Task-Based Language Teaching

The concept of ‘task’ has become an important element in syllabus design, classroom teaching and learner assessment. It underpins several significant research agendas, and it has influenced educational policymaking in both ESL and EFL settings.

This book began life as the second edition to Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. The original volume was written in the mid- 1980s, and was published in 1989. At that time, task-based language teaching was beginning to arouse attention. Although it was more than a distant prospect, it was far from a mainstream concept. As with the original book, this volume is aimed at practising teachers in ELT and applied linguists (teacher trainers, language planners, and materials writers), as well as teachers in preparation.

In addition to a complete revamping and updating of principles and ideas from Designing Tasks, four areas deserved their own chapter length treatment. These were:

• A model for task-based language teaching (TBLT) that articulated the

relationship between tasks and other curricular elements.

• The empirical basis for TBLT.

• The place of a focus on form in TBLT.

• Assessing TBLT.

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