Cebu International EFL Conference

Abstract of paper

Author
Professor Rod Ellis
(The Father of Second Language Acquisition)
Auckland University

Title
Task-Based Teaching

Abstract
This talk is in three parts.  The first part will present the rationale for task-based language teaching (TBLT).  It will argue the development of the implicit knowledge of a second language that is required for effective communication is best achieved by engaging learners in performing tasks.  That is, learners can develop their communicative competence (including linguistic competence) through performing tasks.

The second part will outline the methodology of task-based lessons by describing options for the three phases of such a lesson.  The first phase is ‘pre-task’ and concerns the various activities that teachers and students can undertake before they start the task, such as whether students are given time to plan the performance of the task.  The second phase, the ‘during task’ phase, centres around the task itself and affords various instructional options, including whether students are required to operate under time-pressure or not. The final phase is ‘post-task’ and involves procedures for following up on the task performance.  Only the ‘during task’ phase is obligatory in task-based teaching.  Thus, minimally, a task-based lesson consists of the students just performing a task. Options selected from the ‘pre-task’ or ‘post-task’ phases are non-obligatory but, as we will see, can serve a crucial role in ensuring that the task performance is maximally effective for language.

The final part of the talk will examine a number of objections that have been levelled against TBLT and argue that these are based on fundamental misunderstandings of its principles and methodology.  In particular, I will argue that, contrary to the views expressed by opponents of TBLT, this method of teaching does not just allow but in fact requires attention to form as well as meaning.

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Rod Ellis is currently Professor in the Department of Applied Language Studies and Linguistics, University of Auckland, where he teaches postgraduate courses on second language acquisition, individual differences in language learning and task-based teaching. He is also a professor in the MA in TESOL program in Anaheim University and a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program.

His published work includes articles and books on second language acquisition, language teaching and teacher education. His books include Understanding Second Language Acquisition (BAAL Prize 1986) and The Study of Second Language Acquisition (Duke of Edinburgh prize 1995). More recently, Task-Based Learning and Teaching early (2003), Analyzing Learner Language (with Gary Barkhuizen) in (2005) and a second edition of The Study of Second Language Acquisition (2008) were published by Oxford University Press. He has also published several English language textbooks, including Impact Grammar (Pearson: Longman). He is also currently editor of the journal Language Teaching Research.

He has worked in schools in Spain and Zambia and in universities in the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States. He has also conducted numerous consultancies and seminars throughout the world.

Rod Ellis is the Senior Advisor to the Asian EFL Journal