摘 要

《国家英语课程标准》建议把任务型教学法应用到英语课堂教学中。任务型教学法使得语言教学真实化和课堂社会化，充分体现出了学生的主体性。本文主要探讨了任务型教学法的基本理论，以及在初中英语教学中的出现的主要问题，并尝试从中获得启示从而促进初中英语课堂教学。

关键词：初中；英语教学；任务型教学法

Abstract

The New National English Curriculum standard suggests adopting the task-based teaching method in English classroom teaching. Task-based language teaching makes language teaching realer and class socialized and gives full expression to the students' subjectivity. This thesis mainly discusses the basic theory of the task-based teaching method, the main problems of using it in junior middle school and tries to gain implications to promote the English classroom teaching in junior middle school.

Key words: junior middle school; English teaching; task-based language teaching

1. Introduction

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an influential teaching approach which was first started and radically established since 1980s. In fact, it is a further development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). It is first advocated by N.S.Prabhus, and then a lot of studies and experiments have been done on it by many other researchers and linguists. It is becoming popular in China, beginning in 1990s. Task-based language teaching fully embodies modern education idea that is based on the development of people’ education .It can design different tasks according to different levels of students, enable students to complete tasks by working with partners, so as to cultivate the consciousness of cooperation, improve their ability to find and solve problems and experience the joy of success in the process of completing tasks, which meets the fundamental requirements of quality-oriented education.

Therefore, task-based language teaching is gaining more and more attention and widely adopted by teachers in their lessons of English teaching.

2. Definitions and types of tasks

Nunan (1989) thought “The communicative task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form ” He also analyzed the framework of communicative tasks from the following six aspects: goals; input ;activities ;settings ;learner role; teacher role.

While, Skehan (1998) defined a task as an activity in which 1) meaning is primary; 2) learners are not given other people’s meanings to regurgitate; 3) there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities; 4) task completion has priority and 5) the assessment of the task in terms of outcome.

Richards (2001) considers a task as an activity or a goal that is carried out using language, such as finding a solution to a puzzle, reading a map and giving directions, making a telephone call, writing a letter, or reading a set of instructions and assembling a toy.

Although there is no single widely-accepted definition of tasks, most scholars would agree that:

1. Tasks are activities with a clear outcome in the teaching process;

2. Communication tasks are classroom activities that require learners to understand and use the target language learned to communicate;

3. Tasks resemble communicative activities which people carry out in every day life and they are the reproduction of people’s communicative process;

4. Tasks are activities where learners use the target language to do things for a communicative purpose;

5. Tasks should be complete communicative activities, often with a non-linguistic outcome and to assess whether a task is successfully completed depends on whether it has an outcome.

And generally there are six types of tasks from the perspective of teaching:

1. Prediction tasks: before students finish reading or listening to the whole context, let them predict the content of the text according to the title, the segments of the text or the pictures

  2. Jumbles tasks: teachers can upset the paragraphs and the order of the pictures and then let students .This requires students to understand the text and comprehend the coherence of the text.

  3. Comparison tasks: this kind of learning task requires students to compare similar things, objects, and find out the similarities and differences between them. Contrast can exercise the students' ability of oral expression and judgment

4. Problem solving tasks: this task require students to solve the problems in real life according to their own knowledge and reasoning ability.

5. Memory challenge tasks: it asks students to finish reading an article in the prescriptive time, and then they summarize and retell the main content of the article or it asks students to ask several questions to improve their reading ability and memory ability.

6. Creative tasks: it refers to tasks with exploratory, openness and practicality. It includes a list, the arrangement of order and classification, the contrast and the settlement of tasks. In this tasks, team cooperation and organization skills play a very important role.

3. The procedure of task –based teaching

During the process of task-based teaching, the design of the teaching procedure directly decides the success or failure of completing tasks. The procedure generally includes the following contents:

3.1. The design of task procedure

3.1.1The design of tasks

A. analyzing the teaching content: analyze both the knowledge aims and the application aims of teaching content.

B. selecting proper tasks

C. checking whether the task conforms to the basic requirements of real task and whether it is in line with the real conditions.

3.1.2. The presentation of tasks

The tasks should be presented at the beginning, and let students lean a language and train skills by the motivation of tasks to form a task-driven learning process, which is beneficial to improving students’ interest and strengthening students’ learning motivation.

3.2. The teaching of knowledge and skills

3.2.1. The learning of language knowledge: task-based teaching emphasizes knowledge teaching should be related to the task, that is knowledge should be what students must master but They are lacking in it.. During knowledge teaching, the importance of tasks to knowledge should be noticed.

3.2.2. The teaching of culture and information: if there is a gap of culture and information when students complete the tasks or teaching content contains the connotation of culture and information, teachers are required to teach culture and information to fill the gap.

