TASK - Current Issue

The gap between research and practice has been a long-standing concern in the second language acquisition field and in task-based language teaching (TBLT) specifically. We begin this article with a brief overview of the trajectory of TBLT-related research, highlighting the increased focus on studies grounded in practice and the essential role that teachers play in the implementation of the approach. We then make the case that teacher education is uniquely positioned to strengthen the connection between research and practice as it can facilitate teachers’ access to research as well as increase awareness of teachers’ concerns so that research and practice inform one another. After outlining key features of effective teacher education initiatives, we present the articles that constitute the special issue on TBLT-oriented teacher education.

Despite teachers’ overall positive perceptions about Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) (Ellis et al., 2020; Van den Branden, 2022), support in the form of teacher education appears to be crucial in helping current and future teachers in their efforts to implement TBLT (Brandl, 2017; East, 2022). This article examines the impact of a 13-week-long course for pre-service teachers of Spanish L2 on participants’ beliefs about and understanding of TBLT, and on their ability to design tasks. Drawing from Erlam (2016) and Ogilvie and Dunn (2010), data were collected using a pedagogical beliefs questionnaire, written reflections gathered throughout the course, the analysis of three pedagogical sequences, and the design of a task as the final project in the course. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data show that participants’ disposition towards using TBLT in their future teaching practice increased throughout the course and that 80% of the final tasks fulfilled all or most of Ellis’ (2009) task criteria. The study contributes to the growing body of research on the role of teacher education in the diffusion of TBLT as a pedagogical innovation.

Though teachers have been shown to be widely influential in effective task-based initiatives (e.g., Van den Branden, 2016), research on teachers and task-based language teaching (TBLT) has primarily explored how teachers develop or adapt tasks for use in their own contexts during professional development workshops or pre-service teacher programs (e.g., Erlam, 2016; Gurzynski-Weiss et al., 2024). In comparison, how teachers perceive the strengths and limitations of task characteristics has been less commonly examined. To address this gap, this multi-site study utilizes a mixed-methods design to examine teacher insights about the defining qualities of language learning activities. Two cohorts of pre- and in-service language educators (N = 40) teaching five different target languages were recruited from task-based teacher education programs in the United States and Japan. After learning about key characteristics of tasks (Ellis & Shintani, 2013; Long, 1985; Skehan, 1996; Willis & Willis, 1996), teachers evaluated the quality of a series of sample language learning activities. Teachers then participated in a post-evaluation interview about their ratings. Results reveal how teachers differentiate the characteristics and quality of tasks and highlight the factors influencing their ratings. The study contributes to ongoing efforts to bridge the divide between research and practice within TBLT initiatives, providing insights into teachers’ decision making. Implications for task-based teacher education, such as how constructs like the definition of ‘task’ could be better articulated when working with teachers, are also discussed.

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a prominent approach in second and foreign language education (Ellis et al., 2020; Long, 2015). However, for many instructors of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) at institutions of higher education (IHE), TBLT is still an innovative approach that deviates from more familiar structure-focused, teacher-dominated teaching methods. In a multi-year project, LCTL instructors partnered with curriculum design experts to create task-based, proficiency-oriented lesson materials using a reverse design framework. This study focuses on three Portuguese instructors’ understanding and application of TBLT principles and four students’ perspectives on engaging tasks. Data sources included meeting notes, instructor interviews and student responses to a pre- and post-course unit survey, analyzed through qualitative content analysis.

Findings revealed that although the instructors’ understanding of TBLT changed over three years of collaborative work, they still struggled with the concept of a task and integrating grammar and vocabulary into task-based lessons. Student feedback challenged conventional task criteria, offering insights into engaging task design features for advanced learners.

This study investigates how a collaborative, argument-based validation process can support the development of valid, context-sensitive task-based language assessments (TBLAs) while simultaneously fostering teachers’ assessment literacy and competency. Conducted within Quebec’s adult francization programs, the study involved francization teachers in the co-design, piloting, and iterative refinement of 19 summative assessment tasks targeting real-world scenarios such as job interviews and healthcare interactions. Guided by Kane’s (2013) argument-based validation framework, the process emphasized classroom-based inquiry, reflective practice, and local pedagogical relevance. Drawing on logbooks, focus groups, and observation grids, the findings reveal how engaging with validation concepts — such as domain definition, scoring, and generalization — enabled teachers to make principled decisions about task design and implementation. The collaborative model promoted a reconceptualization of assessment as an integrated component of teaching, enhancing teachers’ confidence, agency, and understanding of communicative competence. This study contributes to both the TBLA and teacher education literature by demonstrating how structured, practice-embedded collaboration can serve as a powerful vehicle for professional learning and sustainable assessment design.

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has been consolidated as a research-based teaching perspective over the last four decades. At its core, task and materials design have been identified as key to successful task-based implementation (Bryfonski, forthcoming). Yet teachers are often left to their own resources when it comes to actual design. The taskGen project has brought together knowledge from second language acquisition, Natural Language Processing (NLP), interaction design, design thinking, and computer engineering to provide a solution to the problem. The goal of this article is threefold: firstly, a brief historical overview contextualizes the issue of task design in TBLT from complementary cognitive and teacher education perspectives; secondly, a web-based tool is presented that assists and trains teachers to design, organize, automate and share tasks. TaskGen assists the design of task structure through pre-tasks, tasks, and post-tasks, while focus on form is achieved through NLP tools. Tasks can be cloned to create simple or more complex versions, and they can also be shared and cloned by other teachers/designers. Thirdly, results from a qualitative study and a quantitative one are analyzed and presented. The former taps into teachers’ perceptions of task design by showing the kind of mental processes involved in decision-making during task design. The latter draws on big data on tool use by teachers, and it measures the impact of training with the tool on teachers’ choices during task design. Overall results of the two studies illustrate the cyclical nature of task design, the central role of focus on form, and the need for task design to be integrated in teacher education in order to achieve its full potential.

This article explores how one open-access space, the TBLT Task Bank, can serve as a springboard for communities of practice (CoP; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and professional development (PD) to inform and advance both teacher education and research in TBLT. As a central, open-access repository, the Task Bank not only hosts pedagogical resources but also fosters sustained, critical engagement among diverse stakeholders including language teachers and teacher educators. Through local and global CoPs and professional development (PD), the Task Bank creates meaningful collaborative opportunities, offering a dynamic model for integrating open science and teacher education in applied linguistics.

In this article, which constitutes the concluding article of the TASK Special Issue on teacher education, I reflect on the cognitive frictions that many pre-service and in-service teachers experience when they are informed about the basic principles behind task-based language teaching and are invited to work with tasks, or design them. More in particular, I describe cognitive frictions between three types of ‘knowing’ that drive teachers’ decision-making in the classroom: their personal intuitions about language learning and teaching, the theory and research-based insights they gain access to, and the data-driven knowledge that accumulates from gathering empirical data about life in their classroom environment. I will claim that the frictions that are bound to arise between those three types of knowing are inevitable, and may even be considered as inherent to the profession of (language) teaching. What is more, they can be fruitful in terms of fostering teachers’ professional growth, particularly when they get the chance to discuss those frictions with others. The communication about such frictions I will dub ‘communifriction’ in this article. Drawing on the articles included in this special issue, I describe a range of different ways in which communifriction can take shape and can become beneficial for teachers’ own professional development and for the implementation of task-based language teaching.