任务型教学法TaskbasedEnglishteachingmethod.docx

任务型教学法TaskbasedEnglishteachingmethod.docx

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任务型教学法TaskbasedEnglishteachingmethod

任务型教学法（Task-basedEnglishteachingmethod）

Introduction

       Task-basedlanguageteachingwasfirstinventedbyanEnglishlinguistAllwrightinthe1970s,popularizedabroadinthe1980s,andintroducedintoChinainthe1990s.Thepurposeofthisarticleistooutlinetheprinciplesthatunderlietask-basedlanguageteachingandtogiveexamplesofclassroomactivitieswithintheapproach.Task-basedlanguageteachingcanberegardedasoneparticulardevelopmentwithinthebroader“communicativeapproach”.Itiscurrentlymuchdiscussedinmanypartsoftheworldand,indeed,isrecommendedintheofficialcurriculumdocumentsofagrowingnumberofcountriesandregions.

       Thisarticlehasfivemainsections.Thefirstlooksatwhatismeantbytheterm“task”.Thesecondlooksatthecontinuumfrom“focusingonform”to“focusingonmeaning”withthecontinuumIhopetoilluminatethedistinctionoftenmadebetween“tasks”andotherkindsofactivity.Thecontinuumisdescribedandexploredinmoredetailinthethirdsection,whichprovidesarangeofexamplesfromdifferentpartsofit.Thefourthsectionpresentsaframeworkforlookingattasksintermsofhowtheycontributetothelinguistic,cognitiveandpersonalitydevelopmentofthestudents.Theconclusionsummarizessomeofthemainaimsandbenefitsoftask-basedlearningbymeansofamnemonicbaseontheword“task”itself.

Ⅰ.Whatistask?

Differentteachersandwritersusedifferentdefinitionsoftheterm“task”,suchas:

  1﹑…apieceofclassroomworkwhichinvolveslearnersincomprehending,manipulating,producingorinterestinginthetargetlanguagewhiletheirattentionisprincipallyfocusedonthemeaningratherontheform.Thetaskshouldhaveasenseofcompleteness,beingalsotostandaloneasacommunicativeactinitsownright.（Nahan,1989,15）

  2﹑…anystructuredlanguagelearningendeavorwhichhasaparticularobjectiveappropriatecontents,aspecifiedworkingprocedure,andrangeofoutcomesforthosewhoundertakethetask.（BreenviaBrown,1994,83）

  3﹑…anactivitywhichisdesignedtohelpachieveaparticulargoal.Anumberofdimensionsoftasksinfluencetheiruseinlanguageteaching.（RichardsEtal,2000,468）

       Mostpeoplewouldprobablyagreeoncertainbasiccharacteristics:

1﹑Tasksareactivitiesinwhichstudentsworkpurposefullytowardsanobjective.

 2﹑Theobjectivemaybeonethatstudentshavesetforthemselvesoronewhichhasbeensetbytheteacher.

3﹑Tasksmaybecarriedoutincompetitionwithotheror（moreoften）incollaboration.

4﹑Theymaybecarriedoutindividuallyor（moreoften）ingroups.

5﹑Theoutcomemaybesomethingconcrete（e.g.areportorpresentation）orsomethingintangible（e.g.agreementorthesolutiontoaproblem）.Themainareaofdisagreementrevolvesaroundtherelationshipbetweentasksandcommunication.Someteachersandwritersdonotseethisrelationshipascrucial.Theydefinealanguagelearningtaskasincludingalmostanythingthatstudentsareasked（orchoose）todointheclassroom,includingformallearningactivitiessuchasgrammarexercisesandcontrolledpracticeactivities,providedtheobjectiveoftheactivityisrelatedtolearningthelanguage.

Withinthisbroaddefinition,somewritersdistinguishsubcategoriessuchascommunicationtasksandenablingtasksaccordingtotheextenttowhichtheyinvolvecommunicationorfocusonform.

Manyotherteachersandwritersuseamorerestricteddefinition.Theyexcludeactivitieswherethelearnersfocusonformalaspectsofthelanguage（suchasgrammar,pronunciationorvocabulary）andreservetheterm“task”foractivitiesinwhichpurposeisrelatedtothecommunicationofmeanings.Willis（1996,p.23）isonewriterwhoadoptsthisdefinition.Inthisbooktasksarealwaysactivitieswherethetargetlanguageisusedbythelearnerforacommunicativepurpose（goal）inordertoachieveanoutcome.  

Activitieswhichfocusuponandpracticespecificelementsofknowledge,skillsandstrategiesneededforthetaskarecalledexercises.ThesamedistinctionbetweentasksandexercisesissupportedbyEllisNunanandSkehan.Skehan,forexample,describesthecriteriaforataskasfollows:

1﹑meaningisprimary;2﹑thereissomecommunicationproblemtosolve;3﹑thereissomesortofrelationshiptoreal-worldactivities;4﹑taskcompletionhassomepriority;5﹑theassessmentofthetaskisintermsofoutcome.

Thedefinitionreflectsthemethod’sinteractionbutwecan’tmakeaclear-cutdistinctionbetween“task”and“exercises”.Thiswillbediscussedinthenextsection.

Ⅱ﹒Communication,TasksandExercises.

