37.1563, Reviews: Broadening the Horizon of TBLT: Martin East (ed.) (2025)

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Subject: 37.1563, Reviews: Broadening the Horizon of TBLT: Martin East (ed.) (2025)

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Date: 25-Apr-2026
From: Asmaa Shehata [asm.shehata at gmail.com]
Subject: Martin East (ed.) (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/36-2318

Title: Broadening the Horizon of TBLT
Subtitle: Plenary addresses from the second decade of the
International Conference on Task-Based Language Teaching
Series Title: Task-Based Language Teaching
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: John Benjamins
           http://www.benjamins.com/
Book URL: https://benjamins.com/catalog/tblt.17

Editor(s): Martin East

Reviewer: Asmaa Shehata

SUMMARY
The edited volume, "Broadening the Horizon of TBLT," comprises a range
of discussions and techniques of TBLT. The book is split into six
sections, an introduction, and 12 chapters, describing plenaries
delivered at the International Conference on Task-Based Language
Teaching between 2015 and 2023. The main purpose is to put task-based
concepts and realities into practice. The first section is the
introductory chapter, "Broadening the horizon of task-based language
teaching," which discusses the importance of the International
Conferences on Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which began in
2005 in Belgium; the chapter also describes the themes of its first
volume, focusing on its plenaries from 2005 to 2013. It initially
provides a historical overview of major trends influencing TBLT,
giving a meaningful representation of its emergence, development, and
persistent issues in implementation. Then, it gives a brief account of
the past two decades of TBLT conferences, together with their impact
on the author, and the impact that motivates his current task of
editing the second volume. The chapter ends with a brief description
of each of the following chapters.
Section 2, entitled "Practical issues for task-based courses and
curricula," includes three different chapters investigating different
procedural aspects of task-based course and curriculum design. In
Chapter 2, "Task design: A history of resilience and a space for
innovation," Roger Gilabert
proposes that completing a needs analysis would enable better matches
between the learner's needs and the course content. First, he
accurately identifies that, very often in an educational setting, the
objectives set around the delivery of the lessons are determined from
an administrative view rather than being determined by the view of the
teacher delivering the lesson. He believes that, however, task design
and syllabus development should be informed by the teacher’s beliefs.
Chapter 3, "How real is real ? Can task-based language courses
properly prepare students for reality?" by Kris Van den Branden,
further discusses this question. However, he argues that the level of
appropriateness of classroom tasks, as developed through needs
analysis and pedagogical tasks, which are a feature of task-based
language instruction, may not be sufficiently appropriate to guide the
tasks learners may have to tackle in life. Therefore, what is being
asked really is how authentic, how meaningful, and how relevant tasks
are in the classroom, given that what is realized in language classes
is just a simulation of what is outside the classroom. He raises a
question about the degree of authenticity used in tasks with
coursebooks, irrespective of what level of dependence is put on
coursebooks by teachers. In Chapter 4, "The coursebook in TBLT: Lost
cause or launching pad?", Jonathan Newton contributes directly to the
discussion by analyzing examples of how coursebooks are utilized in
Thailand, China, and Vietnam, as well as examining both how well they
work from the perspective of TBLT and how tasks can still be put into
action regardless of whether the course is developed around
coursebooks or other materials.
Section 3, "Task implementation in distinct instructional contexts,"
consists of two chapters, which are considered an extension of some of
the planning themes offered in the previous chapters of this book,
focusing on the extension of task-based language learning in terms of
implementing different domains. Chapter 5, "Task-based language
learning among children in an EFL context: Research and challenges",
by Maria del Pilar Carcia Mayo, initially examines the application of
task-based language learning with young English as a foreign language
(EFL) learners in the design of collaborative tasks for mainstream
settings, as well as content and language integrated learning
settings. Using cognitive and sociocultural interactionist approaches,
the study indicates that young learners were able to collaborate to
negotiate meaning and focus on form, and the tasks resulted in
improved motivation for the learners. Then Chapter 6, "It takes a
village: Developing and maintaining sustainable TBLT curricula," by
YouJin Kim, builds on the research of García Mayo and provides an
overview of recent research, the different types of TBLT curriculum
implementation models available, and their respective strengths and
weaknesses. The chapter shows the different forms of curriculum
implementation approaches and the benefits and challenges involved. It
is clear from the findings that to develop sustainable TBLT curricula,
you need to work with a lot of other professionals whose fields of
expertise differ, and you need some form of institutional support.
Kim’s findings suggest that you can implement TBLT principles and
adapt tasks for use across many different kinds of learners with many
different needs.
Section 4, "Task-based language assessment," consists of two chapters
that use the data of many languages aside from English and are
therefore generalizable across languages and widen the focus beyond
what might happen pedagogically in the classroom to task-based
language assessment (TBLA). Chapter 7, "Aligning classroom tasks with
can-do descriptors helps TBLT programs be chock-full of proficiency
indicators," by Paula Winke, establishes an effective link between
TBLT and TBLA by linking tasks to so-called Can-Do Statements, which
are those learners can do with language at various stages of learning
and could potentially be used to evaluate progress on a particular
task in TBLA if a learner completes the task. Winke argues that
programs based on TBLT need to have a clear connection between the
increasingly complex, demanding, diverse, and culturally rich tasks
that learners undertake and the criteria that will be used to evaluate
those tasks. According to her, an assessment could be carried out on
any type of task. Thus, tasks may be assessed from both a
communicative proficiency standpoint and from a formative assessment
standpoint if the task is a formative assessment. Similarly, Chapter
