A case study of one teacher’s introduction to task-based language teaching

Abstract

Abstract This article reports a practitioner research study where one of the authors worked with an Indonesian secondary school teacher to help her introduce task-based language teaching into her own classroom. We report a study involving classroom observation, interviews, and a reflective journal and show that the teacher was able to develop a good understanding of TBLT principles, construct well-structured lessons around tasks, and, in the main, to implement TBLT effectively. We also found that there was also a generally positive response to TBLT from the students and pre- and post- tests provided evidence of language learning. However, we also observed that while the teacher was able to adopt the role of facilitator, she still sometimes continued to behave as a traditional instructor, dominating the interactions through display questions and nominating students. We conducted this case study as part of our work as teacher educators and conclude with a list of the insights we gained can inform professional development programmes for TBLT in Indonesia.