Task-Based Learning in Task-Based Teaching: Training Teachers of Chinese as a Foreign Language

ABSTRACT Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is increasingly becoming known for its distinct edge in developing learners’ functional competence. Although its potential in promoting content learning has yet to be realized and explored, it should be high, given TBLT's primary attention to meaning. To what extent does the potential play out in foreign language teacher education, a domain involving much content learning, is both an intellectually stimulating and practically meaningful question. This article reports on a semester-long study investigating task-based learning in a Chinese language teacher-training program that promotes TBLT. The participants were three Chinese-speaking trainees, who, while being exposed to TBLT, performed ongoing tasks. Data from one task—writing weekly reading journals—were analyzed for both content and language, quantitatively (using robust automated tools) and qualitatively. The results show tangible gains on both counts—understanding TBLT (content) and the ability to articulate it (language). The conceptual and methodological implications of the findings are discussed for future research.