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9 - A Psycholinguistically Motivated Methodology for Task-Based Language Teaching

from Part IV - Methodology and Pedagogy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Gisela Granena  and
Yucel Yilmaz
Edited by
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian  and
Michael H. Long
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Michael H. Long
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) methodology is theoretically and empirically motivated. It is rooted in in cognitive and interactionist second language acquisition theory and based on inferences from research findings that show how learners acquire an second language. As a result, TBLT is able to create a psycholinguistically optimal environment for second language learning by taking into account the main factors that contribute to the sedond language learning process and that make seond language teaching more efficient. This chapter summarizes the theoretical underpinnings of TBLT methodology and provides a review of major research findings on variables in instructed second language learning that have been identified as having a relevant impact on second language learning: attention to form, negative feedback, and cognitive individual differences. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the research findings presented for a psycholinguistically defensible methodology for TBLT and the problems these findings pose for traditional options in language teaching, such as the structural syllabus.

Keywords

Focus on formfocus on formsnegative feedbackindividual differencesimplicit and explicit learningincidental and intentional learninginstructed L2 learning
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching , pp. 305 - 325
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Doughty, C. J. and Long, M. H. (2003). Optimal psycholinguistic environments for distance foreign language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 7(3), 50–80.Google Scholar
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Long, M. H., Lee, J., and Hillman, K. K. (2019). Task-based language learning. In. Schwieter, J. W. and Benati, A., eds. The Cambridge handbook of language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 500–26.Google Scholar
Robinson, P., Mackey, A., Gass, S. M., and Schmidt, R. W. (2012). Attention and awareness in second language acquisition. In Gass, S. M. and Mackey, A., eds. The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 247–67.Google Scholar
Yilmaz, Y. (2013). The relative effectiveness of mixed, explicit and implicit feedback. System, 41, 691–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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