Since the emergence of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the belief that languages are acquired through communication has been a central tenet of language teaching methodology. This belief has continued to be central to the development of task-based approaches to language teaching that have built upon the ideas of CLT, its models of language learning and ideas of learner-centeredness. This paper considers strategies to maximize student communication within a task-based classroom environment and presents a case study into the use of pyramid discussions within a task-based classroom to maximize student communication. Working within Jane Willis' well-known task framework, this study shows how pyramid discussions can significantly help to increase student communication opportunities when compared to more traditional teacher-fronted approaches.

This article discusses ways in which grammar teaching has been changing over the past few decades. Special attention is given to recent scholarship focusing on teaching the Past Perfect, a challenging area of English grammar for non-native speakers to master. A quasi-experimental case study is presented, comparing the effectiveness of two approaches-one using inductive techniques, and the other, a combination of inductive and deductive techniques. After a statistical analysis of the data collected, we conclude that the pedagogical grammar approach appears to be significantly more efficient than the inductive approach alone.

The shift from traditional towards more learner-centered approaches to teaching has resulted in the concept of authenticity becoming central to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). As a relational notion, authenticity has to do with the interaction between learners and input materials in terms of appropriate responses, as opposed to its notion of genuineness as an absolute quality. It paves the way for language to be authenticated through context, as it encourages a use-to-learn rather than a learn-to-use approach. Using authentic materials requires a great deal of attention to be paid to not only the contextualization and authenticity of tasks, but also to the incorporation of genuine texts into task design, which itself has been revolutionized through modern technology. Using the Web as a technological tool has resulted in another version of authenticity, which might be in line with finder authenticity. The main aim of this paper is to argue that the notion of authenticity has come a long way from genuineness to finder authenticity.

The shift towards communicative, learner-centered approaches to teaching has resulted in attention being drawn to promoting autonomy as a capacity for independent learning. Taking responsibility for their own learning enables students to break down barriers to learning that appear in teacher-directed environments. With independence and interdependence as its two interrelated aspects, autonomy has its roots in interaction with others in social contexts, and it is now looked upon as being certain abilities that facilitate the navigation of learning through higher degrees of motivation, creative thinking, and conceptual learning. Thanks to technology, language learners easily access authentic materials for out-of-class learning. However, this paper aims to argue that where promoting autonomous learning is concerned, it cannot be enough per se; proper guidance is crucial, and the interrelation between pedagogy and technology has to be explored so that enough attention is paid to the affordances of certain technological tools to enable language learners to become more autonomous.

Not only did the emergence of the idea of communicative competence result in grammar instruction being moved from its central position in traditional approaches, but it also helped to pave the way for the adoption of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). As a tenet of language teaching methodology, the belief that languages are acquired through communication has appeared to be central to the development of task-based approaches to language teaching. Built upon the idea of learner-centeredness and CLT models of language learning, task-based learning (TBL) comes into play and encourages language learning through authentic acts of communication, interaction, and negotiation of meaning. With its main focus on fluency rather than accuracy, TBL has been criticized for inadequate grammar coverage. By drawing a distinction between a task and a grammar exercise and between focus on form and focus on forms, this paper argues that there are enough opportunities for satisfactory grammar coverage throughout a TBL lesson.