Application Of Task-based Learning To Junior English Teaching

The aim of foreign language teaching is to develop students'communicative competence, so all teaching activities should center around this principle. Task-based Learning,the latest development of Communicative Approaches, has been advocated by National Curriculum Standards of English Course. It is the latest development of communicative Approaches but has overcome the fatal problem occurred in communicative approaches that many unreal communicative activities have appeared in communicative classroom teaching. TBL leads students to learn English by fulfilling a real-life task in order to improve their abilities of using English. In the practice of Task-based Learning in English classrooms, a real-life task, which has been previously designed, should be presented to students at the starting period. Then students will learn the contents as a preparation for the task fulfillment which will come at the end and involve all the knowledge and abilities the students have just learned. Task-based teaching reinforces learning by using, and learning for using as well. This thesis, elaborates the conception, characteristics, designing principles, significance of tasks and its theoretical basis. It also gives a brief account of the state of its research and development at home and abroad, and expounds the great significance of its application to English classroom teaching for middle schools.The aim of the thesis is to test whether Task-based Learning is practicable in junor middle school English classroom teaching. In order to do this, one-year teaching experiment was made. The analysis of the data results displays the major findings as follows;1. The model of Task-based Learning can effectively improve the students'English achievements.2.Task-based Learning is a learner-centred teaching method. It can inspire the students'initiative to learn actively.2.Group activities as a main way of doing tasks hold its advantageous position in enhancing student's cooperation and association.Based on the teaching experiment, Task-based Learning is feasible in English-classroom teaching for junor middle schools.