Cover Image

Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching /

Show other versions (1)

"This book offers an in-depth explanation of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and the methods necessary to implement it in the language classroom successfully. Combines a survey of theory and research in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) with insights from language teaching and t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Long, Michael H. (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
Edition:First Edition.
Subjects:
Second language acquisition > Study and teaching.
Language and languages > Study and teaching.
Task analysis in education.
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General.
Fremdsprachenlernen.
Fremdsprachenunterricht.
Handlungsorientierter Unterricht.
Table of Contents:
  • Theory and research
  • 1. Why TBLT?
  • 1.1. The importance of second language learning and teaching in the 21st century
  • 1.2. TBLT and the meaning of 'task'
  • 1.3. A rationale for TBLT
  • 1.3.1. Consistency with SLA theory and research findings
  • 1.3.2. Basis in philosophy of education
  • 1.3.3. Accountability
  • 1.3.4. Relevance
  • 1.3.5. Avoidance of known problems with existing approaches
  • 1.3.6. Learner-centeredness
  • 1.3.7. Functionality
  • 1.4. Summary
  • 1.5. Suggested readings
  • 2. SLA and the fundamental LT divide
  • 2.1. Interventionist and non-interventionist positions
  • 2.1.1. Interventionist positions
  • 2.1.2. Non-interventionist positions
  • 2.2. Synthetic and analytic approaches to LT
  • 2.2.1. Synthetic approaches
  • 2.2.2. Analytic approaches
  • 2.3. Problems with synthetic approaches and Focus on Forms
  • 2.4. Problems with analytic approaches and Focus on Meaning
  • 2.5. A third option : analytic approaches with a Focus on Form
  • 2.6. A role for Instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA) research
  • 2.7. Summary
  • 2.8. Suggested readings
  • 3. Psycholinguistic underpinnings : a cognitive-interactionist theory of instructed Second Language Acquisition (ISLA)
  • 3.1. Theoretical disunity in Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
  • 3.2. When knowledge is incomplete : the role of theory
  • 3.3. A cognitive-interactionist theory of ISLA : problems and explanations
  • P1. Purely incidental and implicit child L1A is overwhelmingly successful
  • P2. Purely incidental and implicit adult L2A is highly variable and largely unsuccessful
  • E1. Adult SLA is maturationally constrained
  • E2. Adults, so defined, are partially 'disabled' language learners
  • P3. Some classes of linguistic features in adult SLA are fragile
  • E3. Implicit learning is still the default learning mechanism
  • E4. Explicit learning (including focal attention) is required to improve implicit processing in adult SLA, but is constrained
  • E5. Attention is critical, at two levels
  • E6. The Interaction Hypothesis
  • E7. The role of negative feedback, including recasts
  • P4. Success and failure in adult SLA vary among and within individuals
  • E8. Individual differences, especially input sensitivity, and linguistic differences, especially perceptual saliency, are responsible for variability in, and within, ultimate L2 attainment
  • 3.4. Summary
  • 3.5. Suggested readings
  • 4. Philosophical underpinnings : L'education integrale
  • 4.1. TBLT's philosophical principles : origins and overview
  • 4.2. L'education integrale and learning by doing
  • 4.3. Individual freedom
  • 4.4. Rationality
  • 4.5. Emancipation
  • 4.6. Learner-centeredness
  • 4.7. Egalitarian teacher-student relationships
  • 4.8. Participatory democracy
  • 4.9. Mutual aid and cooperation
  • 4.10. Summary
  • 4.11. Suggested readings
  • Design and implementation
  • 5. Task-based needs and means analysis
  • 5.1. Why needs analysis?
  • 5.2. Needs analysis and learner diversity
  • 5.3. Doubts about needs analysis
  • 5.3.1. General English for all
  • 5.3.2. The ex-post-facto process syllabus
  • 5.3.3. Felt needs or objective needs?
  • 5.3.4. Learner heterogeneity
  • 5.3.5. Surface linguistic features or underlying technical competence?
  • 5.3.6. The dark side
  • 5.4. The growth of needs analysis
  • 5.4.1. The Council of Europe's unit credit system
  • 5.4.2. Munby's Communication Needs Processor (CNP) and its critics
  • 5.5. Task as the unit of (needs) analysis
  • 5.5.1. Tasks defined
  • 5.5.2. Avoiding the traditional bottleneck in needs analysis
  • 5.5.3. The availability of ready-made task-based analyses
  • 5.6. Means analysis
  • 5.7. Summary
  • 5.8. Suggested readings
  • 6. Identifying target tasks
  • 6.1. Sources of information
  • 6.1.1. Published and unpublished literature
  • 6.1.2. The learners
  • 6.1.3. Applied linguists
