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A close examination of Task-based A close examination of Task-based language teaching in the Chinese language teaching in the Chinese

contextcontext 评述任务型教学法在中国的运用评述任务型教学法在中国的运用

中国外语教育中心 文秋芳

Email: Wenqiufang@teach.bfsu.edu.cn

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Topics to be addressed todayTopics to be addressed today

General Views about Task-based language

teaching (TBLT) in China

中国英语教学界对任务型教学法的普遍看法 My personal view and explanations

我个人的看法及理由

Suggestions about the adaptation of TBLT in

the Chinese context

对任务型教学法在中国运用的建议

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General views about TBLT in ChinaGeneral views about TBLT in China

Innovative, effective

– TBLT recommended as an effective

teaching approach for primary and

secondary schools in “English Course

Guidelines” issued by Ministry of

Education in 2001

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General views about TBLT in ChinaGeneral views about TBLT in China

Yue Shouguo, 2002, An introduction to task-

based language teaching Approach, Foreign

Language Teaching and Research, 5: 364-367.

( 任务语言教学法 : 概要、理据及运用） Huang, Yuanzheng, 2003, Teaching and

learning the new English course, Fuzhou:

Fujian Education Press. ( 新课程英语教和学）

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QuestionQuestion

Is Task-based language

teaching importable to

China?

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Sampson (1985)Sampson (1985)

No teaching method can be value-

free and hence no teaching

method can be universally

applicable.– Exporting language teaching methods

from Canada to China in Foreign

Language Teaching and Research, 1: 44-

51.

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My personal viewsMy personal views

Innovative but not necessarily effective in

China particularly for primary and secondary

school students

Adaptable for bettering ELT in China but not

importable without any modifications

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Why innovative?Why innovative?

Previous teaching approaches (AL & CLT)

Task-based language teaching

Syllabus (What to teach)

Linguistic content (structures/ functions or notions)

Tasks

Procedures (How to teach)

Presentation

Practice

Production

Pre-task

During-task

Post-task

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Task-based language Task-based language teaching (What)teaching (What)

Treat tasks as teaching units and

design a whole course around the

tasks (Ellis, 2003)

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Prabhu’s view (cited by Ellis, Prabhu’s view (cited by Ellis, 2003)2003)

It was necessary to abandon the pre-selection of linguistic terms in any form and instead specify the content of teaching in terms of holistic units of communication, i.e. tasks. In this way, he claimed, it would be possible to teach ‘through communication’ rather than ‘for communication’.

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What is a task?What is a task?

Skehan (1996)

A task is ‘an activity in which: meaning is primary; there is some sort of relationship to the real world; task completion has some priority; and the assessment of task performance is in terms of task outcome’.

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What is a task?What is a task? Nunan (1989) A communicative task is ‘a piece of

classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than on form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right

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Examples of tasksExamples of tasks

Borrowing a library bookMaking an airline reservationWriting a chequeOpening a bank accountPost a letter in the post-office

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Six criterial features of a task Six criterial features of a task (Ellis, 2003: 9-10)(Ellis, 2003: 9-10)

A task is a workplan. A task involves a primary focus on meaning. A task involves real-world processes of

language use. A task can involve any of the four language

skills. A task engages cognitive processes. A task has clearly defined communicative

outcome.

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Advantages of using tasksAdvantages of using tasks

Authentic

Motivating

Challenging

Using language

Active participation

Cognitive development

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Why not effective in China, Why not effective in China, particularly for beginners and particularly for beginners and

low-intermediates?low-intermediates?

