Task-Based Instruction In Foreign Language Education: Practices and Programs

Nineteen international academics contribute 13 chapters to a text for program administrators and teachers of foreign and second languages who are in the process of implementing task-based instruction (TBI), have been using it, or would like to. Following an overview of TBI theories and practices, the text offers case studies of successful programs and courses using TBI in a number of languages--Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. The models include both fully and partially task-based programs, and versions of TBI used on the Internet, with examples for all levels of language difficulty. Also included is discussion of testing and faculty development. While some programs could be used with adolescent learners, the focus is on adult professional learners and students in higher education. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Betty Lou Leaver is associate dean of Global Education and dean of New York Institute of Technology campuses in Jordan. She has introduced task-based instruction into several foreign language programs, including the Defense Language Institute, the American Global Studies Institute, NASA, the American Language Center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the American Language Center in Chisinau, Moldova. She has also provided assistance to programs using TBI in Brazil, Turkmenistan, Japan, and Korea.

Jane Willis is a visiting fellow at Aston University, Birmingham, UK, where she taught in the Masters in TESOL/TESP distance learning programs, specializing in course and materials design and lexical studies. She has taught English to European and Asian students and has educated teachers in Africa, Cyprus, Iran, and Southeast Asia. She began experimenting with task-based English teaching in 1982 in the British Council Teaching Centre in Singapore. She is the author ofA Framework for Task-based Learning and coauthor of English for Primary Teachers.