Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wpx84 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-18T19:04:32.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What do beginning teachers make of task-based language teaching? A comparative re-production of East (2014)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2020

Martin East
Martin East*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Arts, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
*
Email: m.east@auckland.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

East (2014) presented a largely qualitative study that uncovered how beginning teachers of languages other than English developed their understandings about task-based language teaching (TBLT) as they took part in a year-long initial teacher education programme in New Zealand. This paper reports a comparative re-production. It complements a recent New Zealand based study, experimental in nature, and its approximate replication (Erlam & Ellis, 2018a, b). The present paper argues that TBLT remains in practice a contested endeavour. Positive experimental research findings are not necessarily finding their way into classrooms, and practitioner-focused studies play a crucial role in adding to our knowledge of what works and what does not work in authentic contexts. The original study and the comparative re-production addressed the same research questions and drew on parallel data sources. The findings of the comparative study, which supported those of the original study, helped in identifying more clearly the issues at stake for the profession and the variables that require attention. It is apparent that the challenges reside in upskilling and supporting practising teachers, who need to become a stronger focus of dedicated and long-term professional development opportunities that will introduce them to the innovation, and sustain them in its implementation.

Type
Replication Research
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 552 - 566
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
East, M. (2012). Task-based language teaching from the teachers’ perspective: Insights from New Zealand. Amsterdam, Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
East, M. (2014). Encouraging innovation in a modern foreign language initial teacher education programme: What do beginning teachers make of task-based language teaching? The Language Learning Journal, 42(3), 261–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
East, M. (2017). Research into practice: The task-based approach to instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching, 50(3), 412–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
East, M. (2018). How do beginning teachers conceptualise and enact tasks in school foreign language classrooms? In Samuda, V., Van den Branden, K. & Bygate, M. (Eds.), TBLT as a researched pedagogy (pp. 23–50). Amsterdam, Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
East, M. (forthcoming). Task-based language teaching as a tool for the revitalisation of te reo Māori: One beginning teacher's perspective. The Language Learning Journal.Google Scholar
Erlam, R., & Ellis, R. (2018a). Input-based tasks for beginner-level learners: An approximate replication and extension of Erlam & Ellis (2018). Language Teaching, doi:10.1017/S0261444818000216Google Scholar
Erlam, R., & Ellis, R. (2018b). Task-based language teaching for beginner-level learners of L2 French: An exploratory study. Canadian Modern Language Review, 74(1), 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erlam, R., & Tolosa, C. (forthcoming). Pedagogical realities of implementing task-based language teaching in the classroom. Amsterdam, Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Long, M. (2016). In defense of tasks and TBLT: Nonissues and real issues. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 5–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackey, A. (2012). Why (and why not), when, and how to replicate research. In Porte, G. (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 21–46). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Makel, M., & Plucker, J. (2014). Facts are more important than novelty: Replication in the education sciences. Educational Researcher, 43(6), 304–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markee, N. (2017). Are replication studies possible in qualitative second/foreign language classroom research? A call for comparative re-production research. Language Teaching, 50(3), 367–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, J. (2009). Task-based teaching and testing. In Long, M. & Doughty, C. (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 578–594). Oxford, UK: Wiley Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2006). The value and practice of research synthesis for language learning and teaching. In Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 1–50). Amsterdam, Netherlands/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porte, G. (2012). Introduction. In Porte, G. (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 1–17). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Porte, G. (2013). Who needs replication? The CALICO Journal, 30(1), 10–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porte, G., & McManus, K. (2019). Doing replication research in applied linguistics. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Porte, G., & Richards, K. (2012). Replication in second language writing research. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 284–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shehadeh, A. (2018). Foreword: New frontiers in task-based language teaching research. In Ahmadian, M. J. & del Pilar Garcia Mayo, M. (Eds.), Recent perspectives on task-based language learning and teaching (pp. vii–xxi). Boston, MA/Berlin, Germany: Walter De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow, UK: Longman Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar