An Empirical Study Of Task-based Language Teaching In Secondary Vocational Schools

English teaching in secondary vocational schools aims at basic proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and stresses the importance of communicative competence. In order to realize such goals, more and more English teachers have been engaged in or trying the practice and research of task-based approach (TBA). The actual application of task-based approach, however, does not seem to go as being expected. Some factors in TBA practice are preventing many English teachers from implementing this innovative teaching model. In May 2004, the National Research Committee of English Teaching for Secondary Vocational Education was established, and a conference was held. A lecture,'Communicative Competence and Communicative Task Design,'was given by professor Zhang Zhou, from Beijing Education College. The following year, another conference was held. Joseph Hung, PhD. from the Chinese University of Hong Kong made a lecture,'Communicative Task-based English Teaching and Learning: Theory and Practice,'which pushed the implementation of TBA in English teaching for secondary vocational schools to a new high.Supported by the theoretical studies and literature review, and with the teaching experience of this approach, this paper is intended to make an empirical study of the task-based language teaching (TBLT) in secondary vocational schools. The author also puts forward some suggestions on the implementation of this approach, on the basis of measures which are taken during the experimental teaching in EC, and questionnaire which is carried out by EC after the experiment, so as to enhance the teaching efficiency of TBLT.The relevant researches of task-based language teaching both abroad and in China are introduced in Chapter One. In Chapter two, detailed theoretical analysis of'task'and task-based approach are given in order to interpret the feasibility of TBLT in language teaching and learning theoretically. In Chapter Three, in order to identify the effectiveness of the task-based approach in secondary vocational schools, an empirical research is performed. Data are collected via the following instruments: pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire in EC after the experiment. The experiment is designed in the following ways: the experimental class receives the task-based language teaching with some improvements made by the author, while the controlled class receives the traditional'five-step'model. The examination results from the sixteen-week experiment indicate that the implementation of TBLT can develop the language proficiency and communicative competence of the students. Chapter four, based on the relevant researches on TBLT in Chapter one, the theoretical discussions about TBLT in Chapter two, and results of the empirical study in Chapter three, puts forward that TBLT is one of the effective ways of English teaching in secondary vocational schools. Moreover, also based on the results of questionnaire conducted in EC after the experiment, some suggestions of implementing TBLT in secondary vocational schools are put forward. They are to generate beneficial learning atmosphere, to cultivate students'learning interests, to adapt teaching materials, to design interactive activities in various forms, to correct students'errors'at right time', and to employ multi-media resources, etc.In the end it summarizes the theoretical and practical significance of TBLT and points out that more teachers and scholars should make theoretical researches in a deep-going way and improve the implementation of TBLT in English teaching for secondary vocational schools so as to enhance the teaching efficiency.