Successful Communication In Task-based Language Teaching For The Junior High School

The purpose of this article is to outline the principles that underlie task-based language teaching and to give examples of classroom activities within the approach. Task-based language teaching can be regarded as one particular development within the communicative approach. It is currently much discussed in many parts of the world and, indeed, is recommended in the official curriculum documents of a growing number of countries and regions. China is such a country.In China, the classes are often as large as fifty students or more. Individual students do not have much time to speak English. Students like to listen to a teacher rather than speaking English by themselves. This paper reports on one possible approach in supporting students communicatively in the English class. It describes small group activities which force learners to speak in English. These activities are carried out in an environment which the learners themselves perceive to be safe and supportive, where they can make mistakes with a small audience of their peers without fear of embarrassment. In undertaking these tasks, students have stated they have gained confidence in their ability to speak in English, they have noted an improvement in their English language proficiency and their desire to learn English has increased.