International Journal of Applied Linguistics 䉬 Vol. 19 䉬 No.

3 䉬 2009

Recent publications on task-based language

teaching: a review ijal_239 339..355

Rebecca Adams University of Auckland

Johannes Eckerth and Sabine Siekmann, 2008, Task-based language

learning and teaching: theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical
perspectives. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. ISBN: 9783631573303

Virginia Samuda and Martin Bygate, 2008, Tasks in second language

learning. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 9781403911865

Kris Van den Branden, Koen Van Gorp, and Machteld Verhelst (eds.),
2007. Tasks in action: task-based language education from a
classroom-based perspective. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.
ISBN: 9781847182432

Dave Willis and Jane Willis, 2007, Doing task-based teaching. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780194422109

Task-based language teaching has become a prominent topic for researchers

and practitioners of second language teaching in recent years. In second
language acquisition research, little was written about tasks prior to Prabhu’s
(1987) work. Since then, the use of tasks has become central both as a means
of eliciting data from participants and as an object of study in and of itself. The
growing prominence of tasks in research is attested by the number of books
published on this topic since 2000 (including Bygate, Skehan, and Swain 2001;
Ellis 2003; Johnson 2003; Leaver and Willis 2005; Nunan 2004; Van den
Branden 2006; Van den Branden, Bygate, and Norris 2009, among many
others). In second language teaching, task-based and task-supported teaching
(Ellis 2003) have been advocated as a means of promoting holistic language-
learning opportunities in the classroom. The breadth of the teaching contexts
explored in the books selected for this review gives testament to the wide and
growing reach of tasks in current second language teaching.

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With the spread of task-based language teaching and research has come a
wide diversity in the contexts, methods, and theories underpinning our
understanding of tasks and learning. Task-based language teaching lies at the
nexus of theory, research, and pedagogy. It draws on a range of learning
theories, including theories of input processing (cf. VanPatten 1996),
information processing (cf. Levelt 1989), the interactionist approach (cf.
Mackey and Gass 2006), and Neo-Vogotskian sociocultural theory (cf. Lantolf
2000), among others. Tasks are used widely in research on language learning,
alongside a variety of data collection and analysis techniques. However, while
task-based language teaching is strongly grounded in theory and in a growing
body of research, it is also an approach to teaching practice. The interplay
between theory, research, and pedagogy necessitates research on tasks that
considers aspects of all three areas.
The purpose of this review article is to present an evaluation of four recent
books on task-based language teaching. These include two book-length
treatments of tasks in language learning and teaching (Samuda and Bygate
2008 and Willis and Willis 2007) as well as two edited collections of research
on tasks and teaching (Eckerth and Siekmann 2008 and Van den Branden, Van
Gorp, and Verhelst 2007). These books differ in structure and intended
audience: Willis and Willis (2007) is explicitly addressed to language teachers,
while the remaining three are directed to an academic audience. There is also
diversity in the theoretical underpinnings investigated; for example, Eckerth
and Siekmann (2008) is based heavily on socio-cognitive theories of learning,
while Samuda and Bygate (2008) draws broadly on theories of learning and
instruction, as well as cognitive interactionist approaches to language
learning. The books also differ with respect to the priority given to theory,
research, and teaching. Willis and Willis (2007) and Van den Branden et al.
(2007) both take a pedagogic, contextual approach to tasks; Willis and Willis
(2007) write for teachers and Van den Branden et al. primarily for researchers.
Samuda and Bygate (2008) and Eckerth and Siekmann (2008) discuss tasks
from a research perspective.
Because of the diversity in audience and scope among these books, it is
neither fair nor practical to subject them all to the same evaluative criteria, nor
to make overall relative comparisons. Rather, this review discusses the ways
that these books link theory, research, and practice in the process of reviewing
or extending research on task-based language teaching. In particular, the
following questions are considered:

1. How are tasks defined, and is the definition of tasks consistent throughout
the book? Are tasks differentiated from other pedagogical activities?
2. What is the role of language learning/language teaching theory in the book?
3. How is research on tasks and task-based teaching treated in the book? What
are the strengths and weaknesses of any empirical research presented?
4. How does the book treat task-based classroom practice? How does it
illustrate or inform pedagogy?

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In this review article, each of the books will be described individually,

although connections between them will be discussed. The review begins
with a discussion of the two expository books that seek to explain and
illustrate the tenets and use of task-based teaching (Samuda and Bygate 2008;
Willis and Willis 2007), followed by review of the two edited volumes of
research (Eckerth and Siekmann 2008; Van den Branden et al. 2007).

