Action Research On Task-based Language Teaching In College English Phonetics

Phonetics, as an important part of language structure, is the material base when people do oral communication, and it is also the starting point for language teaching. Any language’s learning and teaching can not be separated from phonetics. Therefore college English phonetic teaching occupies a vital position. It is the common concern for the researchers and educators how to enhance students’ phonetic ability and improve phonetic teaching efficiency.Action research effectively combines the theory with the practice in a reflective teaching way. It emphasizes that the teacher is an educator as well as a researcher during the action research. In the practical teaching process, the teacher finds a problem and directly participates in how to do an investigation and research, and then does teaching reflection. The aim of action research is to improve teaching efficiency and promote self-improvement.The writer, as an English teacher for the freshmen from two natural classes who attended university in 2014 majoring in Agriculture in Yangtze University, finds that the subjects are poor at mastering basic knowledge on English phonetics, dare not to speak English and the English class is tedious. Then the writer carries out a 32-week action plan on English phonetic teaching which mainly focuses on solving the following three questions:1) What phonetic problems do the subjects have?2) Are the subjects’ poor phonetics related to their fear of speaking English and the tedious class?3) How can the subjects improve phonetic ability in this action research?By data analysis on two questionnaires, two interviews and three tests, it finally comes to a conclusion that:1) The subjects have phonetic problems in reading /i:/,/i/ /ai/,/au/, /b/,/d/, /n/,/I/ /g/,/p/, /t/, /k/, /r/,/v/,/e/ and /θ/, and neglect studying stress, pitch, juncture and clause terminal; 2) The reason why the subjects are inactive is that they have poor knowledge on English phonetics as they did not learn before. Hence they dare not to speak or can not express themselves in English; 3) By applying task-based language teaching in this phonetic action research, the writer designs teaching plans according to the subjects and guides them to practice. Eventually they can speak English in a more standard way and dare to speak English. At the same time the English class becomes much more active. All in all this action research efficiently combines teaching theory with teaching practice. It improves the teaching efficiency and also verifies this research method is operable and practical in English phonetic teaching.This thesis is classified into five chapters. Chapter one is an introduction to the thesis from the research background, research purpose and research significance. Chapter two is literature review which states the current studies on action research, task-based language teaching and college English phonetic teaching abroad and at home. Chapter three is action research design including research subjects, research methods, research instruments, teaching materials and the 32-week action plan. Chapter four is the implementation of action research. It dose a preliminary investigation on the problem and shows how to carry out the teaching plan in the form of 11 teacher logs, and then discusses the effect and reflection. Chapter five is conclusion which elaborates the pedagogical implication drawn from the research and the limitations with an assumption for further research in future for the writer.