Task-Based Language

CHAPTE3 Teaching and Learning

---~-----~~in Context

Before reading this chapter, consider the following questions:

• How would you define a 'task', in the general sense of the

word?
• In the classroom, is a 'task' the same as an 'activity'? Are
there differences between these two?
• What do you understand by the term 'task-based', in
relation to language teaching and learning?
• Do you use Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in
your lessons?
• If so, why? Or, if not, why not?

Introduction and Overview

In the first part of this chapter, we look at some of the more

general meanings of 'task', and highlight the need for us as
language teachers to be clear, in our own minds, about what we
mean when we refer to different methodologies, starting with
'task-based language teaching'. This starting point is necessary,
as a number of studies have shown that language teachers may
support or oppose a particular method - even when they are not
entirely clear what it is that they are supporting or opposing. However,
it is not only individual teachers who can find themselves in that
position, as even ministries of education can also be found to be
promoting - or even mandating - particular methodologies,
while also appearing to be not entirely clear on what it is they
are promoting or mandating. After considering more general
meanings of 'task', we will then move on to more specific mean-
ings in terms of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) tasks,
41
42 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 143

and I offer my own definition of such tasks in the context of the Language Teaching (CLT) in the 1970s (see Chapter 4), the
language lesson. In the third part of the chapter, readers are 1980s were similarly dominated by the rise of TBLT, or TBLTL,
taken inside the TBLT classroom, to give them a sense of what to include 'and Learning' at the end (see, for example, Kashif
the method looks like in the real world of language lessons, & Sajjad, 2015). TBLT is generally considered to be a subset
linking the theory and the practice of the method, using data and/or a logical extension, progression or outgrowth of CLT.
from real classrooms, such as extracts from classroom tran- That relationship raises the question of why the chapter on
scripts. And although we refer to 'classrooms', we include within CLT was not presented before this chapter on TBLT, since the
this term 'lessons', which may or not be taking place in tradi- latter grew out of the former. The reason for this relates back to
tional, physical, brick-and-mortar classrooms, and which may the note in the Introduction that the methodologies in this
be happening, for example, in online environments. book are presented in order of prominence, and as TBLT has
Because TBLT has been, by far, the most researched, written- by now so far outstripped CLT, TBLT is presented first.
about and presented-on methodology in the last 30 years, the Interestingly, the Macmillan Online Dictionary of English (MOOE)
fourth part of the chapter briefly summarizes some of the defines a 'task' as 'something that you have to do, often some-
main and most recent works on TBLT. The reason for this short thing that is difficult or unpleasant'. Such a definition can serve
section is so that teachers can be up to date in their knowledge as a positive reminder of some of the challenges of being a lan-
and understanding of TBLT, if they choose to talk about TBLT guage teacher and/or a language learner! These challenges can
with their colleagues, with parents, with administrators or also be seen in the collocations provided in MODE, under adjec-
with other stakeholders. This is an essential aspect of 'princi- tives frequently used with the word 'task', which include 'ardu-
pled eclecticism', as noted in the previous chapters, which is ous, daunting, difficult, formidable, hopeless, impossible,
referred to as a 'desirable, coherent, pluralistic approach to onerous, thankless, unenviable, uphill'. The fact that all ten of
language teaching' (Mellow, 2002, p. 1), and which is one of the adjectives collocated with 'task' are negative - all the way
the recurring themes in this book. Another reason for this from daunting and difficult to hopeless, and even impossible! -
short section is to show the influence of academic publications should also be an indication that to do TBLT well involves much
on classroom practice, as although it may be claimed that the more than simply putting learners in groups and giving them
latter is driving the former, it may be truer to say that aca- something to do. On a more positive note, the MOD E's list of the
demic trends are driving classroom practice considerably more verbs frequently used with 'task' as the object includes 'accom-
than the other way around. The next part of the chapter looks plish, approach, attempt, begin, complete, face, perform,
at some of the pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses of tackle, undertake'. None of these verbs suggests that TBLT is an
TBLT, and the last part considers some aspects of assessment easy option, but all of them are actions that effective language
of TBLT learning outcomes. teachers and learners do regularly, as part of their daily work in
classrooms.
In the same way as Sandra Savignon is seen as one of the
From Tasks to TBLT: The Importance of Knowing What pioneers of CLT (see Chapter 4), Michael Long (1985) is seen as
We Are Talking About one of the TBLT pioneers, along with N. S. Prabhu (1987). (See
Greenwood, 1985, on Prabhu's Bangalore Project in South
lnrlin .,,hirh honnn in 1 070 ) T Ann dnrti>rl ,.,ith n ~imilnrh,
 44 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 145

'a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or even the only - language teaching and learning methodology
for some reword ... the hundred and one things people do, at with so much research to support it (see 'Recent Developments
work, at ploy and in between' (1985, p. 89). The reference to in TBLT' below).
'freely or for some reword' reiterates the importance of the dif- It is not only at the individual level that a clear understand-
ferent kinds of motivation influencing the learners and the ing of TBLT appears to be conspicuous by its absence. As we
teachers, such as intrinsic or extrinsic, instrumental or integra- saw in Chapter 2, governments and ministries of education
tive. (For more on these issues, see, for example, Dornyei & can shape methodological trends at the national level - even if
Schmidt's Motivation and Second Language Acquisition, 2001.) the government does not fully understand the methodology
Examples of such general tasks given by Long include borrow- that they hove chosen to mandate. For example, Xinmin
ing a book from the library, and making a hotel or airline Zheng and Simon Borg's (2014) study of TBLT for teaching
reservation. English in secondary schools in Chino found that, although
Although such on oil-inclusive definition is extremely brood, the Chinese Ministry of Education published TBTL guidelines
it is a useful starting point, and it shows how non-specific in 2003, 'the curriculum does not define what precisely it
notions, such as the completion of a task, con become highly understands a task to be, and how it might be distinct from
specialized when applied to language teaching and learning. other types of language learning activities' (p. 206). If even
In terms of the importance of being clear about what we mean governments and ministries of education can promote a par-
when we refer to key concepts such as 'task', Peter Skehan ticular methodology without appearing to fully understand
(1998) emphasized that 'it is necessary to address definitional that methodology themselves, then busy language teachers
issues [of TBLTI at the outset, since many different contempo- can be forgiven for not being entirely clear on what it is they
rary options give task a central role' (p. 286). Another reason are attempting to employ in their classrooms. It is a lso impor-
for clearly defining what we mean by 'task' is that 'task-based' tant to note that, in the case of China, promoting a particular
can mean many different things to many different people, as method directly impacts millions of teachers and learners of
noted by Zheng and Borg (2014). English. Beyond forgiving teachers for not always being clear,
As teachers, we can sometimes foll into the trap of believing it is our responsibility as language teachers to ensure that we
that something, such as TBLT, is 'good', even when the research know what we mean when we think and talk, speak and write
sh ows that we may not fully understand what it is that we are about 'TBLT', 'CLT' and all the other methodological acronyms
assuming to be inherently 'good' (Littlewood, 2004). This that have been created for us over the last 50 years or so.
assumption is partly the result of the pressures on language Some language teachers may be offended (and if so, my
teachers to accept and embrace whatever the next set of meth- apologies!) by the notion that, methodologically speaking,
odological doctrines dictates, often as 'articles of faith'. This sometimes 'we don't know what we're talking about'. However,
assumption and these pressures help to explain the outpouring I believe that this lack of understanding comes from inade-
of academic books, language textbooks and scholarly articles quate teacher preparation and training programs, and a lock
on TBLT. For example, in March 2017, Google Scholar showed of on-going, in-service teacher professional development pro-
more than three million hits for the search term 'task-based lan- grams, which is one reason why books (and book series) like
guage teaching', and that number will most likely hove grown this one are needed - to help fill that gap. This lack of under-
by now. In fact, TBLT claims to be one of the few - and perhaps standing was shown in a study of foreign language teachers in
 46 1METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TE~HING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 147

