A Study of Task-based Learning and Teaching in a Large EFL Class

This study uses detailed qualitative method to explore the implementation of task-based learning and teaching in an Elementary School English learning classroom in Taiwan. This paper examined the process of task implementation by analyzing the data from intensive classroom observations, on-going interviews with the teacher, in-depth interviews with the students and their reflective journals. This study identified the issues that were not addressed in previous studies. Previous studies have tried to show the effectiveness of task-based learning and teaching. The overall results of the present study have shown the implementations of task-based learning have shown to be challenging for both the teacher and students involved; however students enjoyed working on the tasks at different levels and the difficulties that were raised were able to be adjusted over a period of time with the exception of one. The results suggested that Taiwanese Elementary Schools are unique contexts in whichcareful considerations should be taken when using the task-based learning approach. Suggestions were also made for the implementation of task-based learning in an Elementary School context.