Referent Similarity and Nominal Syntax in Task-Based Language Teaching

This volume addresses an important gap in the literature on task design and second language use. Building on insights from over 50 years of research on the relationship between task demands and language use, it examines how referent similarity relates to developmentally-relevant variation in the use of nominal structures, comparative structures and abstract lexis among first and second language speakers of English. In addition to providing an empirical basis for future research on tasks, it shares both theoretical and practical information on task design, which will greatly benefit curriculum and material developers.

Craig Lambert is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.  He has taught in post-graduate TESOL programs at Anaheim University in the United States and at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, and has more than 20 years of hands-on teaching experience in Japan, where he worked as an English teacher, course coordinator and teacher trainer.  His research on second language speech processing, syntactic development, task-based learning and learner engagement has been published internationally.