New Zealand (East, 2012), which concluded that 'there was see, this definition is still rather general, and for some applied
encouraging evidence of attempts by teachers to implement linguists, 'task' and 'activity' are not the same thing. For
TBLT, though of concern was the finding that a quarter of the example, Zheng and Borg (2014) see 'activities' as referring to
participants in this study had minimal understandings of what the kind of exercises 'normally found in textbooks' (p. 206).
TBLT was' (Zheng and Borg, 2014, p. 208, emphasis added). Thomas and Reinders (2012) distinguish between 'task', as 'the
The good news is that most of the teachers trying to implement workplan that is given to the learners', and 'activity', as 'the
TBLT in that study had more than a minimal understanding communication that results from the performance of the task'
of it. But the fact that so many of them did not is the reason (p. xvi). In that sense, a 'task' is what the learners are required
why the chapters in this book are designed to ensure that to do, while the 'activity' is the language the learners use/
teachers are not trying to work with a m ethodology that they produce while doing the task.
do not understand, and cannot clearly articulate. Using any of Based on van den Branden's definition, and the others I
these methodologies effectively and engagingly is already a have read, my basic definition of a TBLT task is: a series of con-
challenge - even when they are fully understood - so attempting nected activities, in which multiple language learners engage, in
to implement anything with minimal understanding of it order to attain a language-oriented outcome, which is the success-
appears to be setting ourselves up for failure. ful, collaborative completion of a specific task. Although it is pos-
sible to complete many general tasks individually, given the
CLT origins of TBLT, my definition entails two or more learners
ACTIVITY 3.1 completing the task by working together, 'which necessitates
the use of language'. In the case of, for example, making a
Have you ever tried to employ a particular method in your
phone call, the call itself is usually preceded by some other
language teaching without fully understanding it? If so, how did activity, such as finding the phone number, and may be fol-
you find yourself in that position, and how successful - or not - lowed by some other activity, such as passing on a message, or
were you in trying to use a method that you did not fully making a note of the details learned during the call. Also, the
understand? call must involve at least two participants, and it may involve
more than two if it is a conference call or phone meeting. This
kind of definition raises the question of how 'successful com-
What Are TBLT Tasks? pletion' is assessed, which we will consider at the end of this
chapter.
Having established the need to know more fully what we mean A 'task', in the TBLT sense of the word, was defined by Breen
- and what everybody else means - by 'task' and 'task-based', (1987) as a 'structured language learning endeavor, which has
we can now move beyond Long's examples of 'the hundred a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working
and one things people do' (1985, p. 89) to some more specific procedure and a range of outcomes' (p. 23). Breen's definition
meanings. But before we do that, having read many dozens of highlights the importance of appropriateness (see Chapter 4)
definitions of 'task' covering a period of 30 years or so, here is as a seemingly straightforward concept, but which is, in fact, a
one of my favourites: 'A task is an activity in which a person rather messy notion (see, for example, Goodnough, 2008, on
engages in order to attain an objective, and which necessitates the messiness of educational research). Unfortunately, Breen
the use of language' (van den Branden, 2006, p. 5). As we can then opened up the definition of 'task', 'implying ... that just
48 I METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE T~CHING
TASK-BASED LANGUAG E TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 149
about anything the learner does in a classroom qualifies as a In relation to the growth of TBLT in the 1980s and 1990s,
task' (Nunan, 2004, p. 3), which, according to Breen (1987), Skehan (1998) noted that 'In the last twenty years or so, lan-
can include everything 'from the simple and brief exercise guage teaching has changed to incorporate a higher propor-
type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group tion of meaning-based activities, in contrast to the era in
problem solving or simulations and decision making' (p. 23). which form was primary' (p. 268). By the new millennium,
This led David Nunan to describe Breen's definition above as researchers and proponents of TBLT were continuing to be
'not particularly helpful' (2004, p. 3). clearer on what a TBLT task is, as we can see in Rod Ellis'
A decade later, by the end of the 1990s, greater clarity was (2003) definition, which stated that a task 'requires learners to
possible in terms of what constituted a pedagogical task in the process language pragmatically in order to achieve an out-
language classroom. According to Skehan (1998), a task in the come that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or
TBLT lesson is recognizable as such because: appropriate propositional content has been conveyed' (p. 16).
In the same way as CLT came to dominate language class-
'meaning is primary
rooms earlier, the new millennium also saw TBLT achieving a
learners are not given other people's meaning to regurgitate
similar level of indisputability, as captured by William Little-
there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world
activities wood's witty description in 2004: 'The task-based approach
task completion has some priority has achieved something of the status of a new orthodoxy:
the assessment of the task is in terms of outcome' (Skehan, 1998, teachers in a wide range of settings are being told by curricu-
cited in Nunan, 2004, p. 3). lum leaders that this is how they should teach, and publishers
almost everywhere are describing their new textbooks as task-
The reference to regurgitating 'other people's meaning' is a based. Clearly, whatever a task-based approach means, it is a
criticism of, among other things, the production of language good thing' (p. 319). Littlewood's closing quip, that in terms of
that has been memorized by the learners, who may not fully publishing 'whatever a task-based approach means, it is a
understand the meaning of the language they are producing good thing', makes an important point about the extent to
This situation can lead to what can be thought of as linguistic which textbook publishers can drive the 'methodological mar-
productivity without linguistic creativity. ket', and the extent to which they 'own' that market. This driv-
ing of methodological movements, based on maximizing
textbook sales, adds to the pressures that teachers are already
ACTIVITY 3.2 under to use certain methodologies, whether or not they fully
understand them.
In 20 words or fewer, write your own brief definition or descrip- The focus on meaning was reiterated by Ellis (2003), who
tion of 'task', in the TBLT sense of the word. Share your defini- also stated that, in TBLT tasks, learners are required to give
tion/description with a colleague, and look for similarities and their 'primary attention to meaning and to make use of their
differences. Consider where these similarities and differences own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may
come from, that is, what is the basis for these similarities or predispose them to use particular forms' (p. 16). These kinds of
differences. definitions tell us much about the assumptions made by the
proponents of these methods, and about what the prerequisites
50 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING 1N CONTEXT Is1
are for the method to be employed, especially in contexts that Nunan (2004) did clarify that by 'real-world tasks' he means
may be markedly different from those in which they were orig- the 'uses of language in the world beyond the classroom' (p. 1),
inally created and developed. For example, Ellis' definition although he appears to be one of the few to offer this impor-
appears to assume and/or require that the learners have the tant clarification.
necessary target language to begin with, in terms of 'their own Drawing on the work of Skehan (1998) and Ellis (2003) (and
linguistic resources'. If the learners had no linguistic resources others), Nunan (2004, p. 4) proposed his own definition of a
in the target language, then they could not work on complet- 'pedagogical task' as 'a piece of classroom work that involves
ing a task in that target language until they had developed learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or inter-
those resources. However, there appears to be relatively little acting in the target language', thereby covering both the more
mention in the literature of such important factors as the tar- receptive and the more productive language modalities.
get language competence levels needed for learners to engage Nunan also included grammar in his definition, in terms of
in TBLT tasks. the learners' attention being focused 'on mobilizing their
Brooks and Donato (1994), drawing on the work of the Rus- grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning'. But in
sian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934), defined TBLT relation to the balance between these two, he added that the
tasks as 'being internally constructed through the moment-to- purpose of the TBLT task should be 'to convey meaning rather
moment verbal interactions of the learners during actual task than to manipulate form' (2004, p. 3). As an important con-
performance' (p. 272). Although the focus is on speaking, with cluding part of his definition, Nunan also emphasized the
no mention of the other language modalities, Brooks and structured and the free-standing nature of TBLT tasks: 'The
Donato's definition is an important reminder that the realities task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to
of any lesson, but perhaps especially a language lesson, are stand alone as a communicative act in its own right, with a
created in the moment, no matter how much planning and beginning, a middle and an end' (Nunan, 2004, p. 4). This
preparation have gone on beforehand. Another point that comment reiterates Skehan's (1998) point above, that task
emerges in examining the definitions of 'task' is the recurring completion should be one of the priorities.
reference to somewhere referred to as 'the real world'. For
example, 'A task is intended to result in language that bears a
resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in ACTIVITY 3.3
the real world' (Ellis, 2003, p. 16, emphasis added).
In the section above, I refer to linguistic productivity without
This recurring reference in the literature to some seemingly
far-away 'real world' is unfortunate, as it can give the impres- linguistic creativity. Have you come across instances of this
sion that language classrooms, in spite of being filled with real kind of productivity without creativity in your and/or other
people, such as teachers and learners, are somehow 'unreal'. teachers' language lessons? Maybe you have encountered this
The notion that language classrooms are not real can under- elsewhere, outside the classroom. You can also collect exam-
mine the work that takes place there. This, in turn, can further ples of the opposite, that is, linguistic productivity that shows
lower the status of language teaching and learning, which is linguistic creativity. Both kinds of examples can be used in
often already low down on the pecking order of subject studies, language lessons, to show how language works, when it works
and does not need to be pushed down any further. Thankfully, well, and when it does not work so well.
52 ' METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEA~ING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARN ING IM CONTEXT 53

