The Effectiveness Of TBLT In English Writing Teaching

Writing is an indispensable part in language learning and testing, so it occupies an important position in one's linguistic competence. Advocates of communicative approaches emphasize the importance of using the language to learn and learning to use the language (Littlewood, 2000). Writing is an important means of using the language. It is normally considered as a productive or creative skill and one of the most difficult part of the four basic communicative language skills for a language user. Therefore, writing teaching, especially second or foreign language writing teaching is always the focus of much concern. A lot of researches on foreign language writing teaching have been done at home and abroad. However, the results of English writing teaching in China are not very satisfactory. Language teachers have made great endeavor for years to improve students' writing abilities, but writing remains a weak aspect of English teaching, the majority of students regard writing as a tough job. Hence, an effective teaching method in writing is called for.The product approach in writing teaching has a long tradition and it has great influence on ESL/EFL writing instruction. In Chinese college writing teaching, this approach takes a long-dominating place. But the product approach concentrates on the final products, especially its linguistic forms, rather than how writers write. Since the 1970s, the process approach has become prevalent in the field of writing teaching and many teachers have tried this widely advocated approach, shifting their focus from the product of writing to the process of writing. However, the development of this approach is based on English as first language, the process approach in writing class is limited by the different teaching settings and applicable scope in China.The present study attempts to examine the effectiveness of the task-based language teaching (TBLT). It is an empirical study taking Social Constructivist Theory and Language Acquisition Theory as its theoretical bases. The experiment was carried out in two homogenous classes of English major of Humanity School in Gansu Political Science and Law Institute. One was made the experimental group with the task-based approach in writing classes while the other the controlled group and the traditional product approach. By comparing the results after the experiment and investigating students' opinions on this approach, data are collected from the scores of the two-group students, the transcript and questionnaire sheets. The results illustrate a positive effectiveness of task-based language teaching, which gives some insight into its significance in writing pedagogical practice. The thesis is made up of six chapters. Chapter One is an introduction dealing with the purpose and significance of the study. Three research questions are put forward to search for having a profound understanding of EFL education and seeking to apply a practical approach to facilitate the English majors in hopes of improving their writing skills and promoting their motivation and self-confidence as well. Chapter Two offers the theoretical framework of the study. Social Constructivist Theory and Language Acquisition Theory are introduced. Chapter Three deals with literary review. TBLT are reviewed in details and theoretical and empirical research on product approach, process approach and task-based approach in writing classroom are summarized in China and abroad. Chapter Four deals with the research design, the procedure of the research and data collection and analyses. Chapter Five is assigned to results and discussion. Comparison was made between the two groups by statistics analysis and discussion. The results offered persuasive evidence to the research question. Chapter Six presents the conclusion, the implications and the limitations of the present study, in addition, suggestions for future research.