ABSTRACT

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.

chapter Chapter I|20 pages

Introduction

part I|73 pages

Tasks and Language Processing

chapter Chapter 4|19 pages

Rules and routines

A consideration of their role in the task-based language production of native and non-native speakers

part II|68 pages

Studies of Tasks in Language Classrooms

chapter Chapter 5|20 pages

Focus on form through collaborative dialogue

Exploring task effects

chapter Chapter 7|22 pages

‘A case of exercising’

Effects of immediate task repetition on learners' performance

part III|81 pages

Task-Based Approaches to Testing

chapter Chapter 10|19 pages

Task-based assessments

Characteristics and validity evidence

chapter Chapter 11|15 pages

Afterword

Taking the Curriculum to Task 1