How to Teach an Additional Language: To Task or Not to Task? — A Public Talk by Prof. Kris Van den Branden

December 6, 2022
11 am – 1 pm (ET)
via Zoom

Register at:

https://tinyurl.com/12-06-2022

Over the past few decades, Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) has gained momentum as a research-based approach to high-quality second and foreign language teaching. Worldwide, a growing number of teachers adopt communicative tasks in their language education. In my talk, I will explore what the available research has to say on the added value of using tasks as the starting point for the organization of high-quality language teaching. I will address pressing questions such as: Is task-based language teaching suitable for beginners and advanced learners? How can teachers integrate the teaching of grammar rules and vocabulary in task-based language teaching? Are tasks appropriate for motivating language learners? Should teachers use tasks to assess their students’ language
competences? Which obstacles do language teachers face when implementing TBLT?

About the Speaker

Kris Van den Branden is a full professor of linguistics and teacher educator at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Leuven (Belgium). At the same university, he is the academic supervisor of the Centre for Language and Education. He has published several articles and volumes on second and foreign language education. His main research interests are in the role of the teacher in task-based language teaching and interaction in instructed language acquisition. Currently, he is one of the chief editors of the journal TASK. Journal on Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning.

This public talk is sponsored by the Center for International Foreign Language Teacher Education (CIFLTE) at Teachers College, Columbia University. CIFLTE is committed to advancing the general understanding of foreign language learning and teacher preparation. Its flagship Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) Certificate Programs have nurtured some 500 qualified instructors in Asia, the Middle East, South America, and the US since 2014.