Cover not available

Article published In: ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 167:1 (2016) ► pp.3–15

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

TBLT through the lens of applied linguistics

Engaging with the real world of the classroom

 | Lancaster University, UK
Published online: 29 September 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.167.1.01byg
Ever since the establishment in the 1940’s of the distinguished journal Language Learning, a significant proportion of research in applied linguistics has defined itself as aiming to address practical problems of language teaching. Given the definition of applied linguistics as ‘the theoretical and empirical study of real world problems in which language has a central role’ (after Brumfit, 2001), an ambition to relate its work to practical language teaching problems is appropriate. Task-based language teaching is a subarea of applied linguistics which deliberately aims to link research to practice. With this in mind, this paper will seek to evaluate the extent to which TBLT research has to date engaged with — and helped address — the real world problems of language education. It then attempts to derive some implications for future directions of TBLT research as a part of an empirical applied linguistics.
References (35)
Anderson, A., & Lynch, T. (1988). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brumfit, C.J. (2001). Individual freedom in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bygate, M. (1988). Linguistic and strategic features of the language of learners working in oral communication exercises. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London Institute of Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L.J., Moon, J.P., & Bygate, M. (1996). Language development in the mainstream: How do teachers and pupils use language? Language and Education, 10(4), 221–236. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (1984). Classroom second language development: A study of classroom interaction and language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Foster, P. (1998). A classroom perspective on the negotiation of meaning. Applied Linguistics, 19(1), 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Housen, A., & Kuiken, F. (Eds.). (2009). Special issue: Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency (CAF) in second language acquisition research. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 461–473. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kramsch, C. (2015). Applied linguistics: A theory of the practice. Applied Linguistics, 36(4), 454–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambert, C. (2015). A micro-genetic study of task-induced L2 development: The emergence of complexity in L2 descriptive discourse. Paper presented at the 6th Biennial International Conference on TBLT . Leuven, Belgium, 16–19 September 2015.
Long, M.H. (1981). Input, interaction and second language acquisition. In H. Winitz (Ed.), Native language and foreign language acquisition. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 3791, 259–278.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics 4(2), 126–141. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W.C. Ritchie & T.K. Bahtia (Eds.), Handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 413–468). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Long, M., Adams, L., McLean, M., & Castanos, F. (1976). Doing things with words: Verbal interaction in lockstep and small group classroom situations. In J. Fanselow & R. Crymes (Eds.), On TESOL ’76 (pp. 137–153). Washington, DC: TESOL.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1993). Units of analysis in syllabus design: The case for task. In G. Crookes & S.M. Gass (Eds.), Tasks in pedagogical context: Integrating theory and practice (pp. 9–54). Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lynch, T. (2001). Seeing what they meant: Transcribing as a route to noticing. ELT Journal, 55(2), 124–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2007). Learning from the transcripts of an oral communication task. ELT Journal, 61(4), 311–320. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2009). Responding to learners’ perceptions of feedback: The use of comparators in second language speaking courses. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 3(1), 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lynch, T., & Maclean, J. (2000). Exploring the benefits of task repetition and recycling for classroom language learning. Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 221–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001). ‘A case of exercising’: Effects of immediate task repetition on learners’ performance. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and research (pp. 141–162). Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Markee, N. (2007). Managing curricular innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDonough, K., & Mackey, A. (Eds.). (2013). Second language interaction in diverse educational contexts. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller-Hartmann, A., & Schocker-von Ditfurth, M. (2011). Teaching English: Task-supported language learning. Paderborn: SchöninghGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robinson, P. (2015). The cognition hypothesis, second language task demands, and the SSARC model of pedagogic task sequencing. In M. Bygate (Ed.), Domains and directions in the development of TBLT (pp. 87–122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Samuda, V. (2001). Guiding relationships between form and meaning during task performance: The role of the teacher. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and research (pp. 119–140). Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces. In M. Bygate (Ed.), Domains and directions in the development of TBLT (pp. 271–302). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shuy, R. (2015). Applied linguistics past and future. Applied Linguistics, 36(4), 434–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tarone, E. (2015). Second language acquisition in applied linguistics: 1925–2015 and beyond. Applied Linguistics, 36(4), 444–453. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van den Branden, K. (Ed.). (2006). Task-based language teaching: From theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2015). Tasks for real! Hold on, how real is ‘real’?. Plenary presentation to the 6th Biennial International Conference on TBLT . Leuven, Belgium, 16-19 September 2015.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2008). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yule, G. (1997). Referential communication tasks. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yule, G., & MacDonald, D. (1990). Resolving referential conflicts in L2 interaction. The effect of proficiency and interactive role. Language Learning, 40(4), 539–556. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (7)

Cited by seven other publications

Ku, Yunjung Yunie
2026. Learning English without an obvious purpose? A task-based needs analysis of Korean undergraduates in English for general purposes (EGP) courses. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education 11:1 DOI logo
East, Martin
2025. The teacher variable in TBLT. In Broadening the Horizon of TBLT [Task-Based Language Teaching, 17], ► pp. 255 ff. DOI logo
Bygate, Martin
2020. Some directions for the possible survival of TBLT as a real world project. Language Teaching 53:3 ► pp. 275 ff. DOI logo
Torres-Martínez, Sergio
2018. Exploring attachment patterns between multi-word verbs and argument structure constructions. Lingua 209 ► pp. 21 ff. DOI logo
Torres–Martínez, Sergio
2022. On English modals, modal meaning and argument structure. English Today 38:2 ► pp. 105 ff. DOI logo
Feryok, Anne
2017. Sociocultural Theory and Task‐Based Language Teaching: The Role of Praxis. TESOL Quarterly 51:3 ► pp. 716 ff. DOI logo
Jackson, Daniel O. & Alfred Rue Burch
2017. Complementary Theoretical Perspectives on Task‐Based Classroom Realities. TESOL Quarterly 51:3 ► pp. 493 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 march 2026. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue