Timely and important revised edition of a significant, influential classic text which is still peerless in the field.
This new edition builds on Jane Willis’s classic textbook to reflect the changing needs and priorities of language teachers in today’s classrooms. The book has been revised and expanded to reflect the widespread use of technology and the internet in language classrooms, as well as recent debates and developments in research on language learning.
The book maintains the practical focus that has made the first edition of the book the leading resource on implementing Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) for over 30 years. Readers will find practical examples of task-based sequences and form focus activities for all levels, including beginners, that can be used in their own classrooms. It gives an integrated picture of TBLT that addresses the reasons for using this increasingly popular pedagogy, as well as addressing and suggesting solutions for potential difficulties.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART A: STARTING POINTS
Chapter 1. Language Learning: Creating the Best Environment
Chapter 2. Aspects of Tasks
PART B: TASK-BASED LEARNING
Chapter 3. The TBLT Framework: Overview and Pre-Task Phase
Chapter 4. The TBLT Framework: The Task Cycle
Chapter 5. Text-Based Tasks
Chapter 6. Spontaneous Speech and Using Recordings
Chapter 7. The TBLT Framework: Focus on Form
PART C: IMPLEMENTING TASK-BASED LEARNING
Chapter 8. TBLT for Beginners and Young Learners
Chapter 9. Adopting TBLT: Some Practical Issues
Frequently Asked Questions about TLBT
Appendices
Index
About the Author :
Jane Willis is the author of several prize-winning books including A Framework for Task-based Learning (Longman), Doing Task-based Language Teaching (OUP) and English for Primary Teachers (OUP). She also wrote, with Dave Willis, the Collins COBUILD English Course, a four part series with a lexical syllabus and a task-based approach. In 2022 she received the inaugural Distinguished Practitioner Award from the International Association of Task-based Language Teaching.
Paul Leeming is a professor at Kindai University and also teaches in the TESOL Master’s program at Temple University, Japan. He has 25 years of teaching experience in Japan. He is active in the TBLT community as one of the founding members and the program chair of the JALT TBL SIG. He is also co-author of three textbook series based on a task-based learning framework.
Justin Harris is a professor at Kindai University in Japan. He has been teaching English in Japan for over 25 years in a variety of contexts and has conducted in-service teacher training on TBLT. He is the co-founder of the JALT TBL Special Interest Group and conference chair for the biennial TBLT in Asia conference. He has also co-authored several coursebook series which follow a TBLT approach.
Review :
Willis’s A Framework for Task-Based Learning has guided my teaching for decades. This new edition refreshes its timeless principles with practical updates, new resources, and thoughtful ideas on AI in TBLT, showing how communicative tasks and focused language work are fully integrated so neither is overlooked. It deserves a place in every teacher’s library.
It is exciting to see this revised edition of Jane Willis’s original (1996) groundbreaking publication. This edition not only retains many of Jane’s original ideas but also updates them to reflect developments in the field, particularly the advent of AI. I commend it to readers who are looking for an up-to-date how-to guide for putting TBLT ideas into practice.
An absolute must-have for anyone interested in Task-Based Language Teaching. This revised edition of Willis’s 1996 classic remains the most practical guide to TBLT available, distinguished by its rich and concrete classroom examples. Grounded in research and written with both teachers and learners in mind, it continues to set the standard for how tasks are designed, implemented, and sustained in real classrooms.
