Using The Task-based Approach To Teach English Listening In The Junior Middle Schools

Listening plays a significant role in daily communication. As Rost (1994) points out, listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner. Without understandable input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin. Listening is thus fundamental to speaking. However, the present situation is that listening teaching and research in the middle schools are not satisfactory. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the listening teaching and an effective approach to listening improvement should be found.The New English Curriculum Standard (2001) requires that the open-ended task-based activities should be integrated into the teaching process. The Task-based Approach(TBA hereafter) is defined as an approach which provides"actual meaning"by focusing on tasks to be mediated through language, and where success or failure can be judged in terms of whether or not the tasks are performed (Brumfit & Johnson, 1979).In order to identify the effectiveness of this approach in the middle school English listening teaching under the present situation in EFLT, the author of this thesis has conducted an empirical research for two semesters with the attempt to find answers to the following two questions: Will the TBA to English listening teaching in the middle school EFLT improve the learners'English listening proficiency more effectively than the traditional one? Will the TBA to English listening teaching in the middle school EFLT increase the learners'interest and confidence in English listening learning as well as their learning strategies and motivation more greatly than the traditional one?According to the purpose or expectation of this study, the author of this thesis divided this paper into four chapters.In the first chapter, the definition of listening, the position of listening in EFLT, the review of studies of listening comprehension overseas and at home and the existing problems in the current listening teaching in middle schools will be...