A Study on the Application of Task—based Approach to English Vocabulary Teaching

趙佳穎

bstract：The core of task-based approach is“doing things with the language".During doing things， student will use language naturally.Teachers apply task-based approachin English vocabulary teaching to give students the opportunity to make full use of language.In the process of using language to do things students develop and improve their ability of language expression.Key words：task-based approach English vocabulary teachingVocational schools emphasize the relevance between learning content and practical activities. Thus， the introduction of task-based approach into vocational schools teaching has a strong practical significance and application value. This research attempts to apply task-based approach to the process of secondary vocational school English vocabulary teaching.

ⅠDefinition of task-based approach

Task-based approach， which is short for TBA， can be described as a development of basic inner requirement of students. Main idea of this theory is to fulfill the individual need according to different processes

Ⅱ.Characteristics of task-based approach

A.Meaning is the primary of all the things.

B.Learners cannot be as a machine to repeat other people's meanings.They should have their own thinking.

C.There is some sort of relationship in comparable real-world activities. The task cannot deviate from common senses.

D.Task completion has some priority since it is the final aim of all activities.

E.The assessment of the task is done in terms of outcome. The outcome can influence the further step of learning for other students.

Ⅲ The application of task-based approach

Task 1：Brainstorm

Ask the students to write down vocabularies related to the“water”.Because it is free play， every student can make a contribution， and it can stimulate their learning motivation，also let them concentrate on the coming study task.

Task 2：Prediction

Group activities： write down the key words on a piece of paper about the water cycle.It is a little harder task，so maybe students will find the text word list or discuss with group members.Regardless of the answers which students write， as long as the student doing it，teacher can give corresponding conclusion：“Good job”.Because there was no standard answer，just students thinking is OK.Then the teacher can point out todays main task-“talking about the water cycle”.Teacher designed closely integrated theme to inspire students learning desire step by step，in order to impel students to produce enough learning initiative.

Task3：Game

According to the teaching design， ask students to play a game to check whether the students find information on water cycle process before class.If not，they can also know related background knowledge. The game is named“the water cycle”which intuitively presents the process of water circulation by water dropletstravel.

Task 4：Report

In this period each team elected a representative to report what his/her team learnt from this text to the class.Representatives recommended of each group should be sure to pay special attention to oral fluency and accurate use of language when he/she introduced the opinions of the group discussion and results to the class.Finally the students began to discuss， and showed up point of view： water is important in our life.We should cherish every drop of water.

Task 5：Drawing

By completing a variety of tasks，students have learnt about the water cycle and importance of water，besides that，expand the studentsvocabulary.In order to strengthen studentsmastery of new words，let the students draw the water cycle process and use English comments as homework.

Ⅳ Suggestionsto using task-based approach

Firstly，the group division should be more scientific and reasonable to ensure that the tasks can be successfully completed.Teams cannot be too big. Ordinarily，six students form one group is better. Teachers should get to know the studentscharacteristic. And according to their English level， personality and interest teacher can divide the students reasonably.It will be propitious to help each other.

Secondly，task aim must be clear. While a complex task aim can be divided into several different simple task aims，so that the aims will be much clearer. It will be easier for the students to complete the task step by step.Meanwhile， the task aim should be set up depending on studentslevel neither too low nor too high.

Thirdly，the task-based approach can stimulate studentsinterest.We all know that interest play an important role in English study. Teachers should make tasks closed to the real life or the future work and it can arouse studentslearning curiosity.So students can take apart in activities actively.

Fourthly，task design is important in task-bask language teaching.Considering the students different English levels the task difficulties should be appropriate.It is necessary to use task instead of some exercise in order to improve students'English vocabulary using abilities.When the teacher designs tasks， he/she should make the tasks be fit for different levels of students. The teacher should consider the students'differences in order to make most students attend the activities.

Fifthly，the teacher should range time for each task appropriately.Giving too much time，the students may talk with others after they finished the tasks.The teacher will not control the steps.On the contrary， if the time is not enough，students will not discuss fully and some students may not open the mind.How to arrange the time of tasks depends on the complexity of tasks.

Finally，task-based approach should be used combining with other methodologies. Although task-based approach is effective in the English vocabulary teaching，it is used other methodologies sometimes.When some students dont adapt to task-based approach，teachers should adjust their methodology in accordance with their situation in combination with task-based approach.When students cant understand some grammar or structure，the teacher should use some part of PPP model with task-based approach.In addition， at the beginning of using the task-based approach，the students cannot adapt the new approach.The teacher should combine the traditional teaching method together in some extent.In some part，the traditional method helps students to learn knowledge more directly and the task-based approach offers students some chances to use learned language form.In that case，teachers can save more time and students can get a good balance between form and meaning.

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