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Article published In: TASK
Vol. 3:1 (2023) ► pp.5–27

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Supporting TBLT through teacher education

A critical perspective

ORCiD logo with link | The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Published online: 4 October 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/task.23004.eas
Abstract
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is becoming increasingly accepted in a range of contexts across the globe as a viable learner-centred alternative to more traditional teacher-fronted approaches. In theory, TBLT has a lot to commend it. However, since its inception TBLT has moved and developed in a variety of directions and has been subject to a host of interpretations and orientations. In several cases, teachers hold onto teacher-fronted practices that clash with the philosophy and rationale of TBLT. These are complicating factors that can make TBLT implementation in classrooms problematic. This critical position paper considers teacher education as a mediating and supporting variable in the successful design and implementation of TBLT and tasks in classrooms. It begins with a summary of the benefits and limitations of TBLT. It goes on to present an overview of some of the challenges that have emerged from accounts of different contexts where attempts have been made to enact TBLT ideas, including the role of teacher education and a comparison of a pre-service and in-service teacher education initiative in one specific context. The paper concludes with proposing ten guiding principles for effective TBLT-oriented teacher education.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • TBLT: A commendable paradigm for language pedagogy
  • TBLT: A contested paradigm for language pedagogy
  • Implementing TBLT across the globe – Gradations of pedagogical choice
  • Teacher education as the mediator of TBLT in practice
  • TBLT implementation: The New Zealand case
  • What to make of the comparable findings
  • Towards effective teacher education
  • Ten guiding principles for effective TBLT-oriented teacher education
  • Conclusion
  • References
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Aubrey, Scott & Andrew Philpott
2025. From Reflection to Action: Adapting the Idiodynamic Method to Improve English-as-a-Foreign-Language Teachers’ Task-Based Language Teaching Implementation. RELC Journal 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
Kim, YouJin
2024. A journey of sustainable TBLT curricular development. TASK. Journal on Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning 4:2 ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo

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