Doing task-based teaching

Willis and Willis’s (2007) book, Doing task-based teaching, states explicitly that
the intended audience is practising language teachers. In many ways, the book
is an extension of Jane Willis’s (1996) introductory book on using tasks in the
classroom, A framework for task-based learning. The earlier book provides an
expository account of how tasks may be integrated in language teaching
settings. The 2007 book fills out that account with illustrative examples of
task-based teaching in action. These examples were submitted by teachers
worldwide and constitute samples of actual teaching materials from second
and foreign language settings; the teachers also provided accounts of their
classroom experiences using tasks. The book is practical in nature: the
structure seeks to walk the reader through the process of using tasks in the
classroom. Following a rather short chapter that situates task-based language
teaching as a teaching approach that starts with a focus on meaning (Chapter
1), chapters are devoted to integrating tasks into full lessons, through a
description of ‘task sequences’ (Chapter 2), designing and evaluating tasks for
classroom use (Chapters 3–5), and creating a task-based syllabus (Chapter 9).
Interspersed are chapters dealing with concerns and challenges that teachers
may face in using tasks for language teaching, including how to focus on form
during different stages of a task-based lesson (Chapter 6), how to enhance the
authenticity of classroom discourse during tasks (Chapter 7), and how to
adapt tasks to the needs of different students (Chapter 8). Overall, Willis and
Willis (2007) have sought to provide in-service language teachers with a way
into task-based teaching.
The focus on teaching means that the authors approach task-based
language teaching from the perspective of practice; the book is particularly
light on both discussions of theory and references to task-based research. This
should be seen as a trade-off, rather than as a weakness. The lack of in-text
citations and reference to prior research makes the book approachable for a
non-academic audience. It is consistently clear and easy to read. While clearer
links to theory and research could be made in the descriptions of task
classification, task grading, and language learning through tasks, these are
written with the intention of helping teachers with traditional language-
teaching backgrounds understand why it may benefit their students to
approach language teaching from a meaning-focused orientation. It seems
appropriate in this context to maintain a broad focus.

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A particular strength of the book is the frequent use of ‘reader activities’,

in which the authors pose questions for readers to consider, including their
comments on possible answers. At times, these activities invite the reader to
interact with the content and to connect aspects of task-based teaching to their
own teaching experiences. At other times, readers are prompted to reflect on
their own teaching beliefs and on ways that tasks can meet their core priorities
as teachers, promoting the sort of ‘teacher cognition’ commonly advocated in
teacher education (e.g. Farrell 2007). While this book could be used in a
teacher education course, the inclusion of the authors’ commentaries in these
sections makes the book particularly well-suited for self-study or as a resource
for small groups of teachers working together.
The book not only provides teachers with information on the benefits of
task-based teaching, it also demonstrates how they can do task-based teaching
themselves. This is accomplished through features including an opening
section that addresses misconceptions about tasks (and other communicative
activities) in language teaching, including concerns like ‘You cannot do TBT
[task-based teaching] unless your own English is completely fluent and
accurate’ (p. 1) that may present mental barriers for teachers new to task-based
language teaching, as well as a final chapter presented in question and answer
format dealing with issues like ‘How can we control and keep discipline in
large or difficult classes?’ (p. 223) and ‘How can you change attitudes of
students who aren’t used to TBT?’ (p. 117). The second chapter confronts the
reader with the idea of sequencing tasks, illustrating how lessons and units
are built. Readers are also presented with many examples (both short
examples in text and longer examples in appendices) of tasks used in
classroom contexts to promote each of the four skills. The sample tasks
included are useful not only because they present a range of possible task
types and forms, but also because the diversity of contexts they were
developed in may address individual teacher concerns that tasks may not be
right for their classroom. A particular strength is the inclusion of tasks carried
out in foreign-language contexts that illustrate how work done in class (in the
L2) and out of class (in the L1) can be integrated. For example, an EFL teacher
based in Argentina included surveys conducted with local townspeople (in
the L1), which served as the basis for a presentation tasks in which the
students worked out how to present and report on their findings in the L2. In
addition, the majority of the tasks presented do not require access to
computer technology, and are suitable for contexts with few resources.
An important strength of the book is the emphasis on personalizing
teaching and learning with tasks. Because the authors consistently advocate a
meaning-first approach to teaching, they encourage teachers to find ways of
bringing their own and their students’ interests, experiences, and opinions
into the teaching. When discussing how to develop topics into sequences of
tasks in Chapter 5, the authors give examples of teachers developing listening
texts based on their own experiences for full-class warm-up tasks, which
could then lead to a second task based on student experiences. Indeed,

