An Action Research Project On The Application Of TBLT To Promote High School Students' Oral English

Action research offers educators opportunities to catalyze systematic observation, continuous self-reflection, and discovery of problems occurring in the classroom. During the process of resolving these problems, teachers are able to examine data, analyze outcomes, discover new problems, and allow for the logical development of action research, which in turn leads to improvements in teaching methods, enhancement of teaching results, and expansion of teachers' knowledge.As an English teacher for 16 years, the researcher finds in English teaching what troubles teachers most is that the majority of students are passive learners, who took no initiative in speaking English and they could hardly express their common ideas in simple English. Students take it for granted that oral communication is less important. However, the ultimate goal of English teaching is to cultivate students' abilities to communicate. "Task-based Language Teaching" is a teaching method based on communicative need. Its teaching objective is to develop students' ability to communicate in a foreign language as an instrument, placing emphasis not only on developing students' linguistic competence, but also on their communicative competence. The discussion of the communicative approach is still mainly concerned with the theory, while its application is mostly neglected in many Chinese middle schools, especially in rural areas.Therefore, the researcher conducts an action research project to find out whether the task-based learning and teaching could promote students' oral English in her class in No.2 Middle School of Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia.After a ten week teaching experiment, the students' achievement provides evidence to prove that the TBLT is effective in improving the students' oral English proficiency. By analyzing the results, the researcher draws a conclusion that the TBLT method could enhance students' interest in English, making the classroom atmosphere more enjoyable. Consequently, it is feasible and effective to apply the TBLT method in EFL classes in rural places to improve students' oral English.