The Effects of Task-Based Teaching Approach on College Writing Classes
Abstract
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) which lays stress on the natural and gradual acquisition of language through fulfilling various tasks is a learner-centered teaching methodology. It is an instructional approach that can fit neatly into English teaching classrooms. Its basic theoretical foundation is Krashen’s acquisition theory. Researchers both at home and abroad have carried out various researches in this field and proved that task-based teaching can enhance learners’ communicative competence. This paper takes advantages of Willis’s framework of TBLT and researches on the feasibility and effectiveness of TBLT. An empirical study for writing classes by implementing TBLT was carried out by the author for two hours every week for one semester. All the findings of this research indicate that task-based teaching approach can cultivate learners’ self-study awareness, improve learners’ writing competence and language proficiency significantly. In this study, TBLT approach is very effective for writing classes.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Brown, H. D. (2000). Principle of language learning and teaching. New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Brown, R. (1991). Group work, task difference, and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 12(1), 1-12. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/
Ellis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 193-220.
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Horowitz, D. (1986). What professors actually required: Academic tasks for the EFL classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 20(3), 445-462. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3586294
Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal, 58(4), 319-326. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/elt/58.4.319
Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1991). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 27-56. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587368
Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for a communicative classroom (p.10). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language Teaching (pp.100-150). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from Http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667336
Skehan, P. A. (1996). A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 17(1), 38-62. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/17.1.38
Skehan, P. A. (1998). Cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. ELT Journal, 60, 1-4.
Willis, J., & Willis, D. (1996). Challenge and change in language teaching. London: MacMillan and Heinemann ELT.
Willis, J. (2002). A flexible framework for task-based learning: Challenge and change in language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Wolff, D. (2000). Second language writing: A few remarks on psycholinguistic and instructional issues. Learning and Instruction, 10(1), 107-112. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4752(99)00021-3
Zhang, Y. (2009). The application of task-based teaching methods and self-regulated learning strategies on the writing course in English. Shandong Foreign Language Teaching, (2).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/n
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c)
Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard
Reminder
How to do online submission to another Journal?
If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:
1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author
Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.
2. Submission
Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org
Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).
STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office
Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org
E-mail: office@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture