ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the bigger picture with regard to implementing Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and considers some of the implications for TBLT implementation that arise from how it has been put into practice in different circumstances. As a consequence of the new learning area and the pedagogical directions being signalled, TBLT became highlighted as one means of fulfilling curricular expectations in school L2 classrooms. To support teachers with implementing task-based ideas, a range of support initiatives was put in place, including explanatory documents and professional development opportunities. In strong forms of TBLT positioned further along the continuum, a learner-centred and experiential perspective would still place solid emphasis on the tasks as the central components and would also emphasise the learners’ ability to derive the rules of language use from the interactions. In the latter case, a top-down syllabus to promote TBLT in classrooms was mediated by teachers who may have tried to hold on to more traditional teacher-led practices.