Theoretically unjustifiable

Pedagogically infeasible

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Theoretically unjustifiableTheoretically unjustifiable

The functions of a language

Educational perspective

– Goals of learning English

– Formal/informal education

Critical pedagogical perspective

Psycholinguistic perspective

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Overemphasis on Overemphasis on referential/transactional functionsreferential/transactional functions

• • • •Core business talk

Work-related talk

Social talk

Phatic communion

Holmes’ continuum (2000, cited by David, Holmes’ continuum (2000, cited by David, 2003: p.72) 2003: p.72)

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The goals of learning a foreign The goals of learning a foreign languagelanguage

For performing communicative tasks

For widening students’ horizons and

sharpening them awareness of cultural

differences

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‘‘Educational reforms’ in the Educational reforms’ in the Cultural revolutionCultural revolution

Teaching in middle school

– Physics (hand-tractor, motor, diesel engine and

water pump) ( 三机一泵）– Botany (rice, wheat and cotton)

Teaching in university

– Open-door schooling

– Project-based and typical product-based teaching

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Problems in this kind of Problems in this kind of ‘reform’‘reform’

By nature, this kind of ‘reform’ relegated

whole-person-development education to

specific or vocational skills’ training.

Fragmentary and unsystematic knowledge

Unsustainable improvement

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TBLT not conducive to sustained

improvement

–Tasks: too specific without

generalizability

–Unsystematic linguistic

knowledge

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Formal/informal educationFormal/informal education

Formal education should be more

efficient than self-directed informal

learning

– swimming, painting, driving

Formal education should empower

students

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Larsen-Freeman (2003)Larsen-Freeman (2003)

The point of education is to accelerate the language acquisition process, not be satisfied with or try to emulate what learners can do on their own.

Grasping a language system can empower students.

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The critical pedagogyThe critical pedagogy

A critical pedagogy requires that any particular

approach to language teaching be analyzed to

uncover its underlying socio-political messages.

(Ellis, 2003: 331)

What is the norm for EFL learners to follow in

task-based teaching? Native speakers.

What is the role of the learner’s mother tongue?

Avoiding the use of L1.

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Vivian Cook (1999)Vivian Cook (1999)

The language used by successful L2 users

should be a model for L2 learners.

Treat L2 users in their own right but not

deficient native speakers, failed natives.

Comparing the characteristics of native

speakers and of L2 users is like comparing

tomatoes and apples, useful only at a gross

level.

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Vivian Cook (1999)Vivian Cook (1999)

Apart from the never-dying but usually decried

grammar-translation method, virtually all

language teaching methods since the Reform

Movement of the 1880s, whether the

audiolingual and audiovisual methods, the

communicative method, or the Silent Way,

have insisted that teaching techniques should

not rely on the L1. (p. 201)

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Psycholinguistic perspectivePsycholinguistic perspective

Limited attentional resources

Automaticity

– Frequency effects

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A dangerous momentA dangerous moment Student A

Have you ever been in a situation where you tell your life was in danger? Describe the situation to your partner. Tell him/her what happened. Give an account of how you felt when you were in danger and afterward.

Student B

Listen to your partner tell you about a dangerous moment in his/her life. Draw a picture to show what happened to your partner. Show him/her your picture when you have finished it.

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Pedagogically infeasiblePedagogically infeasibleDifficult to cover the whole language

systemLack teachers who are sufficiently

proficient in English to engage easily and comfortably in face-to-face interaction.

Reducing students’ confidence

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Rod Ellis’ view (2003)Rod Ellis’ view (2003)It should be noted that the rationale

for task-based syllabuses is largely

theoretical in nature, there being little

empirical evidence to demonstrate

that they are superior to linguistic

syllabuses (p. 210)

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Ellis’ framework (2003, p. 206)Ellis’ framework (2003, p. 206)

Tasks 1. Task types2. Themes/topics3. Sequencing

criteria

LanguageFormsFunctions

Task-based syllabus

Unfocused tasks Focused tasks

Teaching materials—task workplans

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Two options (Ellis, 2003)Two options (Ellis, 2003)

Option One: unfocused tasks– Specify the tasks to be included– Determine their thematic content– Sequence the tasks

Option Two: focused tasks– Specify the tasks while considering the

forms and functions of language– Introduce a focus on form into a

meaning-centered curriculum

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Option One: Option One: Neglect the linguistic contentNeglect the linguistic content

Tasks

Unfocused-tasks

Linguistic content Pronunciation Notions

Grammar Functions

Vocabulary

Discourse

?

