Contents Acknowledgements xvi Introduction 1 Part 1 Background 1. Language Use, Holistic Activity and Second Language Learning 7 2. Holistic Tasks in an Educational Context: Some Key Issues 18 3. Holistic Tasks in a Research Context: Some Key Issues 37 4. Tasks in Second Language Pedagogy 51 5. Defining Pedagogic Tasks: Issues and Challenges 62 6. Engaging Learning Processes: Implications for the Use of Second Language Tasks 71 7. Researching Second Language Pedagogic Tasks 82 Part 2 Interactions between Research and Practice 8. Task Research from a Pedagogical Perspective 133 9. Pedagogic Perspectives on Second Language Tasks 192 Part 3 Exploring Tasks 10. Research Directions 233 Part 4 Resources 11. Further Resources 267 References 277 Name Index 291 Subject Index 295