This review examined the sequencing and grading of tasks in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) task-based learning pedagogy. Recent research on task-based learning has focused on cognition and the role that cognitive processes play in determining the ease or difficulty of any particular task. It is argued that an understanding of the effects on the learner of task properties such as cognitive load, task complexity, code complexity, and demands on attentional resources will help alert teachers and syllabus designers to the relative ease or difficulty that a task represents for the learner. This understanding will in turn make it easier for the teacher or syllabus designer to construct appropriate graded learning experiences for the ESL learner. The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether this focus on cognition is a new and significant development in task-based learning pedagogy or an updated argument to solidify prior theoretical positions in the debate on the purpose of task-based learning. It is concluded that analyses of recent studies and proposals for task-based learning suggesting that task-based learning methodology should adopt a more systematic learning approach is not adequately supported by evidence. (KFT)