The Empirical Research Into Task-based Instruction In Junior English Class

Since the 1980s, the term TBI (short for Task-based Instruction), a school of linguistic learning theories, becomes more and more popular in Europe, America and Australia. Linguistic experts such as David Nunan, Jane Willis, Peter Skehan and some other educators did a wide variety of studies and exploration on TBI from their respective perspectives after Prabhu's Bangalore Communicational Teaching Project in South India in 1979. Jane Willis made a thorough retrospective and overview of the development in TBI in the past 2 decades at the 37th IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) Conference during which experts also had an academic discussion about the puzzles in the application of TBI in classroom teaching and course design. At present, elaborate interpretations and descriptions focus on the goals, principles and roles of learners and teachers, frameworks of the TBI classroom as well while different voices can be heard about the theoretic foundations of TBI. In China a "task-based teaching or instruction" approach and method is advocatedfor the first time in the newly issued curriculum to be put into use in Junior English classrooms. Methodological reforms concerned about the introduction into borrowed TBI and its practical pilot spring widely throughout China. This dissertation reviews the literature, both internationally and domestically, of TBI and proposes my own "Graded TBI Hypothesis" from a cognitive perspective. An empirical study into the TBI method in Junior 1 classroom, according to this hypothesis, is done based on the strong-form TBI, suggested by Jane Willis, and the weak-form TBI, proposed by Peter Skehan or Yafu, Gong to test the feasible application into the classroom after two semesters. This empirical study consists of two parts, one of which is the pilot on the different effects between TBI and PPP in achieving the goals of the linguistic knowledge and skills required by the new curriculum in proficiency post-test (final-term examination) and the other of which is to examine the different powers between TBI and PPP in influencing the achievement to the objectives of affect, attitude, learning strategies and cultures in language learning. Conclusions in Chapter 4 come from the empirical study that affective factors, learning interest, attitude, motivation, are the starting point to put the cycle of integrated language capabilities to an advancing development. Furthermore, a framework, supported by the empirical outcome will shed light on an easily operative TBI method in junior classrooms. This is implied as a process of "Teacher' preparation for student' need analysis comes first. In class task-based activities, in which pair work and group work seem essential, are the vehicles of language learning. The homework characterizes the extended in-class tasks or cooperative activities and assessment lies on the students' classroom performances". The last chapter also presents the current lack of settings to utilize TBI in China and the prospects of the tendency of TBI development and point out that such empirical studies on TBI still have a long way to go.