Task-based Language Teaching

Abstract:Task-based language teaching has become a hot topic in second language teaching in recent years. This paper mainly gives a frame work to discuss this teaching method from theory basis， classroom implication， and relationship with other communicative teaching methods. Furthermore， meaning and problems are pointed out to help classroom teachers use and improve the task-based language teaching in real practice.

Key words: language teaching task-based implementation

作者簡介：方麗(1982.10.02-)，女，安徽壽縣人，皖西學院02級英語專業學士，主要從事高校英語課程教學。

[中圖分類號]：H319.3 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-15-0182-02

I. Introduction:

For many years， foreign language teaching overemphasizes the explanation of vocabulary and grammar points. Most teachers take a cramming method of teaching， neglecting to cultivate the students’ comprehensive language using ability， and the most important purpose of language learning， communication with people. Compared with the traditional teaching ideas， a new teaching method， task-based language teaching has in recent years become a fashionable term to cover a variety of development in syllabus design and classroom practice. This new idea emphasizes that the students must be the principle part in the teaching process， in which students are encouraged to acquire knowledge， improve language ability through participation and cooperation. At the same time， teacher should be able to design teaching task according to his own language learning and understanding and students’ language needs and ability. While using this teaching method， we should first make it clear that what the task is. Many linguists give their own opinions about that. For example， Ellis thought that task used in language teaching should intended to develop students’ language ability. So， task should be the one that needs to use language. And Nunan gives his opinion that task refers to those language learners who understand， process and output target language in class or refers to any activity practiced in target language by learners. What’s more， learners’ attention is mainly on expressing not language form practice. The view comes from Williams and Burden (1997， p.168): a task is any activity that learners engage in to further the process of learning a language.

Obviously， task mentioned here is a kind of activity which has to be completed by communicating with people， not by oneself. What’s communication? It means the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information. So， in the process of learning， there are some other situations that sound like task but in fact are not. Such as， answering teacher’s questions， tense converting， sentence translation or patterns practice. Therefore， it is clear that task likes a carrier which takes the students to the target language environment in which learners would fell， experience the language through discussing， communicating. In English class task refers to any activity students do with others in English according to the purpose. Task-based language teaching is a kind of new teaching mode， and there are some features we should also know. For example， the task is completed through interaction in the target language environment; the material chosen in the task should be related to students’ life; students’ personal experience should be emphasized in classroom learning， and the teacher’s guidance and students’ independency is the most remarkable feature of it.

While designing the task-based teaching activities， teachers should pay attention to the following points. One， the task should have a clear purpose and be operable. Two， the task designed should be better related to students’ life experience and interests and the content should be real. Three， activities will be helpful for students to learn English knowledge and develop language skills， so as to improve language using ability. Four， activity should actively promote the mutual infiltration and contact between English and other subjects， which helps to develop students’ imagination， artistic feeling， cooperation and innovative spirit. Five， the task should be able to cultivate students’ ability of acquiring， processing and using information， ability of communicating with others in English， and of solving practical problems. Six， the task should not be limited to the classroom teaching， and should continues outside the classroom.

II.Implementation

While implementing this teaching method， it is necessary to know its three basic steps-preparation， procedure and assessment. In the first step， the teacher gives students the task and the purpose， but the difficulty of the task must meet the students’ knowledge level. Apart from this， some key words can be written on the blackboard which helps students understand the task. If the task is difficult to understand， teacher can show an example. This step can be called preparation which helps students relaxed and come to the target language environment quickly. In the second step， just the main part of the whole task， students do the job in pairs or in groups according to the given task purpose. Members of each group should complete the task through expressing their own opinions， communicating with others or discussing. After that， each group should have a conclusion-product. Under the guidance of the teacher， each group has to prepare for the report， and show it by the representative on the blackboard. During this step， students are the main body of the learning activities. Teacher’s job just observes and supervises. Lastly in the third step-assessment， teacher should give a general talk about the task， showing language points， finding the advantages and disadvantages about each group’s work， praising the best group. In this step， the teacher is the main role. While giving assessment， it is important to cultivate and motivate students’ learning enthusiasm and self-confidence， so as to promote the development of students’ language using ability， healthy personality and all-round development.

Next， I want to introduce this teaching method through several teaching cases.

Activity1 task: how do you spend your free time?

Purpose: let the students study to arrange their leisure time， and cultivate their teamwork spirit. Then， the teacher gives students some key words for consulting: watching TV， reading， playing tennis， collecting stamps， internet surfing…

Suggested patterns: in my free/spare/leisure time， I like…/I prefer to do/I like…

Procedure:

1、students should first understand the content of the task.

2、work in groups of four， discussing with the partners in the group.

3、after discussing， each group chooses a representative to summarize or give a report on the platform.

