Martin East

Task-based language teaching from the teachers' perspective : insights from New Zealand

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is being encouraged as part of a major overhaul of the entire school languages curriculum in New Zealand. However, teachers often struggle with understanding what TBLT is, and how to make TBLT work in classrooms. Using the stories that emerged from a series of interviews with teachers (the curriculum implementers) and with advisors (the curriculum leaders), this book highlights the possibilities for TBLT innovation in schools. It also identifies the constraints, and proposes how these might be addressed. The result is a book that, whilst rooted in a particular local context, provides a valuable sourcebook of teacher stories that have relevance for a wide range of people working in a diverse range of contexts. This book will be of genuine interest to all those who wish to understand more about TBLT innovation, and the opportunities and challenges it brings.

Addressing the intercultural via task-based language teaching: possibility or problem?

A frequent weakness of communicative approaches to foreign language teaching is a neglect of the intercultural dimension. Cultural knowledge is often treated as an addendum which focuses on learning facts about the target country. This article explores whether task-based language teaching (TBLT) can successfully address the intercultural dimension. Using findings that emerge from a series of one-to-one interviews, this article explores practitioners’ current understandings of cultural knowledge, and how these understandings influence their practices. It identifies strengths and weaknesses and considers the steps that may be necessary if TBLT is to be a more successful mediator of the intercultural dimension.

Mediating pedagogical innovation via reflective practice: a comparison of pre-service and in-service teachers’ experiences

Recent school curriculum reform in New Zealand is promoting a shift from a teacher-led didactic pedagogical approach to a learner-centred and experiential model. However, facilitating changes to teachers’ practices in line with curriculum expectations is challenged by teachers’ existing beliefs and practices, which are often influenced by their own experiences as students in school. Focusing on one curriculum area, this article describes how one university has attempted to support curriculum innovation through two teacher education courses (one for pre-service and the other for in-service teachers) and presents data from an exploratory study into this attempt. The two courses contained a parallel scaffolded reflective written assignment (a reading log) designed to help teachers to reflect on their thinking and practice with regard to effective learner-centred and experiential pedagogy. Data from logs completed at the beginning and the end of the courses were used to determine and compare the extent to which shifts in thinking occurred for participants (pre-service n = 20; in-service n = 27). The article concludes by considering the implications for reflective practice as a means of supporting innovative practice.

Coming to Terms with Innovative High-Stakes Assessment Practice: Teachers' Viewpoints on Assessment Reform.

Implementing assessment reform can be challenging. Proposed new assessments must be seen by stakeholders to be fit for purpose, and sometimes the perceptions of key stakeholders, such as teachers and students, may differ from the assessment developers. This article considers the recent introduction of a new high-stakes assessment of spoken proficiency for students of foreign languages in New Zealand high schools. The new assessment aims to measure spoken proficiency through the recording of a range of unstaged peer-to-peer interactions as they take place throughout the year. It contrasts with an earlier assessment that drew on a summative teacher-led interview. The article presents findings from a survey of teachers (n = 152), completed two years into the assessment reform, in which teachers were asked to consider the relative usefulness of the two assessment formats. Findings suggest that teachers consider the new assessment to be, in most respects, significantly more useful than the earlier model, and that the new assessment is working relatively well. Some challenges emerge, however, in particular around the feasibility and fairness of collecting ongoing evidence of spontaneous peer-to-peer performance. Findings raise issues to be considered if the new assessment is to work more successfully.

Moving Towards ‘Us-Others’ Reciprocity: Implications of Glocalisation for Language Learning and Intercultural Communication

Abstract Learning new languages potentially gives people vital skills to build more successful relationships, and understanding the social influences at work today may help us to know which type of language education is most beneficial. This article explores three social influences – globalisation, localisation and glocalisation – from the perspective of their effect on language use. It is suggested that glocalisation provides the most useful term to describe the reality of social interaction at the start of the 21st century and that language education should be shaped by the impact of this social influence on language use. Te akoranga o ngā reo hou ka pakari te tangata ki ngā puukenga taketake, hei hanga whanaungātanga whai hua, me te mohio hoki ki nga tini āhuatanga e paa ana ki te mahi o te ao nei, ā, ka whai awhi tātou ki te mohio ko tēhea te momo whakaakoranga reo te mea tino manako. Ko tēnei tuhi pānui e rangahau ana i ngā āhuatanga e toru. Ko te ao, te taiwhanga, me te ao taiwhanga, mai hoki te aronga o ngā otinga mo ngā mahi reo. E mea ana ko te ‘ao taiwhanga’ te wāhanga tino pai ki te whakaaturia atu te ngako o te whakawhitwhiti, mai te tīmatatanga o te rautau rua tekau mā tahi, me te whakaaro kia whakaritengia ano te whakaakoranga reo mai te papātanga o ngā tini āhuatanga e pā ano ki ngā mahi reo.

