by identifying some points of contrast between the claims of the Cognition Hypothesis and Peter Skehan`s Trade-Off Hypothesis, and the differences in their intended scope of application to pedagogy.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.05ske
123
156
34
Article
9
01
Limited Attention Capacity and Cognition
Two hypotheses regarding second language performance on tasks
1
A01
Peter Skehan
Skehan, Peter
Peter
Skehan
St. Mary’s University, Twickenham
01
The chapter is part of a Point-Counterpoint (with Robinson, this volume), exploring the Limited Attention Capacity (LAC) and Cognition Hypotheses (CH) as alternative accounts of second language task performance. It starts by presenting five principles which underlie the LAC, covering memory and attentional functioning; the dimensions of performance; the role of research on task characteristics and conditions; the linkage with Levelt’s model of speaking; and the notion of, and influences on task difficulty. Then a survey is presented of the empirical work that is relevant to the LAC, organised in terms of the stages of the Levelt Model. Next, the Cognition Hypothesis is described, particularly resource-directing and resource-dispersing features, and the hypothesis is critiqued, both in relation to the constructs of the model and in relation to relevant evidence. This leads to a comparison between the two approaches, regarding hinterland, regarding how influences on second language task performance are analysed, and regarding what the two approaches say, or do not say, about acquisition. Finally some suggestions are made as to how the two approaches may be brought into resolution, at least to some degree.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.06moh
157
192
36
Article
10
01
Tasks, experiential learning, and meaning making activities
A functional approach
1
A01
Bernard A. Mohan
Mohan, Bernard A.
Bernard A.
Mohan
University of British Columbia and King’s College London
2
A01
Tammy Slater
Slater, Tammy
Tammy
Slater
Iowa State University
3
A01
Gulbahar H. Beckett
Beckett, Gulbahar H.
Gulbahar H.
Beckett
Iowa State University
4
A01
Esther Tong
Tong, Esther
Esther
Tong
Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
01
To address problems of low academic achievement by second language learners, task-based learning and teaching research must focus on academic content tasks that involve both form and meaning, language and content, academic discourse and disciplinary knowledge. How are such tasks 'experiential'? We draw upon a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) analysis of language and discourse to develop a more adequate model of Kolb's experiential learning cycle that can capitalize on linguistic evidence, illuminate the analysis and development of language as a means of experiential learning, and locate experiential learning in the wider context of socio-semantic meaning-making activities. We illustrate this model with two contrasting examples: young children learning about magnetism, and college-level students learning about marketing.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.07byr
193
224
32
Article
11
01
Linking ‘task’ and curricular thinking
An affirmation of the TBLT educational agenda
1
A01
Heidi Byrnes
Byrnes, Heidi
Heidi
Byrnes
Georgetown University
01
The article argues that an important challenge for TBLT, as a fundamentally education-oriented effort within language teaching and learning studies, is to arrive at a foundation for the construct of ‘task’ that captures its holistic understanding of language, language use, and language learning in a way that goes beyond affirming its orientation toward communication. If the construct of task is to facilitate learners’ ability to expand their meaning-making capacities in oral and written discourse, attaining that goal will require a repositioning of ‘task’ in a number of fundamental ways. The article highlights and discusses the opportunities for doing so by embedding task into a framework that is genre-oriented in its curricular thinking and task-based in its pedagogical manifestations. Specifically, it identifies parameters for curriculum development that would support fundamental TBLT interests; describes impediments to curricular thinking that must be overcome; introduces an understanding of curriculum that is suited to being translated into educational contexts; and offers a set of considerations that can provide the foundation for curriculum development. Ideally, these new forms of task-oriented curriculum development will involve a series of steps ‘from below’, a form of empowerment of educators, and a series of steps ‘from above’, where the adoption of a functional (as contrasted with a structural) theory of language, here represented by systemic functional linguistics, is likely to be crucial. When such a functional theory is further tailored to educational imperatives through the construct of genre, it is possible to reposition ‘task’ as a genre-based educative effort that can be expected to make significant contributions not only to the TBLT agenda itself but to the entire field of languages studies.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.08mcd
225
246
22
Article
12
01
Perceived benefits and challenges with the use of collaborative tasks in EFL contexts
