Researching Pedagogic Tasks

Applied Linguistics and Language Study

by Martin Bygate, Peter Skehan, Merrill Swain

Researching Pedagogic Tasks brings together a series of empirical studies into the use of pedagogical tasks for second language learning, with a view to better understanding the structure of tasks, their impact on students, and their use by teachers. The volume starts with an introduction to the background and key issues in the topic area and is then organised into three sections:


the first section focuses on the language and learning of students on tasks the second on the use of tasks in the language classroom the third on the use of tasks for language testing
Each section begins with a succinct section introduction, and the volume concludes with an afterword relating the theme of the volume to issues in curriculum development. The chapters include both experimental and qualitative approaches to the topic, some providing original accounts of specific studies, others offering overviews of linked series of studies.

268 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Martin Bygate is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University. He is a graduate of the University of Leicester, where he read French. He holds an MA in Linguistics from the University of Manchester and a Ph.D. from the University of London Institute of Education.

He has worked as a teacher-trainer in a number of countries including France, Morocco, Brazil, Spain, and Italy, and as a lecturer at the School of Education, University of Leeds. His main research interests are in oral second language learning, particularly the use of pedagogic tasks, the development of oral second language proficiency, dimensions of teacher talk, and classroom interaction.

From 1999 to 2004 he was co-editor of the Applied Linguistics Journal published by Oxford University Press.