Inside the TBLT Classroom certain contexts is an important aspect of ensurin9 that tasks
are appropriate for the context, and not assuming that all
In Doing Task-Based Teaching, Dave Willis and Jane Willis tasks are appropriate for all contexts. There is also no mention
(2007) note in their Introduction that 'Of course, where of the age of the learners, the target language competen ce lev-
teaching goes on, learning does too - or so we hope' (p. xiv). In els needed to complete the task, or any other learner details,
relation to causality, and whether or not teaching results in all of which need to be taken into account, as they could sig-
learning, or whether the learning that takes place is a result of nificantly impact the successful completion of su ch a task.
the teaching, that is a more theoretical or philosophical discus- However, assuming that the learners are in an environment
sion, which is not one of the goals of this book. But as we in which agreement with statements such as 'All drugs should
decide which methods to use in our language lessons each day, be legalized' is possible, and assuming that the lenrners have
it is important to bear in mind such relationships, whether the target language competence levels needed to engage in the
they be only correlational or more causal. activity, Willis and Willis present an activity sequence. The
Willis and Willis (2007) present examples of TBLT tasks sequence starts with the teacher introducing the topic and
based on discussion of challenging and thought-provoking highlighting one or two issues. In the second step, the teach er
ideas, such as 'if you want to promote discussion of any con- introduces the survey and asks for a brief statement of opin-
troversial topic you can prepare students by offering a series of ions, 'drawing attention to some of the lexis relnted to the
statements and ask learners as individuals to say how far they topic' (2007, p. 10), which may be different from 'teaching
agree with each statement and to give reasons for their opin- vocabulary', as attention-drawing may be more implicit and
ions' (p. 9). In one task, the students are first asked to respond indirect than vocabulary-teaching.
to six statements, which include 'All drugs should be lega lized' In steps three and four of the activity sequence, the learners
and 'It is pointless to send drug addicts to prison. In most cases write their individual responses to the six statements using the
this will simply reinforce the habit' (p. 10). Learners respond to four-part Likert dis/agreement scale. They then work in groups,
such statements using a four-point Likert scale of 'strongly comparing and contrasting their opinions, and trying to reach
agree', 'agree', 'disagree' and 'strongly disagree'. (See Norman, agreement. After that, as a group, they decide on which of the
2010, for more on the use of Likert scales.) four options, from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disogree', they
In terms of contextual appropriateness, it is important to can agree on for each of the statements. Following a whole-
note that around 30 countries in the world today, such as class discussion, chaired by the teacher, the learners read a
Thailand, can impose the death penalty for importing, export- text on the issues, then compare the author's views with their
ing or selling drugs, and in more than a dozen countries, such own, and in the seventh and final step, the teacher chairs
as China and Singapore, the death sentence for drug traffick- another whole-class discussion, in which learners compare the
ing is mandatory. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that state- author's views with their own views. There is no indication of
ments such as 'All drugs should be legalized' could be discussed the class size for this task, or how much time would be needed
openly in classes in those countries, and statements regarding to complete the seven steps. But it seems likely that such a task
sending addicts to prison may not even apply in those coun- would need more than one lesson, as a whole-class discussion
tries in which the death sentence for drug offences is manda- with larger classes generally takes more time than with smaller
tory. The fact that such statements should only be used in classes, if most of the students are to have the opportunity to
 54 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT Iss
express their thoughts, ideas and opinions. Two of the main to 'an ethical or moral dilemma' (p. 32). For the creative task,
points that emerge from a n examination of such textbook students 'prepare plans for redecorating a house' (p. 32).
TBLT tasks are: (i) that not all tasks are appropriate for all con- I gave the problem-solving task described above to a group
texts, and (ii) that a whole ran ge of factors need to be taken of five young adult students, in their early twenties, learning
into account before recommending or using these kinds of English in an upper-intermediate level English for Academic
TBLT tasks.
Purposes (EAP) class at a university in Ontario, Canada. As
this lesson took place in December, and in a country in which
ACTIVITY 3.4 Christmas is widely celebrated, the writer's problem, described
in her letter to an advice columnist, was that she was unem-
Are you in a teaching and learning context in which statements ployed and so she had very little money to buy Christmas pre-
such as 'All drugs should be legalized' can be openly discussed, sents for her family and friends. This part of the lesson was
and agreed with? If so, how wou ld you create a task, or a series digitally recorded, with the student's permission, using a cell-
phone. T = Teacher; Sl = Student 1, etc.
of tasks, with your learners, based on a debate about the legali-
zation of drugs, using such statements? If you are not working Sl: Why she has no money?
in a context in which statements such as 'All drugs should be S2: 'Cause she is unemployed. Teacher just said. [S2 points
legalized' can be openly discussed/agreed with, what would be to T; students laugh]
S3: She could make presents.
a more suitable statement or topic for a debate in your context?
S4: What she could make?
S3: She could make ... [long pause]
Drawing on the work of Willis (1996), Richards (2006) gives S4: She could make food.
examples of six types of task that can be seen in CLT class- S5: How to make food? [students laugh]
rooms: listing, sorting and ordering, comparing, problem- T: Yes, she could cook some food, make some dishes.
solving, sharing personal experience, and creative tasks Sl: Dishes? You mean likes cups and saucers? [students
(Richards, 2006, pp. 31-32). In a sense, all tasks should laugh]
involve some kind of creativity; otherwise learners' (and S4: No. She could make food, and give to her family, her
teachers') motivation levels may fall to problematically and friends.
prohibitively low levels. For a listing task, the example given Sl: She should have money. Everyone need money. You
is students drawing up 'a list of things they would pack if they need money. [Sl points to T; students laugh]
were going on a beach vacation' (p. 31). For a sorting and As this point in the task, I intervened and re-focused the
ordering task, students work in pairs to make up a list of 'the students on the original task, which was to give advice to the
most important characteristics of an ideal vacation' (p. 31), person who wrote to the columnist, rather than a discussion of
and for a comparing task, students compare and contrast the importance of money. However, it became clear from the
advertisements for two different supermarkets. In a problem- students' comments that they would rather talk about having
solving task, students 'read a letter to an advice columnist or not having money than give advice to the person who had
and suggest a solution to the writer's problems' (p. 32), and no money. This was an important reminder of a point not
for an experience-sharing task, students discuss their reactions usually mentioned in the mountains of literature on TBLT,
56 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 57