Promoting positive attitudes towards foreign language learning: a New Zealand initiative

Abstract This paper reports on the effectiveness of a tailored undergraduate course at a tertiary institution in New Zealand constructed to challenge, and encourage changes to, monolingual ‘English-only’ attitudes. The course was designed to provide knowledge and promote understanding of the phenomenon of English as a global language, and the place of, and implications for, languages other than English in that context. Working with two cohorts of students, a pre- and post-treatment design was used whereby participants completed an attitudinal questionnaire at the start of the course and the same questionnaire at the end. They were also asked what they thought about languages in a globalised world. The questionnaires were analysed to determine if there had been any shift in attitudes by the end of the course. Findings are presented and discussed in terms of the effectiveness of this course to promote positive attitudes towards foreign language learning in New Zealand-based students. It raises the question of whether similar courses could be planned for use by secondary and other tertiary students as part of initiatives to help them to recognise that speaking languages other than English is normative in todays world.

Dictionary Use in Foreign Language Writing Exams

This book provides an in-depth analysis of what happens when intermediate level learners of a foreign language use a bilingual dictionary when writing. Dictionaries are frequently promoted to people learning a foreign language. Nevertheless, teachers often talk about their students’ inability to use dictionaries properly, especially when they write, and this can be problematic. This book paints a comprehensive picture of the differences a dictionary makes and brings out the implications for language learning, teaching, and testing practices. It draws on research in which participants in three studies took writing tests in two test conditions – with and without a dictionary. They were also asked what they thought about the two test types. Their performances and opinions were analyzed in a variety of ways. Conclusions from the data highlight some of the practical issues to be kept in mind if we want to help foreign language learners to use bilingual dictionaries effectively when writing.

Taking communication to task – again: what difference does a decade make?

A decade ago, Klapper (2003: ‘Taking communication to task? A critical review of recent trends in language teaching’, The Language Learning Journal 27: 33–42) created the opportunity to reflect on the assets and limitations of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in comparison with more established communicative language teaching (CLT) models. He concluded that, comparatively speaking, TBLT was ‘found wanting’. This article considers whether, 10 years on from Klappers thesis, we should come to the same conclusion about TBLT, or whether a decade has given us sufficient time to deal with the apparent limitations of TBLT in mainstream instructed foreign language (FL) contexts in ways that address Klappers reservations. The article begins with an outline of TBLT, along with the essential strengths and weaknesses that Klapper identified. It goes on to describe several recent studies into the effectiveness of TBLT as seen from the perspective of teachers, which reveal teachers’ identification with the issues Klapper had raised and what this has meant for their classroom practices. The article concludes by proposing a model for TBLT in instructed FL contexts, commenting on this model in the light of Klappers original concerns.

Research into practice: The task-based approach to instructed second language acquisition

This article discusses the phenomenon of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in instructed additional language settings. It begins from the premise that, despite considerable theoretical and empirical support, TBLT remains a contested endeavour. Critics of TBLT argue that, particularly with regard to time-limited foreign language instructional contexts, TBLTs learner-centred and experiential approach to second language acquisition fails to provide an adequately structured environment that allows for sufficient exposure to frequent language, and processing and practising of grammatical form. At the same time, differences emerge between how TBLT is conceptualised in theory and how TBLT is operationalised practically in many additional language classrooms. These realities signal the need to look at the interface between theory, research and practice. The article considers what current research into TBLT has not succeeded in getting through to classrooms, what has succeeded in getting through reasonably well, and what has been over-applied. It is concluded that the under- and over-application of theory and research in practice highlight the difficulty in identifying exactly what TBLT is or should be in instructed contexts. The article proposes a way forward to strengthen the effectiveness of the TBLT endeavour.

Assessing Spoken Proficiency: What Are the Issues?

Developing FL students’ spoken communicative proficiency is arguably a central goal of the contemporary communicatively-oriented classroom. This central goal has implications for how to assess this proficiency in construct valid ways. Two essential questions are addressed in this chapter: what does it mean to speak proficiently in the FL? What modes of assessment might best capture authentic instances of spoken proficiency for measurement purposes? The chapter presents one influential model of communicative competence and uses that model to define a spoken communicative proficiency construct that informs, from a theoretical perspective, what current communicative approaches to language teaching and learning aim to achieve. The chapter goes on to discuss how to tap into a spoken communicative proficiency construct for purposes of assessment. Three central issues that concern how we might most effectively measure this proficiency in high-stakes contexts are discussed – whether, and to what extent, assessments should be: operationalised within a static (i.e., summative) or dynamic (i.e., formative) assessment paradigm; task-based or construct based; single interview or paired/group.