Improving Non-English Majors’Writing Ability Through Task-Based Approach:an Empirical Study

Task-based approach has been widely applied to College English teaching in many countries since its emergence in early1980s. Back to China, however, it is the fact that few colleges adopt it as a major or significant approach to English teaching since most English teachers at college have little knowledge of it. Based on the reality, the author, after discussing the necessity of implementing task-based approach in college English teaching, reveals some specific task-based teaching approaches and what can be accomplished after applying the approach based on her own teaching experience. Thus, it may serve as a guideline to further improve English teaching at colleges.It is generally acknowledged that English writing plays a key role in demonstrating one’s real English competence; therefore, teaching of writing can never be ignored in English teaching. However, traditional teaching of English writing often sends both teachers and non-English major students in a dilemma due to its low efficiency and absence of students’ interest. Teachers are always frustrated by the miserable performance of their students although they make very effort to teach while students find no obvious progress can be made even if they work hard on it. In this context, it is deadly urgent to reform and search for new approaches to teaching non-English major students to meet the needs of the increasingly internationalized China. Fortunately, more and more educational experts have put forward various efficient teaching strategies and modes which serve as a firm theoretical basis for this thesis. Specifically, task-based approach has been raised in English learning such as speaking, listening, writing and translation. The author confines the topic of this thesis to application of task-based approach to teaching of English writing.The thesis begins with the literature review about task-based approach and English writing teaching. After that, the application of task-based teaching models is introduced in detail. This is an empirical study to illustrate the applicability of this approach. It is beneficial for teachers to implement the approach in English writing teaching. It’s believed that students’ writing proficiency can be significantly improved and their learning ability can be cultivated as well.The thesis is to combine some related theories of task-based approach with writing teaching to non-English majors efficiently. At the starting stage of the thesis, the information and data are collected from the library and internet for literature review. At the final stage of the study, we analyze the questionnaires and tests to find out whether students’ writing performance is improved through this experiment.The thesis consists of six parts. The first part is the introduction. The second part is devoted to literature review, in which studies related to task-based approach and writing are surveyed. Part Three reveals an empirical study about the application of task-based approach in the writing instruction, including data collection, data analysis, and a model sample teaching note. The forth part moves to the results and discussion of the study. Part Five is to reveal the major findings and pedagogical implications. Apart from these, limitations of this study and suggestions for further study are also contained in it. Part Six concludes the whole study.By applying task-based approach to real classroom situation, we are also concerned about the description of the approach. It is the hope of author that the thesis may offer some constructive instruction for both non-English major students and teachers to further cultivate students’writing ability.