Nathan Thomas

Across China, English language teaching curricula have advocated for task-based language teaching (TBLT) for more than 20 years. Yet, there is reason to believe that practice varies widely. As such, this multiple case study sheds light on two Chinese teachers’ understandings and implementation of TBLT in a public primary school in Chongqing, southwest China. Data collection consisted of eight semi-structured interviews and eight classroom observations. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis indicated that the teachers had basic understandings of TBLT, but their teaching was incongruent with its principles. Few tasks were observed in their lessons. Three main factors affected the teachers’ implementation of TBLT: (1) classroom management issues; (2) preparation and teaching resources; and (3) the teachers’ own tacit reluctance.