A Framework for Task-Based Learning (Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers)

Rating:
Summary: The best 'practical theory' ELT book ever?
Review: "I've taught them it but they didn't learn it" is one of the comonest complaints made by ELT teachers. But how can you get learners to learn if 'teaching' doesn't work?

Also, what things are most useful for the students. What grammar/vocab should the student learn? And how can we prepair students for speaking and listening with real people, reading real English and writing pieces that genuinly communicate?

In her remarkable book, A Framework for Task Based Learning, Jane Willis guides you to a new paradigm in ELT in small digestable steps how to achieve the above clearly with each point illustated by practical examples and justified by well researched straightforward theory.

The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book alone. Each book a masterpiece in its own area be it deeper theory, great textbooks you may have missed or wonderful resouce books you didn't know how you could live without once you have them.

Adjectives could never describe just how good this book really is!

If only I could get hold of her long out of print masterpiece of a textbook and tapes 'COBUILD English Course.' Are you reading, Jane?

Rating:
Summary: The best 'practical theory' ELT book ever?
Review: "I've taught them it but they didn't learn it" is one of the comonest complaints made by ELT teachers. But how can you get learners to learn if 'teaching' doesn't work?

Also, what things are most useful for the students. What grammar/vocab should the student learn? And how can we prepair students for speaking and listening with real people, reading real English and writing pieces that genuinly communicate?

In her remarkable book, A Framework for Task Based Learning, Jane Willis guides you to a new paradigm in ELT in small digestable steps how to achieve the above clearly with each point illustated by practical examples and justified by well researched straightforward theory.

The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book alone. Each book a masterpiece in its own area be it deeper theory, great textbooks you may have missed or wonderful resouce books you didn't know how you could live without once you have them.

Adjectives could never describe just how good this book really is!

If only I could get hold of her long out of print masterpiece of a textbook and tapes 'COBUILD English Course.' Are you reading, Jane?

Rating:
Summary: Task Based Learning - An introduction
Review: An excellent introduction to TBL for Tefl teachers.A useful book for anyone in the industry,but particularly useful for Diploma candidates because of the nice mixture of theory and examples. Also useful for anyone just browsing for an activity. Easy to read.

Rating:
Summary: The most important 'practical theory book' ever written?
Review: How can we get students to learn? "I've taught them, but they didn't learn" is one of the most common complaints ELT teachers make, especially when it comes to grammar and pronunciation.

Another problem is preparing students for real life - how should we choose the vocab/grammar to teach - things that will be really useful and how can learners be prepared for the listening, reading, writing and speaking they will need to do in the 'real world' that lies outside the classroom.

In her brilliant book, Jane Willis will guide you in small easily manageable steps from the latest research into how languages are learnt to a concise guide to implimenting a new paradigm in language teaching that addresses all the issues above. Everything is backed up by clear theoretical reasoning and lots of practical examples.

The bibliogaphy alone is worth the price of the book as all the books, ranging from deeper theory through to fantastic textbooks and resouce books, are ALL superb - buy all these books and you'll have a mindblowing library of ELT books!

Finally, if you want more you can read her husband's (Dave) book The Lexical Syllabus which parallels this book illustrated by lots of examples from her astonishing but sadly long out of print 'COBUILD English Course series' (which I have a copy, hee, hee!)

Adjectives cannot do justice to just how good this book is!

Rating:
Summary: The most important 'practical theory book' ever written?
Review: How can we get students to learn? "I've taught them, but they didn't learn" is one of the most common complaints ELT teachers make, especially when it comes to grammar and pronunciation.

Another problem is preparing students for real life - how should we choose the vocab/grammar to teach - things that will be really useful and how can learners be prepared for the listening, reading, writing and speaking they will need to do in the 'real world' that lies outside the classroom.

In her brilliant book, Jane Willis will guide you in small easily manageable steps from the latest research into how languages are learnt to a concise guide to implimenting a new paradigm in language teaching that addresses all the issues above. Everything is backed up by clear theoretical reasoning and lots of practical examples.

The bibliogaphy alone is worth the price of the book as all the books, ranging from deeper theory through to fantastic textbooks and resouce books, are ALL superb - buy all these books and you'll have a mindblowing library of ELT books!

Finally, if you want more you can read her husband's (Dave) book The Lexical Syllabus which parallels this book illustrated by lots of examples from her astonishing but sadly long out of print 'COBUILD English Course series' (which I have a copy, hee, hee!)

Adjectives cannot do justice to just how good this book is!

Rating:
Summary: A nice little book about TBL...
Review: It's a nice little book, but the operative word here is "little". It's small size may be a benefit to those looking for a quick treatment, however, so if it is the Cliff Notes to TBL that you are looking for, this may well be it. However, the diminutive size also ensures that it can only touch lightly on the underlying theory. Also, one should be aware that this is not really a book about "How to TBL", but rather about "How to TBL with a LEXICAL SYLLABUS". The author has obviously been heavily influenced by her husband in this regard. So if you don't agree with the precepts of a lexical syllabus, you are not going to agree with a lot of this book.
I give it 4 stars instead of 3 due to two outstanding ideas it presents: one concerns the importance of a "cold task" wherein learners cannot rely on short-term memory and imitation to perform; the other introduces a method whereby native or high-level speakers are recorded performing each task, and these recordings are then used for learner tasks. This idea even allows structuring a syllabus with regard to linguistic complexity, since one can then know in advance exactly what structures high-level speakers tend to use in a given task. Interestingly, this idea also effectively undermines a key argument in favor of the lexical syllabus, which the book is trying so hard to sell.

Rating:
Summary: A nice little book about TBL...
Review: It's a nice little book, but the operative word here is "little". It's small size may be a benefit to those looking for a quick treatment, however, so if it is the Cliff Notes to TBL that you are looking for, this may well be it. However, the diminutive size also ensures that it can only touch lightly on the underlying theory. Also, one should be aware that this is not really a book about "How to TBL", but rather about "How to TBL with a LEXICAL SYLLABUS". The author has obviously been heavily influenced by her husband in this regard. So if you don't agree with the precepts of a lexical syllabus, you are not going to agree with a lot of this book.
I give it 4 stars instead of 3 due to two outstanding ideas it presents: one concerns the importance of a "cold task" wherein learners cannot rely on short-term memory and imitation to perform; the other introduces a method whereby native or high-level speakers are recorded performing each task, and these recordings are then used for learner tasks. This idea even allows structuring a syllabus with regard to linguistic complexity, since one can then know in advance exactly what structures high-level speakers tend to use in a given task. Interestingly, this idea also effectively undermines a key argument in favor of the lexical syllabus, which the book is trying so hard to sell.