1
A01
Kim McDonough
McDonough, Kim
Kim
McDonough
Concordia University
01
Drawing on interview data collected at a Thai university, this chapter gives voice to the experiences of instructors who have used tasks as the basis of EFL instruction. After highlighting the instructors’ positive impressions, this chapter focuses on their perceived challenges with task-based language teaching, specifically whether it elicits the type of interaction that is believed to facilitate language development. Drawing on the findings of classroom-based studies carried out in a variety of EFL classrooms in Asia, this chapter examines whether task research has addressed these perceived challenges. Through reference to task studies carried out in other instructional settings, strategies for positively impacting the quality of peer interaction and avenues for future research in EFL contexts are provided.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.09ell
247
270
24
Article
13
01
Teachers evaluating tasks
1
A01
Rod Ellis
Ellis, Rod
Rod
Ellis
University of Auckland and Shanghai International Studies University
01
Conducting action research is not something that teachers always find easy. Nunan (1990) reported that teachers’ action research proposals tended to be rather grand and unmanageable because they had failed to identify specific research questions. I propose that one practical way in which teachers can research their teaching is by carrying out micro-evaluations of instructional tasks. In this paper I report my experience of requiring students enrolled in a course on task-based teaching as part of their MA studies to undertake an evaluation of a task. They were first asked to design their own task in groups. They then planned a micro-evaluation of the task, taught the task and in the process collected data for the evaluation, and finally wrote a report. I use examples of their reports to discuss how they planned their evaluations, the process of conducting the evaluations, and the kinds of findings they came up with. I also examine the utility of such micro-evaluations as a means of developing teachers’ understanding of task-based teaching.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.10sam
271
302
32
Article
14
01
Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces
1
A01
Virginia Samuda
Samuda, Virginia
Virginia
Samuda
Freelance
01
This chapter focuses on teachers’ uses of pedagogical tasks in the classroom. It has long been recognised that the task-as-workplan inevitably changes once in process in the classroom (Breen, 1987). However, since relatively little empirical attention has been given to tasks in action in the classroom, we know remarkably little about how far workplans actually do change, and in what ways. This chapter highlights the role played by the teacher, intentionally and unintentionally, in making adjustments to the workplan prospectively in pre-lesson planning and dynamically while implementing the task in the classroom. To this end, I propose conceptualising the task as a succession of workplans, open to change at different phases of classroom use, and outline a framework for tracing those changes as the task unfolds in process. In the second part of the chapter, I apply this framework to the analysis of two teachers working with the same task. Drawing on teacher interviews, classroom transcripts and stimulated recalls, I show how one teacher appears to successively ‘re-task’ the original workplan, while the other appears to unintentionally de-task it, and track the cumulative impacts of each change on the opportunities for language use created. I conclude the chapter with a brief consideration of how insights from a multidimensional approach to the workplan, such as the one proposed here, could be drawn on to support beginning teachers or those transitioning to TBLT.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.11van
303
320
18
Article
15
01
Task-based language education
From theory to practice … and back again
1
A01
Kris Van den Branden
Van den Branden, Kris
Kris
Van den Branden
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
01
Task-based language teaching has been claimed to promote language acquisition by inviting learners to use language for meaningful purposes and focus on form while doing so. In this article, a range of classroom observation studies conducted in Flanders (Belgium) are reported, vividly illustrating the many ways in which teachers reinterpret tasks which were designed by professional syllabus developers. Some of these reinterpretations appear to be at odds with the basic principles underpinning the rationale behind TBLT. Moreover, different learners reinterpret the same task in various ways, and this may have a profound impact on the interactional and mental activity that the task gives rise to, and the actual learning that results. As such, these studies indicate that the practice of task-based classroom activity can and should inform the theory-building behind TBLT as much as the theory has been claimed to inspire practitioners.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.12ind
321
326
6
Article
16
01
Index
02
JBENJAMINS
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
NL
04
20151105
2015
John Benjamins B.V.