3.2.3 The training of language skills: language skills mean the teaching of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Task-based teaching emphasizes skills should be related to task and skill itself is what students lack but is the necessity to complete the task. When teaching skills, teachers should pay attention to tasks to the need of skills. Teaching should focus on the completion of tasks. At the same time, the knowledge and skills students are learning should be frequently used, that is a direct connection should be made between the new knowledge and skills and their application during the teaching to enable students to not only master the knowledge and skills but also to have the ability to use them.

3.3. The completion of tasks

  The completion of the task is the last part of task-based teaching procedure. Students transform their knowledge and skills into the ability to use English in real life by completing tasks.

Short-term tasks can be arranged directly in the teaching of this unit while long-term tasks can be finished within the prescribed time, no more than one semester. The tasks requiring higher abilities can be completed via group work; the tasks requiring normal abilities can be completed individually. And the completion of a task in real life means the teaching procedure comes to an end.

4. The significance of task-based teaching

4.1 It can help solve the long existing problems of the traditional language teaching

Task-based language teaching is helpful to solve several difficult key problems in the traditional language teaching, such as the relationship between the Language meaning and language form and the relationship between the language function and language structure. The traditional language teaching pays attention to language form and language structure but ignores the meaning of the language and the function of language. Task-based language teaching asks students to use language to do things, so that students inevitably need focus on language form and language structure, and pay more attention to the significance and function of the language. When they understand the meaning and function, they are likely to complete the task. Using task-based language teaching approach can change the situation where language knowledge is over emphasized and, is conducive to the implementation of the new curriculum standard.

4.2 It can help optimize students' learning styles

Task-based language teaching emphasizes the participation, exploration, induction, and cooperation. During this process, they build their knowledge system, and strengthen their ability, so it can help them change the past rote learning style, make the knowledge and skills of learning from passivity to activation, thus optimizing students’ learning as a whole. It also conforms to the general trend and requirements of basic education course reform.

4.3 It can help promote the comprehensive development of students' comprehensive quality

  Task-based language teaching is conducive to the cultivation of language skills combined with the development of students' other quality. First of all, in the task-based language teaching, students need a lot of language input, then they need to use language to receive, process and communicate; Second, they want to use language for certain activities, accomplish some tasks; Third, in the process of doing things, to complete the task, they need to discuss, cooperate, communicate, where students' emotional attitude and values are involved. Because task-based language teaching involves a variety of learning activities, a variety of knowledge and skills, and a variety of study methods, thus it is advantageous to the comprehensive development of students’ comprehensive quality.

5. The main problems of task-based language teaching in junior middle school English class

5.1There is no information gap in tasks

  "Gap" is one of the characteristics of "task". There should be a gap between tasks and students’ knowledge and ability and students can’t accomplish these tasks until they study this content. The gap can be knowledge gap, ability gap, skill gap, information gap, or culture gap. In class teaching, gap is often ignored by teachers. For example, students and their desk mates are required to find the location of post station. Because they can easily find the location on the map, without asking for help, this task is meaningless and it only helps students do mechanical drills.

5.2 Tasks lack authenticity

In the task-based language teaching there is the phenomenon where the context is missing, and the task-based teaching activities involved are not close to real life, lacking authenticity. In fact, English itself is only a tool of communication, and we learn it in order to put this to use, and solve the problems in real life. To cultivate students’ ability to use English language in real life, teachers should let students do some real tasks in teaching activities.

5.3 Students lack strategies

In the task-based language teaching, most students don't realize they can adopt some strategies to solve the problems when the communication is beyond their language knowledge. Students generally equate language knowledge with communication skills, and believe that the problems of oral English are due to the lack of knowledge, In the classroom questioning, we can see some students express in a few words because of the lack of vocabulary or because there are some psychological barriers. And some students use single language forms and repeat them frequently or their speech is not fluent and even some students dislike English and are weary of studying.

6. Pedagogical implications

Considering the features and problems of using TBLT in junior middle school, we may get some implications to improve the teaching quality and help promote students’ all-round development.       

The tasks designed should meet students' cognitive level, make students involved in the task, be close to the real life and be consistent with students’ interests and hobbies. After finishing these tasks, teachers should guide students to reflect on the meaning of the task and its use of language form.

Based on the content and students' learning styles and learning level, the diversity of teaching is necessary. Task-based language teaching is based on the cooperative learning. In the process of carrying out task-based language teaching, several group individual students often occupy the right to express while other members are in a position on the sidelines, so various teaching should be used to make each student get the opportunity to exercise.

Schools should try to improve the quality of teachers, support teachers' further education, and create conditions for teachers to carry out related training. Teachers themselves should have a clear time consciousness and strong sense of responsibility, keep pace with the times, constantly learn, consciously improve related quality and learn how to unify the grammar, vocabulary and activities organically to use TBLT better.

7. Conclusion

Generally speaking, TBLT proves to be feasible and effective by the researches, argument and application .It mediates in these contradictions of language form and meaning, developing language structure system and communicative competence, classroom teaching and acquisition, fluency, accuracy and complexity though it also has it’s own restrictions. Therefore, we should seize its essential connotation in language teaching and combine it with other foreign language teaching methods to improve the quality of teaching in junior middle school

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