The Application Of Task-based Approach To English Grammar Teaching In Senior High School

In China, the grammar in English teaching has been placed in a very importantposition, and is also one of the most concerned problems of English teachers andlearners. However, in the long-term English teaching, grammar teaching has failed tobe correctly treated. Some teachers think that the purpose of learning a language isjust for communication, as long as students can understand and speak it, so grammaris not essential, and thus grammar teaching is ignored, this is the one-sidedcommunicative language teaching method. In this kind of teaching, teachers just askstudents to do a good deal of listening, speaking, reading, and writing training,constantly do review and practice, and conduct communicative teaching unilaterallyand simply, ignoring grammar teaching, which make students difficult to furtherimprove themselves when they learn to a certain extent. So they can’t make greatprogress in English learning; others think the purpose of learning a language is toaccurately grasp the grammar, so only by mastering the rules of grammar can weobtain the language ability, so in the traditional grammar teaching mode, teachersusually adopt three steps: presentationâ†'practiceâ†'production, namely the3P teachingmethod. In the process of Presentation, teachers introduce new language knowledge tostudents, and they try to arouse students’ interest in learning new patterns, dialoguesor new articles, stimulating students’ thirst for knowledge, and check students’understanding of new language points. In the process of Practice, teachers givestudents many opportunities to practice and encourage students to use the newknowledge that has just been introduced as far as possible, repeating drills andcontinue to improve the correct rate of language use. In the process of Production,students are asked to use previous knowledge creatively, and use the languageflexibly and freely, and achieve the goal of communicating with others correctly andfluently. This kind of method which pays too much attention to explaining languageknowledge, memorizing the rules of grammar, and practising sentence patterns maybe helpful to beginners of language learning, and this may lead to a teacher-centeredclassroom which would be rather monotonous, boring and static, teachers and students are lack of necessary communication. Through repeated mechanical practice,students only learn the language form, but do not really know how to use language, sothey cannot really grasp the significance of language, so the learning effect is not ideal.The two traditional teaching methods of teaching English both fail to regard grammarteaching. Therefore, we should re-examine the status of grammar teaching in the newcurriculum, discussing new strategies of grammar teaching, and strengthen efforts andteaching effects of grammar teaching.Task-based approach is a new teaching method which is developed on the basis ofCommunicative Approach. After "New English Curriculum Standard" introducedtask-based approach, this approach has been advocated, which makes many teachersbegin to change the traditional teaching thought, and task-based approach began toenter the English teaching in all aspects, such as listening, reading, writing and so on.Task-based Approach has turned the traditional classroom mode that is mainly onteachers’ teaching into the mode which is mainly on students participating inclassroom activities; teachers not only need to be familiar with the languageknowledge, but also develop teaching resources, designing tasks of using languageknowledge when they are preparing classes; In the classroom, teachers need to guidestudents to understand contents of tasks, give task instructions, supervise and helpingstudents to complete tasks successfully, organize students to report results to the classin oral or written form, correcting knowledge points and mistakes that students oftenmake in practice; In the process of participating to complete tasks, students not onlyapply to the language knowledge, but also experience the happiness of teamcooperation, this can not only cultivate students’ abilities of analyzing questions andsolving problems, but also mobilize the enthusiasm of students and improve learninginterests.Aiming at the problems above in English grammar teaching, this thesis putforward applying task-based teaching approach to English grammar teaching in seniorhigh school. This thesis mainly discusses how to effectively apply the task-basedteaching approach to English grammar teaching in senior high school. This thesismainly proves the following two points through the experimental method and the questionnaire:1. Compared with the3P teaching method, can the task-based approachmore effectively improve students’ English grammar level?2. Compared with the3Pteaching method, is the task-based teaching method more helpful to stimulatestudents’ interest in learning English grammar, and change their motivation andattitude to English learning? In this study,108students from two classes of Grade twoin Anda senior high school, Heilongjiang Province are selected as the experimentalsubjects. The two classes have the same source of students, student achievement,learning attitude and considerable discipline, and taught by the same teacher, andteaching schedule is also the same; students already have some English knowledgeand experience, and have a certain ability of self-study. In the control class, thetraditional3P grammar teaching method is still adopted to teach grammar. While inthe experimental class, the task-based teaching approach is used. Before theexperiment, a pre-test was done between the experimental class and the control class.The purpose is to see the master degree of grammar of the two classes. After thefour-month experiment, a post-test was done. It aims to check the master degree ofgrammar of the two classes after they are taught by different teaching methods.According to the results of pre-test and post-test, it can improve the task-basedapproach is more effectively to improve students’ English grammar level. At the endof four months’ experiment, a questionnaire was carried out to the subjects of thestudy. The questionnaire contains10questions, the answer options include5grades(A: strongly disagree, B: disagree, C: uncertain, D: agree, E: strongly agree).Questions6to9were designed based on the task-based teaching approach. Accordingto the choices of these questions, when the proportion of subjects is high, it is provedthat the task-based approach can help stimulate the students’ interest in learninggrammar; on the other hand, it is proved that the task-based approach goes againstarousing the students’ interest in learning English.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction of the currentsituation of English grammar teaching in Chinese senior high schools, the significanceof the study and the structure of the thesis. Chapter two concentrates on a literaturereview of grammar and grammar teaching, task and the task-based approach. First, this thesis gives the definition of grammar and grammar teaching, describes thedevelopment of grammar teaching. Then, the author discusses the significance ofgrammar teaching from different aspects. At last, it is the relevant theories of task andtask-based approach, which includes the definition, elements and types of task, andtask-based approach’s definition, principles, and framework. Chapter three is themethodology, which is the emphasis of this thesis, including research questions,research program, research instruments and the design of classroom teaching.Questionnaires and tests are the two main instruments adopted in this research. Thereare two paralleled classes: Class5and Class8in Anda Senior High School,Heilongjiang Province. Class8was chosen as the experimental class and Class5asthe control class. Task-based approach was carried out in Class8, and the traditional3Ps approach was adopted in Class5. Chapter four is results and discussion. Byanalyzing the data got in the pre-test and post-test, the author discusses the problemsof the3Ps method, the advantage of the task-based approach and comparison betweenthem. From the data of the questionnaire, the author introduces the reasons whytask-based approach can improve students’ grammar learning and arouse theirinterests. Chapter five comes to a conclusion which states briefly the major findingsof the study, limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research. Thereare three major findings of the study. First, English grammar teaching is necessary toChinese students. Second, compared with the3P teaching method, task-basedteaching approach is more effective in promoting the grammar teaching, improvingthe overall level of students’ grammar. Third, compared with the3P teaching method,task-based teaching approach is more conducive to the cultivation of students’ attitudeand motivation of learning grammar.