A Task-Based Approach To Teaching Oral English

Over the past couple of decades, second/foreign language pedagogy witnessed a subtle though important paradigm shift from teacher instruction to student learning. The task-based approach (TBA)', which is based upon a great deal of research done by foreign scholars, is one of the most effective language teaching methods of the 1980s. The method, a variation of communicative language approach, aims to put communicative language teaching theory into practice within a classroom setting. This thesis discusses the application of the task-based approach to teaching oral English. By examining the definition, characteristics and theoretical basis of the task-based approach, the paper presents the practical implications of task-based instruction in the classroom.This thesis is comprised of five chapters. The first chapter provides a background on relevant research and literature, and discusses the general level of students' oral English competence in China, drawing attention to the distressing ineffectiveness of oral English teaching today. The second chapter introduces and compares two teaching paradigms in order to clarify the significance of the task-based approach. This chapter also outlines the theoretical basis for TBA and investigates domestic research on the theory. The third chapter applies the task-based approach to oral English lessons. The fourth chapter includes a description of the experimental procedures, an outline of lesson planning strategies, and some sample lesson plans. Also included in this chapter are analyses and discussions related to the findings of the experiment. The fifth chapter draws conclusions based on the experiment, and provides some suggestions regarding the application of TBA to oral English lessons.