Reflections on Task-Based Language Teaching

This book discusses whether task-based language teaching is appropriate for all learners in all instructional contexts. Chapters cover both research and pedagogy and draw on the author’s experience of working with teachers to suggest ways of addressing the problems they often face with task-based language teaching.

Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University, Australia, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Visiting Professor at Shanghai International Studies University. He is also an Appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has researched and published extensively in the fields of second language acquisition, language teaching and teacher education.

Rod Ellis is Research Professor in the School of Education, Curtin University, Australia, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Visiting Professor at Shanghai International Studies University. He is also an Appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has researched and published extensively in the fields of second language acquisition, language teaching and teacher education.

This comprehensive yet personal book will be invaluable reading for very diverse audiences. Synthesizing a lifetime of engagement with language education and tasks, Rod Ellis proposes an options-based approach that can be flexibly adapted across geographies and masterfully re-examines the quandaries cognitive and social researchers investigate through the questions teachers ask.

Rod Ellis has written (yet another) agenda-setting book, this time charting a journey through key issues in task-based language teaching. This is a must-read for researchers committed to the pedagogic relevance of their work, and for language educators in search of a deeper understanding of task-based research and pedagogy.