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sharing personal experiences, through story-telling and other tasks, forms

part of the task type taxonomy (Chapter 4) presented in the book as a way of
helping teachers develop different types of task for classroom use. The
emphasis on personalized teaching and learning is refreshing in the task-
based literature.
A firm definition of tasks is not provided in the book; rather, the authors
discuss pedagogical, meaning-focused activities as being more or less ‘task-
like’ based on criteria associated with definitions of tasks (e.g. ‘Is there a
primary focus on meaning?’ and ‘Is success judged in terms of outcome?’, p.
13). An activity that meets more criteria is considered more ‘task-like’ than an
activity that meets fewer criteria. This approach to defining tasks allows for
the different ways tasks are implemented and understood in different
contexts, but is so broad that it could include almost any communicative
activity. Indeed, many of the examples presented in the book may not be
considered tasks by other researchers. If communicating meaning is
considered an outcome, than any use of language could be considered a task.
The looseness of the definition of tasks serves the book’s purpose in making
task-based teaching conceptually accessible, but may not help teachers deepen
their understanding of what task-based language teaching is and how it is
distinct from other approaches to communicative language teaching. These
understandings are surely important if teachers are to evaluate and adapt
published task-based materials with a view to practising task-based teaching.
As noted above, both language-learning theory and research on tasks and
language teaching receive very little explicit treatment in the text. The limited
discussion in this area mainly focuses on the need for learners to practise
expressing meaning before they focus on form. The authors give an overview
of why approaches to teaching that rely on learners mastering one form at a
time to avoid mistakes do not reflect the learning process. They then draw on
Corder’s (1973) metaphor of the ‘surrender value’ of a language class,
referring to how much return (in terms of communicative ability) learners
receive with a given investment of their time. Willis and Willis explain that
language teaching should help students at all levels to make the most of their
limited language knowledge through tasks that give them experience using
the language, helping build their confidence.
While more in-depth discussion of language-learning processes may not
be needed here, at other points in the book the lack of integration of theory
and research is felt. In Chapter 4, a taxonomy of task types is presented that
includes categories based on processes for completing the task (e.g. sorting,
matching) and categories based on pedagogical descriptions (e.g. creative
tasks, sharing experience). This gives teachers little helpful reference on how
different types of task may stimulate different learning processes. More
reference to the extensive literature on task types (cf. Ellis 2003) might have
helped produce a more coherent taxonomy. Similarly, in a section in Chapter
9 on grading tasks for designing a syllabus, the authors reference Skehan’s
(1998) discussion of task complexity. However, the authors conclude that

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teachers should simply use their intuitions of what is more and less complex.
While it would require complicated analysis to identify emerging trends in
the large body of recent research on task complexity (cf. Robinson 2001), it
should still have been possible to provide teachers with more concrete
guidelines.
The lack of rigour with reference to the literature is also problematic in the
discussions in Chapters 1 and 6 on the use of focus on form in a task-based
context. Terminology defined in these sections is occasionally at odds with
that used by other applied linguistics researchers. For example, what is
commonly referred to as ‘focus on form’ (cf. Long 1991) is referred to in this
text as ‘focus on language’; similarly, what is commonly named ‘focus on
forms’ is here called ‘focus on form’. While this simplifies the terminology, it
may cause confusion for readers who decide to read further task-based
literature when they come across the same terminology (e.g. ‘focus on form’)
used with a different meaning. It may also cause problems for academics who
adopt this book for classes on teaching practice alongside texts that use the
more common meanings of these terms.
In Chapters 3 and 4, when tasks are presented, language foci are suggested
as well, which at time seem poorly integrated with the task. Language forms
suggested for attention are often quite vague (e.g. ‘language of obligation and
permission’, p. 130), which teachers may have difficulty identifying or
isolating for form-focused instruction. More troubling is an overall lack of
attention to any systematic planning of language content. Little attention is
paid to ensuring that texts include enough exemplars of a form for
comprehension of grammatical meaning, ensuring that instruction is based
on forms learners need explicit focus on, or providing multiple opportunities
to focus on a form across a curriculum. Taking a perspective that language
forms are more likely to be learned when they are noticed and made salient in
the input (cf. Schmidt 2001), the use of a task-based syllabus does not remove
the need to plan language content, but rather increases the complexity of this
task. There is little here to guide teachers in this aspect.
Overall, this book prioritizes the practice of task-based language teaching
over theory and research. While this leads to some weaknesses in the
discussion, overall the authors present a readable, big-picture view of tasks in
language teaching which would be invaluable to teachers seeking a practical
guide to teaching through tasks.

