Task-Based Language Teaching and Assessment: Contemporary Reflections from Across the World

373 Pages·2022·5.001 MB·

by  N. P. Sudharshana, Lina Mukhopadhyay

N. P. Sudharshana
Lina Mukhopadhyay   Editors
Task-Based
Language
Teaching and
Assessment
Contemporary Reflections from Across
the World
Task-Based Language Teaching and Assessment
·
N. P. Sudharshana Lina Mukhopadhyay
Editors
Task-Based Language
Teaching and Assessment
Contemporary Reflections from Across
the World
Editors
N.P.Sudharshana LinaMukhopadhyay
DepartmentofHumanitiesandSocial DepartmentofTrainingandDevelopment
Science EnglishandForeignLanguagesUniversity
IndianInstituteofTechnologyKanpur Hyderabad,Telangana,India
Kanpur,UttarPradesh,India
ISBN978-981-16-4225-8 ISBN978-981-16-4226-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4226-5
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Preface
Usingtasksforlanguageteachingemergedasanalternativetostructuralapproaches
tolanguageteaching.Task-BasedLanguageTeaching(TBLT),now,isoneofthemost
popularlanguageteachingmethods,andnumerouscoursebooksarebeingdeveloped
acrosstheworldbasedonTBLT.Wearealsomovingtowardsusingtasksforlanguage
assessmentaswell,adomainthathashithertobeendominatedbydiscretemultiple-
choiceitemswithsomeoccasionaluseofperformance-basedassessmentsinlarge-
scale tests. While TBLT is now a well-established teaching methodology, Task-
BasedLanguageAssessment(TBLA)isstillinitsnascentstagewithrespecttoits
application for classroom-based purposes. At this juncture, we must note that one
ofthemostsignificantcontributionstoTBLTcamefromN.S.PrabhufromIndian
contextsthroughhisBangaloreprojectinthe1980s.TBLT/TBLAcontinuestobea
robustresearchareaattractingtheattentionofbothpractisingteachersandlanguage
researchersworkingfromdiversefields.
This volume aims to bring together multiple perspectives on TBLT and TBLA
primarilyfromtheESL/EFLcontexts.Thisbookhastwosections:thefirstonehas
papersfocusingonTBLT,whereasthesecondoneconsistsofpapersonTBLA.It
is a judicious mix of theoretical and experimental research papers contributed by
SLA researchers, teacher educators and practising teachers from across the world.
Wesincerelyhopethatwithaninterdisciplinaryappeal,thisbookwillbeavaluable
resource for researchers in task-based language teaching and assessment and for
teachers with practical suggestions for designing and using tasks for teaching and
testing.
Theoriginofthisvolumeliesindiscussionsessionswithourgraduatestudents.
Weareforeverthankfultothemforinsights,commentsandperspectives.Wewould
liketothankallourcontributorsforsuchagreatamountofpatience!Allthepapers
inthisvolumewerepeer-reviewed,andweareextremelythankfultoourreviewers:
Profs. Malathy Krishnan, J. Willis, Geetha Durairajan, Jacob Tharu, Maya Pandit,
Meera Srinivas and Santosh Mahapatra! This work would not have been possible
v
vi Preface
withoutthesupportandunderstandingofthefamilymembers,friends,theinstitute
authoritiesandallthewell-wishers.Bigthankstoallofthem!
Kanpur,India N.P.Sudharshana
Hyderabad,India LinaMukhopadhyay
Contents
PartI Task-BasedLanguageTeaching
1 Task-BasedLanguageTeaching:AMultifacetedApproach ........ 3
N.P.SudharshanaandLinaMukhopadhyay
2 SecondThoughtsAboutSecond-LanguageTeaching .............. 13
N.S.Prabhu
3 TheUndiscoveredVygotskyinPrabhu .......................... 17
EstherRamaniandMichaelJoseph
4 Task-Based Language Teaching: Early Days, Now
andintotheFuture ............................................ 39
RodEllis
5 An Evolution of a Framework for TBLT: What Trainers
and Teachers Need to Know to Help Learners Succeed
inTask-BasedLearning ........................................ 63
JaneWillis
6 FromNeedsAnalysistoTask-BasedDesign:Methodology,
AssessmentandProgrammeEvaluation ......................... 93
RogerGilabertandAleksandraMalicka
7 DifferentiatingTaskRepetitionfromTaskRehearsal ............. 119
GavinBuiandRhettYu
8 TaskComplexityandLanguageProficiency:ItsEffectonL2
WritingProduction ............................................ 139
VeenaNairandShrutiSircar
9 From Cognitive Grammar to Pedagogic Grammar:
MacrostrategiesforDesigningForm-FocusedTasks .............. 163
N.P.Sudharshana
vii
viii Contents
10 DesigningandUsingTaskstoFosterMetaphoricCompetence
AmongLearnersinIndianContexts ............................ 183
BaburamUpadhayaandN.P.Sudharshana
PartII Task-BasedLanguageAssessment
11 Task-Based Language Assessment for Large-Scale
andClassroom-BasedOralandPrintAssessments ............... 207
LinaMukhopadhyayandN.P.Sudharshana
12 Validation of a Large-Scale Task-Based Test: Functional
ProgressioninDialogicSpeakingPerformance ................... 217
ChihiroInoueandFumiyoNakatsuhara
