The Empirical Study Of Task-based Language Teaching In Oral English Teaching Of Junior High School

This thesis is an empirical study which applies the TBLT to oral English class in Junior Middle School. There are many researches both on the theories and practices of TBLT by different linguists and researchers but the studies of oral English in Junior Middle School are few.TBLT is a new teaching method which originates from 1980 s. To compare with the teacher-centered traditional PPP teaching method, TBLT is student-centered with teachers as instructors. This study is designed to answer the following questions:whether TBLT is more effective than the traditional teaching method in Middle School oral English teaching;whether TBLT could arose students’ learning interests;whether TBLT could increase students’ confidence in speaking English; Two classes in Grade 8 are chosen as the subjects, and the students in each class have the same oral English level and attitude toward oral English learning according to the pre-questionnarie and pre-test. Class One is the Experiment Class(EC) which is taught by using TBLT method and the other is the Control Class(CC) which is taught by using PPP teaching method. After three months’ experiment, the author gives the EC and CC post-questionnaire and post-test again to check if there are any significant changes before and after the experiment. And interviews are given to 5 students from EC who are chosen randomly. All the results of questionnaires, tests and interviews are collected and analyzed systematically in order to answer the research questions which are raised before the experiment.The experimental study shows that the TBLT is better than the traditional PPP teaching method in arousing students’ learning interests and enthusiasm, increasing the students’ confidence in speaking English and reducing anxiety in speaking English etc. It could improve students’ oral English proficiency effectively. This empirical study of TBLT could not only verify the practicalness of the theories but also enrich the teaching ways of oral English teaching. Meanwhile, this thesis may promote the implementation of TBLT into English teaching and give some specific instructions to oral English teaching in China.