02
WORLD
01
245
mm
02
174
mm
08
790
gr
01
JB
1
John Benjamins Publishing Company
+31 20 6304747
+31 20 6739773
bookorder@benjamins.nl
01
https://benjamins.com
01
WORLD
US CA MX
21
36
01
02
JB
1
00
99.00
EUR
R
02
02
JB
1
00
104.94
EUR
R
01
JB
10
bebc
+44 1202 712 934
+44 1202 712 913
sales@bebc.co.uk
03
GB
21
02
02
JB
1
00
83.00
GBP
Z
01
JB
2
John Benjamins North America
+1 800 562-5666
+1 703 661-1501
benjamins@presswarehouse.com
01
https://benjamins.com
01
US CA MX
21
01
gen
02
JB
1
00
149.00
USD
440014837
03
01
01
JB
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
JB code
TBLT 8 Pb
15
9789027207326
13
2015029381
BC
01
TBLT
02
1877-346X
Task-Based Language Teaching
8
01
Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT
A decade of plenaries from the international conference
01
tblt.8
01
https://benjamins.com
02
https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.8
1
B01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
01
eng
349
xxiv
325
LAN020000
v.2006
CJA
2
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.APPL
Applied linguistics
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.LA
Language acquisition
24
JB Subject Scheme
LIN.EDUC
Language teaching
06
01
This volume brings together contemporary position statements and research reviews which were originally presented as Plenary Addresses to the Biennial International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching, between 2005 and 2013. It thus assembles up-to-date reflections, critiques, and recommendations from influential researchers working within the TBLT paradigm over the last 30 years, thereby also highlighting most of the major theoretical perspectives so far developed. While the plenarists structured their chapters around their original presentations, they have been invited to update their thinking as they feel appropriate and in response to recent developments in the field. The collection thus offers representative and accessible coverage of a range of approaches to the overall philosophy of TBLT, to the relationship between TBLT and the study of second language acquisition, and to the development and implementation of TBLT as a comprehensive approach to language education, curriculum, and pedagogy.
04
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475/tblt.8.png
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_jpg/9789027207319.jpg
04
03
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/475_tif/9789027207319.tif
06
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_front/tblt.8.pb.png
07
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/125/tblt.8.png
25
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/1200_back/tblt.8.pb.png
27
09
01
https://benjamins.com/covers/3d_web/tblt.8.pb.png
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.001ack
vii
viii
2
Article
1
01
Acknowledgement
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.002pre
ix
x
2
Article
2
01
Series Editors’ Preface
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.003aut
xi
xiv
4
Article
3
01
Authors’ biodata
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.004int
xv
xxiv
10
Article
4
01
Introduction
1
A01
Martin Bygate
Bygate, Martin
Martin
Bygate
Lancaster University
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.01lon
1
26
26
Article
5
01
TBLT
Building the road as we travel
1
A01
Mike Long
Long, Mike
Mike
Long
University of Maryland
01
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.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.02nor
27
58
32
Article
6
01
Thinking and acting programmatically in taskbased language teaching
Essential roles for program evaluation
1
A01
John M. Norris
Norris, John M.
John M.
