Task Design In College English Reading

The study of task-based language teaching has been going on for nearly 20 years. It has generated great positive effects on language teaching. This paper tries to introduce and discuss task design in English reading course."Task"in language teaching refers to the activities where the target language is used by the learners for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome.By instructors'designing tasks, students can acquire language in the process of completing tasks. Task design emphasizes learning by doing something. Students participate in activities, and teachers and students fulfill a task together, then students'interest and motivation can be stimulated, they naturally learn language, and facilitate language study. Many applied linguists made deep research on task-based approach.Reading theories include reading procedures --- bottom-up process, top-down process, and interactive process recognized commonly. Reading stages include pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading. This paper is based on reading theory and task-based approach theory. It discusses the implementing of tasks in English reading course, including task design, principles of implementing tasks, types of reading tasks, etc. Activities in the form of tasks make students better learning in reading. Such reading activities are with definite aims, specific operating requirements, methods, and procedures. Its aim is not to get a conclusion, but a cognitive experience and practice that increases reading independence.The task design in reading follows some principles. In reading course, the final purpose of application can be achieved through designing and accomplishing comprehension tasks such as role-play, interview, team work, etc. In pre-reading stage, from different aspects, lead students to predict the content according to its text, accordingly increase their interest in reading, makes them in a state of active cognition. In while-reading stage, students are required to get the general idea of the article, master key words and important information, read details seriously, and learn the usage and meaning of words. In post-reading, building the connection between text and students'knowledge, interest and experience, help them consolidate and apply what they learn.Based on the implementing model of task design in reading, this paper introduces one teaching case, and study the specific implementation of task design in reading course. Through questionnaire, class observation, and interview, the researcher proves the advantages of task design in reading.