which is that learners, depending on their target language words, which took only about one minute to produce, but
competence levels and other factors, can create their own tasks which exemplified many structural features of the English lan-
that are different from the original task. Learners creating guage. These included the use of do/does/doesn't, 'to do' versus
their own tasks, rather than working on the one given to them, 'to make', and the use of articles, as well as 'cooking food' ver-
may be an essential part of the definition of learner-centred- sus 'making food', the different meanings and functions of
ness, but it is rarely mentioned in the voluminous writings on 'dish' and 'dishes', and more. Beyond grammar and vocabu-
learner-centredness (see, for example, Tudor, 1996). This lary, the students a lso ended up having an engaging discus-
rarely referred-to part of the definition is that learner-centred- sion about the importance and the value of money. They also
ness can involve the learners not doing what they have been discussed what it means to be 'wealthy', and other related top-
asked to do, but doing instead something they have chosen to ics, such as 'charitable giving', in terms ofwhethE:r people who
do. This learner behaviour raises some important questions have money should give it - or be required to give a significant
about control and trust, which are considered in more detail in portion of it - to those who do not.
the section below, on the pros and cons of TBLT. This is not to suggest that all of the aspects of English listed
This aspect of learner-centredness, and the fact that I had to above should be taught in the same lesson. With training,
intervene to bring the students back on task, takes us back to development and experience, teachers can learn to effectively
Brooks and Oonato's (1994) Vygotskian definition of TBLT and efficiently identify, collect and store for later use samples
tasks as 'being internally constructed through the moment-to- of target language produced by learners. These samples can
moment verbal interactions of the learners during actual task then be used to do more than simply facilitate leorner-centred,
performance' (p. 272). And in terms of 'mobilizing' the learn- communicative interaction, if such interaction is possible,
ers' grammatical knowledge (Nunan, 2004, p. 4), in the lesson depending on the factors discussed above. These samples can
above, we reviewed the use of 'do' and 'did' as an auxiliary be used to explicitly teach English, so that the learner's knowl-
verb, to turn Student l's 'Why she has no money?' into 'Why edge of and ability to use the target language increases in
doesn't she have [any] money?' We also looked at 'cooking quantity, and improves in quality.
food' versus 'making food', which, as one of the students
pointed out, might refer to farmers growing crops in fields,
which could constitute 'making food'. And we discussed vocab- ACTIVITY 3.5
ulary items such as 'homemade' and 'dish/es', including the
now somewhat dated use of 'dish' to mean 'sexually attrac- Write a set of lesson-planning notes for a task in which your
tive', as in 'S/he is such a dish!' students would discuss their reactions to 'an ethical or moral
This brief extract from the lesson transcript is also an impor- dilemma'. What would that dilemma be, and how would you set
tant reminder of how little language needs to be produced by up the discussion? Are there any particular or specific aspects
learners for there to be many opportunities for language of the target language that you would teach before the discus-
teaching and learning - if the teacher knows how, or has been sion, or that you would be paying particular attention to during
trained, to notice these opportunities. These five students, in the discussion?
the brief interaction above, produced a total of fewer than 70
58 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARN I NG IN CONTEXT ' 59

