The Application Of Task-based Language Teaching Approach In College English Reading Class

Reading, one of the main ways of language input, plays a very important roleamong the four basic language learning skills of listening, speaking, reading andwriting. In most of the language tests, reading is usually the main part. Therefore, howto teach language reading well always attracts researchers’ attention. As we know,teaching method is important to students, because it will affect the positivity ofstudents’ learning. In the traditional teaching approach, students are trained to paymuch attention to the vocabulary and sentence structures in the process of reading.They need want to know the meaning of every word and sentence, regardless of thestructure and understanding of the whole passage. This approach is described asbottom-up, the limitation of which is that what students understand is only the singlelinguistic marks. In this situation, task-based language teaching approach appeared in1980s. It emphasizes the students’ involvement in the process of the target languagelearning, and the cooperation between both the teacher and the student to fulfill atarget task. This approach reflects the teaching ideas—“doing things with thelanguage” and “learning by doing”. In the task-based teaching approach,communicative competence is important, and Hymes (1972) pointed outcommunicative competence included such aspects as knowledge of the grammar andvocabulary of the language, knowledge of rules of speaking, knowing how to dealwith different kinds of articles, such as how to thank for others, how to make arequirement, how to invite the others, and knowing how to use language appropriatelyas well. Task-based language teaching is based on two aspects, one is thecommunicative language teaching, and the other is the research of acquiring thesecond language. It is a modern method for English teaching. So it is important to doresearch on the TBLT approach and apply the task-based language teaching approachin the college English classroom. In this paper, four methods are adopted—test,questionnaire, observation and interview to analyze whether TBLT approach has adeeper effect on the teaching of college English reading.There are six chapters in the paper. Chapter one mainly introduces the researchbackground and necessity of the study. The task-based teaching method is suited forthe cultivation of students’ basic language skills. For another aspect, it attaches importance to the natural acquisition of the second language, and how to use thesecond language to spread our culture and beliefs rather than merely understand thecourse books. Therefore, the application of task-based teaching approach (TBTA) is abetter way to teach English. A literature review is done in chapter two, which consistsof the previous studies on task-based language teaching, some related terms andtheories. Task plays an important role in the task-based language teaching approach,so it can be found that how to understand the task is necessary for us to understandand use the task-based language teaching approach. Many linguists have ever given adefinition to the term “task” from different perspectives. Nunan systematicallyanalyzes the component of the task. He proposes a model which contains fiveelements, which are goals, input, activities, roles and setting. The goals can letstudents know why to fulfill the task in the classroom. Input refers to the content thatwe learn from the task. Activities refer to the actual circumstance, which will happenin the process of dealing with the task. Roles mean the teachers and students’ positionin the process of dealing with the task. Setting means the classroom background andenvironment. In the task-based language approach, a good setting is beneficial to thelearner. Creating a harmonious environment would help the learner to be relaxed andgradually acquire the second language by themselves. These five elements are notindividual ones, but dependent on each other, describing and affecting the teachingand learning behavior. In this paper, the author briefly introduces the task-basedlanguage teaching, where teachers provides a task for the students, but at most time,teachers does not act as a leader in the class, but only act as the assistant to students.The student should fulfill the task, and develop the communicative competence. In thetask-based language teaching approach, the process is more important than the result,and teachers should focus on the utilization of the language. The purpose of learninglanguage is using language. The task-based language teaching emphasizes students’ability. As a teacher, how to foster students’ capability is very important. While as astudent, how to use the language in daily life is also important. Chapter three isdevoted to the actual application of task-based language teaching approach in collegeEnglish reading class. As is known, teaching method is very important for the learningprocess. In college English classrooms, some teachers extremely emphasize grammarand structure, so that learners always miss the opportunity of focusing communicativecompetence in the classroom. This method focuses on how to use the traditionalmodel called PPP model to teach students. Traditionally, language pedagogy has emphasized PPP model instruction in English reading class, which stands forpresentation, practice and production. With the development of education, readingbecomes more and more important in the college English class. Choosing a suitableteaching method is very important for students to upgrade the communicative ability.In the task-based language teaching classroom, students can communicate with eachother and express their opinions, which will arouse students’ interest and confidencein language learning. At the same time, in the task-based language teaching classroom,students can analyze the deeper meaning of the text, then know what the author reallywants to express. Students also have their own feelings to the text, and have chancesto express their ideas about the text. In the task-based language teaching approach,students can use the knowledge to solve problems encountered in daily life. It is not amechanical method, but an active one, which can help students develop a positiveattitude to English reading and learning. Chapter Four covers some principles in orderto analyze the actual application of task-based language teaching approach in collegeEnglish reading class. In order to analyze the using method of TBLT approach better,Willis (1996) proposes five methods. He suggests that the language should not farfrom the real world, the language should be useful, tasks should be designed toencourage students to take part in the class, students should pay attention to thelanguage at the specific times, language should be important at any times. In chapterfive, the author hopes to prove the hypothesis that the task-based teaching approach ismore effective than the traditional teaching one in improving college students’ Englishreading comprehension by conducting an experiment. Firstly, the author makes apre-test with10questions, which is designed to test the English reading level of bothclasses before the experiment. And the post-test also including10questions isdesigned to test the English reading level of both classes after the experiment.Students will take a pre-test and a post-test in order to make a comparison betweenthe two test results. Secondly, the author makes questionnaires. Pre-questionnaire isdesigned to test students’ interest and confidence towards English reading before theexperiment. While post questionnaire is designed to test students’ interest andconfidence towards English reading after the experiment. And another questionnaireis only used in the experimental class to test students’ attitude towards task-basedlanguage teaching approach. Pre-and post-questionnaires will be used to make asurvey as a supplement. Thirdly, the author does the observation. The subjects will beobserved during the experiment. Through the observation, the author should certify the difference between the controlled class and experimental one after the experiment.Finally, the author makes interviews to20students after the experiment,10studentsof which are from the controlled class and the others are from the experimental class.In the interview process, some questions about English reading are asked in order tofind the deeper answers. Chapter six provides some major findings, problems andsuggestions and makes a summary of the whole thesis. According to the experiment, itcan be concluded that the task-based language teaching approach is effective forstudents to learn English. If the traditional teaching approach is used in the class,students are silent in the classroom and will lack the communicative competence.Because in the traditional teaching classroom, students pay much attention to theexamination and want to get a better score. For this reason, many students think thatgrammar and new words are more important than communication. However, in thetask-based language teaching classroom, students are more active to express their ownopinions. In this kind of classroom, the atmosphere is more happier and the studentsperform like native speakers. Generally speaking, task-based language teachingapproach can not only raise students’ communicative competence, but also providestudents with opportunities to use English knowledge and to solve problems. In thetask-based language teaching classroom, teachers don’t use the fixed method to teachstudents. Like other methods, the task-based language teaching approach is beneficialto learners, but it also needs to be improved. For example, in the task-based languageteaching approach, teachers always ask students to fulfill a task in a group. In thissituation, some students don’t deal with the tasks because they always think thatothers will fulfill them. And in the group discussion, some students always listen toothers because they will select a representative to express the ideas of their group. Inthis situation, students can’t get the exercise of communicative competence. Thetask-based language teaching approach does not fit for all the students. Therefore, inthe actual situation, the task-based language teaching approach can be adoptedtogether with other methods. In this situation, the teacher will keep the atmospherehappier and help students deal with problems.