Task Design
Task design is the principled creation of communicative tasks for language learning — selecting, structuring, and calibrating activities so that they generate the interaction, output, and attention to form that drive acquisition. It is a core competence in TBLT but relevant to any communicative methodology.
What Counts as a Task?
Ellis (2003, 2018) identifies four defining criteria:
- Primary focus on meaning: Learners are engaged in conveying and comprehending messages, not practising pre-selected forms.
- A gap: The task contains an information gap, reasoning gap, or opinion gap that creates a genuine communicative purpose.
- Learners use their own linguistic resources: The task does not provide the language to be used — learners must draw on whatever they know.
- A clearly defined outcome: The task has a non-linguistic outcome (a decision, a plan, a ranking, a solution) that is not simply "correct use of the target structure."
If an activity fails any of these criteria, it is an exercise, not a task.
Prabhu's Gap Typology
Prabhu (1987) identified three fundamental types of gap that generate communication:
| Gap type | Mechanism | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Information Gap | One learner has information the other needs | Describe-and-draw, spot the difference |
| Reasoning Gap | Learners must derive new information from given information | Working out a timetable from constraints |
| Opinion Gap | Learners must express and negotiate personal views | Ranking, debating, problem-solving |
Information gaps are the most controlled; opinion gaps are the most open. Task designers select the gap type based on learning goals and proficiency level.
Design Variables
Task designers manipulate several variables to control difficulty, interaction, and language use:
Input
- Mode: Written, spoken, visual, or multimodal
- Complexity: Vocabulary level, syntactic density, length
- Familiarity: Known vs. unfamiliar topic
- Organisation: How clearly structured the input is
Conditions
- One-way vs. two-way: One learner transmits information (one-way) vs. both exchange (two-way). Two-way tasks generate more negotiation of meaning.
- Open vs. closed: Closed tasks have a single correct outcome; open tasks have multiple possible outcomes. Closed tasks produce more negotiation; open tasks produce more complex language.
- Planned vs. unplanned: Planning time before the task increases complexity and accuracy but may reduce fluency.
Outcomes
- Convergent vs. divergent: Must learners agree (convergent) or can they maintain different positions (divergent)? Convergent tasks push more negotiation.
- Concrete vs. abstract: A physical product (a map, a poster) vs. an abstract outcome (a decision, a consensus).
Task Complexity
Robinson's Cognition Hypothesis (2001, 2011) and Skehan's Limited Capacity Hypothesis (1998) offer competing predictions about how task complexity affects performance:
- Robinson: Increasing cognitive complexity (e.g., more elements, more reasoning) pushes learners to produce more complex and accurate language simultaneously.
- Skehan: Cognitive resources are limited — increasing complexity in one area (e.g., reasoning demand) trades off against another (e.g., accuracy or fluency).
Both agree that task complexity should be sequenced — simpler tasks first, building toward greater cognitive and linguistic challenge. This connects to Grading and Sequencing.
Task Sequencing
Tasks within a lesson or across a course should follow a principled progression:
- Within a lesson: Pre-task (schema activation, input flooding) → Main task → Post-task (language focus, report, repetition)
- Across a course: Same task type with increasing complexity, or progression from closed/information-gap tasks to open/opinion-gap tasks
Practical Design Checklist
- Does the task have a clear, achievable outcome?
- Is there a genuine gap that motivates communication?
- Does it require learners to use their own language, not scripted phrases?
- Is the cognitive and linguistic demand appropriate for the level?
- Does it generate the kind of language (structures, functions, vocabulary) you want learners to practise?
- Can it be done in the time available?
- Does it connect to a real-world communicative purpose?