  • 6.1.4. Domain experts
  • 6.1.5. Triangulated sources
  • 6.2. Methods
  • 6.2.1. The use of multiple measures and their sequencing
  • 6.2.2. Sampling
  • 6.2.3. Expert and non-expert intuitions
  • 6.2.4. Interviews
  • 6.2.5. Questionnaire surveys
  • 6.2.6. Language audits
  • 6.2.7. Participant and non-participant observation
  • 6.2.8. Journals and logs
  • 6.2.9. Proficiency measures
  • 6.2.10. Triangulation by methods and sources : the flight attendants study
  • 6.3. Summary
  • 6.4. Suggested readings
  • 7. Analyzing target discourse
  • 7.1. Conventional approaches to language analysis for language teaching (LT)
  • 7.2. The dynamic qualities of target discourse
  • 7.2.1. Boswood and Marriot's "ethnographic approach" to NA
  • 7.2.2. Mohan and Marshall Smith's "language socialization" approach to NA
  • 7.2.3. Watson-Gegeo's true ethnography and "thick explanation"
  • 7.2.4. TBLT
  • 7.3. Discourse analysis (DA) and analysis of discourse (AD)
  • 7.3.1. Discourse analysis
  • 7.3.2. Analysis of discourse
  • 7.3.3. Sampling and data-collection
  • 7.4. Analysis of target discourse : five cases
  • 7.4.1. The railway ticket purchase
  • 7.4.2. Japanese tourist shopping
  • 7.4.3. Doing architecture
  • 7.4.4. Buying and selling a cup of coffee
  • 7.4.5. When small talk is a big deal
  • 7.5. Summary
  • 7.6. Suggested readings
  • 8. Task-based syllabus design
  • 8.1. Some minimum requirements
  • 8.2. The unit of analysis
  • 8.2.1. The structural, or grammatical, syllabus
  • 8.2.2. The notional-functional syllabus
  • 8.2.3. The lexical syllabus
  • 8.2.4. Topical and situational syllabuses
  • 8.2.5. The content syllabus
  • 8.2.6. The procedural syllabus
  • 8.2.7. The process syllabus
  • 8.2.8. The task syllabus
  • 8.2.9. The hybrid syllabus
  • 8.3. Selection
  • 8.3.1. Target tasks and target task-types
  • 8.3.2. Pedagogic tasks
  • 8.4. Grading
  • 8.4.1. Valency and criticality
  • 8.4.2. Frequency
  • 8.4.3. Learnability
  • 8.4.4. Complexity and difficulty
  • 8.4.5. Some research findings on pedagogic task-types
  • 8.5. Summary
  • 8.6. Suggested readings
  • 9. Task-based materials
  • 9.1. Desirable qualities of pedagogic tasks (PTs)
  • 9.2. Input simplification and elaboration
  • 9.2.1. Genuineness, input simplification, and authenticity
  • 9.2.2. Input elaboration
  • 9.2.3. The Paco sentences
  • 9.2.4. Effects of simplification and elaboration on L2 comprehension and acquisition
  • 9.3. Sample task-based materials
  • 9.3.1. Preliminaries
  • 9.3.2. Sample modules for true and false beginners
  • 9.3.2.1. Geometric figures tasks (matching shapes)
  • 9.3.2.2. "Spot-the-difference" tasks
  • 9.3.3. Sample modules for elementary learners
  • 9.3.3.1. Obtaining and following street directions
  • 9.3.3.2. Decoding drug labels
  • 9.3.4. Sample modules for intermediate learners
  • 9.3.4.1. Negotiating a police traffic stop
  • 9.3.4.2. Delivering a sales report
  • 9.3.5. Sample modules for advanced learners
  • 9.3.5.1. A complex political issue
  • 9.3.5.1.2. Attending an academic lecture
  • 9.4. Summary
  • 9.5. Suggested readings
  • 10. Methodological principles and pedagogic procedures
  • 10.1. Methodological principles (MPs), pedagogic procedures (PPs), and evaluation criteria (EC)
  • 10.1.1. Methodological principles
  • 10.1.2. Pedagogic procedures
  • 10.1.3. Evaluation criteria
  • 10.2. Ten methodological principles
  • 10.2.1. MP1 : Use task, not text, as the unit of analysis
  • 10.2.2. MP2 : Promote learning by doing
  • 10.2.3. MP3 : Elaborate input
  • 10.2.4. MP4 : Provide rich input
  • 10.2.5. MP5 : Encourage inductive "chunk" learning
  • 10.2.6. MP6 : Focus on form
  • 10.2.7. MP7 : Provide negative feedback
  • 10.2.8. MP8 : Respect learner syllabuses and developmental processes
  • 10.2.9. MP9 : Promote cooperative collaborative learning
  • 10.2.10. MP10 : Individualize instruction
  • 10.3. Pedagogic procedures
  • 10.4. Summary
  • 10.5. Suggested readings
  • 11. Task-based assessment and program evaluation
  • 11.1. Task-based, criterion-referenced performance tests
  • 11.2. Task completion and/or language abilities?
  • 11.3. Target tasks or underlying constructs and abilities?
  • 11.4. The transferability of task-based abilities
  • 11.5. Program evaluation
  • 11.5.1. Some general requirements on TBLT evaluations
  • 11.5.2. Laboratory and classroom studies
  • 11.5.3. Research findings on MPs
  • 11.5.4. Evaluating task-based courses and programs
  • 11.5.4.1. Establishing construct validity
  • 11.5.4.2. Sample evaluations and findings
  • 11.6. Summary
  • 11.7. Suggested readings
  • The road ahead
  • 12. Does TBLT have a future?
  • 12.1. Diffusion of innovation
  • 12.2. A research program for TBLT
  • 12.3. Building the road as we travel.