Norris
Georgetown University
01
Inquiry may play distinct roles in proposals for and practices of task-based language teaching (TBLT), from theorizing learning and developing taskbased pedagogy, to observing and judging the effectiveness of task-based ideas in practice, to ultimately understanding the value of TBLT as an approach to educational reform. In this paper, considering these diverse possibilities for inquiry in TBLT, I first reflect on the origins and practical impact of task-based ideas, highlighting their programmatic and educational scope. I then point to the lack of alignment between this programmatic orientation and prevailing emphases in much of the existing TBLT research. In response, I suggest that pragmatic traditions of program evaluation enable the critical articulation of inquiry with real needs of real educators to do real educational good in real program contexts. By examining published cases of TBLT program evaluation, I identify the ways in which they have contributed to both practical decision making in situ and to the accumulation of improved understandings about taskbased language education in general. I conclude with recommendations for the integration of program evaluation as a key development in advancing the value of TBLT endeavors.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.03ort
59
86
28
Article
7
01
Staking out the territory of technology-mediated TBLT
1
A01
Lourdes Ortega
Ortega, Lourdes
Lourdes
Ortega
Georgetown University
2
A01
Marta González-Lloret
González-Lloret, Marta
Marta
González-Lloret
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
01
In this chapter we survey areas of current interest in the use of technology for taskbased language teaching (TBLT) purposes and identify promising directions for pedagogy and research. We begin by reviewing the two vibrant topics of interaction and cognitive task complexity. We conclude that online interactions broadly promote the same processes that are known to facilitate second language (L2) learning in face-to-face interactions, albeit with interesting differences, whereas what constitutes cognitive task complexity online and how it may affect L2 learning remains ill understood. We then offer several exemplary illustrations of task-based investigations that have successfully leveraged the affordances of technology in non-trivial, creative ways. This is followed by a theoretical discussion of design principles for what we call technology-mediated TBLT. Finally, we examine two central benefits often boasted of tasks and technology: authenticity and motivation. We argue new technologies transform what counts as real-world within a traditional TBLT perspective and demand new understandings of “digital authenticity”; and we suggest theoretically principled ways must be found in the future to study motivational flows when experiencing specific tasks as well as complex motivational dynamics when adopting, integrating, or resisting any technology in general. Our hope is to help widen the scope of current discussions about the roles of technological innovation in TBLT and promote critical thinking about the harnessing of new technologies in task-based language education.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.04rob
87
122
36
Article
8
01
The Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
The
Cognition Hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing
1
A01
Peter Robinson
Robinson, Peter
Peter
Robinson
Aoyama Gakuin University
01
This chapter first summarises the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that the cognitive demands of tasks be sequenced from simple to complex for learners, and describes a theoretically motivated model for syllabus designers and teachers to follow in planning and implementing such task sequences. This is followed by a description of the Triadic Componential Framework of task characteristics, which makes distinctions between task complexity, task conditions, and task difficulty. Next, I discuss the extent to which individual differences in cognitive and affective factors may mediate the effects of task complexity and task conditions on learning, interaction, and language production, and I argue for the need to research the interactions between task complexity/condition and task difficulty. The chapter concludes by identifying some points of contrast between the claims of the Cognition Hypothesis and Peter Skehan`s Trade-Off Hypothesis, and the differences in their intended scope of application to pedagogy.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.05ske
123
156
34
Article
9
01
Limited Attention Capacity and Cognition
Two hypotheses regarding second language performance on tasks
1
A01
Peter Skehan
Skehan, Peter
Peter
Skehan
St. Mary’s University, Twickenham
01
The chapter is part of a Point-Counterpoint (with Robinson, this volume), exploring the Limited Attention Capacity (LAC) and Cognition Hypotheses (CH) as alternative accounts of second language task performance. It starts by presenting five principles which underlie the LAC, covering memory and attentional functioning; the dimensions of performance; the role of research on task characteristics and conditions; the linkage with Levelt’s model of speaking; and the notion of, and influences on task difficulty. Then a survey is presented of the empirical work that is relevant to the LAC, organised in terms of the stages of the Levelt Model. Next, the Cognition Hypothesis is described, particularly resource-directing and resource-dispersing features, and the hypothesis is critiqued, both in relation to the constructs of the model and in relation to relevant evidence. This leads to a comparison between the two approaches, regarding hinterland, regarding how influences on second language task performance are analysed, and regarding what the two approaches say, or do not say, about acquisition. Finally some suggestions are made as to how the two approaches may be brought into resolution, at least to some degree.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.06moh
157
192
36
Article
10
01
Tasks, experiential learning, and meaning making activities
A functional approach
1
A01
Bernard A. Mohan
Mohan, Bernard A.
