The Application Of Task-based Language Teaching In Elementary School EFL Classroom In China

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) rises from Communicative Approach. As a new trend of Communicative Language Teaching, Task-Based Language Teaching appeared in 1980s and it was developed abroad as an effective way for second language teaching with a history of more than 20 years. It was in recent years that it aroused a great research wave in China. In 2001, English Curriculum Standard (ECS) for Compulsory Education at middle school level (Experimental Draft) was issued by the Ministry of Education. ECS not only sets out the goals and objectives but also strongly recommends the Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in English teaching.To facilitate TBLT's implementation, a series of new textbooks have been designed and published since 2001. However, the usage of real task only occupies small proportion. Group dialogue and role play are the most of activities teachers adopted, which are lack of authenticity and communication. Researches demonstrate that teachers always regard task as activity and exercise; some of them even take it as teaching procedure. They think it is too difficult to design a task. As a result, there are small part of teaches who are willing to take TBLT into class.This thesis concludes over 20 years'theoretical research of TBLT both in China and abroad. The study states the concepts, functions and teaching models of TBLT, and presents the features of children's learning. Meanwhile, this thesis analyzes the reason why TBLT is not well implementation at elementary school. Based on Willis'TBLT framework and taken characteristics of children's language learning into account, a tentative model is designed to demonstrate the procedures and the specific examples of how to carry out TBLT in classroom. Furthermore, it focuses on the empirical study to provide a good example for elementary school teachers.The experiment is carried out in Hongqi primary school in Yongchuan district of Chongqing. The participants are the students from two classes of Grade five. The traditional model and the suggested model are used in the two classes separately. Two instruments are used in this study: questionnaire and classroom observations. One questionnaire is used to analyze teachers'perception and beliefs of TBLT. Another questionnaire is designed to collect feedbacks about the classroom observation.The thesis comes to three major findings: (1) the tentative model will arouse children's learning interest better. (2) The tentative model based on Willis'TBLT framework and characteristics of children's language learning is more effective, and could better facilitate English teaching at elementary school. (3) It provides a good example for teachers and demonstrates how to implement TBLT in class process.