Task-based research and language pedagogy

• Published in: Language teaching research : LTR Vol. 4; no. 3; pp. 193 - 220
• Main Author: Ellis, Rod
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2000; Turpin; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Communicative competence; Computational Linguistics; Cultural instruction; Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods; Educational sciences; Interpersonal communication; Language; Language Research; Language Usage; Learning Theories; Modern language; Pedagogy; Psycholinguistics; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Social Theories; Sociocultural Patterns; Sociocultural theory; Task Analysis; Task-based language teaching; Teaching Methods; Language Teaching; Teaching method; Psycholinguistics; Cognition; Learning Psychology; Research; Improvisation; Second Foreign Language
• ISSN: 1362-1688; 1477-0954
• DOI: 10.1177/136216880000400302

Two very different theoretical accounts of task-based language use and learning are critiqued and their relevance for language pedagogy discussed. One account, which will be referred to as the psycholinguistic perspective, draws on a computational model of second language (L2) acquisition (Lantolf, 1996). According to this perspective, tasks are viewed as devices that provide learners with the data they need for learning; the design of a task is seen as potentially determining the kind of language use and opportunities for learning that arise.Three different psycholinguistic models are discussed: Long’s Interaction Hypothesis, Skehan’s ‘cognitive approach’ and Yule’s framework of communicative efficiency. The second theoretical account of tasks is that provided by socio-cultural theory. This is premised on the claim that participants co-construct the ‘activity’ they engage in when performing a task, in accordance with their own socio-history and locally determined goals, and that, therefore, it is difficult to make reliable predictions regarding the kinds of language use and opportunities for learning that will arise. Socio-cultural theory emphasizes the dialogic processes (such as ‘scaffolding’) that arise in a task performance and how these shape language use and learning. Both theoretical approaches afford insights that are of value to task-based language pedagogy. The psycholinguistic approach provides information that is of importance for planning task-based teaching and learning. The socio-cultural approach illuminates the kinds of improvisation that teachers and learners need to engage in during task-based activity to promote communicative efficiency and L2 acquisition.