Bernard A.
Mohan
University of British Columbia and King’s College London
2
A01
Tammy Slater
Slater, Tammy
Tammy
Slater
Iowa State University
3
A01
Gulbahar H. Beckett
Beckett, Gulbahar H.
Gulbahar H.
Beckett
Iowa State University
4
A01
Esther Tong
Tong, Esther
Esther
Tong
Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
01
To address problems of low academic achievement by second language learners, task-based learning and teaching research must focus on academic content tasks that involve both form and meaning, language and content, academic discourse and disciplinary knowledge. How are such tasks 'experiential'? We draw upon a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) analysis of language and discourse to develop a more adequate model of Kolb's experiential learning cycle that can capitalize on linguistic evidence, illuminate the analysis and development of language as a means of experiential learning, and locate experiential learning in the wider context of socio-semantic meaning-making activities. We illustrate this model with two contrasting examples: young children learning about magnetism, and college-level students learning about marketing.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.07byr
193
224
32
Article
11
01
Linking ‘task’ and curricular thinking
An affirmation of the TBLT educational agenda
1
A01
Heidi Byrnes
Byrnes, Heidi
Heidi
Byrnes
Georgetown University
01
The article argues that an important challenge for TBLT, as a fundamentally education-oriented effort within language teaching and learning studies, is to arrive at a foundation for the construct of ‘task’ that captures its holistic understanding of language, language use, and language learning in a way that goes beyond affirming its orientation toward communication. If the construct of task is to facilitate learners’ ability to expand their meaning-making capacities in oral and written discourse, attaining that goal will require a repositioning of ‘task’ in a number of fundamental ways. The article highlights and discusses the opportunities for doing so by embedding task into a framework that is genre-oriented in its curricular thinking and task-based in its pedagogical manifestations. Specifically, it identifies parameters for curriculum development that would support fundamental TBLT interests; describes impediments to curricular thinking that must be overcome; introduces an understanding of curriculum that is suited to being translated into educational contexts; and offers a set of considerations that can provide the foundation for curriculum development. Ideally, these new forms of task-oriented curriculum development will involve a series of steps ‘from below’, a form of empowerment of educators, and a series of steps ‘from above’, where the adoption of a functional (as contrasted with a structural) theory of language, here represented by systemic functional linguistics, is likely to be crucial. When such a functional theory is further tailored to educational imperatives through the construct of genre, it is possible to reposition ‘task’ as a genre-based educative effort that can be expected to make significant contributions not only to the TBLT agenda itself but to the entire field of languages studies.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.08mcd
225
246
22
Article
12
01
Perceived benefits and challenges with the use of collaborative tasks in EFL contexts
1
A01
Kim McDonough
McDonough, Kim
Kim
McDonough
Concordia University
01
Drawing on interview data collected at a Thai university, this chapter gives voice to the experiences of instructors who have used tasks as the basis of EFL instruction. After highlighting the instructors’ positive impressions, this chapter focuses on their perceived challenges with task-based language teaching, specifically whether it elicits the type of interaction that is believed to facilitate language development. Drawing on the findings of classroom-based studies carried out in a variety of EFL classrooms in Asia, this chapter examines whether task research has addressed these perceived challenges. Through reference to task studies carried out in other instructional settings, strategies for positively impacting the quality of peer interaction and avenues for future research in EFL contexts are provided.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.09ell
247
270
24
Article
13
01
Teachers evaluating tasks
1
A01
Rod Ellis
Ellis, Rod
Rod
Ellis
University of Auckland and Shanghai International Studies University
01
