P. Skehan, G. Hu, S. Bax

The argument that Skehan makes in his argument is that interaction is key in task-based instruction. He goes on to point out that input alone is not sufficient. Interaction is crucial, as well as the "opportunities is provides for learners to receive personalized, well-timed feedback for areas of interlanguage that are problematic"(4). The feedback that the learner receives is important because not only is the feedback from the teacher important, but the feedback from peers as well. It is also a great way for other learners to employ their knowledge and be able to find any mistakes and find an appropriate way to address the issue. Task-based is important because it can allow students to work together in various activities. While the teacher is more of an authority figure in the classroom, it's important for peers to work together so that individuals can contribute to the class.
Hu's article discusses the failure of CLT in the Chinese classroom context. Hu describes CLT and traditional Chinese culture to be "incongruent". CLT is drawn "extensively on developments in sociolinguistics, discourse theory, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, and second-language research that have occurred largely in the West" (94). Hu explains that CLT doesn't work in the context of the Chinese classroom because between the two, there is a large cultural clash. The classrooms in China promotes an education in which learning is seen as an accumulation of knowledge. Students aren't taught (it probably isn't encouraged either) to challenge their teachers and ask thought provoking questions. Their simple duty in class is to learn and listen to what the teacher says. Education in China is seen as something that grants social mobility, power, and overall superiority. I can see how the CLT method failed to be successful in the context of the Chinese classroom.
Reading Hu's article gave a great lead-in to Bax's article. Bax discusses that teachers need to teach around context. As we see in Hu's article, CLT may be successful in the West, but doesn't work in countries like China. The context of the classroom in the West and China are vastly different. As teachers, we need to be more aware of the context of our classrooms. Two different sections of the same class may require different needs and methods based on the context of the class.