A Study Of The Application Of TBLT To ESP Vocabulary Teaching In Higher Vocational College

The higher vocational college is an important part of higher education in China.Along with the education reform and development, the importance of vocationalcollege students’ English learning becomes increasingly prominent. However, most ofthe students in vocational education have limited English proficiency and low learningenthusiasm, so how to improve student English and accelerate their enthusiasm deservespecial attention. At the same time, in recent years, foreign and domestic researchershave explored profoundly the task-based language teaching, but researches on Englishteaching in vocational college were limited, even fewer studies of ESP vocabularyteaching were reported. Therefore, to study the application of TBLT to ESP vocationalteaching in vocational college has its own significance.This9months study investigated the process of the task-based vocabulary teachingwith134students from three classes from a vocational college in Hunan Provincebetween the age19and21.Three research questions were posed for the study. They are:1). How was students’ performance in the task-based vocabulary teaching?2). In what aspects have students changed from the task-based teaching approach?3). In what aspects will the task-based teaching approach influence future teaching?Five tasks were assigned to the students in the study. During the teaching process,self-assessment, peer evaluation, teacher’s evaluation, students’ learning notebooks,student performance observation, and the teacher’s reflective notes were collected forthe data analysis. Student performance descriptive analysis and qualitative dataanalysis were adopted for the study. The major findings are listed as follows:1) Students’ general performance improved throughout the teaching process.2) Students’ academic achievement, learning enthusiasm and learning confidenceimproved. Students’ great academic achievement was made, the students’ learningenthusiasm was aroused and the students’ learning confidence was boosted.3) The teaching process provided the chance for the teacher to improve task designand provided a new teaching perspective.Though it is still controversial in academia about the role of task-based languageteaching, the present study has provided positive evidence and reference to theargument of task-based language teaching.