Conducting action research is not something that teachers always find easy. Nunan (1990) reported that teachers’ action research proposals tended to be rather grand and unmanageable because they had failed to identify specific research questions. I propose that one practical way in which teachers can research their teaching is by carrying out micro-evaluations of instructional tasks. In this paper I report my experience of requiring students enrolled in a course on task-based teaching as part of their MA studies to undertake an evaluation of a task. They were first asked to design their own task in groups. They then planned a micro-evaluation of the task, taught the task and in the process collected data for the evaluation, and finally wrote a report. I use examples of their reports to discuss how they planned their evaluations, the process of conducting the evaluations, and the kinds of findings they came up with. I also examine the utility of such micro-evaluations as a means of developing teachers’ understanding of task-based teaching.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.10sam
271
302
32
Article
14
01
Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces
1
A01
Virginia Samuda
Samuda, Virginia
Virginia
Samuda
Freelance
01
This chapter focuses on teachers’ uses of pedagogical tasks in the classroom. It has long been recognised that the task-as-workplan inevitably changes once in process in the classroom (Breen, 1987). However, since relatively little empirical attention has been given to tasks in action in the classroom, we know remarkably little about how far workplans actually do change, and in what ways. This chapter highlights the role played by the teacher, intentionally and unintentionally, in making adjustments to the workplan prospectively in pre-lesson planning and dynamically while implementing the task in the classroom. To this end, I propose conceptualising the task as a succession of workplans, open to change at different phases of classroom use, and outline a framework for tracing those changes as the task unfolds in process. In the second part of the chapter, I apply this framework to the analysis of two teachers working with the same task. Drawing on teacher interviews, classroom transcripts and stimulated recalls, I show how one teacher appears to successively ‘re-task’ the original workplan, while the other appears to unintentionally de-task it, and track the cumulative impacts of each change on the opportunities for language use created. I conclude the chapter with a brief consideration of how insights from a multidimensional approach to the workplan, such as the one proposed here, could be drawn on to support beginning teachers or those transitioning to TBLT.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.11van
303
320
18
Article
15
01
Task-based language education
From theory to practice … and back again
1
A01
Kris Van den Branden
Van den Branden, Kris
Kris
Van den Branden
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
01
Task-based language teaching has been claimed to promote language acquisition by inviting learners to use language for meaningful purposes and focus on form while doing so. In this article, a range of classroom observation studies conducted in Flanders (Belgium) are reported, vividly illustrating the many ways in which teachers reinterpret tasks which were designed by professional syllabus developers. Some of these reinterpretations appear to be at odds with the basic principles underpinning the rationale behind TBLT. Moreover, different learners reinterpret the same task in various ways, and this may have a profound impact on the interactional and mental activity that the task gives rise to, and the actual learning that results. As such, these studies indicate that the practice of task-based classroom activity can and should inform the theory-building behind TBLT as much as the theory has been claimed to inspire practitioners.
10
01
JB code
tblt.8.12ind
321
326
6
Article
16
01
Index
02
JBENJAMINS
John Benjamins Publishing Company
01
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam/Philadelphia
NL
04
20151105
2015
John Benjamins B.V.
02
WORLD
01
240
mm
02
170
mm
08
650
gr
01
JB
1
John Benjamins Publishing Company
+31 20 6304747
+31 20 6739773
bookorder@benjamins.nl
01
https://benjamins.com
01
WORLD
US CA MX
21
26
15
01
02
JB
1
00
33.00
EUR
R
02
02
JB
1
00
34.98
EUR
R
01
JB
10
bebc
+44 1202 712 934
+44 1202 712 913
sales@bebc.co.uk
03
GB
21
15
02
02
JB
1
00
28.00
GBP
Z
01
JB
2
John Benjamins North America
+1 800 562-5666
+1 703 661-1501
benjamins@presswarehouse.com
01
https://benjamins.com
01
US CA MX
21
1
15
01
gen
02
JB
1
00
49.95
USD