| Over the last two decades, among the numerous language-teaching approaches, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has a great significant impact on English teaching in China. Compared to the traditional instruction, which focuses on form, the students have made rapid progress in speaking and hearing more than before. But with the development of CLT, its drawbacks appeared-it overemphasizes language meaning and ignores language forms. Skehan proposed (1998: 270) that accuracy, fluency and complexity are fundamental importance, reflecting a capacity for growth and a capacity to use language effectively. In order to develop the three aspects of a language, Task-Based Instruction (TBI) is fostered, and it has a greater and greater impact on language teaching in the world.Task-based instruction is a new development of CLT; it integrates form-focused instruction with meaning-focused instruction, through the learners carrying out the designed communicative tasks. At the beginning of this century, SECC (the State Education Commission of China) demands "teaching English in task-based instruction to improve learners ability in using English" (SECC, 2001). The thesis, on the base of the prior researches, following the theories of linguistics and psychology, explores the grammar teaching in task-based instruction in Chinese middle schools so as to be helpful to solve the existing problems in grammar teaching.The thesis is made up of four parts. It begins with an analysis of existing problems in English grammar teaching in middle school, and points out meaning and form are of the same importance, on the base of this, task-based instruction is suggested in grammar teaching.In the second part, the thesis gives a look back on the results of the researches into task-based instruction. There are two research findings on task-based instruction, one is about task characteristics, and the other is about task implementation conditions. The former points out that the different choice of tasks (e.g. one-way or two-way tasks, convergent or divergent tasks, familiar or strange information in a task, static or dynamitic tasks and the number of participants and so on) will greatly affect the development of the three aspects (accuracy, fluency and complexity). The latter proposes the three steps (pre, during and post-task) while a task is carried out, and that, how the three aspects affect accuracy, fluency and complexity.In the practice, the tasks which can generate more interaction and negotiation, and which tasks cangenerate more negotiation and interaction, have become the focus of researches. The reason is that interaction and negotiation in communicating, which will generate more opportunities of using language, can promote the development of learners' interlanguage.In the third part, the thesis examines its theories and principles. In the practice CLT is successful in developing highly functional L2 skill in learners, but it has not led to matching accuracy in production (Skehan, 2002:227). Many researches began to explore the way in which meaning-focused instruction and form-focused instruction can be integrated. Task-based instruction got fostered. Skehan (2002:228) pointed out task-based instruction could be considered simply a more thoroughgoing version of CLT. It may be that versions of TBI with clear provision for focus on form will show that continued progress is possible in promoting accuracy and complexity as well as fluency. TBI is a development of CLT, and cognitive learning theory is its important theoretical basis. From information processing perspective, the different choice of tasks will balance attention allocation, which can affect the development of accuracy fluency and complexity (Skehan, 1996: 55).In the fourth part, an experiment is designed. The experiment is based on the theory of task-based instruction, and the students of the two classes in Grade Two of the high school are randomly chosen to participant in the experiment, and Attributive Clause is chosen as the content of the experimen...
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