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The Application Of Task-based Approach In English Writing In Junior Middle School

Posted on:2007-06-01Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y S XiongFull Text:PDF
GTID:2167360215469712Subject:English education
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The theory of the Task-based Approach (TBA), an influential language teaching and learning theory, was put forward to by language teaching methodologists and the second language acquisition researchers based on long-term study and practice. The methodologists and researchers contend that it is important and useful to make use of tasks in the classroom. The argument mentioned as above has had a significant influence on the methodology of English teaching, English course design and studies in language acquisition. Evidently, the New National Curriculum Standards for English Education issued by the Ministry of Education, which emphasizes the cultivation of students'comprehensive language proficiencies, also advocates the use of the approach.Writing is a continual process of searching the most effective expressions to communicate. And it is both of challenge to write in mother language and the target language. Writing can't be separated from language learning. Writing can not only consolidate what has been learned but also is an important way of communication. Writing can effectively facilitate the internalization of learners' knowledge and check the sentence structures and usage in the target language. Writing can also accelerate automation in the performance of target language, and therefore, promote the learning of target language. However, it is not easy to learn how to write. Writing is a complicated and dynamic process. It is restricted by various cognitive and social factors. In China, English writing is the weakest part of teaching and learning. Although many English teachers have made great efforts, little effect can be seen. The students' writing ability still can't reach the target level.The traditional ways of teaching writing are product approach and process approach. Product approach is a kind of bottom-up writing approach at sentence level. Often, the learner is engaged in imitating, copying and transforming models of correct language. The disadvantage of product approach is that the grammatical correctness and sentence making are overemphasized, whereas the whole structure of the composition and the students'affective attitude and inner experience tend to be ignored. Process approach, on the other hand, focuses more on the various classroom activities which are believed to promote the development of skill language use. In this approach, the focus is on quantity rather than quality for learners at the beginning level. The students are encouraged to get their ideas on paper in any shape or form without worrying too much about formal correctness. The approach also encourages collaborative group work between learners as a way of enhancing motivation and developing positive attitudes towards writing. Its disadvantage is that attention to grammar is played down. Now many scholars and teachers have begun to realize both the product and process approaches have some problems.In recent years, teaching English writing has become more and more important, yet there are many problems in English writing teaching in Chinese junior middle school. How to improve the quality of English writing teaching and students'writing proficiencies has become a concern in the circle of education. In this study, TBA was tentatively applied in writing teaching as a means to facilitate the English writing teaching and students'writing proficiencies. As a result of the experimental research, it is found that TBA is helpful in that it converts language the basic principle of language use into a meaningful teaching model in the classroom. The students are encouraged to communicate with each other and enforce their sense of participating by the means of cooperation and competition of accomplishing tasks. At the same time, the students guided by their teacher deal with and accomplish the tasks and adjust their emotions and strategies so that their language proficiency will be promoted and goals advocated in the New National English Curriculum Standard will be realized.
Keywords/Search Tags:task-based approach, task, writing teaching
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