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In:Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT: A decade of plenaries from the international conference
Edited by Martin Bygate
[Task-Based Language Teaching 8] 2015
► pp. 303–320

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Task-based language education

From theory to practice … and back again

 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Published online: 5 November 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.8.11van
Task-based language teaching has been claimed to promote language acquisition by inviting learners to use language for meaningful purposes and focus on form while doing so. In this article, a range of classroom observation studies conducted in Flanders (Belgium) are reported, vividly illustrating the many ways in which teachers reinterpret tasks which were designed by professional syllabus developers. Some of these reinterpretations appear to be at odds with the basic principles underpinning the rationale behind TBLT. Moreover, different learners reinterpret the same task in various ways, and this may have a profound impact on the interactional and mental activity that the task gives rise to, and the actual learning that results. As such, these studies indicate that the practice of task-based classroom activity can and should inform the theory-building behind TBLT as much as the theory has been claimed to inspire practitioners.
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Jackson, Daniel O.
2022. Task-Based Language Teaching, DOI logo
Spada, Nina
2022. Reflecting on task-based language teaching from an Instructed SLA perspective. Language Teaching 55:1 ► pp. 74 ff. DOI logo
Spada, Nina
2025. Reflecting on task-based language teaching from an Instructed SLA perspective. In Broadening the Horizon of TBLT [Task-Based Language Teaching, 17], ► pp. 164 ff. DOI logo
Andon, Nick
2018. Optimal conditions for TBLT?. In TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy [Task-Based Language Teaching, 12], ► pp. 131 ff. DOI logo
Samuda, Virginia, Martin Bygate & Kris Van den Branden
2018. Introduction. In TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy [Task-Based Language Teaching, 12], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Taguchi, Naoko & YouJin Kim
2018. Task-based approaches to teaching and assessing pragmatics. In Task-based approaches to teaching and assessing pragmatics [Task-Based Language Teaching, 10], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Van den Branden, Kris
2016. The Role of Teachers in Task-Based Language Education. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 36 ► pp. 164 ff. DOI logo
Samuda, Virginia
2015. Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces. In Domains and Directions in the Development of TBLT [Task-Based Language Teaching, 8], ► pp. 271 ff. DOI logo

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