Tasks in second language learning

In contrast to Willis and Willis, the second book-length treatment of tasks and
language learning and teaching, by Samuda and Bygate (2008), attempts to
weave theory, research, and practice together in a discussion of what tasks are,
why tasks may promote learning, and how tasks are used in the classroom.
While primarily written from a task-based research perspective, the end goal

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– understanding how to promote classroom language learning from tasks – is

always clearly in sight. The book provides an overview of how tasks have been
used in second language pedagogy and in second language research.
In Chapter 1, tasks are differentiated from other pedagogical activities as
activities that require holistic language use, in which learners are given input
materials and required to engage in language processes to arrive at a
meaningful outcome. Later in the book, this basic definition is expanded to
include reference to achieving non-linguistic outcomes through meeting
linguistic challenges, and to specify that the pedagogical aim of a task is
promoting language learning. There is also frequent consideration of Breen’s
(1987) distinction of ‘task as a workplan’ (or the intended, designed task) from
‘task-in-process’ (the way the task is carried out by learners). The sample task
used to illustrate processes throughout the book (‘things in pocket’, where
learners are asked to determine a person’s identity based on things in his/her
pocket) fits the basic definition of a task, as do the wide range of tasks
discussed (mostly through reference to empirical studies).
Following this introductory chapter, the next two focus on a pedagogic
rationale for tasks in educational (Chapter 2) and research contexts (Chapter
3). This section is impressively wide-reaching, including work by educational
theorists such as Dewey, Freinet, Freire, Bruner, and Barnes. This section
provides an theoretical overview of education based on holistic experience,
participatory learning, learning for use, and the relationship between
classroom talk and learning. Based on this theoretical grounding, Samuda and
Bygate (2008) critically examine both the benefits and challenges associated
with implementing a holistic, language use-based language pedagogy. For
example, Dewey’s (1910) discussion of learning activities and development
is drawn on to discuss two prevalent and problematic perspectives on tasks
in language teaching. The first views task-based pedagogy as too ‘chaotic,
fluctuating, and inconsistent’ (p. 35) to allow for a thorough, systematic
organization of teaching. In contrast, the second claims that for language
teaching all that is needed is to provide communicative tasks, and the learning
will follow naturally, as if by magic. Following Dewey’s call for a middle
ground – a progressive organization of holistic activities that includes both
learner-driven activities and a strong teacher role in shaping these – Samuda
and Bygate suggest that the challenge for teachers and researchers is to
determine how tasks can be used to create learning opportunities, and how
task-based learning opportunities can best be managed to advantage the
learner. This provides a theory-driven viewpoint from which to review and
evaluate literature on tasks in language teaching, and to consider how courses
can be structured so that linguistic form is adequately addressed within
task-based language teaching.
The following three chapters focus on tasks in second-language teaching,
considering the uses of tasks in different teaching contexts (Chapter 4),
variation in the definitions and instantiations of tasks (Chapter 5), and tasks
and language-learning processes (Chapter 6), before turning to focus on the

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challenges of researching and evaluating pedagogic tasks (Chapter 7). The

next section highlights the intersection of task-based teaching and task-based
research, presenting a pedagogical interpretation of selected task-based
research studies (Chapter 8), as well as a considered discussion of
pedagogical perspectives on the use of tasks in language teaching, with
particular reference to mismatches in teacher and researcher perspectives on
tasks (Chapter 9). The final chapters exemplify the book’s dual intentions of
promoting task-based research and task-based pedagogy by pointing out
directions for further research on tasks and teaching (Chapter 10) and further
resources on tasks for teachers and researchers (Chapter 11).
The particular strength of this book is its sense of balance. The authors
provide a balanced discussion of theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical
rationales for tasks in teaching, and highlight interplay among these. The
authors consider both what has been empirically established about tasks and
the assumptions (both from theory and from pedagogy) that remain to be
tested, and the challenges that lie ahead for task-based pedagogy and
research. For example, when discussing the benefits of task-based learning
and teaching, they point out that the eagerness to apply the label ‘task’ to
teaching materials and curricula has devalued tasks as a ‘distinct pedagogic
construct’ (p. 57) and cast tasks in a negative light in the teaching profession.
Later, they describe how the applicability of task-based research to teaching
has been stymied by studies that do not consider pedagogical aspects of using
tasks in classrooms, such as different phases of task performances, learner
strategy use, and actual use of tasks by teachers in the context of lessons or
units. The authors, by contrast, consider both researcher and teacher
perspectives, and the limitations of each. Their suggestions for future
directions in task-based research emphasize common ground between task-
based researchers and practitioners of task-based teaching, and ways that
future work on tasks can serve both.
A wide range of task-based studies is considered in the book, and for the
most part the discussion of research is clear, thorough, and helpful to
understanding how task-based research may be applied to teaching. Research
from different research traditions is included, and careful consideration is
given to research findings in light of contrastive orientations to research and
empiricism. A highlight in this regard is the chapter on researching pedagogic
tasks, which presents current branches of task-based research, pointing out
research challenges and achievements in each area. This chapter is invaluable
reading for any task-based researcher. A weak point of the book with respect
to research is the chapter-length discussion of task-based research from a
pedagogical perspective. This chapter sets out to explore the ways that
pedagogical tasks can be researched through reference to a sample of eight
prior studies. The studies were selected to illustrate a range of issues related
to tasks and methodological options for researching them, and the authors
provide an annotated description of each, with particular reference to what
the studies offer to pedagogy. The weakness here is the use of single studies

