The advocacy of task-based language teaching (TBLT) has met with resistance. The critiques of TBLT and the misconceptions that underlie them have already been addressed in Ellis (2009) and Long (2016). The purpose of this article is to move forward by examining a number of real problems that TBLT faces--such as how a "task" should be…

This special issue of the "Heritage Language Journal", guest edited by Silvina Montrul, unites four papers on different aspects of heritage Spanish speakers' linguistic abilities. In this commentary, we reexamine these important contributions with an eye toward implications for instruction and toward general trends for the field. In particular, we…

This article reports on a teacher-talk training course for Japanese primary school teachers, who are preparing to teach "communicative English" for the first time. The article argues that teacher-talk training is important for communicative classes with young students because most of the input and interaction is by default teacher…

Presents the results of an empirical study of the interpretation of left branch "combien" (how many) extractions in English-French interlanguage. Results show that knowledge of the interpretation of left-branch "combien" extraction is detectable in English-French interlanguage. (Author/VWL)

Discusses problems in task-based language assessment, including the definition and sampling of tasks, generalizations across tasks, interpretations about broad ability and language use domains, and the notion of task difficulty. (Author/VWL)

Presents contrasting views on the role and value of task-based learning. The first article is critiqued in the second article, and the original author responds to the critique in the third article. (Author/VWL)

Examines the hypothesis that there are fundamental differences between using language in different situations or for different purposes and that these differences may be accounted for in terms of the requirements of the task to be solved, on the basis of knowledge represented in a particular way. (Author/MES)

Explores the effect on pair-task performance of test-takers' familiarity with their partner. Japanese learners performed a series of tasks, once with a friend and again with a person who was not familiar to them. Results support findings in the literature that suggest learners vary their language when interacting with familiar or unfamiliar…

Discusses a general theory of signs showing that the relationship between acquired language proficiencies and nonverbal abilities must be closer than commonly supposed. Presents a general theory of signs showing why it is possible in principle to make linguistically and culturally unbiased judgments about intellectual abilities on the basis of…

From different viewpoints, the relationships among studying English as a foreign language (EFL), teaching EFL, and training teachers of EFL are likened to those of triangle, parallelogram, and circle. Goal-setting, organizational/situational analysis, and task analysis are discussed. (two references) (LB)

In a task-based approach to learning, learners will often meet new vocabulary "in passing" as they pursue communicative goals. Argues that such encounters can be turned to the learners' advantage and that rather than remove difficult words, teachers should consider a number of cooperative options for exposing learners to new words during…

Examines sentence matching, a methodology frequently used in the second language literature to determine notions of grammaticality of nonnative speakers. Native speakers of French and second language learners of French performed a sentence-matching task focusing on three areas of French grammar: adverb placement, subject-verb agreement, and…

Reports on an investigation into the role played by knowledge of both "icraab" and vocabulary in the reading comprehension of American learners of Arabic as a foreign language. Two groups, proficient and less proficient, of nonnative readers of Arabic read an expository text, wrote an immediate recall protocol in their first language to measure…

Addresses issues relating to performance-based learning and serves as a guide to the process of developing a performance task. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the increase in discourse-based studies of oral proficiency assessment techniques. Discusses research carried out on a number of factors in the assessment setting, including the role of interlocutor, candidate, and rater, and the impact of tasks, task performance conditions, and rating criteria. (Author/VWL)