An Empirical Study Of Task-based Language Teaching In English Writing In A Secondary Vocational School

Writing is an important part of language output and it plays an irreplaceable role inverbal communication. However, it is investigated that the English writing teachingsituation is not ideal in secondary vocational schools. There are many problems to beresolved in practical English writing teaching, such as the time-consuming and inefficientteaching, and especially the lack of scientific teaching methods. Therefore, it is importantto find a better way to improve and change this status.Task-based language teaching (TBLT), which is originated in the1980s, has become ahot topic in second language teaching in recent years. The purpose of language learning iscommunication. Task-based language teaching is a good way to achieve this objective. InChina, many current books and articles have been written on the application of task-basedapproach in the reading and speaking teaching, while few have been done on thesystematic study of the application to writing teaching. What this thesis focuses on is toexplore whether the task-based approach is more effective in its application to writingteaching than the traditional approaches through empirical research. The experiment hasbeen done in Grade Two in a Secondary Vocational School for one term. The study isdesigned to explore:(1) Is task-based approach more effective in improving students’motivation, interest and confidence in writing than the traditional approach?(2) Istask-based approach more effective in improving students’ writing ability than thetraditional approach? In the empirical research, a teaching experiment is designed. Thequestionnaires, interview and students’ scores of English writing test are used as datacollection instrument in this study. The comprehensive analysis in quantitative methodhas been conducted on the use of TBLT in teaching English writing in the SecondaryVocational School with the application of the software SPSS17.0.The results from the research indicate that TBLT can improve learners’ writingability and it has a positive effect on learners’ motivation, interest, and confidence inwriting. The various task activities, in which students are engaged, facilitate students’writing process. Besides, the group work makes students dare to express themselves inEnglish before their companions and the students can learn a lot from each other. As a conclusion, teachers should attach importance to the application of TBLT in Englishwriting instruction for students to get a better result in writing.