Martin Bygate is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the School of Education, University of Leeds. He has written extensively in the past, including the volumes Speaking (1987) and Grammar and the Language Classroom (1994). Peter Skehan is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School of Education, King's College, London. His previous publications are in the areas of individual differences in second language learning, second language acquisition, and language testing. Merrill Swain is a Professor in the Second Language Education Program of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. She is a Past President of the American Association for AppliedLinguistics, and is currently a Vice-President of the International Association of Applied Linguistics.

• 1. IntroductionMartin Bygate, Peter Skehan and Merrill Swain PART 1: TASKS AND LANGUAGE PROCESSING2. Effects of task repetition on the structure and control of oral languageMartin Bygate 3. Non-reciprocal tasks, comprehension and second language acquisitionRod Ellis 4. Rules and routines: A consideration of their role in the task-based language production of native and non-native speakersPauline Foster PART 2: STUDIES OF TASKS IN LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS5. Focus on form through collaborative dialogue: Exploring task effectsMerrill Swain and Sharon Lapkin 6. Guiding relationships between form and meaning during task performance: The role of the teacherVirginia Samuda 7. 'A case of exercising': Effects of immediate task repetition on learners performanceTony Lynch and Joan Maclean PART 3: TASK-BASED APPROACHES TO TESTING8. Tasks and language performance assessmentPeter Skehan 9. Influences on performance in task-based oral assessmentsGillian Wigglesworth 10. Task-based assessments: Charactersitics and validity evidenceMicheline Chalhoub-Deville Afterword: Taking the Curriculum to TaskChristopher N. Candlin