Application Of Task-basedapproach To English Reading Teaching For Non English Majors In Vocational Colleges

As task-based language teaching method (TBLT) attaches more concentration athome and abroad，the achievement of this research is merging endlessly. At present, ourcountry pays more attention to the vocational English education in higher vocationalcolleges, and our society has a great demand of professional technicians withcomprehensive abilities. Although the higher vocational college is a valuable source oftechnical talents, most students’ English level is still under the average standard, andtheir initiative to learn English is insufficient. In the past decades, we have witnessedtraditional teaching methods have been widely adopted in our reading teachingclassrooms, But the drawback is that traditional teaching method is relativelymonotonous with the focus on teaching language knowledge rather than the developmentof learning attitudes and motives. Meanwhile, it also fails to stress on fostering students;learning goals, content, and the ability to use study strategies, causing students to havelow interest in English learning and weakness in autonomous learning However,task-based language teaching approach concentrates on “learning by doing”, andpromoting students’ cognitive competence based on participation; interaction,communication and cooperation in task completion.On the basis of task-based language teaching approach, the author analyses thepresent situation in language teaching in China’s vocational colleges and points out thepurpose and significance of applying task-based teaching approach in reading classrooms.With TBLT as the guiding principle, an empirical study is conducted. The test subject ofthe study is class1and class2in School of Electromechanical Engineering, HubeiVocational College of Science and Technology. The total number of the students is81,including41students in experiment class (EC), and40students in control class (CC).The author spent one year in doing this experiment by applying task-based languageteaching method in EC, while the traditional3p method in CC. Based on theinvestigation of the two class students using questionnaires, interviews and tests, ananalysis is made. Compared with traditional teaching method, TBLT can be moreeffective in improving students’ communicative level and comprehensive ability，especially its validity.The results show that (1) TBLT takes students as the center which makes themactive in class. And in the meantime, their initiative of learning can be aroused.(2)Compared with the traditional teaching method, TBLT promotes students’ Englishlearning initiative. The teaching atmosphere is more active and students may feel morerelaxed in group discussion.(3) By applying TBLT, students’ competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing are enhanced, especially their reading speed and efficiency,which are highly developed.The author hopes this study will contribute to reading teaching, and graduallyimproving the teaching quality in higher vocational colleges in the future.