Tasks and Language Learning

This book is centrally concerned with the concept of task, particularly as it has developed in the context of language learning. It deals with the ways in which different tasks influence the kind of language which learners produce and ultimately with the ways in which language output relates to acquisition. Readers will find work aimed at developing the beginnings of a taxonomy of communication task types which deals explicitly with issues of classroom pedagogy and learning theory. Other chapters consider issues such as task participants' familiarity with each other, task participants' familiarity with the task type, interactional direction, source of the input prompt, content of the input prompt, task complexity and the extent to which there is shared information about the content. These issues are investigated to determine their effect on language production. Yet another chapter argues that despite the general orientation of the task line in materials and syllabus development to a communicative approach and away from a structural emphasis, there is a role for tasks in structurally-oriented second language learning and teaching. The book also shows how tasks can offer an opportunity for second language learners to be exposed to and learn from their practice of the syntactic features of language.