Abstract

The main purpose of this paper was to investigate the teachers’ Levels of Use (LoU) in the adoption of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in the classrooms. It also aimed to highlight the challenges encountered by the teachers in the adoption of TBLT. It employed the survey research method and in-depth interview for data collection. The first instrument used was the Levels of Use Self-Assessment (LoU-SA) questionnaire, to obtain a holistic picture of the teachers’ LoU pertaining to the TBLT adoption. The Levels of Use Interview Schedule (LoU-IS) was used to elicit further information related to their LoU and also the challenges encountered in the adoption of TBLT. This study found that 43.8 percent of the teachers were at the Mechanical Use and Refinement levels of use. Some of the classroom management challenges encountered by the teachers in the adoption of TBLT were: class size; assigning tasks in mixed-ability classes; and teachers’ initiatives. Greater challenges lay on the fact of having a centralised examination-oriented education system. The challenges encountered include: the teaching approach, on whether to adopt TBLT or the traditional PPP approach; the emphasis, on whether to focus on fluency or accuracy; and whether to focus on tasks or on content.