Implementation of task-based language teaching and focus on form in a United Arab Emirates EFL middle school setting

This presentation reports on a recent study that investigated the implementation of task-based language teaching (TBLT) in an intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) school setting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing specifically on how teachers focus on form (FonF) in their teaching practice in this TBLT-based setting. (Focus on form is defined as "overtly draw[ing] students' attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication." (Long, 1991, pp. 45-46)) The study explored the differences between four teachers when they introduced meaning-oriented tasks based on the textbook and the program's learning outcomes (Los). The study also examined teachers' views towards TBLT and FonF in this context. It also examined students' views towards their classroom teachers' implementation of FonF. Data were collected from classroom observations, field notes, documentation of students' work, as well as interviews with teachers and surveys of both teachers and students. Results of the study show that teachers differed in their teaching practice along four dimensions: (a) successful fulfillment of the LOs, (b) type of FonF employed, (c) strategies used in FonF, and (d) the challenges as well as the possibilities for implementing TBLT successfully in this teaching context. Implications of the study for utilizing and adapting TBLT and FonF in EFL contexts in general and the Gulf region in particular will be shared with the audience. Long, M.H. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In de Bot, K., Ginsberg, R. B., & Kramsch, C. (eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39-52). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.