A Study On Task-based Language Teaching Approach In The Reading Classes In A Vocational School

The Task-based Language Teaching Approach emerged in the early 1980 s, with communicative tasks as the center of the teaching process. Seen as the most important and the most dominant language teaching approach, the use of task-based language teaching has become a heated topic in second language acquisition. It focuses on learner center and learning center. It also emphasizes the importance of the organization of English courses around different tasks which the learners need to do inside and outside the classroom. The Task-based Language Teaching Approach requires students to experience something, to practice language, to participate the task, and to communicate with others with the help of teachers.In the past 20 years and over, many experts in applied linguistic not only have done research into Task-based Language Teaching in theory but also have explored it in practice. However in the field of Vocational School not so much work has been done in applying Task-based Language Teaching in the English reading teaching.The paper proposes a hypothesis whether the students’ learning interest and reading competence can be improved through the use of Task-based Language Teaching in the reading classes. The paper then tries to testimony the hypothesis.There are five chapters in the thesis. Chapter one gives a general statement of the problems in the reading classes of Vocational schools and presents the purpose of the research. Chapter two is about the literature review, the relevant theories of tasks and the previous research on English reading. Chapter three explores the methodology of Task-based Language Teaching in English reading classes, the application of Task--based Language Teaching in English reading classes by the author and the sample lessons of the control class and the experimental class. Chapter four is the results and data analysis. The research finds that the competence and the interest in the experimental class are greatly improved. Chapter five is the main findings, some limitations and discussions. The main finding is that Task-based Language Teaching is efficient in English reading teaching in Vocational Schools. The limitation is that the sample should be enlarged in the future study.