Recent Developments in TBLT from influential researchers working within the TBLT para-
digm over the last 30 years' (back cover). The authors and the
There are two main reasons for this brief section. The first is to chapters in that TBLT series make many significant contribu-
support the claim made above, that TBLT may be the language tions to advancing the research, publications and presenta-
teaching methodology most published about in the history of tions on TBLT. However, what is not at all clear is how many of
our field. That kind of volume makes it difficult to look critically those thousands of pages advance the day-to-day classroom-
at TBLT, as most of the work published appears to support the based teaching and learning of languages. What is also not
idea that TBLT is the 'best' method. Another reason for this brief clear is who the audience is for the kinds of books in that TBLT
section is so that, if a language teacher is asked why they are series. Very few of the language teachers I have worked with
using TBLT or what they know about TBLT, they are aware of over the last 20 years have the time to read such books. In that
some of the major works published on this particular method- case, the TBLT series may be an example of books written by
ology. This is not to imply that all or any of these works need to applied linguists for applied linguists, about language teach-
be read in their entirety, but an awareness of their existence, and ing, but not for language teachers.
of some of their main points, could help teachers articulate their Of the dozens of articles, book chapters and books on TBLT
reasons for using - or for not using - TBLT. that have been published in recent years, one that merits par-
The Task-Based Language Teaching series started in 2009, with ticular attention comes from one of the earliest proponents of
a collection of 20 articles (van den Branden, Bygate, & Norris), TBLT, Michael Long, as noted above. In Second Language Acqui-
and is now up to the most recent book in the series, on TBLT sition and Task-Based Language Teaching (2015), we can see how
for young learners in Japan (Shintani, 2016). That makes nine far TBLT has come in the 30 years since Long referred to 'the
books, and more than 2500 pages, in a single book series, hundred and one things people do, at work, at play and in
focused on a single methodology. The books in the series look between' (1985, p. 89). Long (2015) starts by acknowledging
at, for example, TBLT in New Zealand, where the entire coun- that language teaching is 'notorious for methodological pen-
try's language curriculum was revised and rebuilt around TBLT dulum swings' (p. xi), in which we jump from one methodo-
(East, 2012). It is worth noting that the book on New Zealand logical bandwagon to another (see Chapter 2).
is titled TBLT From the Teachers' Perspective. If we say that we are Long is critical of the fact that 'many of the very same text-
committed to learner-centredness, it seems odd that there do book writers and commercial publishers who made large sums
not appear to be any books on TBLT From the Learners' Perspec- of money out of the structural, notional, functional, topical,
tive. This focus on the teachers' perspective, while claiming a and lexical movements of the past 30 years are now repeating
commitment to learner-centredness, may indicate a disconnect the performance with tasks' (p. xi). The use of the term 'move-
between what the research says that language teachers should ment' is important here, as this word signals something more
do, that is, focus on learners, versus what the researchers than a methodology or an approach - alluding to shared
themselves actually do, that is, focus on teachers. views of the world and similar belief systems. For example, the
One of the books in the nine-volume TBLT series is a collec- MODE defines 'movement', as a countable noun, to mean 'a
tion of plenary talks presented at the Biennial International group of people who share the same aim and work together to
Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching between 2005 achieve it' and 'a change in someone's attitude, opinion, or
and 2013 (Bygate, 2015), which includes 'recommendations behaviour, especially over a period of time'. When methods
 TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 61
60 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING

become movements, it is possible that they have, by then, see that although Long is a strong advocate for and believer in
taken on a life of their own. And as noted above, that status as the effectiveness of TBLT, he still acknowledges that TBLT is not
a movement makes it difficult to view any methodology criti- necessarily 'the best approach to LT [Language Teaching], or
cally. Long is also critical of how methodologies can end up even a good one. That is a judgment call' (2015, p. 14).
'repackaged in a form acceptable to the powerful political and
commercial interests that exert enormous influence on the
ACTIVITY 3.6
way LT [Language Teaching] is conducted worldwide' (2015, p.
6) - as exemplified by 'the multimillionaire textbook writer According to Long, 'Second language teaching and learning are
sipping martinis a thousand miles away [from the classroom] more important in the twenty-first century than ever before.' Do
on a beach in the Cayman Islands' (p. 13). you agree with t his statement? If you agree, why do you think
A key point here is that when approaches and methods such this is so? And if you disagree, how would you re-phrase the
as TBLT, which were developed in contexts where they worked
statement?
well, are then exported and shipped to other contexts, far
removed from their origins, they might not be appropriate, so
they might not work as well, or they might not work at all. The Pros and Cons of TBLT
However, one of the powerful reasons for this kind of packag-
ing and exporting of methods to contexts where they may not Some of the challenges of setting up TBLT tasks in the language
be appropriate relates to the multibillion-dollar (US$) global classroom can be seen in the following exchange between a
business of language education. In such a business model, the teacher and a group of beginner-level students, between nine
more textbooks that can be sold within the one-size-fits-all and ten years old, learning English in a classroom in Turkey.
model, the greater the profit margins. The teacher is attempting to employ TBLT using games, with
Setting TBLT within the broader, global context of language some difficulty:
teaching and learning, Long believes that 'Second language
T: Please speak in English.
teaching and learning are more important in the twenty-first Sl: What are we going to do now? [said in Turkish]
century than ever before and are more important than even T: Don't speak Turkish. Work in groups. Choose a card. Read
many language teachers appreciate' (Long, 2015, p. 3). I
and do it.
would also add that second language teaching and learning
S2: Read the question.
are more important in the twenty-first century than even Sl: What is this? What is it in English? [said in Turkish]
many applied linguists appreciate. The reason for this impor-
S3: Sofa.
tance, according to Long, is because 'Second and foreign lan-
S4: Sofa. [said in Turkish]
guage teaching affect the educational life chances of millions
T: In English please.
of learners the world over' (p. 14). I would wholeheartedly
Adapted from ilin, inozil, & Yumru, 2007, p. 65)
agree with that statement, as it is, in my experience of working
with language teachers all over the world, something that they ilin, inozu and Yumru observed that 'During the game, as
are acutely aware of, and which is one of the reasons they most of the students carried out the task in Turkish, the teacher
became language teachers in the first place. It is reassuring to very often stopped the discussions and asked them to speak in
 62 I
METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TAS K-BASED LANGUAGE TEACH I NG AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 63

