A Study Of The Application Of Task-Based Language Teaching In Oral English Teaching In A Higher Vocational College

As an indispensable way of communication,oral English is becoming more and more important.Cultivating people who are fluent in oral English and able to communicate effectively in the international community is one of the urgent requirements of China's strong economic and social development.Especially for the students of higher vocational colleges,English Syllabus of Higher Vocational Colleges clearly states that we should attach importance to cultivating students' language communication and application ability,and make relevant provisions on the oral English requirements.However,in reality,oral English teaching of higher vocational colleges is faced with many difficulties and problems,which greatly affect students' oral English proficiency.One of the important reasons for this phenomenon is that over the years,foreign language teaching has mainly been dependent on the traditional teaching method,by which teachers explain the knowledge and students passively accept the knowledge,which cannot stimulate students' interest,improve their confidence in learning and initiative in activity participation.Therefore,in order to improve students' oral English performance,make students take the initiative to participate in classroom teaching and enhance their learning interest and confidence,we need to change the traditional teaching method.Task-based Language Teaching(TBLT)is a kind of language teaching method which emphasizes “learning by doing”.This approach emerged in the 1980 s,and by applying the approach,the teaching process can be designed with the task as the center,taking the students as the learning center,and the task completion as the goal.For specific tasks,students take part in a variety of language activities to complete the task,and improve their English ability.Therefore,the author tries to carry out task-based teaching experiment in oral English teaching in a higher vocational college,aiming to explore the validity and feasibility of TBLT in changing the students' attitude towards oral English learning and enhancing their oral English proficiency.This study mainly addresses the following questions: First,whether TBLT can effectively improve students' oral English proficiency;second,whether TBLT can change students' attitude towards oral English learning.Based on the current situation of oral English teaching,the author conducted a one-semester teaching experiment at Laiwu Vocational and Technical College.The experimental subjects are non-English-major freshmen from two parallel classes taught by the writer.One is the experimental class,and the other is the control class,in which TBLT was implemented in the experimental class.In the control class traditional teaching method was still used,mainly depending on teachers' explanation.It is found that with the application of TBLT,the oral English proficiency of the students in the experimental class is effectively improved,and the students can actively participate in classroom activities and their interest and confidence of oral English learning are improved,which shows that the application of TBLT in vocational English teaching has practical significance and meaning for improving the oral English teaching in higher vocational colleges.Based on the findings,the writer put forward some suggestions for oral English teaching in higher vocational education,hoping to provide some reference for oral English teaching in higher vocational colleges.