Smith summarises Ellis’s (2002) principles as a flexible guide. He himself used ‘task-supported’ teaching (tasks plus explicit grammar and exam practice) and thinks full TBLT suits intermediate+ learners more than novices.
The eight principles (paraphrased)
- Challenging but achievable difficulty, with pre-task support.
- Clear goals: choose a fluency, accuracy or complexity focus via planning.
- Explain the task’s value for language development.
- Learners take an active role and negotiate meaning.
- Encourage risk-taking and pushed output.
- Primary focus on meaning; a real outcome.
- Opportunities to focus on form before, during or after.
- Learners evaluate their performance.
Caution
The post’s summary was drafted with ChatGPT; check Ellis’s original paper before citing. (Claude) Ellis’s widely cited list is “Principles of instructed language learning” (2005, System 33) and his task criteria in Ellis (2003); verify which the post means.
Examples
Pre-teach suggestion frames for a dinner-party planning task; “choose the best holiday” listening task; “Alibi” for past tenses; short reflection only for older learners.
Connections
The task cycle - pre-task, task, language focus, repeat · TBL, TBLT and TSLT - use the right label · Dogme and TBLT share a philosophy, not a methodology