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to represent areas of task-based research. At times, critiques seem to relate

more to the particular study than to the conceptual or methodological
frameworks they represent. The reader comes away with in-depth knowledge
of the selected studies, but with little idea of how and whether the discussion
applies beyond these studies to areas of the field.
In considering the treatment of pedagogy and pedagogical perspectives, it
is important to remember that the book is written primarily for a research
audience. One of the aims of the book seems to be to encourage researchers to
consider issues of task-based language teaching in actual pedagogical
contexts. Like Willis and Willis, Samuda and Bygate repeatedly emphasize the
importance of practitioner knowledge. While there is little for teachers in this
book in terms of practical advice for using tasks in teaching, the book
advocates a greater respect for and consideration of teacher knowledge as
research on tasks moves forward.

Tasks in action

The value of teacher knowledge and the importance of considering tasks in

authentic pedagogical contexts is shared by both the edited volumes
reviewed here. The first of these, Van den Branden, Van Gorp, and Verhelst
(2007), examines task-based language teaching from a classroom teaching
perspective. The volume includes papers that were presented at the first
international conference on task-based language teaching in 2005, thematically
connected by a concern with the use of tasks in authentic contexts. The
volume includes studies of tasks carried out by adult migrants in community
education centres, language minority kindergarten and primary school
students in mainstream classrooms, primary school EFL learners in China,
Hong Kong, and Hungary, and university EFL learners in Japan.
The editors define tasks broadly as activities involving meaningful use of
language, in which people engage to attain an objective. They add the caveat,
however, that the ‘meaningful use of language’ may be mediated through
learner perceptions. In other words, learner perspectives on the task
determine whether they will approach it as a task (with a primary focus on
meaning) or as a grammar practice (with a primary focus on formal accuracy).
This complements Willis and Willis’s view that tasks may be rendered more or
less ‘task-like’ on the basis of how they are implemented in the classroom. The
book focuses on the task-in-progress, which is determined by the ways that
teachers work tasks into their teaching, and the ways that students respond to
and engage in them. The content covers a selection of empirical studies of
tasks-in-progress in classrooms, learner perceptions and reactions to tasks,
and expository chapters explaining the process of creating materials to
implement and evaluate task-based language teaching. Overall, the definition
of ‘task’ outlined above remains consistent throughout the book. One notable
exception is found in Weaver’s study of willingness to communicate among

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Japanese university EFL learners in various tasks. Several of the alleged tasks
in that study (e.g. ‘Say a short introduction speech’ or ‘Invite someone to do
something with you’) do not seem to have a defined objective beyond simple
communication.
For a book on tasks used in the classroom to promote learning, there is
remarkably little reference to language-learning theory. There are brief
references to theory; for example, Kumaravadivelu cites Skehan (1998) on the
need to connect form and meaning, and Berben, Van den Branden, and Van
Gorp allude to Laufer and Hulstijn’s (2001) theory on depth of processing.
Only Chapter 8, which presents a research study by Tinker-Sachs on the use
of tasks in cooperative learning, provides more than a passing reference to
second language learning. Her study includes a developed rationale, based on
sociocultural theory (citing Vygotsky 1978 and Lantolf and Appel 1994,
among other sources), explaining why tasks may promote learning. On the
whole, the book provides very little to help the reader understand how the
tasks investigated might lead to learning. While the focus here is on
researching task-based pedagogy, the effectiveness of pedagogy is hard to
evaluate without reference to theories of learning. More emphasis on the role
of tasks in promoting learning in each chapter would have enhanced the
content.
This relatively brief consideration of language-learning theory may have
been a conscious choice, as the aim of the book is to present task-based
research from a pedagogical perspective. The research studies in the book
approach the challenge of studying tasks in context by including multiple
sources of data to contextualize and interpret task-based practice. For
example, Zhang’s interesting discussion of the implementation of TBLT in
mainland China is based on a five-level model of curriculum decision-
making, and data collected on each level is presented. This includes document
analysis of curricular documents and teaching materials, classroom
observations of teachers’ attempts to implement the curriculum, and
interviews with teachers and students. Zhang’s chapter documents issues at
each stage of curriculum implementation that have caused confusion and
concern for the teachers charged with implementing task-based teaching in
their classrooms. Pinter’s study on the benefits of task repetition among child
learners considers both linguistic analysis of earlier and later task
performances and information from interviews. Throughout the book,
empirical studies are carefully designed to allow for examination of classroom
practice.
A particular strength of this book, found in several of the empirical
studies, is the complex and sophisticated analysis of qualitative data. Berben,
Van Den Branden, and Van Gorp’s investigation of how curricular tasks were
carried out in primary school classrooms and of the teacher’s role in shaping
this is a model of clear, detailed, and cautious reporting of qualitative data. An
exception here is Kumaravadivelu’s discussion of learner perceptions of tasks,
which does not include data eliciting learner perspectives on tasks. Rather, the

