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A Study On The Design Of Task-based Classroom Activities In College English Teaching

Posted on:2010-08-24Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:W LiuFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360302959024Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Classroom activity is an important means to promote language leaning. The implementation of effective classroom activities in English class is helpful to enhance the development of the communicative competence and English proficiency. However, in the current college language teaching, the design of classroom activities still reveals the formalization of the activities and the reutilization of the teaching. The classroom activities in China's college English teaching focus on the development of the linguistic competence, instead of the development of the communicative competence. The task-based language teaching, which has become popular in second and foreign language learning and teaching since 1980s, throws light on effectiveness of classroom activities in China's college English teaching. To put it simply, the task, which is goal-oriented and learner-centered, is a classroom activity in which students use real-life language to achieve a specific outcome.This author aims to investigate whether the task-based activities are more facilitating in developing the college students'English proficiency than the traditional classroom activities and how to design task-based activities. In order to get more objective and direct information, the author carries out an experimental research in this study. Sixty non-English freshmen from Hebei Normal University of Science & Technology participate in the sixteen-week experiment. The number of the students in the experimental group and the control group is equal. The study collects data through pre-test, post-test and interview. The SPSS software is used to do data analysis. The result of the experiment shows that after applying task-based activities for about 16 weeks, the subjects'performance in the experimental group is much better than that of the control group, in which the traditional classroom activities are used. This demonstrates that the task-based activities are more useful in developing the college students'English proficiency. The analysis of the experiment results and the discussion on the prospect of task-based activity indicates the application of task-based activities can be further developed in the future. The present study makes considerable contribution to application of task-based teaching method in college English language teaching. The experimental research enhances the experience of the task-based activity design which is a critical procedure in the application of the method. It also draws attention to the importance of classroom activities in the development of communicative competence. In addition, it narrows the gap between the theory and practice of the approach in the area of curriculum design.
Keywords/Search Tags:classroom activity, task-based activity, task-based learning, the design of task-based activities
PDF Full Text Request
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