抄録
This study is to investigate how likely communication tasks in English textbooks are to be based on the theoretical framework of task-based language teaching (TBLT). Following Usuda, Shimura, Tanaka and Shiratori (2008), this study investigated nine volumes of junior high school textbooks published by three different Japanese publishers. In order to investigate what extent the communication tasks meet the standards of TBLT, this study used the criteria of task-likeliness: interactional requirement of pair or group work, focus on message, requirement of outcome, explicitness of task goal, and authenticity (Willis & Willis, 2007). The results reveal that task-likeliness varies with the publishers, and sections of the textbooks, i.e., whether the tasks are in the lesson or review sections. Another result shows that in the communication tasks of a publisher which meet the standards of TBLT, task-likeliness improves with grade level; however, this does not hold true for the communication tasks of the other two publishers which received poor scores in terms of task-likeliness. This suggests that task-likeness scores be a good indicator of to what extent publishers concern about the standards of TBLT.
