An Analysis of Task-based Language Teaching in Junior Middle School English Reading

楊　娟

青島大學馬克思主義學院，山東　青島　266071

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An Analysis of Task-based Language Teaching in Junior Middle School English Reading

楊娟

青島大學馬克思主義學院，山東青島266071

The goal of the new English curriculum standards is not just to enhance the ability of using language but also to arrive at a higher reading level.This means that English teachers need change timely teaching methods to improve the existing situation of English reading teaching.The purpose of the research is not only to explore how to arouse students’ interest in reading but to explore some practical and effective teaching methods to improve teaching effectiveness in the future junior middle school English reading lesson.

Task-based Language Teaching；English reading；Junior middle school

一、Introduction

High-quality teaching of reading is not only beneficial to improve students’ reading skills，but also to promote the improvement of students’ listening and speaking ability.Reading ability is an important sign of English level，so reading is the core of junior middle school English teaching.Although English as a second language has been taught for several decades，the results of teaching are not very ideal.In junior middle school English teaching，a majority of teachers focus solely on the recognition of words and phrase and the grammatical structures.Great deals of students are overwhelmed with such boring English class.

In Communicative English teaching environment，teachers merely develop students’ communicative competence，which includes the knowledge about how to use the language appropriately in communicative situations，but to ignore the importance of the correct sense of grammar.

Therefore，in order to solve the existing problems in English reading teaching in junior middle school，it is extremely imperative that the task-based approach should be applied in English class.In summary，students are of interest in such English reading class.

二、 Literature Review

(一)Task-based Language Teaching

1.Defining task

Since the thirties of the nineteenth century，a mass of research about tasks has been conducted.The following are only a few among the long list.They are listed as follows in chronological order：

(1)A task is ‘a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others，freely or for some reward.Thus，examples of tasks such as filling out a form，borrowing a library book，taking a hotel reservation and helping someone across a road.“Task” is the things people will tell you they do if you ask them and they are not applied linguists’

(Long 1985：89)

(2)A task is ‘an activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought，and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process’.

(Prabhu 1987：24)

(3)A communicative task is ‘a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending，manipulation，producing，or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.The task should also have a sense of completeness，being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right’.

(Nunan 1989：10)

2.Defining task-based language teaching

Task-based language learning，also known as task-based teaching，task-based approach，is a language teaching method.This emphasis on real authentic language teaching and students must use the target language to complete meaningful tasks，such as a call to order merchandise，arrange travel time.The accurate use of appropriate language is not the standard to assess students’ performance，but the standard to assess whether the task is completed.

(二)Major Researches for TBLT

1.Researches abroad

It is widely known that Prabhu is the founder of Task-based Language Teaching.He firstly put forward the task-based approach for language teaching.In 1979，he carried out “Bangalore project” that is an experiment about TBLT in Bangalore，the south of India.In 1989，Nunan published “Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom”，in this book he introduced the basic theory of task-based teaching.After，Jane Willis(1996)in her book “A Framework for Task-based Learning” pointed out that how to apply TBLT into classroom teaching.Jane Willis cut the task-based language learning process into three parts：pre-task，task cycle and language focus.

2.Researches at home

Chinese researchers began researches on TBLT in 1990s.Professor Xia Jimei firstly introduced concept of TBLT in 1998.A sea of scholars，English teachers or others paid a close attention to TBLT after the promulgation of the New English Curriculum Standard(2001).

Cheng Xiaotang(2004)brings forward definition of task and its type.He thinks the definition of a task should be relatively wide，but not too narrow，and he also believes that according to their needs different tasks can be designed by different researchers.At the same time，he divides the types of a task into real tasks and learning tasks，simple tasks and complex tasks.Then，he comes out a clear definition on task and exercise.

Hu Chundong(2004)，a professor from Beijing Normal University，points out that we can set up our own foreign language teaching methodology based on our existing achievements and the ones borrowed from abroad.

(三)Reading

1.Definitions of reading

Every linguist gives an interpretation of the term reading in a variety of ways.According to Kenneth Goodman(1970)，reading is a complex process.+Larry A.Harris & B.Smith(1979)interpret that reading is the intellectual and emotional perception of a printed message，which shows that reading is an active and constructive process and that there is intellectual energy to be is expanded.Harris and Sipay(1970)consider “Reading is an active process in which reader is trying to make sense of the written or printed message；reading is not a basically passive，receptive process.” From what has been discussed above，the interaction between thought and language recognize readers’ active role in text interpretation.It is easy for students to make proper and appropriate predictions from the information embodied in the text.Teachers who adopt this point of view on reading will certainly invent a kind of activities to develop students’ consciousness and awareness of text clues and instruct them to make predictions in their reading process.

2.Reading models

By the 1970s，a majority of scholars and researches made first language reading research；they looked for the reason and solution of why some children couldn't read.However，the research on second language reading was practically rare.Then，some second language experts，such as Gough，Kenneth Goodman，were carefully researching the unique issues and questions focusing on second language reading teaching.The findings are briefly summarized as follows.

(1)Bottom-up model

Bottom-up reading was promoted by Gough.It basically follows a linear process from recognition of letters to words，to phrase，to sentences，to paragraphs，and then to the meaning of the whole text.This model holds that reading begins with the decoding of words and goes on to meaning，which is a text-based or text-oriented model of comprehension.

(2)Top-down model

Top-down reading was put forward by Goodman，which means using macro-level clues to decode the text.Readers must first equipped with a multiplicity of linguistic knowledge and use their linguistic data to guess some meaning from the printed page.In this way，a reading passage can thus be understood even if not all of the individual words are understood.If the teacher teaches a top-down approach to reading，he should have focused on meaning-generating activities rather than on mastery of the bottom-up skills of letter，sound，and word recognition.

