Date of Award

1-1-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

First Supervisor

Margaret Bowering

Abstract

This portfolio is written with the intention to explore current English language teaching practices in global as well as Australian contexts, with emphasis on task-based language teaching. As a result of the forces of globalisation, the number of learners involved in English language instruction has increased throughout the world and with it the necessity of language programs that would facilitate instruction in accordance with the needs of the market. Since the task-based language syllabus is founded on needs generated by the learners, there is potential for this language teaching methodology to become the recommended mode of instruction in the future. The central feature of the portfolio is the examination ef the current discourse of task and subsequent disconnect as it applies in two situations, in the field of applied linguistic research and actual second language teaching contexts. Two small scale studies have revealed that in actual teaching practice task-based language teaching has either been applied in a limited sense, or not at all. The findings also indicate that such failure to implement task-based language learning principles is largely due to a lack of understanding of the concept of task and the use of global textbooks.

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