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Option Two: Difficult to implementOption Two: Difficult to implement

Tasks

Focused-tasks

Linguistic content Pronunciation Notions

Grammar Functions

Vocabulary

Discourse

?

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Lack English teachers with high L2 Lack English teachers with high L2

oral proficiencyoral proficiency

First, task-based instruction is seen as

impractical in foreign language contexts

because of the limited class time available for

teaching the L2.

Second, task-based teaching is seen as

difficult to implement by non-native speaking

teachers whose L2 oral proficiency is

uncertain.

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English teaching in ChinaEnglish teaching in China

Level of education Number of students

Tertiary institution 16 million

Senior middle school 29 million

Junior middle school 67 million

Total 112 million

(Jan. 6, 2004, China’s Ministry of Education)

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Without capitalizing on non-native Without capitalizing on non-native teachers’ strengthsteachers’ strengths

Medgyes (1994) points to several advantages of teachers being non-native speakers — they provide good models for their students, they know what learning strategies can be usefully taught, they can supply information about the English language, they can anticipate and prevent difficulties, they are good at showing empathy, and, most obviously, they can exploit the use of the students’ L1. Task-based teaching, however, may not be the most obvious vehicle for maximizing these strengths.

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Reducing students’ confidenceReducing students’ confidence

Without adequate practice of the needed

structures, students were reluctant to speak

in a so-called meaning-driven

communication.

One highly possible explanation is that they

lack adequate practice in doing so.

(Larsen-Freeman, 2003, p. 100)

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Adaptable but not importableAdaptable but not importable

Rod Ellis’ view (2003)

–Task-based language teaching

–Task-supported language

teaching

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Ellis’ suggestionEllis’ suggestion It suggests that… a clear distinction needs to be

made between asking teachers to adopt a task-based course and asking them to experiment with individual tasks alongside their existing practices. The former is challenging and one would predict that the innovation would run into problems. The latter is relatively unthreatening as it requires only modification to the way teachers teach, rather than a radical change. It is likely to succeed. (p.323)

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Task-supported language teachingTask-supported language teaching

Teaching based on a linguistic content,

whether this is specified in structural

terms as a list of grammatical features or

in notional/functional terms

Using tasks in the last stage in a

methodological sequence consisting of

present-practice-production (Ellis, 2003)

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SuggestionsSuggestions

Modify what has been done in presentation, practice and production– Presentation: input, interaction– Practice: from grammar to

grammaring– Production: tasks

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Why ELT in China is ineffective?Why ELT in China is ineffective?

Factors accounting for ineffectivenessTeaching methodsStudents’ effortsUnrealistic goals

– Wen Jin (1998: 156) The major factor accounting for low

efficiency in ELT is great discrepancy between English and Chinese which requires a lot of efforts and time on the part of the learner.

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Problem for education in generalProblem for education in general

Prepare students for future life

– Solid theoretical foundation

– Learn what has been needed in the society

The theory-practice continuum

Theory

Practice

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Systematic training to foster abilities rather than specific skills

Learning through doing

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Accelerating natural learning is, after all, the purpose of formal education. And helping our students learn faster than they would on their own way may well call for explicit teaching and learning to complement the implicit learning that they naturally do (Larsen-Freeman, 2003, p.25).

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ReferencesReferencesBlock, D. 2003. The social turn in second language

acquisition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Ellis, R. 2003. Task-based language learning and

teaching. Oxford: Oxford University.Larsen-Freeman, D. 2003. Teaching language: From

grammar to grammaring. Boston: Heninle. Sampson, G. P. (1985). Exporting language teaching

methods from Canada to China. Foreign Languages Teaching and Research 61: 44-51.

Savignon, S. J. 2002. Communicative competence: Theory and classroom practice. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Skehan, P. 1998. A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University.

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Yue, S. G. 2002. Task-based language teaching approach: An Introduction, rationale and application. Language Teaching and Research, 5: 364-367.