Tasks in Second Language Learning

Task-based language teaching with smartphones: A case study in Pakistan

“…TBLT encourages the meaningful use of the target language through communicative tasks (Pierson, 2015). This can pose well-known challenges to the language teacher (Lai & Li, 2011), such as how to ensure the authenticity of the tasks and so generate genuine meaning-based communication in the classroom, how to overcome students' passive learning styles, and how to address students' avoidance of the target language in classroom-based communicative activities (Burrows, 2008;Carless, 2007;Littlewood, 2007;Mustafa, 2010;Samuda & Bygate, 2008). It has been argued that the integration of technology may help address these challenges (Lai & Li 2011;Ortega, 2009;Warshauer, 2001).…”

Reflecting on the Japan-Chile Task-Based Telecollaboration Project for Beginner-Level Learners

“…The university students from Japan (n = 36) and Chile (n = 36) participated in tasks (Robinson, 2011;Samuda & Bygate, 2008;Willis & Willis, 2007) that, if stripped of their Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) element, would resemble regular TBLT lessons observable in homogeneous EFL classrooms. The Japanese students were first-year English language majors at a women's university in Osaka, Japan.…”

The Quantity and Quality of Language Practice in Typical Interactive Pair/Group Tasks

“…Tasks have been defined in a number of different ways in the second language pedagogy and research literature (for a review, see Samuda & Bygate, 2008). Some scholars, such as Scrivener (2011), the author of an ESL pedagogy textbook that is widely used in teacher education programs, take a very broad view, considering tasks and activities to be interchangeable terms.…”