How Task-like are the Communication Activities in the High School English Textbooks?

Abstract

Since the revision of MEXT's curriculum guidelines in 1989, the importance of "communication" has been emphasized for English subject. In an attempt to improve the learners' communication skills, PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) has been employed in English classes at Japanese high schools. However, in recent years, TBLT has been gaining more attention because it gives the learners chances to communicate using a similar cognitive process to that of real-world communication. Since most classes are conducted based on the particular textbook they are using, the communication activities in the books are likely to affect the learners' communication abilities. In this paper, adopting the concept of "task-like" (Willis and Willis, 2017), the "task-likeness" of the communication activities found in the high school textbooks will be examined. Based on the results, some ideas to enhance the "task-likeness" of class activities are suggested.