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chapter presents an analysis of three adult ESL learners engaged in a decision-

making task and makes interpretive assumptions that do not seem to be
motivated by the data. For example, based on the appearance of spontaneous
focus-on-form, use of language functions (such as suggesting), and the use of
language to organize the discourse in the data, the researcher determines that
attention to form, function, and interaction are all dependent on each other.
This seems an overstatement based on data that learners can, for example, ask
for pronunciation assistance and use indirect forms of rejecting in the same
discourse. The central assertion that learners engaged in a task determine
the level of attention to formal, functional, and interactional aspects of
communication also seems overstated, without reference to data to show how
the task, the teacher, or their prior classroom experiences may also have
mediated this. Nevertheless, this chapter, like the other empirical studies
included in this collection, provides an interesting insight into how learners in
the classroom actually perform tasks.
Because the book focuses on tasks in actual teaching practice, chapters
based on empirical studies are interspersed with chapters describing the
processes involved in creating writing tasks and web-based tasks, as well as a
useful discussion of the development of an evaluation instrument designed to
explore teacher practices in implementing tasks and a description of patterns
of task work among very young (pre-school) language learners. These
chapters provide a detailed description of the many steps involved in creating
and implementing tasks, and a thoughtful analysis of the considerations
teachers need to make as they approach task-based language teaching. As
Zhang’s description of the confusion engendered by curriculum documents
aptly demonstrates, work of this type is vital for the careful promotion of
task-based pedagogy. These chapters, along with the careful descriptions of
the development and classroom use of tasks provided in the empirical
studies, provide examples of the type of work needed to avoid the devolution
of the terms ‘task’ and ‘task-based language teaching’ referred to by Samuda
and Bygate.

Task-based language learning and teaching

Like Van den Branden et al. (2007), Eckerth and Siekmann (2008) present a
collection of studies focusing on tasks in authentic pedagogical contexts.
Unlike Van den Branden et al., they aim to explore interconnections between
task pedagogy to theory and research. The first chapter, for instance, describes
tasks as a bridge between practice and theory, between researchers and
teachers. More explicitly directed at an academic rather than a practitioner
audience, the book includes research on classroom task processes, the role of
cognition in task performance, and task-based assessment.
The opening chapter (written by Eckerth) addresses the question of the
extent to which task-based language teaching represents a methodological

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innovation as opposed to a repackaging of communicative language concepts.

To discuss this, a very comprehensive model of task-based classroom research
is presented, bringing together into a single model different aspects of task
types and different ways of measuring performance. This chapter also
addresses central issues in task-based teaching, such as how tasks can be
differentiated from exercises, the construct validity of tasks, and the
possibility of specifying task outcomes. This broad-reaching overview of tasks
in research and teaching could benefit from more focus. However, it does start
the volume off by raising critical issues and providing a rationale for the
continued focus on tasks in teaching and research.
This chapter also considers several definitions of tasks, as well as the
theoretical frameworks that inform these definitions, before settling on
Bygate et al.’s (2001) definition of tasks as ‘an activity which requires learners
to use language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective’ (p. 11). This
basic definition is extended through reference to Widdowson (1998) and
Skehan (1998) to include the specification that tasks should focus on content
and meaning (rather than linguistic form), that pedagogic tasks should be
related to future real-world tasks, and that the task aim should be a
communicative goal, rather than a demonstration of second-language
knowledge. The definition is quite similar to that adopted by Samuda and
Bygate; there is, however, some inconsistency with respect to the degree to
which individual studies in this collection follow this definition of tasks. For
example, the cloze activity used in Pesce’s study of Spanish learning by
German university students seems to be a clearly form-focused rather than
meaning-focused activity. Similarly, Krüger’s study of the cognitive
processing learners use when confronted with new words required learners
to describe what they thought a new lexical item meant, and then to translate
a short text in which the item appeared. It is not obvious how the emphasis
here is on meaning, nor how the task outcome represents a communicative
goal, rather than an elicitation of second-language knowledge.
Following the opening chapter, five chapters present data from empirical
studies on the use of tasks in authentic classroom contexts. All of these take
place in university settings, and include learners of German, English, and
Spanish in second- and foreign-language settings. The remaining three
chapters exemplify different aspects of tasks, research, and teaching. The most
in-depth of these is Vollmer’s description of the development of tasks for
teaching and assessing learning of content and language knowledge.
Vollmer’s tasks were created both for learners educated in their L1 and for
learners educated in their L2. While some results from these two groups of
learners are summarized, the emphasis here is on the process of determining
the content and manner of both instruction and evaluation for these learners.
The chapter includes consideration of the challenges of assessing content and
language (and the associated epistemological complexities), as well as a
practical description of the development and criteria for the tasks. This rather
lengthy chapter presents a thoughtful discussion of the theoretical and

