Distinguished Lectures in Humanities: Task-Based Language Teaching: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Abstract

Task-based language teaching is an approach that both Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland, among other contexts, has embraced. It is also approach that has attracted considerable opposition.

In this talk I will begin by addressing long-standing criticisms levied against TBLT, drawing on my previous work (Ellis, 2009) and that of Long (2016) to systematically rebut misconceptions concerning the neglect of grammar, the role of the teacher, and TBLT’s suitability for various instructional contexts. I acknowledge a valid concern regarding the challenge of implementing TBLT in foreign language settings and point to ways about how it might be adapted, including my own proposal for a ‘hybrid curriculum’.

I then shift from a defensive to a proactive stance, identifying crucial ‘insider issues’ that require further research and debate to advance the field. A framework of ten pivotal questions is presented, covering fundamental practical and theoretical concerns. These include the ongoing challenge of defining a ‘task’, developing robust methods for measuring task performance and language learning, and establishing criteria for task selection and sequencing. Other vital areas explored are the structure of task-based lessons (pre-/post-task stages), the role of explicit instruction and focus on form, accommodating individual learner differences, and—critically—the importance teacher preparation for TBLT. I conclude by acknowledging that while TBLT is firmly grounded in theory, it remains a work in progress. Its continued evolution depends on closing the gap between research and practice and call for more ecologically valid, longitudinal, and teacher-led research that affirms TBLT’s core principle: creating authentic links between classroom learning and real-world language use.

About the speaker

Rod ELLIS is an Emeritus Distinguished Research Professor in Curtin University (Australia), an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of the University of Auckland, a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and in the top 1% of social and humanities scientists in the world. He has held teaching positions in universities in Zambia, UK, Japan, USA, New Zealand and Australia and has conducted talks and seminars throughout the world on second language acquisition and task-based language teaching.