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Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers
Doing Task-Based Teaching
This book provides teachers with a better understanding of task-based learning and how it works, including how to incorporate tasks with textbook material.
- GenresTeachingLinguistics
296 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2007
17 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Dave Willis
39 books38 followersDave Willis began his TEFL career working overseas as a teacher in Ghana and Cyprus. He joined the British Council and worked for twenty years as an English Language Officer in Iran, Singapore and London. From 1990 to 2000 he worked as a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for English Language Studies, at Birmingham University, working mainly on MA TEFL/TESOL programmes.
He has published widely on discourse analysis, the subject of his PhD thesis at Birmingham, on the description of grammar and lexis for ELT, and on task-based methodology. He is now retired from full time work, but maintains an active interest in ELT by researching, writing and travelling widely as a consultant and to international conferences. Currently his main area of interest is how to integrate grammar and lexis into a task-based approach.
He has published widely on discourse analysis, the subject of his PhD thesis at Birmingham, on the description of grammar and lexis for ELT, and on task-based methodology. He is now retired from full time work, but maintains an active interest in ELT by researching, writing and travelling widely as a consultant and to international conferences. Currently his main area of interest is how to integrate grammar and lexis into a task-based approach.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 24, 2015
All hail the new TESOL orthodoxy!
Teaching a language isn't easy for a number of reasons -- especially the teaching approach you choose to take. This has been an ongoing and very thorny debate for as long as people have been learning and teaching in a language classroom. Do you focus on grammar first? Do you focus on the forms and utilize memorization of word lists? Do you have learners get repeated exposure to supposedly "comprehensible input" and allow them to listen in a stress-free environment for a long period of time? Do you throw learners "off the deep end" so to speak and let them try to do something in a way not directly enforced by you?
If you've taught a language before, you know this is no easy decision and the approach you take will depend on your institution, your pupils, the goals of the course, and various other factors.
This book's contribution to this debate is one possible approach you can take -- simply let learners try to get the meaning down and hope they notice their linguistic gaps along the way preferably with your help. Not only that, but let them play with meaning in activities that target real-life language use and rely on daily cognitive processes we use all the time such as justifying, evaluating, commenting, and so on. Don't do away with grammar entirely, but focus on it as a prop of sorts to help express meaning and real-life situational language when possible. Sounds good, right?
It sounds great on paper, just as, in theory, a PPP model should do a good job of thoroughly covering grammar points in a recursive, additive way. The real problem with this book is that it is aimed at the new teacher for whom reading research is a chore. However, if you read the literature surrounding TBLT, you would know it's not perfect. Some are rightly sceptical of using TBLT in its purest form since it does not mesh well with other culture's educational systems, large class sizes, and high-stakes examinations. Just as with any approach or method in the field, use with caution. I will give TBLT this, however -- it does seem to be the most consistent with what SLA research suggests about the acquisition of a second language; learners don't learn one point of grammar at a time and move on in this fashion - it is much messier and non-linear than older models wanted it to be.
That being said, this is about the most user-friendly and helpful of TBLT-related texts that I have encountered -- I say this as someone who is currently in a class strictly about TBLT in which we've read various research articles about it (20+) and excerpts from other TBLT-related texts like Rod Ellis. If you want to know what TBLT is all about and you are thinking about trying it, I don't know of a better text to tell you about.
It also has a lot of great ideas about how to teach non-speaking tasks in a fun and interesting way. I learned a lot about teaching regular English textbooks, listening lessons, and reading lessons from the book as a whole. There is also a lot of basic, common sense information in here that most experienced teachers would already know.
Great writing and very helpful for the teacher, but I knock off two or so stars simply because the book is too partisan and pro-TBLT despite a fair amount of literature suggesting TBLT needs to be adapted and used with caution in many teaching scenarios.
Teaching a language isn't easy for a number of reasons -- especially the teaching approach you choose to take. This has been an ongoing and very thorny debate for as long as people have been learning and teaching in a language classroom. Do you focus on grammar first? Do you focus on the forms and utilize memorization of word lists? Do you have learners get repeated exposure to supposedly "comprehensible input" and allow them to listen in a stress-free environment for a long period of time? Do you throw learners "off the deep end" so to speak and let them try to do something in a way not directly enforced by you?