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methodological issues associated with using tasks in content-based

instruction, and is a valuable resource for anyone developing materials in
similar contexts. Vollmer’s chapter and the following work by Keßler round
out the discussion of tasks and assessment. Keßler describes the use of Rapid
Profile, a computational linguistic profiling tool that provides a description of
a learner’s current developmental level based on Processibility Theory (e.g.
Pienemann 1998). Keßler advocates the system as a diagnostic tool to inform
decision-making, suggesting that the tool could help teachers implement
tasks targeted at a learner’s current interlanguage level. These two chapters
contain the most helpful suggestions for task-based pedagogy. The final
expository chapter, by Heine, presents a discussion of a coding model for
examining linguistic processing in problem-solving tasks.
Following the tone set in the first chapter, each contributor presents a
theoretical rationale for their study. In contrast to Van den Branden et al., each
of these includes careful discussion of tasks and theories of second language
learning (predominantly neo-Vygotskian theories). Each chapter makes a
clear attempt to link theories of learning to the language teaching and learning
processes investigated. For example, Pesce’s study examines the dyadic
interactions of learners who were given grammatical explanations from their
teachers, or who were given linguistic data and asked to discover the
grammatical patterns on their own. The study is framed within research on
the role of noticing (cf. Schmidt 2001) and form-focused instruction (cf. Spada
1997) for gaining explicit grammatical knowledge. Each study is similarly
grounded in theory, and each attempts to examine that theory in practice,
acknowledging the necessary connection of learning theory and teaching
practice in task-based research.
There are weaknesses, however, in the reporting of the studies and there
is at times a lack of rigour in the interpretation of results. For the reader, many
of the concerns about research methodology may be caused by the scope
of the studies relative to the length of the chapters. For several studies, limits
in length may have led to the omission of information, rendering some
discussion disjointed and confusing. For example, in Siekmann’s examination
of peer scaffolding during engagement in weblog tasks by university-level
learners of German, two coding systems are employed: one examining types
of scaffolding, and the other addressing constructive and destructive affective
strategic behaviours. While the data examining types of scaffolding is well
exemplified and leads to an interesting discussion of the role of collaboration
in dyadic interactions, reference is made in the results section to the use of
affective strategic behaviours without any information on how these were
identified or on what formed the basis of the labelling as constructive or
destructive. Without any reference to supporting theory or any information
on how the coding system was developed, the discussion of strategic
behaviours seems rather value-laden and ad hoc. Similar problems include
the scant information on the coding system used in Pesce’s study and
the incomplete information on how pre- and post-testing was applied in

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352 䉬 Rebecca Adams

Eckerth’s study. Some studies, like Schart’s action research on implementing

task-based teaching into German classes at a Japanese university, seemed
off-balance, with quite limited discussion of findings relative to the discussion
of the context and research approach.
There is also, in several chapters, a tendency to over-interpret quite
minimal, descriptive differences in the quantitative data. In Schart’s study, for
example, the researcher interprets as meaningful very narrow differences in
means in data collected from a relatively small sample of learners (e.g.
interpreting the gap between 4.13/0.83 SD and 4.21/0.79 SD as an indication
that the thirteen students in his class were more critical of the communication
between learners and the teacher than students in classes not using tasks. For
a small sample, this difference in means is unlikely to be statistically significant,
let alone meaningful). Similar problems are found for interpretations of narrow
percentage margins among a small sample in Pesce’s study.
However, there are several significant strengths in the research reported in
this collection as well. Like the studies in Van den Branden et al. (2007), every
study is conducted in authentic teaching settings, and careful attempts were
made in each case to integrate the research tasks into the classroom in a
coherent manner. For example, Ishii’s study of ‘dia-logs’ as a post-task
consciousness-raising activity was adapted into the curriculum of the intensive
English programme where the data were collected, carefully matching the
topics and teaching activities the learners were accustomed to. Like several
researchers in this volume, Ishii served as a regular classroom teacher in the
English programme as well as a researcher for the study. This attention to
authenticity also prompted some researchers, such as Siekmann, to adopt
task-supported rather than task-based pedagogical principles in research,
probably reflecting a more common use of tasks in foreign language
classrooms. The attention to conducting research on tasks and learning without
sacrificing pedagogical authenticity enhances the validity of these studies.
This volume also makes an important contribution to the field through the
attention to both the social and cognitive aspects of learning, and the interplay
between these in several of the studies presented here. For example, Shart’s
study of teacher and student perspectives on a task-based German-language
course at a Japanese university demonstrates how relationships between
teachers and different groups of students, spatial distribution of students in
the physical classroom, and students’ self-image based on prior learning
experiences can inhibit learner engagement in tasks and influence learner
perceptions of task-based teaching. Siekmann’s study demonstrates how
mismatches in the ways that interlocutors manage social aspects of dyadic
interaction can undermine task engagement and possible learning
opportunities. For one of her dyads, very little collaborative discourse was
found until after social information was shared and accepted. Only after this
were the learners able to complete the task. Empirical evidence of the links
between social and cognitive aspects of learning increases understanding of
how task-based teaching may promote language learning.

