ApplicationofTask—basedLanguageTeachingtoEnglish IntensiveReading

【Abstract】Several approaches to second language teaching have been proposed since the 19th century， among which Task-based Language Teaching （TBLT） has been widely used in English language teaching recently. Thus， this paper aims to integrate TBLT and intensive reading for postgraduate students who are non-English majors with the hope of promoting learning. This paper takes one of the texts of their English textbook as an example to design a class.

【Key words】Task-based Language Teaching； Intensive Reading Course

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】張艷，女，陜西咸陽人，西安外國(guó)語大學(xué)英文學(xué)院在讀研究生，2017級(jí)外國(guó)語言學(xué)及應(yīng)用語言學(xué)專業(yè)。

1. Introduction

TBLT is a type of teaching methodology. It is a further development of Communicative Language Teaching. TBLT regards that students learning of language should be related to real life. It is the language actually used in daily life. It emphasizes on form-focused and communication-focused teaching. In TBLT， students learn to communicate by means of performing tasks. In the process of performing tasks， they link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom.

2. Definition of TBLT

TBLT is an approach to language education in which students are given functional tasks that invite them to focus primarily on meaning exchange and to use language for real-world， non-linguistic purposes. In TBLT， tasks are the main point of this teaching methodology. Tasks are considered as potential building blocks in learning a second language. And tasks are vehicles to support second language learning in terms of eliciting language production， interaction， meaning negotiation， processing of input and concentrate on form.

3. Advantages of TBLT

Firstly， TBLT is a meaning-centered methodology. That is to say， it can help to develop students communicative competence by focusing on the meaning. Secondly， In TBLT， the pre-task part is so helpful in reading comprehension that the teacher can activate students background knowledge and the related schemata by engaging them in completing tasks. Thirdly， TBLT can make a positive contribution to students success of second language learning.

4. A Syllabus Based on TBLT

4.1 Class objectives

This class is aimed to help post-graduate students to learn an intensive reading text. Students are taught to use reading strategies in this class with expectation of making progress in the following detailed aspects： 1） Words， phrases and words collocation recognition and usage. 2） Reading strategies and skills. 3） Enhance students ability of writing a summary.

4.2 Required materials

Textbook book： An English Course for Advanced Learners. By Chenjing， Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

4.3 Teaching Procedures

1） Warming-up. Showing students the title of the text - Expressing Ones Individuality on PPT. Let students predict the contents of the text with skimming or scanning the text.

2） Explanation. Teacher picks up some words within the text that may puzzle them and explains the meaning， usage and collocation of them respectively.

3） Classification. Dividing Ss into four groups and each group chooses one part of the passage to study.

4） Requirements and questions. Asking them to fulfill the requirements and questions proposed by the teacher after their reading finished.

5） Students make a presentation on their summaries and their own understanding of this text. Teacher evaluates their summaries and statements group by group.

6） Students communicate with each other within their group on correcting and integrating their summaries.

7） Detailed study and sentence-by-sentence translation of this text.

8） Review. Once the text is finished， a review is required by answering comprehension questions and a reading comprehension text of the similar difficulty level.

5. Conclusion

In this class， TBLT is well-used in the process of studying the text. Purposeful classroom and learning activities and tasks are essential components of TBLT. It is important to know that a method is effectual only when it is appropriate to the teaching context. The best thing to do is to develop ones teaching methods based on the context where one teaches and integrates the merits of different methodologies to serve the purpose of ones teaching objectives and the needs of ones students. The teaching methodology should be seen as a flexible one and an inspiration of ones own teaching method. For different methodology serves a different purpose. In order to achieve these goals， different teaching and learning methodologies should be explored in terms of different learning requirements.

References：

[1]Chen Jing，An English Course for Advanced Learners.Froeign Language Teaching and Research Press.