ABSTRACT
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a student-centered approach to language pedagogy that relies on tasks with authentic communicative goals to drive learning. This chapter begins with an overview and history of the theoretical frameworks that inform TBLT, then identifies the characteristics of tasks shared by the most influential of these frameworks. Keeping in mind that tasks and task-based curricula cannot be viewed as unimodal or unidimensional, this study explores the strong and weak versions of TBLT in course design in teaching Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language. The chapter highlights studies of online and face-to-face courses in relation to task design in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. After describing and classifying types of tasks, it summarizes the course design and experimental results of Chinese language courses across different levels. The chapter concludes with thoughts on teacher training in TBLT and ideas for future research.