English' (p. 64). The authors also observed that, during the conundrums or limitations of the learner-centred language
TBLT lesson, 'the teacher had to focus more upon the process teaching movement, and to the question of where this leaves
than on the product in language learning' (p. 64) . The ubiq- the teacher: If the learner is to be at centre of the teaching,
uity of games and game-playing is one of the many areas of where should the teacher be?
overlap between TBLT methods and CLT approaches (see This question may be part of what I refer to as the facilita-
Chapter 4). However, as the transcript of this small part of the tion problem, in which some teachers may be reluctant to
lesson shows, we should not assume that games necessarily teach, preferring instead to 'facilitate'. By 'teaching' I mean the
work more effectively with younger learners, such as children, teacher working with the learners to develop their knowledge of
than with older learners, such as teenagers and adult learners, the target language, including grammar, and other aspects of
especially if the older learners have higher levels of target how the target language works. The focus in teaching is on
language proficiency. In the extract above, if the learners had helping the students learn things that they did not know before,
had higher competence levels of English, the teacher would whereas in facilitating the focus is on managing the interaction
have been able to set up the task more efficiently, and s/he of the learners, with an emphasis on producing as much of the
would have been able to focus on production of the target spoken target language as possible. Both are necessary, and the
language, rather than on the process. It is a lso likely that if the two are not mutually exclusive, but I have seen many English
teacher had had more training in the use of TBLT, especially language lessons in many countries where there seemed to be a
with young learners, s/he might have been able to employ the lot of facilitating of student interaction in small groups, but
task more productively and more usefully. relatively little actual language teaching taking place.
One of the essential aspects of TBLT, CLT and a number of If we connect factors such as the teacher's control and
other approaches and methods is Control, specifically the authority in the classroom with learner-centredness and the
teacher's control of the lesson or the class. This issue of Control tendency or inclination to facilitate rather than to teach, we
is another one of those extremely important factors that can see that one of the challenges of TBLT is that the teachers
appear to have received relatively little attention in the moun- need to give control of the lesson to the learners. If the learners
tains of methodological literature. This lack of attention may are mature and motivated, if they have the necessary target
be, at least in part, because 'control' has become negatively language competence levels to begin with, and if the other fac-
connoted, in the sense of 'to be under someone's control' or 'to tors are favourable, then giving control of the lesson to the
take control of something'. One of the synonyms of 'control' is learners can significantly enhance the quality and the quan-
'authority', which is also often negatively connoted. However, tity of language learning. However, if the conditions necessary
the general meaning of 'control' is 'the power to make deci- for successful task completion are not met, and if the teacher
sions about something and decide what should happen' then relinquishes control, the plan for the lesson may quickly
(MODE) and 'authority' is similarly defined as 'the power to fall apart. Another important factor here is how well the
make decisions or tell people what to do' (MODE). All teachers teacher has scaffolded the learning, by setting up the task so
need to be effective classroom managers, and without some that more support and guidance is provided by the teacher in
degree of control and authority, management is not possible. the beginning, with that support being gradually withdrawn
How, then, do 'control' and 'authority' relate to approaches as the learners' language competencies and confidence levels
and methods such as TBLT? This question relates to one of the grow.
 64 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACH I NG AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 65

