Jane Willis: award winning writer and task-based language teacher
Interested in Task-based Language Teaching?
Already using tasks with your learners? Heard about TBL (task-based learning) and want to know more? Choose a lesson plan to try out! Explore the menus above to deepen your understanding of TBLT.
The aim of this site is to help everyone use tasks effectively for teaching a foreign language. By the way, in the United States TBLT is often called task-based instruction (TBI). TESOL and ESL teachers also find TBLT beneficial.
Are TBL and TBLT the same thing?
My first book about tasks referred to TBL (task-based learning) because my main aim was to help teachers understand how a language is best learnt and how to plan task-based lessons accordingly.
Over the years, as tasks and task-based programs became more popular in language classes around the world, it became known as Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT).
But what is TBLT? And what is meant exactly by the term task?
Scroll down.
What is a task?
A task is a meaning-focused communication activity with a goal for learners to achieve and share with others.
About TBLT
A framework for TBLT
This octagonal framework shows that the task cycle is central to a TBLT lesson or work plan. The task is preceded by a class brainstorm of useful words and phrases and followed by a focus on form: grammar, word patterns, lexical phrases etc from the task cycle.
About TBLT
My new book
A Framework for Task-based Learning and Teaching
My new book (revised with the help of two TBL practitioners) May 2026.
A Framework for Task-based Learning and Teaching (FTBLT) builds on my original 1996 textbook A Framework for Task-based Learning to reflect the changing needs and priorities of language teachers in today’s classrooms. We have revised and expanded the chapters to reflect the widespread use of technology and the internet in language classrooms, as well as recent debates and developments in research on language learning.
There are practical examples of task-based sequences and form focus activities for all levels, including beginners. We clarify the reasons for using TBLT and we suggest solutions for teachers’ problems in the new FAQs section. You can also see more books here.
Buy Book
Book reviews
“Willis’s A Framework for Task-Based Learning has guided my teaching for decades. This new edition refreshes its timeless principles with practical updates, new resources, and thoughtful ideas on AI in TBLT, showing how communicative tasks and focused language work are fully integrated so neither is overlooked. It deserves a place in every teacher’s library.”
Jason Moser
Kanto Gakuin University, Japan
“It is exciting to see this revised edition of Jane Willis’s original (1996) groundbreaking publication. This edition not only retains many of Jane’s original ideas but also updates them to reflect developments in the field, particularly the advent of AI. I commend it to readers who are looking for an up-to-date how-to guide for putting TBLT ideas into practice.”
Martin East
The University of Auckland, New Zealand
“An absolute must-have for anyone interested in Task-Based Language Teaching. This revised edition of Willis’s 1996 classic remains the most practical guide to TBLT available, distinguished by its rich and concrete classroom examples. Grounded in research and written with both teachers and learners in mind, it continues to set the standard for how tasks are designed, implemented, and sustained in real classrooms.”
Melissa Baralt
Florida International University, USA