Task-Based Language Teaching in a Postsecondary Language Program: Pedagogical Implementation and Learning Outcomes

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating and Sustaining Postsecondary World Language Education Enrollment and Learning Outcomes: Challenges, Initiatives, and Opportunities (Table 9)

Abstract

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is a pedagogical model which offers evidence-based and highly contextualized additional language (L2) instruction (East, 2021; Erlam & Tolosa, 2022; Long, 2015; Van den Branden, 2022). TBLT’s fundamental premise is that language curricula must be derived from learners’ needs, and that the primary building block of a language curriculum and its major criterion for educational attainment should be the tasks that learners want and need to be able to accomplish in their L2 (Long, 2015). TBLT is primarily instantiated following ten Methodological Principles (Long, 2015), based on contemporary theories of second language acquisition (SLA) (e.g., the cognitive-interactionist model, just-in-time feedback) and education (e.g., l’education integral, learning-by-doing). However, scholars have emphasized the stark lack of longitudinal language-program-based evidence of TBLT’s purported efficacy (e.g., Norris & Davis, 2021; Van Gorp & Van Den Branden, 2022). In particular, very limited research has investigated TBLT at the scope and scale of a multi-course, multi-instructor educational program (cf. Markee, 2007; Van den Branden, 2006), and none in languages other than English (LOTE) in U.S. higher education.
Responding to calls from the MLA (e.g., Lusin et al., 2023) and other language education scholars, the present study evaluated the implementation of TBLT (i.e., as described by Long, 2015) in a large, urban, public U.S. university. The major goals of the present study were to (1) investigate the viability of TBLT as a pedagogical model in a postsecondary language program in the U.S., (2) document the specific pedagogical approaches, including conformity to and deviations from theorized models of TBLT in this context, and (3) evaluate the language learning outcomes in relation to TBLT’s core principles. The focal context for this study is one university’s Spanish Basic Language Program. The Program consists of four non-heritage-oriented courses, 25 instructors (50% graduate student Teaching Assistants), and 1000 students per semester. The program seeks to implement Long’s (2015) version of TBLT across all sections of all four levels.
Data for the study included curriculum documents, classroom observations and debriefs (n=12), instructor interviews (n=25), and surveys of students (n=997) and instructors (n=25). Outcomes evaluation was conducted based on a stratified random student sample (n=400) completed a standardized proficiency test, and all students (n=997) completed two self-assessments: one of global proficiency (Ma & Winke, 2019) and one of program-specific task-based skills. Finally, pedagogy and learning outcomes were examined using four mixed effects regressions and correlations between students' task-based assessments/self-assessments and instructors' fidelity measures based on instructor and student surveys.
Results indicate (a) robust evidence of the viability of strong-form TBLT implementation at scale, (b) proficiency outcomes comparable to/exceeding non-TBLT U.S. university language proficiency datasets (e.g., Winke et al., 2020), and (c) a clear relationship between instructor fidelity to the principles of TBLT (Long, 2015) and student achievement. The demonstration of the educational viability of TBLT based on this study’s findings offer important implications for other postsecondary WL programs interested in implementing TBLT in the U.S.

Author

• Matt Coss, Michigan State University