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meaning in order to be completed, and are
supposed to focus the learners' attention more
The task-based approach to language teaching has closely on the comprehensibility of the language
evolved in response to a better understanding of they and their partners are using, thus increasing
the way languages are learnt. Traditionally, the likelihood that interlanguage forms will be
language learning has been regarded as a pushed towards target language norms.
process of mastering a succession of steps, each The danger in a task-based approach to teaching is
one building on the one before. Teachers present that learners might be encouraged to prioritize a
the target language in ready-to-assimilate pieces,
starting with the easy parts and gradually moving focus on meaning over a focus on form, and thus
towards the harder parts. Learners must master be led to use fluent but unchallenging or
each part and incorporate it into their knowledge inaccurate language. Because language does not
of the target language. The PPP model of have to be well-formed in order to be meaningful,
language teaching ('presentation, practice, it is easy to see how learners could successfully
performance') is based on the assumption that a complete a task using ill-formed or undemanding
language is best presented to learners as a syllabus language, supplemented by gesture and
of structures, and that through controlled practice intonation, rather than trying out their 'cutting
a fluent and accurate performance of the edge' interlanguage.
'structure of the day' can be achieved. Errors are The challenge for a task-based pedagogy,
evidence of poor learning, requiring more PPP
treatment. therefore, is to choose, sequence, and implement
tasks in ways that will combine a focus on meaning
In contrast, the contemporary view of language with a focus on form. Skehan (1996) has
learning, based upon research findings in both developed a theoretical framework for task-
linguistics and psychology, is that learners do not based teaching that claims to balance the
acquire the target language in the order it is development of fluency with accuracy and
presented to them, no matter how carefully interlanguage restructuring. Willis (1996) has
teacher and textbooks organize it. Language produced a detailed practical framework for the
learning is a developmental, organic process that task-based classroom in which learners are led
follows its own internal agenda. Errors are not through cycles of task planning, performance,
necessarily the result of bad learning, but are part repetition, and, finally, comparison with native-
of the natural process of interlanguage forms speaker norms. There is already strong empirical
gradually moving towards target forms (Ellis support for some of these ideas. Foster and
1994). Skehan (1996) have shown that giving learners
time to plan before they begin a task significantly
Such a view of language learning has profound increases the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of
implications for language teaching, and has led to
the language they use, and that these effects
the development of various task-based
approaches (for example, Prabhu 1987, Long increase in relation to the cognitive difficulty of
and Crookes 1991). These approaches are the task.
somewhat disparate, but they share a common Continuing research into task design and
idea: giving learners tasks to transact, rather than implementation should help task-based teaching
items to learn, provides an environment which develop in ways that have a sound and convincing
best promotes the natural language learning psycholinguistic basis. The final challenge will
process. By engaging in meaningful activities, then be to persuade teachers of the merit in
such as problem-solving, discussions, or adopting a task-based approach in their
narratives, the learner's interlanguage system is classrooms.
stretched and encouraged to develop. Interactive
tasks are sometimes considered particularly Pauline Foster, Thames Valley University
beneficial, especially the information-gap type, in
which learners have to transfer information to a References
partner who does not have it (Pica et al. 1993). Ellis, R. 1994. The Study of Second Language
These tasks rely on a successful transfer of Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ELT Journal Volume 53/1 January 1999 © Oxford University Press 1999 69
Foster, P. and P. Skehan. 1996. 'The influence of Prabhu, N. S. 1987. Second Language Pedagogy.
planning and task type on second language Oxford: Oxford University Press,
performance'. Studies in Second Language Skehan, P. 1996. 'A framework for the imple-
Acquisition 9: 12-20. mentation of task-based instruction'. Applied

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Long, M. and G. Crookes. 1991. 'Three Linguistics 17/1:38-62.
approaches to task-based syllabus design'. Willis, J. 1996. A Framework for Task-Based
TESOL Quarterly 26: 27-55. Learning. Harlow: Longman.
Pica, T., R. Kanagy and J. Falodun. 1993.
'Choosing and using communication tasks for The author
second language research and instruction'. In Pauline Foster taught EFL in the USA, Japan,
S. M. Gass and G. Crookes (eds.). Task-based and the UK before becoming a full-time
learning in a second language. Clevedon, Avon: researcher and PhD student at Thames Valley
Multilingual Matters. University.

70 Key concepts in ELT