The Ginger Marcus Foreign Language Learning Speaker Series at WashU presents this lecture by Claudia R. Fernández, Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago. As one of the most researched pedagogies, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)  has the potential to transform our current understanding of what communication is about in language learning. A student-centered, action-oriented framework, TBLT impacts not only communicative ability but also language acquisition as it engages students in the types of experiences needed to achieve both. This is because tasks are the vehicles par excellence to create truly acquisition-oriented and communicative experiences; they serve to evaluate language proficiency and for learners to show accomplishment of meaningful communicative goals. Based on her own experience implementing a Spanish basic program within a task-based framework, the speaker will present TBLT’s theoretical foundations and guiding principles that helped her design her curriculum in hopes of being an inspiration for other language programs.