The task as a unit for teacher development

This paper describes how the idea of ‘task’ can be used in teacher development to work from teachers' classroom practice towards more effective language learning and teaching. It draws on examples of activities observed in young learner classrooms that can be analysed as tasks, comprised of preparation, core, and follow-up stages, and argues that identification of the language learning potential and goals of core activities is central of effective planning, teaching, and learning. Having shown how each stage of a task can be broken down into components, the descriptive framework for classroom tasks is then used to demonstrate the generation of training goals and content from classroom observation by a trainer, and the structuring of training workshops that follow a parallel task-based pattern of preparation, core, and follow-up.