8, "From CAF to CAFFA: Measuring Language Performance and Functional
Competence in Task-Based Language Teaching, by Volkert Kuiken and
Eneke Feder, expands the concept of assessing communicative competence
beyond simply measuring it against standard data. Conventional
standards of measurement for proficiency in terms of using language
are based on the use of CAF (i.e., complexity, accuracy, and fluency)
in measuring the same facets of proficiency in relation to language
tasks. They argue, though, that the data obtained from conventional
assessments of the proficiencies from CAF will be deficient and that
there should be an additional measure of the effectiveness and
appropriateness (i.e., functional adequacy) of L2 performance to
supplement conventional assessments of proficiency. They developed a
functional adequacy scale to assess both written and oral performance
and then examined the relationship between functional adequacy and the
(sub)-facets of CAF.
Section 5, "Theories informing task-based language teaching," includes
three more chapters. Chapter 9, "Reflecting on Task-based language
teaching from an instructed SLA perspective," by Nina Spada, discusses
the theory behind task-based learning and directed second language
acquisition (ISLA), particularly in relation to each other, shedding
light on similarities in theory, research, and practice. It further
highlights the use of the construct of "task" as part of the
underlying theory of TBLT and TBLA, while also pointing out that ISLA
covers a broader scope than do TBLT and TBLA. In addition, a review of
existing literature on form-focused instruction, corrective feedback,
etc., is presented, as well as an evaluation of the aspect of
assessment from the perspectives of TBLT and ISLA. Chapter 10, "How a
processability perspective frames the potential of tasks in instructed
second language acquisition," by Anke Lenzing, utilizes the framework
of ISLA while discussing the use of processability theory (PT) to aid
in the understanding of how tasks contribute to optimal L2 learning in
any instructional context. Using speech data from different levels of
proficiency completion of the same task at different stages through
language development, Lenzing provides evidence to support the notion
that PT can enhance our understanding of both universal and
idiosyncratic elements of L2 development as reflected in L2 learners'
speech.  Chapter 11, "Exploring task-based cognitive processes:
Methodological advances and challenges" by Andrea Révész argues that
TBLT researchers should focus on exploring how L2 learners employ
cognitive processes to complete tasks within TBLT. The chapter
outlines different types of research methods to measure cognitive
processing involved in task completion and asserts that using a
combination of the research contributions will provide an
understanding of cognitive processes with greater validity and lessen
the interpretative limitations of any single methodology. The chapter
concludes with a series of recommendations that will help researchers
implement approaches to future cognitively oriented TBLT research more
successfully.
Section 6, "Ethnographic studies into TBLT as researched pedagogy,"
includes the last two chapters. In Chapter 12, "Tasks for diverse
learners in diverse contexts: A case study of Australian Aboriginal
vocational students", Rhonda Oliver discusses the research that she
has conducted for more than ten years with Aboriginal high school
students and their teachers in remote areas in Western Australia. The
participants of her research come to an upper vocational high school
located outside of the remote areas, and English was their second
language/dialect. Oliver shows that there are implications for
decision-making with culturally specific and context-specific tasks
after identifying the need for a task analysis in terms of their
needs. Finally, Chapter 13, "The teacher variable in TBLT: Broadening
the horizon through teacher education and support," by Martin East,
addresses the author’s experiences as a language learner and teacher,
how these experiences have informed his work as a teacher educator,
and especially how best to prepare language teachers through a TBLT
orientation in teacher education in the last ten years. An
autoethnographic approach is used as a way of narrating the author’s
life history as a language learner/student and teacher, as well as his
most recent experience in assisting level and prep faculty in various
educational institutions in understanding relevant TBLT concepts.
EVALUATION
This volume comprises a fascinating collection of chapters (293 pages
with index) that provide an in-depth overview of TBLT. In Chapter 1,
the editor thoroughly describes all the contributions to provide the
reader with a summary of recent empirical research using TBLT. While
all of the contributions are interesting to read, some of them,
particularly Chapters 7 and 8, display data in languages other than
English. In general, the articles cover multiple venues of research
related to TBLT, providing the reader with a complete and current
overview of the field. Each article is a stand-alone research project
showing the application of TBLT in different high school and
undergraduate courses at post-secondary education, making it possible
for the reader to read them in any order. This volume is appropriate
for applied linguists, theoretical linguists, and those researching
language acquisition, as well as teachers and researchers who wish to
understand TBLT and its implementation in language classrooms.
Overall, this book serves as an important resource for understanding
TBLT's role within the field of language learning and provides many
frameworks to provide insight into this topic. As a researcher, you
will also be able to discover the latest trend(s) in TBLT research
from the material presented within the work, and there is no requisite
prior knowledge of TBLT necessary for you to fully understand or
appreciate it while reading the book.
REFERENCES
East, M., & Wang, D. (2024). Advancing the communicative language
teaching agenda: What place for translanguaging in task-based language
teaching? The Language Learning Journal, 1–13.
Jia, S., & Bava Harji, M. (2023). Themes, knowledge evolution, and
emerging trends in task-based teaching and learning: A scientometric
analysis in CiteSpace. Education and Information Technologies, 28,
9783–9802.
Long, M. H. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based
language teaching. Wiley-Blackwell.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Asmaa Shehata is a faculty member at the University of Mississippi,
Department of Modern Languages. Her research interests include second
language phonology with a particular focus on cross-language speech
perception and production.



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