García Mayo, María del Pilar, ed., Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning, New York: Multilingual Matters, 2006.
The book provides a much needed examination of options in classifying and sequencing learning tasks. Framed by Robinson's insightful overview of competing theoretical claims in the area, eleven new-data based studies elucidate relationships between pedagogic task types and accuracy, complexity and fluency in L2 speech and writing, and between task types and acquisition. García-Mayo's book advances the international research agenda on task-based language teaching. Mike Long. University of Maryland.
Preface: Alison Mackey (Georgetown University)
Introduction: María del Pilar García Mayo
Criteria for classifying and sequencing pedagogic tasks, Peter Robinson
Information distribution and goal orientation in second language task design, Craig P. Lambert and Steve Engler
The simultaneous manipulation of task complexity along planning time and [ +/- Here-and-Now ] : Effects on L2 oral production, Roger Gilabert
Tasks, negotiation and L2 learning in a foreign language context, Marisol Fernández García
Attention to form across collaborative tasks by low-proficiency learners in an EFL setting, Ana Alegría de la Colina and María del Pilar García Mayo
Cognitive task complexity and linguistic performance in French L2 writing, Folkert Kuiken and Ineke Vedder
The effect of manipulating task complexity and the [ +/- Here-and-Now ] dimension on L2 written narrative discourse, Tomohito Ishikawa
Writing tasks: The effects of collaboration, Neomy Storch and Gillian Wigglesworth
L2 vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension: The influence of task complexity, Elke Peters
Task-effect on the use of lexical innovation strategies in interlanguage communication, Elsa González Álvarez
Fostering EFL learners' awareness of requesting through explicit and implicit consciousness-raising tasks, Eva Alcón Soler
Interactive task design: Metachat and the whole learner, Marie-Noëlle Lamy