Application Of Task-based Approach In English Listening Teaching For Senior Middle Schools

Language learning is the exercises of listening, speaking, reading and writing, and language acquisition is mainly got through plenty of understandable language input. Listening is a vital approach of understandable input and an important way of daily language communication. In recent years, in the field of education, people pay more attention to students in the class. The teaching method gets mainly student-centered. The goal of teaching is not only to teach English as knowledge but also as a communicative competence. Thus, English teaching method has changed greatly. 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) is defined as an approach which provides "actual meaning" by focusing on task to be mediated through language, and where success or failure can be judged in terms of whether or not the tasks are performed. At the beginning of 1980's, the term "task" began to be used in applied linguistics. And task-based Approach has become popular. Task-based Approach has many advantages. For example, it focuses on the training of students' cooperation and creativity, and cultivating the students' ability of using language.This research discusses about application of TBA in English listening teaching for senior middle schools. By studying the definition, types and characteristics of TBA, the author puts forwards the standpoint basing on listening acquisition theories, Constructivist theories, communicative language teaching and other relevant linguistic theories. The standpoint of the thesis is that Task-based Approach is effective in English listening class, and it can enhance students' learning interest and ability, and change senior students' learning styles from passive reception to self-access, cooperation and exploration. In order to confirm the point, the author designed twenty-week experiments basing on the TBA theories such as task components theories, TBA framework theories and task designing principles theories. The experiments were carried out in two classes which are taught by the author in Nankang Middle School, Beihai city. One class is experimental class, the other is control class. Task-based Approach was employed in the experimental class, and traditional teaching method was employed in the control class. Questionnaires were made both at the beginning of the experiments and at the end.The data of the experiments shows the listening ability of the students in the experimental class, who take task-based listening training, improved faster than those on the control class. And the students in experimental class did better in the listening comprehension. The result of the questionnaires also proves that the interest of learning English in the experimental class in stronger, the learning styles became more self-access, cooperative and explorative. All these indicate that the model of Task-based Approach is efficient in senior English class.The thesis consists of five chapters:The first chapter is an introduction, which introduces the background, the significance and the objectives of the research.The second chapter is a literature review, which states the definitions of listening and task, TBA and its rationales and so on.The third chapter tells the process of the experimentsThe fourth chapter deals with the data collection and its analysis of the experiments.The final chapter ends up with the conclusion about the advantages and limitations of TBA.