4、Teacher’s comment on the students’ performances， and have students write a passage about their product.

Activity2 task: describe your parents

Purpose: Through describing parents， talking about their parents’ habits， personality， students should care about their parents and know honoring parents is the traditional virtue.

Key words or phrases: date of birth/occupation; favorite food/color/sport

Suggested sentence pattern: Do you often do anything for your parents in your free time? If your mother’s birthday or your father’s birthday is coming， what will you do for them?

Procedure: 1， ask the students do the activity in groups of four or six.

2， each student has to describe his or her parents in groups

3， each group has to choose a student who did the best to give a report.

4， according to the students’ performance， teacher named the best description.

Lastly， teacher let the students write a composition according to what they discussed in class.

Of course， if the students’ English level is not too bad， the content of the task can be designed a little complicatedly. Next， let’s see another teaching case.

Activity3 task: debate: discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the internet.

Purpose: through talking about the advantage and disadvantage of the internet， let the students know that it is important to correctly use the internet， just every coin has two sides.

Key words or phrases: look for material/enjoy movies/send message/share information; online games/damage the eyes/waste money/affect studying

Procedure: 1， gives students the task， and divides the students into 4-6 groups. Each group has two parties， pros and cons. Pros support the idea-internet has more advantages than disadvantage. Cons believed that internet has more disadvantages than advantages.

2， give students some time for preparing in their own group.

3， after practicing， the teacher asks all groups to come to the blackboard for performance.

4， the teacher picks out the best group.

5， each student should write a passage based on the group’s debate points.

III Relationship between task-based language and other communicative methods

In the use of this teaching method， we should pay attention to the difference and link between it and other communicative teaching methods. Task-based language teaching gives much emphasis on the clear purpose of the task， through which learners will volunteer to study and use the language. Communicative is a kind of teaching method that brings teachers and students’ initiative into play. Through the forms of question and answer， discussion， viewing and communication， students’ comprehensive ability get all-round developed. Except from this， task is also one of the curriculum modes of communicative.

So， the completion of a successful task should come with other communicative methods. Next， I’ll take the teaching case3 in part three as an example to make a simple analysis. At the very beginning of this activity， the teacher gives the introduction to the task-debate， asking students to say the advantages and disadvantages of the internet， setting the rules， also giving some key words or phrases on the blackboard. We can consider this part as the traditional lecture method. Then， in the second part， students practice in groups， which is a central method in the communicative classroom. Meanwhile， group work provides students with the opportunities to communicate with others， and they can discuss and express their own opinions freely. All of these interactive methods well show that communicative teaching method has played an important role in the process of language learning. After practicing in groups， each group has to perform on the blackboard. During this part， communication， sharing information among students has obviously become the main part of the whole task. At the same time， students’ independent learning with each other is the prominent feature of the task-based language learning. In the last step， the teacher explains some language points， and gives assessment on each group， which again embodies the communicative relationship between teachers and students. So， task –based language teaching is a good teaching approach that not only stimulates students’ learning motivation but also helps teachers to perfect teaching method.

IV meaning and problems

Anyway， the meaning of language learning is communication. Task-based language teaching is a good way to achieve this objective. At the same time， this method can also bring the students to the language environment which helps students to use the language skills they studied in practice. In addition， this modern method rejects the traditional teacher-centered teaching method， and embodies that students are the main body of the new teaching ideas. What’s more， it focuses on the learning process， and fully mobilizes the studying enthusiasm of the students. Through communicating with others， students will study to face difficulty， solve problems. The most important is that the new teaching method completely reflects a kind of interaction and cooperation spirit between teachers and students， and among students.

Although task-based language teaching is a kind of new type of teaching method， there are also some problems to solve. First of all， the preparation and practice for task must take up certain of time， and the time for classroom teaching is limited. So， many activities have to be done by students after class. In addition， natural acquisition process is a good way to improve language using ability， but language knowledge， skills cannot be ignored. Last points， the one that is easy to ignore is that the teacher neglects to give culture teaching in the process of the task activities especially in the assessment part. Most Chinese teachers think that the main goal of foreign language teaching is language knowledge， vocabulary， grammar and so on. We know that the most important meaning of language learning is communication， and communicative ability needs language learners not only master the basic knowledge and skills but also understand the importance of cultural factor. For example， teacher should tell students in what situation people can use how do you do， and in what situation people should use ‘nice to meet you’. So， while having language practice or after activity， the teacher should let students know that speaking appropriate language and proper words in different environment and different cultural background is very important.

As language teachers， they must know that language learning and using can’t exist without culture， and it exists not only in the teaching but also in our daily life. Anyway， proper culture explanation is not the important part in language teaching or in language activity， but it is really a necessary part in language teaching and learning.

Bibliography:

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