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Task Based Language Teaching Methods Essay

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Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background
Many teaching methods have thrived and languished in history. Task-based language teaching (TBLT), which is believed to assist students to learn English more effectively via meaningful communication rather than systematically focusing on grammar rules (Ellis 2003),has gained massive popularity around the world and is viewed as a “new orthodoxy” (Littlewood, 2004) over the last two decades. A proliferation of books in relation to TBLT have been published (Prabhu,1987; Candlin &Murphy,1987;Crookes and Gass,1993;Estaire and Zane,1994; Bygate, Skehan and Swain,2001; Ellis,2003; Jonhson,2003; Nunan,1989,2004; Leaver and Willis, 2005; Van den Branden 2006; Garcia Mayo,2007;Eckerth and Siekmann,2008; Willis & Willis, 2008; Van den Branden , Bygate and Norris, 2009; ), recording the significance of Task-based language teaching by these researchers and teacher educators. Meanwhile, abundant research on the application of TBLT (引用) has been carried out around the world. As Ellis (2009) states that “TBLT has progressed well beyond theory into actual practice” (p. 222)
Therefore, it appeared on the governmental educational policies and was compiled into curricula and commercial syllabuses alike as a central teaching method. Nunan (2004) states that “if official documents are to be believed, TBLT has become a cornerstone of many education institutions and ministries of education around the world” (p.13). In Nunan’s (2003) survey of the

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