If you've taught a language before, you know this is no easy decision and the approach you take will depend on your institution, your pupils, the goals of the course, and various other factors.
This book's contribution to this debate is one possible approach you can take -- simply let learners try to get the meaning down and hope they notice their linguistic gaps along the way preferably with your help. Not only that, but let them play with meaning in activities that target real-life language use and rely on daily cognitive processes we use all the time such as justifying, evaluating, commenting, and so on. Don't do away with grammar entirely, but focus on it as a prop of sorts to help express meaning and real-life situational language when possible. Sounds good, right?
It sounds great on paper, just as, in theory, a PPP model should do a good job of thoroughly covering grammar points in a recursive, additive way. The real problem with this book is that it is aimed at the new teacher for whom reading research is a chore. However, if you read the literature surrounding TBLT, you would know it's not perfect. Some are rightly sceptical of using TBLT in its purest form since it does not mesh well with other culture's educational systems, large class sizes, and high-stakes examinations. Just as with any approach or method in the field, use with caution. I will give TBLT this, however -- it does seem to be the most consistent with what SLA research suggests about the acquisition of a second language; learners don't learn one point of grammar at a time and move on in this fashion - it is much messier and non-linear than older models wanted it to be.
That being said, this is about the most user-friendly and helpful of TBLT-related texts that I have encountered -- I say this as someone who is currently in a class strictly about TBLT in which we've read various research articles about it (20+) and excerpts from other TBLT-related texts like Rod Ellis. If you want to know what TBLT is all about and you are thinking about trying it, I don't know of a better text to tell you about.
It also has a lot of great ideas about how to teach non-speaking tasks in a fun and interesting way. I learned a lot about teaching regular English textbooks, listening lessons, and reading lessons from the book as a whole. There is also a lot of basic, common sense information in here that most experienced teachers would already know.
Great writing and very helpful for the teacher, but I knock off two or so stars simply because the book is too partisan and pro-TBLT despite a fair amount of literature suggesting TBLT needs to be adapted and used with caution in many teaching scenarios.
October 29, 2018
A very friendly accessible introduction to TBT based on examination of real classroom activities. For experienced teachers I guess they may find some parts slightly redundant and some contents overlap one another.
Key takeaways from the book: (1) the focus on meaning should come before the focus of form, students need to experience and experiment with the language before introduced the right forms/ tools to express themselves (2) the 7 parameters for tasks design (3) ideas for practical tasks that can be applied to the ESL classroom
Key takeaways from the book: (1) the focus on meaning should come before the focus of form, students need to experience and experiment with the language before introduced the right forms/ tools to express themselves (2) the 7 parameters for tasks design (3) ideas for practical tasks that can be applied to the ESL classroom
July 17, 2021
This is the only book on Task Based Teaching that you will ever need to read. It takes you through TBLT step by step with plenty of practical applications. The emphasis is on the "doing" in the title.
October 11, 2017
TBT or bust
Learners learn meaningful material better than meaningless. This book tells teachers how to do this using the sequence topical vocabulary, meaningful task on topic, and finally meaningful grammar to accomplish the task better.
Learners learn meaningful material better than meaningless. This book tells teachers how to do this using the sequence topical vocabulary, meaningful task on topic, and finally meaningful grammar to accomplish the task better.
March 12, 2017
Having recently completed a Coursera course about reading and task-based learning, I decided it was time to find out more about TBL, something I've meaning to do for a long time. This book was accessible and provided lots of real-world examples of TBL cycles, from single activities to longer mini syllabi. It's a book I will certainly be coming back to - I'd like to put together a workshop and/or handout summarising what I've learnt from this and the course to help me make sure I've really got my head around it.
November 30, 2011
This book is a good introduction to the basic principles of task based learning. It is aimed at those who may be reading about task based language teaching for the first time and offers a number of practical examples of ideas that can be tested out in class. As Willis states in the introduction 'It aims to give beginner teachers the confidence to start using tasks in their lessons, and help experienced teachers widen their repertoire of tasks and task sequences'. For a book with very general aims it fulfills what it sets out to do.(less)
May 30, 2008
A lot more punch for the buck than "A Framework for TBL" but also too much repetition of shit you already know.
August 5, 2013
Very helpful during my teaching practice.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews