In this action research report, I investigate the process of a teacher (that is, me) implementing task-based language teaching (TBLT). I document my own construction of a language learning task and the changes I made as I taught it over and over to new sets of students. I also examine how the changes affected students’ level of task engagement. I conducted the research over six weeks with twenty sets of students at two Chinese universities as part of a Summer English Communication Program. I employed a questionnaire and a teaching journal as data collection instruments. Analysis of student engagement revealed that the teacher’s revisions had limited impact on engagement, while analysis of the teacher’s TBLT implementation process showed that using tasks provided unforeseen context-specific benefits.
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