Task—Based Language Teaching in Senior High school English readingpractice

張明諭

【Abstract】The senior high school reading teaching is an important part of English teaching. English curriculum standard has been widely implemented and provided task—based language teaching through giving students more opportunities for oral and written English. What is more important is to show three stages of task—based language teaching： pre-task， while-task and post-task.

【Key words】Task-Based Language Teaching; Senior High School English Reading

1.Background

Task--based language teaching refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching. Some of its proponents present it as a logical further development of Communicative Language Teaching since it draws on several principles that formed part of the Communicative Language Teaching movement from the 1980s.

2.Conception

Task-Based Language Teaching， which puts great emphasis on learning by doing， refers to a language teaching method from the 1980s and is a further development of Communicative Language Teaching.

The purpose of TBLT is to enable senior high school students to learn language through diverse tasks designed? by the English teacher. During the completion of a task ，the teacher is supposed to absolutely develop learners cognitive ability and motivate the resources of their existing target language in a learning way of involvement、experience、interaction、communication and cooperation. Moreover， learners should be expected to experience、feel、recognize and use the target language in the teaching practice. Moreover， learning and using by doing reflect a more advanced teaching idea， which is an effective foreign language teaching method worthy of promotion.

TBLT is used by senior high school English teachers to design diverse communicative learning tasks and gets students to possess the ability to use language， the ability to think， the ability to create， the ability to create， the ability to self-instruct and the ability to collaborate during the process of the completion of the task. This teaching model， which has a very profound theoretical basis， is being initiated in our current foreign language teaching.

2.1 Basic Components of a Task

Clark， Scarino and Brownell reckon that a task should include four components： purpose， context， process and product.

2.1.1 Purpose：

To ensure that students are supposed to have reasons for executing and completing a task.

2.1.2 Context：

A context designed by the teacher can be real， mimic or imaginary， covering the issues of sociolinguists， such as places，participants ，their relationships ，time and other elements.

2.1.3 Process：

To enable students to employ learning strategies， such as problem-solving strategy， reasoning， consultation， conception and communication.

2.1.4 Product：

In light of TBLT， there ought to have language output products for a certain kind. whatever visible （a written plan， a performance， a role-play or a letter and so on）， or invisible （appreciating a story or learning the diverse cultures of other countries and so on）.

3. Task and practice

Generally speaking， there ought to have an intrinsic difference among task， exercise and activity.

3.1 A purpose： the purpose we speak of has its duality.

One is that a task in itself does not have teaching purposes. The other is that the designer expects the participants to achieve its goals while the exercise just serves for teaching purposes.

3.2 A task， most frequently， can produce non-linguistic products while an exercise always produces linguistic products.

For instance， we can choose how to go camping according to weather forecast. we can choose which bus or train we can take according to train and plan schedules. Therefore， what we get is non-linguistic.

3.3 Openness：

That is to say， the performances of a task are not a series of designed models or approaches， whose unified result cant be achieved after the completion of the task. Applied language can be optional， unfixed or unrestricted.

3.4 Communication or interaction

A task is an activity， which is collective and cooperative. The performance of the task can be on the basis of interaction. The interaction can be between the students， between the teacher and students， between the students and input materials， which is bilateral or multilateral.

4. Approach

4.1 Theory of language

TBLT is motivated primarily by a theory of learning rather than a theory of language. However， several assumptions about the nature of language can be said to underlie current approaches to TBLT.

They are：

（1）Language is primarily a means of making meaning.

（2）Multiple models of language inform TBI.

（3）Lexical units are central in language use and language learning.

（4）Conversation is the central focus of language and the keystone of language acquisition.

Design

Characteristics

The biggest challenge an English teacher encounter is how to design diverse tasks in employing task-based language teaching. The teacher is compelled to take many factors into account， such as task design， to conduct an activity effectively， the teacher has to designed activities with elaboration and thoroughness. The designed tasks must possess the following characteristics：

（1）The task is a thing a learner takes advantage of language resources to do.

（2）The task must have a communicative product， which is effective and apparent.

（3）The participants， in the first place， put great emphasis on the meaning rather than the form.

（4）The task involves the process of language use like a real language world.

4.2 Task Types

Many teachers and experts hold different views in light of task-based teaching activities. Varied viewpoints lead to diverse task types.

Nunan （2004） divided a task into two parts： real world and pedagogic task; Richards task types involve Jigsaw task， information-gap task， problem-solving task， decision-making task and opinion exchange task.

Here， we mainly demonstrate the task types of Willis. She divides it into six different task types.

（1）Listing task

Listing requires students to explain or list relative contents in connection with the task theme. Ordering and sorting task

Ordering and sorting are also called collating. For instance， the teacher disorders the paragraphs， important points or pictures， and then enables students to order them in sequence. The priority is that students need to know and comprehend the contexts exactly and pay more attention to the consistency of the contexts. Comparing task

In terms of various language materials， comparing task， which can get students to spot the differences between them and express them in an appropriate way， enable students contrast， compare and match.

