Over the last decade task-based approaches to language learning and teaching (TBLT) have become a global focus of increased levels of research. Governments around the world have turned to TBLT as a potential solution for curricula that lack authentic and meaningful engagement with language learning and are failing to motivate students as a result. This book focuses on Asia, where this shift has been particularly in evidence. TBLT has often been implemented in top-down approaches to curriculum development, which presents a huge range of challenges at the cultural as well as the pedagogic level. Contemporary Task Based Language Teaching in Asia looks at the drivers, stakeholders and obstacles across the region. Some countries have adapted TBLT to deal with the local constraints, others have found it hard to apply and many are still in the process of investigating its implementation in their specific contexts. This collection is important to all involved in language development, from curriculum reform to materials development. It assists from programme evaluation to the setting of assessment standards. The chapters cover all aspects of language education across Asia, from primary to tertiary, private and public education, as well as innovations at local, regional and national levels.

Over the last decade task-based approaches to language learning and teaching (TBLT) have become a global focus of increased levels of research. Governments around the world have turned to TBLT as a potential solution for curricula that lack authentic and meaningful engagement with language learning and are failing to motivate students as a result. This book focuses on Asia, where this shift has been particularly in evidence. TBLT has often been implemented in top-down approaches to curriculum development, which presents a huge range of challenges at the cultural as well as the pedagogic level. Contemporary Task Based Language Teaching in Asia looks at the drivers, stakeholders and obstacles across the region. Some countries have adapted TBLT to deal with the local constraints, others have found it hard to apply and many are still in the process of investigating its implementation in their specific contexts. This collection is important to all involved in language development, from curriculum reform to materials development. It assists from programme evaluation to the setting of assessment standards. The chapters cover all aspects of language education across Asia, from primary to tertiary, private and public education, as well as innovations at local, regional and national levels.

The last three decades have witnessed a growth of interest in research on tasks from various perspectives and numerous books and collections of articles have been published focusing on the notion of task and its utility in different contexts. Nevertheless, what is lacking is a multi-faceted examination of tasks from different important perspectives. This edited volume, with four sections of three chapters each, views tasks and Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) from four distinct (but complementary) vantage points. In the first section, all chapters view tasks from a cognitive-interactionist angle with each addressing one key facet of either cognition or interaction (or both) in different contexts (CALL and EFL/ESL). Section two hinges on the idea that language teaching and learning is perhaps best conceptualized, understood, and investigated within a complexity theory framework which accounts for the dynamicity and interrelatedness of the variables involved. Viewing TBLT from a sociocultural lens is what connects the chapters included in the third section. Finally, the fourth section views TBLT from pedagogical and curricular vantage points.

This book is available Open Access. This book introduces readers to the concept of task-based language teaching (TBLT), a learner-centred and experiential approach to language teaching and learning. Based on the premise that language learners can enhance their second language acquisition (SLA) through engagement in communicative tasks that compel them to use language for themselves, TBLT stands in contrast to more traditional approaches. Accessible and comprehensive, this book provides a foundational overview of the principles and practice of TBLT and demystifies what TBLT looks like in the classroom. Complete with questions for reflection, pedagogical extensions for application in real classrooms and further reading suggestions in every chapter, this valuable and informative text is vital for anyone interested in TBLT, whether as students, researchers or teachers.

Written by leading international experts, this handbook provides an accessible resource to task-based language teaching for teachers, as well as academic researchers. Chapters in the volume are presented in a reader-friendly style, with ideas made accessible through case studies, questions for discussion, and suggested further readings.

This book illustrates the developments of task-based language teaching (TBLT) approaches in relation to the evolution of digital technologies. It highlights how technology-mediated TBLT principles can support English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning and contribute to understanding new classroom dynamics. Drawing from the key theoretical concepts of TBLT, the author discusses the integration of tasks and technologies from a secondary education perspective, which is often under-represented in the TBLT literature. Morgana looks at how the EFL secondary classroom has been recently re-conceptualised as a social place whose boundaries go far behind the traditional school settings. This book provides theoretical approaches and classroom implementation practices by presenting four case studies on the different L2 skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). The volume is organised into two main sections. The first section focuses on the theoretical approaches to TBLT and highlights the key concepts behind this methodology. This section also looks at the recent development of a technology-mediated TBLT framework and its implementations in various EFL educational contexts. The second section presents four case studies of secondary-school EFL learners in Italy. Each case study focuses on a different language skill, providing examples of classroom practices in both blended and online learning settings. Pedagogical recommendations for teachers are provided at the end of each case study. The book adopts a multimodal approach and aims at providing scholars in applied linguistics and TBLT practitioners with theories and implementation practices to understand the ways technologies are shaping tasks and mediating students' learning processes.

This book examines the use of tasks in second language instruction in a variety of international contexts, and addresses the need for a better understanding of how tasks are used in teaching and program-level decision-making. The chapters consider the key issues, examples, benefits and challenges that teachers, program designers and researchers face in using tasks in a diverse range of contexts around the world, and aim to understand practitioners’ concerns with the relationship between tasks and performance. They provide examples of how tasks are used with learners of different ages and different proficiency levels, in both face-to-face and online contexts. In documenting these uses of tasks, the authors of the various chapters illuminate cultural, educational and institutional factors that can make the effective use of tasks more or less difficult in their particular context.

A comprehensive account of the research and practice of task-based language teaching.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Figures and Tables -- 1 Introduction -- 2 From Task- to Project-Based Language Learning -- 3 Computer-Assisted Language Learning: From PLATO to Web 2.0 -- 4 Language Education in Japan and Research Approaches -- 5 The Podcast Project -- 6 The Virtual World Project -- 7 Implications and Future Directions -- References -- Index