In addition to control, another major factor is Trust. As we language competence to work on the task. However, Teacher
know, meaningful relationships - whether personal, profes- Wu also said that 'it is hard to control the large class. Moreo-
sional, or both - cannot be built and sustained without trust. ver, it is time-consuming to carry out activities ... I have lots of
Therefore, most institutional contexts, including schools, col- content to cover' (p. 214). And in relation to class size, 'Miss
leges, universities and other educational institutions, can be Wu's colleague, 'Ms Ma', commented that 'The thing that I am
categorized as high-trust/low-control versus low-trust/high- worried about is that I am not able to monitor a ll of the perfor-
control (McNaught & Curtis, 2009), which is not a dichotomy mance in pairs or in groups ... I have fifty-one students in all
but a continuum. Factoring in trust, we see that, in addition .. . I think the big challenge for me is how to organize more
to all the other conditions that need to be met for TBLT to work suitable activities for my students at different levels' (p. 217).
well, there needs to be a considerable amount of trust between This question of class size, in relation to the contextual appro-
the teacher and the learners before control can be given by the priateness of a particular methodology, is discussed more in
teacher to the learners. relation to CLT (Chapter 4).
As Prabhu (1990) pointed out more than 25 years ago, there In spite of the many thousands of pages and the hundreds
is 'no best method' (pp. 161-176) for teaching and learning of books, papers and articles published on TBLT over the last
languages, and yet we continue to focus on 'best practices' (see 30 years, Meghan Calvert and Younghee Sheen recently con-
Chapter 4). Therefore, like all methods, TBLT has its strengths cluded that 'The creation, implementation, and evaluation of
as well as its weaknesses, its advantages and disadvantages, its language learning tasks remain a challenge for many teach-
pros and its cons. One of TBLT's strengths, when it works well, ers, especially those with limited experience with using tasks in
is the potential for improvements in spoken English compe- their teaching' (2015, p. 226). And in terms of the contextual
tence levels. As a Taiwanese learner of English reportedly said, appropriateness of TBLT, Scott Roy Douglas and Marcia Kim
referring to TBLT, 'The best thing is that I remember many new reported that 'Another drawback associated with TBLT is that
words and phrases for a longer time because I really use them it may be difficult to implement in differing teaching contexts'
for communicative purposes, not just for the exam. With more (2014, p. 6). Douglas and Kim went on to note that 'TBLT
oral practice with my group members, I feel more conformable appears to be an approach that works well with students who
[sic] about speaking English' (Tang, Chiou, & Jarsaillon, 2015, are willing to take risks in their learning . . . but may not be
p. 173). And as 'Miss Wu', a Chinese teacher of English in preferred by students who are familiar with more traditional
China, reported, 'If we can use task-based teaching in a proper approaches that involve direct grammar teaching and a struc-
way, I think it will give our students more opportunities to tured curriculum' (2014, p. 6). This relates to the notion of stu-
communicate in English and learn how to work socially with dents' preferred learning styles, which may clash with teachers'
other learners' (Zheng & Borg, 2014, p. 213). preferred teaching styles if, for example, the students prefer an
Perhaps the important part of Teacher Wu's comment is 'in explicit focus on grammar, while the teacher believes in CLT.
a proper way', by which we can assume she means when TBLT In considering contextual appropriateness more specifically,
is used effectively, that is, with most of the conditions for its Douglas and Kim pointed out that 'Despite perceptions to the
success being met. This would include careful scaffolding, the contrary, the Canadian context continues to have cultural
learners being motivated and mature enough to take control norms and expectations that may not foster a receptive envi-
of that oart of thP lPssnn nnrl thP ]pr,rnorc hrmi~n i-hA i-A-AA.. _____ ,,,.._ ... .t=...... - TDTTI /r'\,..;1., .. ; ...,, {"._ T"'\,.,. _ _ '1f'\1r\ ..,.. 1 7\ f..,.. +,..,...._ro ,-,.,4=
 66 1METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARN I NG IN CONTEXT 167
the positive features of TBLT, Douglas and Kim found that, for omission, yet it should be an important - or even essential -
the teachers in their study, 'The most reported benefits of TBLT aspect of an informed and principled methodological eclecti-
were its practicality, effectiveness, and learner-centeredness' cism. In my experience, too often in teaching, assessment
(p. 13). But in terms of the limitations of TBLT, Douglas and comes last, when it should be one of the key starting points. As
Kim also found that 'The most prevalent drawbacks reported a result, a common sequence in the designing and developing
were a mismatch with student expectations, a lack of class- of language courses and programs is to start with the desired
room time, and excessive instructor preparation' (p. 14). These or required learning outcomes, then to select or develop mate-
three factors relate to the recurring themes of preferred learn- rials, tasks and so on that will provide the necessary language
ing styles, contextual constraints, and teacher training and input and opportunities for learners to develop their target
professional development. language competencies.
The last word in this pros and cons section will go to a Often, towards the end of the process, assessment comes to
teacher in Ogilvie and Dunn's (2010) study. The teacher's com- mind, in the form of questions such as 'How will we know
ment reiterates the opening points made in this chapter about what the students have learned?' assuming that the learning
the importance of teachers being able to articulate what they of something can be taken for granted (although in some
are doing, and to explain why they are doing it this way, and cases, that can be an optimistic assumption). How will we
not some other way: 'Students feel a great sense of accomplish- know whether the students have learned what was taught?
ment, but you [instructors] have to weather a lot of anxiety given that teaching cannot be assumed to automatically and
and complaining and griping, and you have to be very clear causally result in learning. And, how will we know whether
on what they are learning from this, and why you are doing it the students have learned what they need and want to know? in
this way' (Ogilvie & Dunn, 2010, p. 19). relation to their purposes for learning the target language.
Such questions open up a veritable Pandora's Box of ques-
tions about what it means to 'know' a language, about the
ACTIVITY 3.7
complex and sometimes contradictory relationships between
teaching and testing, and about the different kinds of assess-
As noted above, Douglas and Kim reported that 'Another draw-
ment, such as summative, formative, diagnostic and so on, as
back associated with TBLT is that it may be difficult to imple-
well as questions about assessment of learning, assessment as
ment in differing teaching contexts.' Is your teaching and
learning, and assessment for learning. (See Chris Davison's 2004
learning context amenable to and conducive to using TBLT? If
and 2007 work for more on these different kinds and purposes
so, in what ways is your context good for TBLT? If not, what are of assessment.) Therefore, such topics require a more in-depth
some of the obstacles to using TBLT in your context? discussion (such as that in Liying Cheng's and Janna Fox's
book, 2017, in this ALLC series) than can be entered into here.
What can be done here is to expand on the relatively rare
Assessment of TBLT Learning Outcomes and somewhat limited discussions of assessment of learning
outcomes in relation to methodology. For example, Larsen-
Most of the 250 or so methodological publications consulted in Freeman and Anderson (2011), in their chapter on TBLT, in
the writing of this book (see References) say little or nothing about response to their question 'How is evaluation accomplished?'
assessment of learning outcomes. This is an all-too-common answer: 'The teacher constantly evaluates students in light of
 68 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 169
task outcomes and the language they use' (p. 157). Although in relation to task difficulty (Norris, Brown, Hudson & Bonk,
this is a useful starting point, it would be helpful to know more 2002) and on design and analysis in task-based language
about assessment of learning outcomes, as an integral part of assessment (Mislevy, Steinberg, & Almond, 2002), in which the
assessing the usefulness, appropriateness and so on of the authors drew on Brindley's early work (1994) in this area.
methodologies being used. However, by the same token, we do Brindley defined TBLA as 'the process of evaluating, in relation
not want to give the impression that something as complex as to a set of explicitly stated criteria, the quality of the commu-
assessment can be covered in any depth in just a few pages. nicative performances elicited from learners as part of goal
This concluding section at the end of each chapter is, therefore, directed, meaning-focused language use requiring the integra-
a compromise. And while acknowledging that assessment of tion of skills and knowledge' (1994, p. 74). Mislevy, Steinberg
learning outcomes should be at the beginning of the educa- and Almond (2002) concluded that 'TBLA raises questions of
tional design process, this section comes at the end of the chap- just how to design complex tasks, evaluate students' perfor-
ter because we wanted to be clear on what we mean by TBLT', mances and draw valid conclusions therefrom' (p. 477).
and to have a thorough understanding of the methodology, This interest in and outpouring of papers on TBLA has con-
before we considered assessment of TBLT learning outcomes. tinued to the present day, and shows no signs of abating in the
Assessment of TBLT learning outcomes has been an impor- near future. For example, Yuko Goto Butler and Wei Zeng
tant segment of the burgeoning market of academic publica- (2015) researched elementary school learners' interactional
tions on TBLT, as discussed above (in 'Recent Developments in development, using task-based paired-assessment, with 24
TBLT'). For example, Lyle Bachman reflected on what he referred fourth-grade students (aged 9-10) and 24 sixth-grade students
to as 'TBLPA' (2002, pp. 453-476). Bachman concluded that (aged 11- 12) in 'a large metropolitan city in China where
'The complexities of task-based language performance assess- TBLT has been part of the curriculum sin ce 2001' (p. 297).
ment (TBLPA) are leading language testers to reconsider many Although the results of the study were inconclusive, Butler and
of the fundamental issues about what we want to assess, how Zeng did conclude that 'the paired-assessment format has
we go about it and what sorts of evidence we need to provide in gained increased attention for its potential to better observe
order to justify the ways in which we use our assessments' students' interactional competence' (p. 297). But they a lso
(p. 453). Bachman's comment shows that the influence of TBLT warned that 'we need to ensure that the students are develop-
has been extensive enough to cause a re-visiting of some of the mentally ready to engage in communicative interactions in
most basic assumptions in language assessment, which very few language tasks' (p. 316). That warning reiterates a recurring
methods, apart from CLT, can claim to have done. point in this chapter (and in some of the following chapters):
Bachman's reflections were part of a special issue of the that the learners need to be ready - not only maturationally,
journal Language Testing, on task-based language assessment but also linguistically, culturally and in other ways ready - to
(TBLA), which included papers on task-based assessment of engage in language learning using methodologies such as
oral proficiency (Elder, Iwashita, & McNamara, 2002), on TBLT. Therefore, it cannot be assumed, simply because it has
assessment of listening (Brindley & Slatyer, 2002) and on been decided that a method is 'good', that it will work well, in
assessing TBLT outcomes with learners of German (Byrnes, all places, at all times, with all teachers and learners.
2002) and with learners of Dutch (van den Branden, Depauw, Where does all this information leave busy classroom Ian-
& GvsPl1 . ?.On?.) Thoro nro r,lr~ ~~~~-- ~- · - - · ~-'-- - _, ' ., ...
 70 I
METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONTEXT 71

