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Document Details : Title: Taking Text to Task Subtitle: Issues and Choices in the Curriculum Construction Author(s): BYRNES, Heidi , CRANE, Cori , MAXIM, Hiram H. , SPRANG, Katherine A. Journal: ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics Volume: 152 Date: 2006 Pages: 85-110 DOI: 10.2143/ITL.152.0.2017864 Abstract : This article argues that the construct of task can provide a principled and effective foundation for the development of extended, multi-year curricula and pedagogies for second/foreign language learning of adults. That assertion is made with an important condition: "task" must be expanded, both theoretically and empirically, toward issues that arise in conjunction with textually and literacy rather than being grounded primarily in psycholinguistic, sentence-oriented processing considerations, as original proposals by Long and Crookes (1992) has suggested. The article presents that overall theoretical argument and then describes how genre-based tasks have been used (1) for selection and sequencing decisions within an existing content-oriented collegiate curriculum in the German department at Georgetown University; (2) as a way to inform pedagogical choices that target advanced levels of L2 ability, particularly the learners' language abilities and content knowledge across the curriculum and also help to further specify learning objectives and curricular choices. |