（2）Problem-solving task

Problem-solving task is to require students to tackle various problems， they might encounter in their everyday life according to his or her knowledge and reasoning， Sharing personal experiences

Sharing personal experiences means to require students to communicate with other peers and sharing different information， such as study， life， interest， travel， movie， physical education and music.

Creative tasks expect students to collect materials， investigate， study， probe into the problem， obtain knowledge and skills in focusing on a certain subject. In addition， students should demonstrate their research products in a certain way.

Creative tasks can enable students to experience condition—input—experiencing process—product. This this classic probing learning approach involves students in the whole process and leads students to deal with the realistic problems with language use.

5. The procedures

The procedures of task—based classroom teaching linguist Jane Willis （1996） proposed three procedures of a task： 《A Frame of Task—based Teaching》pre—task， task—cycle， and language focus.

We can take New Senior English For China Students Book One Unit Six for instance.

Pre—task

Introduction to topic and task

—To help students to understand theme and objectives of the task.

—Students can be given preparation time to think about how to do the task.

—If the task is based on a text， students read part of it.

—Teachers can show some relative pictures of the text.

Questions：

Do you like basketball？

Do you watch basketball？

How much do you know about this sport？

Discuss the sport with your partner and share your ideas with the class.

The task cycle

—The task can be done by students （in pairs or groups） and gives students a chance to use whatever language， they have to express themselves and say whatever they want to say. This may be in response to reading a text or hearing a recording.

—The teacher walks around and monitors， encouraging in a supportive way everyones attempts at communication in the target language.

—The emphasis is on spontaneous， exploratory talk and confidence， within the privacy of the small group.

—Success in achieving the goals of the task helps students motivation.

Several questions should be designed by the teacher.

Q1 Do you know when basketball was invented ？

Q2 Do you know who invented basketball ？

Q3 Where can you see people playing basketball ？

Q4 What games are becoming more popular in China？

1）Students can be divided into several groups to discuss to find the right answers.

2）The task is done by students in pairs or groups and give students a chance to use whatever language they already have to express themselves and demonstrate their right answers.

3）Team members finally seek common grounds while putting aside differences through checking? ?answers and exchanging views， argument and explanation.

Planning

—Planning is used to prepare for the next stage， when students are asked to report briefly to the whole class how they did the task and what the outcome was.

For example， complete the mind map with the information in the passage， what else can you add to the mind map ？

game? ? ? ? ? Basketball development

Played inside on a? ? ?（1） invented by ___.

hard________.? ? ? ? ? ? ?（2） first game on ___.

________teams.? ? ? ? （3） become Olympic

Get ___into other? ? ? event ___in the year.

_________.? ? ? ? Popularity （4）most famous games__.

Played by ____people.

Over____ countries.

—The planning is that the teacher goes around to advise students on language， suggesting phrases and helping students to polish and correct their language.

—The emphasis is on clarity， organization and accuracy.

—Individual students are encouraged to take this chance to demonstrate language items.

Report

Some pairs briefly report completed tasks to the whole class， so every pupil can compare findings. There must be a specific purpose for others to listen.

Post-task listening

—Students listen to a recording of fluent speaker doing the same task， and compare the ways in which they did the task themselves.

（1）Analysis

—The teacher attaches great importance to key words analyze language points such words as invent， mention， website， and phrases as all of a sudden， come up with， achieve ones dream.

（2）Practice /production

The teacher conducts activities in practice if needed. To use examples from a text to practice writing and translation.

For instance， rewrite these sentences using the passive voice.

Some stole my watch.

They used five eggs to make this big cake.

When did they invent the personal computer.

To use the following words and phrases to produce more sentences. Like invent ， doubt， mention， website， all of a sudden， come up with， achieve ones dream.

6. Evaluations

（1） Merits

—Its considerably beneficial to motivate students interests through various task activities.

—During the process of a task， language can be combined with language skills， which is greatly helpful tocultivate the comprehensive language competences of the senior high school students.

—Teachers should actively involve students in language communication activities， and enlighten the ability to imagine and the ability to create， which is greatly advantageous to exert the initiative role of the students.

—The content of the activities involves a wide range of information， which is importantly profitable to widen the students knowledge.

—To learn knowledge and cultivate interpersonal communicative thinking， decision-making and the creative ability is profitable for the all-round developments of the students.

（2）Shortcomings

—Correcting mistakes are not put great emphasis， which is not advantageous to cultivate the accuracy of language use.

—It is rather easy for language structures in different difficulties in the language teaching of items of the same function to most frequently bring students problems.

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