College Oral English Teaching-Improvements On Task-based Teaching Approach

According to the current situation of college English teaching and learning in China, it can be analyzed that college English teachers should take more and more responsibilities on in-class teaching, especially in oral English classes, in order to help students improve both spoken and written English skills at the same time, which would be beneficial to them after their graduation.At the beginning of this thesis, a common oral English teaching model has been presented, which is divided into two parts---observable and unobservable. From the problems shown in the first section, researches have been done on both external and internal impacts on college oral English teaching and learning. Concerning external impacts, three theoretical models have been offered, that is, Theory of Language Identity (Norton, 1997; Norton-Pierce, 1995), Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978&1986) and Theory of Language Socialization (Bambi Schieffelin and Elinor Ochs 1986), respectively. After explanations of each model, some in-class teaching practices have been shown and analyzed so as to help college oral English teachers understand more about college oral English in-class teaching. As regards the internal influences, the features of spoken language have been given, which help both teachers and students know the characteristics of oral English itself, as well as students'cognitive processes of language acquisition and their individual differences, such as motivation, attitude and anxiety, which have strong impacts on their oral English acquisition, and at the same time, on college oral English teaching.The most important section of this thesis is the fourth part---an improved task-based language teaching approach (TBLT) applied in college oral English in-class teaching. On the basis of original task-based teaching approach, an improved in-class teaching model has been proposed from the psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic aspects, which is more suitable to be adopted according to the current oral college English teaching and learning situation in China.In each phase (pre-task, task-circle, post-task) of improved TBLT, the adoption of each theory introduced in the above sections has been clearly presented. During different periods of teaching, there would be many overlapping applications of different theories in teaching practice definitely. The design of this model involves consideration of the stages or components of a lesson that has a task as its principal component. Furthermore, they all have in common three principal phases. These phases reflect the chronology of a task-based lesson. Access to a clear framework for a task-based lesson is of obvious advantage to both teachers and learners. A framework such as the one outlined in the fourth section caters to both needs. It provides a clear structure for a lesson and it also allows for creativity and variety in the choice of options in each phase.Of course, there are still some limitations of this improved task-based teaching model. With the joint efforts of both teachers and students in colleges and universities, a brighter future of college oral English teaching and learning is not far to see.