A Study On Students’ Expectations For Teachers’ Roles In Task-Based Language Teaching

Task-Based Language Teaching is proposed by experts in the field of foreign language teaching and second language acquisition in1980s on the basis of a large number of research and experiments, which aims to transform the concept of language performance into a classroom teaching with practical significance. Since Ministry of Education has enacted Full-time Compulsory Education Curriculum Standard for High School Students (Experimental version) and English Curriculum Standard for Senior Students (Experimental version) in2001and2003, Task-Based Language Teaching has become a hot topic in China. With the issue of two curriculum standards, they advocate teachers to adapt Task-Based Language Teaching in high schools as much as possible rather than traditional teaching methods. In Task-Based Language Teaching, teachers have to make sure students study with clear aims, and develop their linguistic competence, ability of thinking, communication and cooperation to promote students’overall language competence. In2012, Full-time Compulsory Education Curriculum Standard for High School Students (Experimental version) advocates Task-Based Language Teaching again, and calls on teachers to train students’comprehensive ability of language application, which indicate the significance of Task-Based Language Teaching. At the same time, confronted with new challenges, teachers’roles are becoming increasingly multiple. Experts at home and abroad have done a great deal of research on the changes of teachers’roles, while previous research mainly focuses on teachers’ perspectives and the roles teachers are supposed to play. That is to say, they ignore the essential aspect of students’views. Therefore, this paper aims to make a study on teachers’roles in Task-Based Language Teaching in high schools from students’perspectives.The research undertaken here focuses on the following three questions.1) In the approach of TBLT, what are students’expectations for English teachers’roles?2) Are there any individual differences in learners’expectations for teachers’roles in TBLT?3) Do teachers’actual roles match students’expectations in TBLT? If yes, what are the reasons? If not, what are the discrepancies between them? With180high school students and20English teachers from3middle schools in Hunan Province as subjects, this thesis employs quantitative analysis based on questionnaires and qualitative analysis according to classroom observation and interview. Research findings show that:1) in Task-Based Language Teaching, teachers’roles of motivation stimulator, guider, psychology coordinator, task designer, communicator, environment creator are highly expected by students;2) owing to students’ characteristics and pressure in different stages, students in different grades vary in their expectations for teachers’roles;3) there are some discrepancies between students’expectations and teachers’actual roles, for the reason that traditional teaching ideas, unified teaching plans, large class scales and requirements of college entrance examination limit the realization of teachers’roles.In the end, to improve teachers’roles and narrow the gap between teachers’actual roles and students’expectations, the paper proposes some advice from the perspective of students’expectations. At first, teachers are supposed to update their teaching concepts to meet the new requirements of TBLT. Secondly, teachers should understand students’ expectations, respect students’individual differences, teach according to students’needs, and reflect themselves constantly, so that teachers’roles will conform to students’expectations. Thirdly, teachers are suggested to take wise attitude toward examination, and guide students’proper attitude. In addition, to promote the realization of teachers’roles, schools are required to create a comparatively relaxing environment, and provide enough curriculum materials and trainings for teachers.