Task‐Based Language Teaching ( TBLT )

Abstract

Task‐based language teaching (TBLT) represents an approach to language learning and teaching grounded in the expanding database of second language acquisition (SLA) research. Having grown out of the communicative approach to language teaching (CLT), TBLT proposes task as the unit of analysis in SLA research and language pedagogy. While there are several proposals for understanding and implementing TBLT, these have in common an experiential “learning by doing” philosophy, informed by analyses of real‐world tasks and by the design, staging, and implementation of related pedagogic tasks. Identifiable challenges exist in implementing TBLT, as shown by investigations in various contexts, but it is argued that the shared unit of analysis provides an improved potential for synergies among theory, research, and contextualized practice in language learning and teaching.