13 CommunicativeStrategiesasaToolforAssessingSpoken
InteractionalCompetence ...................................... 249
PankajNarke
14 EffectofTaskStructureandInteractionConditionsonOral
Performance .................................................. 275
SajitM.MathewsandN.P.Sudharshana
15 UsingTask-BasedSpeakingAssessmenttoMeasureLexical
andSyntacticKnowledge:ImplicationsforESLLearning ......... 293
VasimTamboli
16 Whole Text Reading Comprehension: An Application
ofTask-BasedLanguageAssessment ............................ 323
VrishaliK.Patil
17 TasksinLanguageAcquisitionResearch:MoreThanWhat
MeetstheBlinkingEye ........................................ 351
ShrutiSircarandLinaMukhopadhyay
Editors and Contributors
AbouttheEditors
N.P.Sudharshana isAssistantProfessorofEnglishintheDepartmentofHuman-
ities and Social Sciences at IIT Kanpur, India. His main research areas include
applyingcognitivesemanticstoteachingandlearningEnglishasasecondlanguage,
materialsdevelopment,andclassroomlanguagetesting.Hehaspreviouslyworked
withmanystategovernmentsinIndiaonschoolcurriculumdesignandimplemen-
tationprojects.Heistheco-authorofEnglishforTechnicalCommunication(2016)
and English for Engineers (2018) both published by Cambridge University Press,
India.
LinaMukhopadhyay isProfessorintheSchoolofEnglishLanguageEducation,
The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India. Her research
interestsaresecondlanguageacquisition,readingdevelopment,languageassessment
andtesting,andbi/multilingualeducation,andshehaspublicationsineachofthese
areas.Sheiscurrentlyinvolvedinamultilingualeducationprojectincollaboration
withtheUniversityofCambridgeandfundedbytheESRC-DFID,UK.Thefive-year-
longprojectisexaminingtheinterrelatednessoflanguageofinstruction,schoolskills,
and cognition of young learners studying in challenging contexts in government
low-aidprimaryschoolsinIndia.
Contributors
GavinBui holds a Ph.D. in applied linguistics. He is an associate professor and
associateheadintheDepartmentofEnglishattheHangSengUniversityofHong
Kong.
RodEllis is Research Professor in Curtin University, Australia; a longstanding
professor at Anaheim University; a visiting professor at Shanghai International
ix
x EditorsandContributors
StudiesUniversity;andEmeritusDistinguishedProfessoroftheUniversityofAuck-
land.HeisalsoafellowoftheRoyalSocietyofNewZealand.Hehaswrittenexten-
sivelyonsecond-languageacquisitionandtask-basedlanguageteaching.Hismost
recent(co-authored)bookisTask-basedLanguageTeaching:TheoryandPractice
(2020)publishedbyCambridgeUniversityPress.
RogerGilabert is an associate professor and researcher within the Language
Acquisition Research Group (GRAL) at the University of Barcelona. His research
interests include second-language production and interaction, task and syllabus
design,oralandwrittenmodesandCAF,TVgenresandsubtitlesandcaptions,and
personalizationandadaptivityinseriousgamesforreadingskills(currentlyworking
onacurrentHorizon2020project).
ChihiroInoue isSeniorLecturerattheCentreforResearchinEnglishLanguage
LearningandAssessment,UniversityofBedfordshire,specializingintheassessment
ofL2speakingandlistening,particularlyinthetaskdesign,test-takerprocessesand
featuresoflearnerlanguage.HerrecentTBLT-relatedpublicationsincludetheeffects
ofplanning timewithTOEFLlecturelistening-into-speaking tasks(ETSResearch
Report,forthcoming)andvariablesofaccuracyandsyntacticcomplexity(Language
LearningJournal,2016).
AleksandraMalicka focuses on second-language acquisition in traditional and
online contexts, learning based on pedagogical tasks, curriculum design, person-
alizedlearningandroleofindividualdifferencesintheprocessoflearningasecond
language.HeisamemberoftheOpenUniversityofCatalonia(UOC)TechSLALab
researchgroup.
SajitM.Mathews hasaPh.D.inEnglishfromtheDepartmentofHumanitiesand
Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. His research
interests are TBLT, TBLA, oral proficiency teaching and assessment and second-
languageacquisition.HehastaughtEnglishattheUniversityofHyderabadandRajiv
Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Kadapa, India. He has published
severalarticlesforteachersinmagazinesandblogs.
VeenaNair isAssistantProfessor(English)atMarBaseliosCollegeofEngineering
andTechnology,Thiruvananthapuram.Hermajorareasofinterestarecognitionand
second-language writing, second-language acquisition and learning, bilingualism
andlanguageacrossthecurriculum.
FumiyoNakatsuhara is Reader in Language Assessment at the Centre for
ResearchinEnglishLanguageLearningandAssessment(CRELLA),Universityof
Bedfordshire, UK. She has carried out a number of international testing projects,
working with ministries, universities and examination boards. Her publications