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Conclusion

As noted throughout this review article, there are many differences among
these books, including the type of volume, the intended audience, and the
scope of the content. However, there are similarities among them that give
insights into both current and future directions of task-based language
teaching and research. A common thread through these volumes was the
emphasis on the importance of evaluating tasks not only as workplans
developed by materials writers but also in terms of the way they are used by
teachers and learners in actual classrooms. These books emphasized the need
for classroom-based research that examines how teachers frame tasks in their
teaching and how learners engage in task-based work. Van den Branden et al.
(2007) go further, to suggest ways of evaluating and comparing the use of tasks
and teaching across contexts.
A similar concern addressed by these books is the need for learners to be
engaged in tasks. This relates to the need for task communication to be
meaningful, not because researchers or materials writers have decided that it
is, but because it is actually meaningful to the learners. Research presented in
Van den Branden et al. (2007) and in Eckerth and Siekmann (2008) indicates
that developing tasks that provide learners with opportunities to
communicate information that is meaningful to them enhances motivation
and willingness to communicate, which in turn may influence how learners
engage in the tasks. These findings lend empirical support to Willis and
Willis’s suggestions that teachers personalize topics and texts so they become
meaningful to the learners’ contexts, experiences, and learning goals.
Additionally, a thread of thought connecting all the books is an increasing
recognition that both social and cognitive aspects of learning are brought
together in task-based language teaching. This is reflected in Samuda and
Bygate’s (2008) integrated discussion of social and cognitive theories of
learning through holistic activities, as well as through researchers in Eckerth
and Siekmann (2008) exploring social factors that influenced dyadic
interactions and task outcomes. Careful attention to the myriad of individual,
social, and cognitive factors that influence task performance, and the interplay
among them, is attested in the volumes reviewed here; the need for more such
research in mentioned by several of the authors.
As well as providing evidence of current trends, each of these books points
to areas where further research on tasks and task-based language teaching is
needed. As Van den Branden et al. point out, we know relatively little about
different types of task, and how they may promote learning in different ways
in different settings. This leaves teacher educators like Willis and Willis with
scant concrete advice for teachers wanting to know how to effectively select
tasks for their classrooms. Rather than blanket statements about the
effectiveness of one task type over another, an understanding of tasks and
teaching should to be nuanced enough to recognize the ways in which the
learning setting will influence the effectiveness of tasks. This is exemplified in

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Van den Branden et al. (2007); in the introduction, the editors describe the
failure of a common information gap task to engage adult migrant workers
who found the nature of the task unrelated to their communicative needs and
felt that the content implied that they lacked real-world knowledge. However,
in Pinter’s study in the same volume, very similar gap tasks are greeted with
enthusiasm by the Hungarian primary school learners, who commented that
they enjoyed the challenge of completing (and repeating) these tasks, and
indicated that the tasks helped them develop both linguistic knowledge and
language-use strategic competence. The problem is not the gap task; the issue
is our emerging understanding of the need to match the task, the content, and
the learning setting in productive ways.
Samuda and Bygate (2008) discuss at length the relatively scant empirical
evidence that indicates that engagement in tasks promotes language learning;
and perusal of the research in both Van den Branden et al. (2007) and Eckerth
and Siekmann (2008) exemplifies the current tendencies to measure task
effectiveness in terms of language production, rather than learning outcomes.
However, the use of tailor-made and other types of testing in a few studies in
Eckerth and Siekmann (2008), as well as the description of the use of linguistic
profiling to measure learning gains, demonstrates different possible methods
for meeting this challenge. More focus on investigating not only what learners
do during a task, but also what they take away from the experience, will help
establish an empirical rationale for the adoption of task-based language
teaching.
Finally, while these books demonstrate the diverse range of contexts in
which task-based language teaching is researched and trialled, they also point
out how rare, and how inconsistent, the implementation of task-based
language teaching is worldwide. As both Van den Branden et al. and Samuda
and Bygate point out, the use and spread of task-based teaching will not be
successful without significant investment in teacher professional
development as well as cooperative investigation between researchers and
teachers. As mentioned in the introduction to this review article,
understanding task-based language teaching requires investigation of the
meeting point of theory, research, and practice. Similarly, the strength of
task-based language approaches may rely in part on the cooperative efforts of
teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and theorists.

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email: r.adams@auckland.ac.nz [Received 6 July 2009]

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