Volume 8 Issue 3
Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning: An Overview
The purpose of this article is to present an overview of second language (L2) task-based language teaching and learning. Prabhu (1987) deserves credit for originating the task-based teaching and learning, based on the concept that effective learning occurs when students are fully engaged in a language task, rather than just learning about language.
Designing Holistic Units for Task-Based Learning
This paper will outline the rationale behind the design of units of learning ‘activities’ in the form of interlocking sets of interactive holistic ‘tasks’ and supporting ‘exercises’. The illustrations used to support the argumentation are extracts from “task-based units” designed for a general education English foundation course at Kochi University in Japan…
What do we know about learning and teaching second languages: Implications for teaching
In the last twenty-five years a number of insights have been achieved through research on the processes of second language acquisition/learning. This article discusses some of these insights, drawing implications for teachers for their classroom practice.
The Methodology of Task-Based Teaching
The purpose of this paper is to consider methodological procedures for teaching tasks. These are of two basic kinds. Firstly, there are those procedures relating to how the tasks specified in a task-based syllabus can be converted into actual lessons.
Task-based language teaching in the Asia context: Defining ‘task’
In this short paper, I would like to set out some basic principles of task-based language teaching in the Asia context. In 1976, the British applied linguist David Wilkins suggested a basic distinction between what he called ‘synthetic approaches’ to syllabus design and ‘analytical’ approaches. All syllabuses, he suggested, fitted one or other of these approaches.