using, TBLT in their language lessons? In her work on authen- In terms of developing tools for assessment, Step Four is
tic assessment and designing performance-based tasks, Kather- 'Design scoring procedures and assessment tools that will be
ine Luongo-Orlando (2003) defined 'assessment' as 'the process used to measure students' achievement on the performance
of gathering information about student learning' (p. 6). Hav- task' (pp. 15-16). Luongo-Orlando lists approximately 20 such
ing skimmed and ploughed through some of the complexities tools, from analytic (points-based), attitudinal (ratings) and
of TBLA, it is a relief to return to the simplicity of definitions holistic (generic) scales, to anecdotal notes and observation
such as this, even though such simplicity lacks some of the notes (based on teachers' observations of the learners), as well
necessary detail. Luongo-Orlando adds some of that detail by as teacher-student interviews and conferences (one-to-one,
explaining that 'The data collected through the application of pair or small group) and self-, peer- and group-assessment. In
systematic and purposeful techniques forms the basis of evalu- Step Five, the performance task is introduced and adminis-
ation of student achievement' (p. 6). And she distinguished tered, followed by Step Six, which is based on gathering evi-
between 'assessment' and 'evaluation', defining the latter as dence and scoring results (p. 16).
the process of judging the information gathered during the The notion of teachers as reflective practitioners has been
assessment process(es), on the basis of which decisions can be well-established for many years in language education (see,
made about 'the quality of student performance' (p. 6). for example, Farrell, 2009), which has led to the notion of stu-
Although Luongo-Orlando's book on designing performance- dents as reflective learners. Again, this notion would not nec-
based tasks is not focused on language teaching and learning, essarily apply in all contexts, but in those in which it does
she sets out a detailed, practical eight-step guide (pp. 8-17) to apply, Step 7 is 'Promote reflection and goal-setting in stu-
the creation and carrying out of assessment tasks, which can be dents' (p. 16). In the eighth and final step, teachers gather
applied to TBLT lessons and classes. Step One is 'Set focus goals samples of students' work that will help them 'determine
and identify learning outcomes, purpose and audience' (p. 9), standards of performance for future assessments' by examin-
which should apply to any lesson, course or program, although ing students' levels of achievement and overall performance
the following steps are all task-based. For example, Step Two is (p. 16). How each of these steps is realized will be different in
'Develop a performance task that will assess the learning out- each context, but they do provide a way of applying some of
comes' (p. 10), in which the teacher should 'contextualize the the theories of TBLA to real-world language classrooms.
task' (p. 10) by connecting the in-class/during-lesson task to be
assessed with out-of-class/after-lesson tasks that the learners will
need to complete. (See the discussion of 'authenticity' in
Chapter 4.) Step Three is 'Develop and implement a unit of
ACTIVITY 3.8
study that will prepare students for the performance task' (p.
15), which reflects a particular approach to lesson, course and As noted above, Luongo-Orlando defines 'assessment' as 'the
program planning, based on 'units', which will not be the case process of gathering information about student learning' (2003,
in every context. But the important point in Step Three is for the p. 6). What kinds of information do you gather about your students'
teacher to check that the learners have 'the prerequisite knowl-
learning? How is the information analyzed and presented, and
edge, skills, and attitudes needed for the performance task'
what is it used for? How is the information used to improve
(p. 15), which has emerged as one of the recurring points in this
chapter. language teaching and learning in your context?

l
72 METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING

Concluding Comments

Whether or not we agree with the principles of TBLT or use the

practices of TBLT in our language lessons, for better or worse, it
has become something of a 'global method' for a 'global
language'. However, the fact remains that it is only one of
many possible methodologies, in spite of attempts by some of its
proponents to present TBLT as the method, subsuming (and
perhaps consuming) a ll other methods. At the beginning of this
chapter, I highlighted the importance of 'principled eclecticism'
as a 'desirable, coherent, pluralistic approach to language
teaching' (Mellow, 2002, p. 1). All of these adjectives are posi-
tive, feel-good descriptors. But for 'principled eclecticism' to be
possible, teachers, learners and other educational decision-
makers need to be able to clearly and concisely articulate what
they understand methodologies such as TBLT to be, and why
they are being - or not being - used in a particular context. In
the following chapter, we will continue to explore these themes,
through a consideration of Communicative Language Teaching.

Suggested Readings

A good example of recent research on TBLT is Susan Benson's article

'Task-based language teaching: An empirical study of task
transfer' in Language Teaching Research (2016, Volume 20, Issue 3,
pages 341-365).
An example of the on-going interest in researching and writing
about TBLT is Martin Bygate's article 'Sources, developments and
directions of task-based language teaching' in the Language
Learning Journal (2015, doi:10.1080/09571736.2015.1039566).
As noted above, Mike Long has been writing about TBLT for longer,
and he has written more about TBLT, than almost anyone.
Therefore, his 2015 book, Second Language Acquisition and Task-
Based Language Teaching, at 400-plus pages, is one of the most
thorough and detailed accounts of the research on TBLT.