(3)Interactive model

The current theory views reading as an interactive process.That is to say，the brain receives visual information and at the same time，interprets or reconstructs the meaning the writer had in mind when he wrote the text.This process does not only involve the printed page but also the reader’s knowledge of the language in general，of the world，and of the text types.During the process of reading，all these factors intact with each other and compensate for each other.

3.Reading strategies

The teaching of reading should focus on developing the students’ reading skills and strategies and meanwhile activate students’ motivation for reading.Reading strategies is to improve comprehension while reading.During the reading process，students should be able to choose more effective reading strategies for different purpose of reading.The reading strategies are briefly summarized as follows.

(1)Predicting

As is known to all，predicting is one of the most important reading skills.No matter predictions are right or wrong，the reader’s will get his/her mind closer to the theme of the text to be read.After the real reading，the reader will then either confirm or reject the predictions.By predicting will form a proper reading habit than the situation where the reader began reading with a blank mind.Predictions can be done in many different ways，such as predicting based on the title，predicting based on vocabulary，predicting based on the T/F questions，etc.

(2)Skimming and Scanning

A great amount of scholars thought that skimming and scanning are the two most valuable reading strategies.When skimming，we read material rapidly so as to obtain the main information of it，to know its structure，or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.We can do skimming in many situations.For example，when reading a daily newspaper，we usually read quickly to get the gist and only spend more time on that information that is more important.When scanning，we always manage to locate specific information and usually do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so.It is only to simply let our eyes wander over the text with the purpose of finding what we are looking for，like a name，a date，or a less specific piece of information.

(3)Making inferences

Making inferences，which means “reading between the lines”，is the more useful reading skill.It is easy to infer the implied meaning of the author for the reader who equipped with background knowledge.Making inferences is actually the process of relating the given information to what we know about the world

三、 Task-based Reading Teaching Model in Junior Middle School English Class

(一)Requirements for English Reading in Junior Middle School

According to National English Curriculum，the main task of the English curriculum is to stimulate and cultivate students’ interest and their confidence in learning the language，help them develop good learning habits and form effective learning strategies，facilitate autonomy and cooperative spirit in learning.Teachers should be design real tasks to attract students’ attention relying on the overall objectives of the curriculum and related teaching content.Under the guidance of teachers，students finished the task through perception，thinking，investigation，discussion，exchange of experience，practice.

(二)Task-based Teaching Model in Junior Middle School English Class

It is common that Task-based Language Teaching approach is an effective method in foreign language teaching.Teachers apply the Task-based Reading Teaching to greatly improve the instruction efficiency in junior middle school English reading teaching.The model of the teaching is mainly composed of three stages，scilicet；the pre-task stage，task-cycle stage and the post-task stage，details of them can be seen in the following sections.

1.Pre-task stage

In the pre-task stage，it is the most important thing for teachers to arouse students’ interest of learning and renew some related knowledge.In this part，all the activities should focus on introducing or leading students to the specific details of the reading text.Teachers should introduce or provide some appropriate background information to the students in order to activate their existing knowledge and to constitute necessary schemata.

2.Task-cycle stage

In task-cycle stage，a majority of activities or exercises should focus on helping the students foster their reading skills，deepen their understanding of the text and solve various kinds of problems.In this stage，the most difficult thing is to help the students to utilize skills in their reading tasks，because different students may need or prefer to use disparate skills.Students should practice special kind of skills through a proper reading material or reading task，thus to cultivate students’ ability of the choosing of suitable skills according to different reading text.

3.Post-task stage

In the post-task stage，the activities of post-reading，such as advertisement and transferable reading activities，should be promoted and carried out by teachers.Its purpose is first to exam students’ understanding of the reading text and then to connect the information from the written message with one’s own knowledge to arrive at an understanding.However，the difficult yet important task for teachers is to help the students to go deeper behind the literal meaning of the text in this stage.Teachers must design some activities for students to discuss，for the sake of activate their prior knowledge，so that they can comprehend the text from different angles and thus understand the text more thoroughly.

(三)Application of Task-based English Reading Strategy Teaching in Junior Middle School

1.Pre-task Stage

Task 1 Predicting

Students think about those questions and discuss them with your classmates before reading the passage.

(1)Did you write a letter for someone?

(2)What did you write in the letter? Can you share with us?

Advice：Task 1 aims to activate students’ prior experiences and raise their interests for reading.Whatever the predictions are correct or wrong，it is easier to figure out the main theme.

2.Task-cycle Stage

Task 2 Skimming：

Task 2 is armed at following the principle step by step.The aim of the task is designed to train students to quickly browse，grab the major information to understand the structure of the article as a whole.By completing skimming and solving a few simple questions，students will be able to acquire the gist from the text in a very short period of time，which was put a deeper foundation for more difficult passage.

Task 3 Scanning

Students read the whole passage again and answer the following questions：

(1)Whose hair is shorter between Liu Ying and Liu Li?

(Liu Li’s hair is shorter.)

(2)What is Liu Ying’s favorite subject?

(Liu Ying’s favorite subject is P.E.)

Advice：Task 3 is designed to foster the ability of scanning.Its aim is to catch the specific information and main information and deepen the understanding of reading material in detail.

[Reference]

[1]Ellis，R.2003.Task-based Language Learning and Teaching.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[2]Jane Willis，2002.Dave Willis Challenges and Change in Language Teaching.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

[3]Nunan，David.2000.Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom.Beijing：People’s Education Publishing House.

[4]Nuttall，C.1982.Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language.Oxford：Heinemann.

[5]Skehan，P.1998.A cognitive Approach to Language Learning.Oxford University Press.

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1006-0049-(2016)17-0062-03