It is important for task-based learning and teaching research to focus on academic content tasks that involve form and meaning, language and content, and academic discourse and disciplinary knowledge. This is needed to address problems such as low academic achievement by English language learners. We argue that the SFL approach to language, particularly in the area of ‘field’ and ideational meaning, can support a rich model of experiential learning in the wider context of socio-semantic meaning-making activities that can illuminate issues regarding the analysis and development of language as a means of learning. We will illustrate this model with two contrasting examples: young children learning about magnetism, and college-level students learning about marketing.