Taking communication to task once more – a further decade on

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) emerged in the 1980s as a learner-centred and experiential alternative to more established and teacher-led approaches to acquiring an additional language (L2). Two decades ago, a paper published in The Language Learning Journal discussed the advantages and drawbacks of TBLT that had become apparent since its early days (Klapper 2003: Taking communication to task? A critical review of recent trends in language teaching. The Language Learning Journal 27: 33–42). A subsequent paper, one decade later, picked up where Klapper had left things (East 2015: Taking communication to task – again: what difference does a decade make? The Language Learning Journal 43, no. 1: 6–19). The present paper provides another important milestone at which to evaluate TBLT. Importantly, the decade in question (2013–2022) has witnessed a substantial expansion in interest in task-based learning. The paper begins with a brief overview of TBLT and its historical roots. It follows with a focus on four selected directions of interest that have become more apparent during this past decade: (1) teaching less commonly taught languages; (2) teaching indigenous languages; (3) technology; and (4) translanguaging. The paper concludes by considering TBLT's potential to transform societies and matters that remain unresolved.