Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Task Characteristics. There are four main characteristics of tasks: (1) 
meaning is primary; (2) there is a goal which needs to be worked towards; 
(3) task completion has some priority; and (4) there is a real-world rela-
tionship. Candlin suggests that tasks should contain inputs, roles, settings, 

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CHAPTER TWO: LANGUAGE TEACHING
actions, monitoring, outcomes and feedback; Shavelson and Sternlist the 
following elements which teachers should consider while designing a TBLT 
lesson: content, materials, activities, goals, students, social community (as 
cited in Munira & Ferdousi, 2012, p. 99)
Long (2015) discusses that “tasks are the real-world activities people 
think of when planning, conducting, or recalling their day. That can mean 
things like brushing their teeth, preparing breakfast, reading a newspaper, 
taking a child to school, responding to e-mail messages, making a sales call, 
attending a lecture or a business meeting, having lunch with a colleague 
from work, helping a child with homework, coaching a soccer team, and 
watching a TV program. Some tasks are mundane, some complex. Some 
require language use, some do not; for others, it is optional” (p. 6).
Task-Cycle. The TBLT lesson follows the following task cycle format: 
pre-task stage, task cycle stage and language focus stage (Willis, 1996). 
During the pre-task stage a teacher introduces the topic and explains the 
task. During the send stage of task cycle the learners complete the task and 
report it either in written or oral form. During the third stage of language 
focus teacher together with learners analyze the language used during the 
second stage and do more practice on some points, if necessary. 
Figure Seven. Task Cycle (based on, Willis, 1996).
The effectiveness of the TBLT pedagogy is based on the learners’ en-
gagement during the whole lesson process. Philp and Duchesne (2016) 

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describe the engagement “as a multidimensional construct that includes 
cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional dimensions of engagement 
among second and foreign language learners in the classroom” (p.51).