Task repetition in ELT

A ‘task’ can be defined as a meaning-focused pedagogic activity in which learnersneed to rely on their linguistic andnon-linguistic resources inorder to achieve a communicative outcome (Ellis 2009a). Since the early 1980s, the notion of task has been widely used in ELT circles, and previous Key Concept articles on task (Rubdy 1998) and task-based language teaching (Foster 1999) note that initial debates centred around: (a) providing a working definition for a task, (b) designing classificatory schemes for grading and sequencing tasks, and (c) examining the effects of different types of tasks on L2 development. In addition to these themes, researchers and practitioners have also been concerned with task design and implementation, implementation being considered in terms of preand post-task activities. One of the implementation variables that has attracted researchers’ interest is ‘task repetition’.