"Real-World Tasks in the Classroom: Myth or Reality? Exploring Task-Based Language Teaching"
Koen Van Gorp
Assistant Professor and Less Commonly Taught Languages Coordinator, Michigan State University  

Tasks are everywhere. They are the things we do in daily life. Long (2016) argues that task-based language teaching (TBLT) is the strongest empirically supported teaching approach around. However, for many instructors of commonly and less commonly languages, TBLT is still an innovative approach that deviates from more familiar structure-based or form-focused teaching methods. They find it difficult to incorporate real-world tasks in their classrooms. Are real-world tasks the only option or can instructors integrate more pedagogical tasks? What do they look like and how do they incorporate (or not) grammar and vocabulary? 

This talk will focus on what makes a task different from a traditional language classroom activity or exercise, and how real-world and pedagogical tasks can drive classroom (and beyond) learning. This talk aims to provide you with the foundational principles of TBLT so you can make tasks work for students and classrooms.
 

Bio: Dr. Koen Van Gorp is an Assistant Professor in the Applied Linguistics program and Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) Coordinator in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. He is also Co-Principal Investigator and Head of Research for the National LCTL Resource Center (NLRC) and serves as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Language and Education (KU Leuven, Belgium). His main research interests are task-based language teaching and assessment, and multilingualism in education. He is founding Co-Editor (together with Kris Van den Branden) of TASK. Journal on task-based language teaching and learning and Treasurer of the International Association for Task-Based Language Teaching (IATBLT).

This event will be held in person in G25 Stimson and will also be streamed live over Zoom. Join us at the LRC or on Zoom.

The event is free and open to the public. Campus visitors and members of the public must adhere to Cornell's public health requirements for events.