You may or may not use many task-based lessons, but task-based language teaching (TBLT) in general gets good support from researchers. Major names in the field associated with TBLT are usually from the field of English as a Second/Foreign Language. They include Jane Willis, Rod Ellis, Mike Long, Peter Skehan and David Nunan. The basic premise is that that acquisition is more likely to be promoted when students are focused on a meaningful task - using the target language for a purpose. Task-based lessons are also more likely to be enjoyable and develop what Deci and Ryan, the self-determination theory scholars, call autonomy, competence and relatedness. TBLT stands in contrast to traditional grammar-based approaches which are more teacher-led and where the main focus is on practising language forms. In my own practice, I used TBLT in various forms whenever I felt it supported students' progress and provided enjoyable, target language-based input and interaction. We all have our go-...
I asked ChatGPT to summarise a recent paper by a leading, veteran researcher into vocabulary learning. I then edited the summary and inserted some further comments from my perspective. The link to the original paper is below. https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/5/160?fbclid=IwY2xjawIlhNpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeKzoD89IDaOZB2O4sfoZ6ah_gYS7vbDjY9uGn2Mj-XT4wV3eI5Pi_UrXw_aem_UOW3G1VEv0roD61i56NKcw The ChatGPT summary starts here. This is an interesting paper because it represents Paul Nation trying to simplify decades of vocabulary acquisition research into a small set of general learning principles. It is less about new empirical findings than about providing a practical framework that teachers, researchers and curriculum designers can use. Paper Paul Nation (2024). Re-Thinking the Principles of (Vocabulary) Learning and Their Applications . Languages , 9(5), 160. The central argument Nation argues that successful vocabulary learning — and, indeed, much other language learning — depen...