Aswe’veseen,oneofthekeyfeaturesofacommunicativetaskisthatcentersfocusoncommunicatingmeaningsratherthanlearningorpracticingforms.Howeveritisnotusuallysimplyaquestionoflearningfocusingeitheronmeaningoronform.Moreoften,itisamatter ofdegree.Forexample,therearesomeactivitiesinwhichthelearnermayfocusmainlyontheproductionofcertainformsthatarebeingpracticed,butheorshemastillbeusingtheseformstoconveymeaningstosomebody.Thiswouldbethecasein,forexample,this“Questionnairesurvey”activity,inwhichthestudentsneedstouse“canyou…?

”inordertofindclassmateswhocandocertainthings,suchas:

whocanspeakthreelanguages/useacomputer/makecakes/rideabike/swim?

Inthisactivity,althoughthestudentshaveacommunicativepurpose（tofindclassmateswithparticularskills）itisalsoclearthattheyarepracticingspecificforms.Atothertimes,theemphasisoncommunicatingmeaningsmayincreasebutstudentsmaystillpayattentiontotheformstheyareproducing（andwhichindeed,theymayjusthavebeentaught）.Thismightbethecaseinthisroleplayifstudentsareaskedtoperformitshortlyafterlearninghowtomakeenquiriesandgiveinformationabouthotelaccommodation.Eachstudenthasoneofthefollowingrolecards:

studentA:

Youarriveatasmallhoteloneevening.Inthefoyer,youmeetthemanager（ess）and1.Askifthereisaroomvacant.2.Asktheprice,includingthebreakfast.3.Sayhowmanynightsyouwouldliketostay.4.Saywhattimeyouwouldliketohavebreakfast;studentB:

Youarethemanager（ess）ofasmallhotelthatpridesonitselfonitsfriendly,homelyatmosphere.Youhaveasingleandadoubleroomvacantfortonight.Thepricesare:

＄100forthesingleroom,＄160forthedoubleroom.Breakfastis＄15extraperperson.Forguestswithcars,thereisafreecarpark.Sinceitisimpossibletodrawacleardividinglinebetweenactivitieswherethefocusisonform（exercise）andactivitieswherethefocusisionmeaning（task）,itisusefultothinkofacontinuumwithvaryingdegreesoffocusonformand/ormeaning.Activitiescanthenbeclassifiedaccordingtowheretheyliealongthiscontinuum.Thecontinuumisdividedintofivesections.FromsectionⅠtosectionⅤ,thecontentfromformstomeaningisbecomingstrongerandstronger.1. Non-communicativelearning.Focusingonthestructuresoflanguage,howtheyareformedandwhattheymean,e.g.throughexercise,“discovery”andawareness-raisingactivities.2.Pre-communicativelanguagepractice. Practicinglanguagewithsomeattentiontomeaningbutnotcommunicatingnewmessagestoothers,e.g.in“question-and-answer”practice.3.Communicativelanguagepractice.Practicinglanguageinacontextwhereitcommunicatesnewinformation,e.g.informationgapactivitiesorpersonalizedquestions.4.Structuredcommunication.Usinglanguagetocommunicateinsituationswhereelicitpre-learntlanguagebutwithsomeunpredictability,e.g.instructuredrole-playandsimpleproblem-solving.5.Authenticcommunication.Usinglanguagetocommunicateinsituationswheremeaningsareunpredictable,e.g.increativerole-play,morecomplexproblem-solvinganddiscussion.Theactivitiesatthetopareobviously“exercises”.Thoseatthebottomareobviously“tasks”.Thoseinthemiddle（2-4）havefeaturesofboth.

Ⅲ.FromNon-CommunicativeLearningtoAuthenticCommunication.

  Thesectionwillelaborateonthepreviousonebygivingexamplesofactivitiesfromfivepartsofthecontinuumfrom“focusonform”to“focusonmeaning”.Inthetermsdiscussedabove,thiscorrespondsalsotoaprogressionfromclearlydefined‘exercises”toclearlydefined“tasks”.

1.    Non-CommunicativeLearning.

Itisinthiscategorythatthereistheleastelementofcommunication.Here,forexample,studentsareinvolvedin“discovering”aruleofgrammaronthebasisofexamples.Intheexamplesbelow,lookcarefullyatthepositionoftheadverbs“always”,“often”,“sometimes”,“usually”,and“never”.

Whataretherules?

A.    Weareusuallyhungrywhenwecomehome.

Johnisalwayslate.

Hisparentswereoftentiredintheevening.

Ineversurewhetherthiswordiscorrect.

B.    IsometimesgotothecinemaonFridays.

Wenevereatmuchinthemorning.

Janeoftenarrivesatschoolearly.

Theyalwayscomehomelateatnight.

C.    Theyhaveneverwrittentomeagain.

Youcanalwayscomeandvisitme.

Iwillneverknowwhyhedidit.

Pathasoftenseenhimwithtwodogs.

Thestudentsarethenrequiredtoapplythisruletoanewsetofexamples:

Puttheadverbsintotherightplacesinthesentencebelow.

A.        Weplayfootballintheevening（often）.

Icancatchthefirstbusinthemorning（never）.

JackandJillareveryhappy（always）.

Theyvisitme（sometimes）.

YouwriteverygoodEnglish（usually）.

B.        TheyhavebeentoJinan（often）.

Wedrinkteaforbreakfast（always）.

Youarecheerful（usually）.

Johncankeepasecret（never）.

Hehasrefusedtospeaktome（sometimes）

2.    Pre-CommunicativeL