Chapter 3

How real is real?

This chapter addresses the link between activity in the task-based classroom and target language use outside the classroom. It starts from the observation that needs analyses, constituting an essential part of task-based curriculum design, serve to identify the target language tasks that additional language learners are expected to perform in “real life,” more particularly in relevant situations that require the comprehension of input or production of output in the target language. To prepare students for the latter, task-based language teaching builds on a series of gradually more complex pedagogic tasks. But how “real” are those, and how real do they need to be? In which ways are links between pedagogical tasks and outside-school language use established to foster students’ competences to use the target language for real-life purposes and to participate in interactions outside the classroom? To answer these questions, I will explore the notion of task authenticity in this chapter. Deconstructing that notion into different layers of authenticity will allow me to describe different ways in which links between task-based classroom activity and real-life language use can be established. The different types of links will be illustrated with examples taken from authentic (no pun intended) classrooms.