| The task-based approach is a teaching method which came into use in the1980sand was introduced into China in the1990s. In conjunction with students’ learningabilities and teaching aims, teachers design specific tasks around the language points.The tasks should be as close to the real life of the students as possible. Languagepoints should be arranged in relation to different activities. After students complete aseries of scaled learning activities, they will learn the language naturally and masterthe knowledge needed in language development. The task-based approach is related totraditional teaching methods and has both pros and cons in its implementation. Theauthor believes that the task-based approach is most suitable for secondary schools’English teaching. This is because the focus is on teaching teenagers who are moresuitable to be taught by following “learning by doing” in a variety of tasks in theclassroom compared with traditional teaching methods. The Task-based approach ismore in line with the characteristics of the adolescents. The TBA (Task-basedApproach) is easy to operate and understand. Students can participate in variousactivities which are connected to aspects of their real life experiences. This assists thestudents in learning a second language by doing the tasks. The TBA can be used in amanner that teachers teach students effectively but they are not aware of this impact.At present, it is unadvisable for secondary schools to put students of different abilitiesinto homogeneous grouping of classes. In such classes, students range from advancedstudents to students with learning difficulties. It is necessary for teachers to analyzeteaching strategies to assist in designing tasks which will meet the needs of students atall levels. Students with learning difficulties are the most overlooked group. With thedevelopment of urbanization, more second generations of migrant workers emerge inShanghai’s public high school classrooms, especially schools located in the urbanfringe. The English levels in schools range from very low to excellent, whichincreases the difficulty of English teaching in these classes. The student’s weakness inthe English subject directly affects their interest in learning, self-confidence and their application for the senior high school. This thesis attempts to study how to makefurther use of the TBA to improve the abilities of English LDs from migrant workers’families. The author hopes this study will help improve their learning styles andenhance their interest in learning. This can then assist them in raising their Englishlevels to put them on a level playing field with the local students.This thesis studies how to design specific tasks by using the TBA to promote thelearning abilities of English LDs in school H through questionnaires, interviews andexperiments. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Firstly the author brieflyintroduces the content, methods and goals of the research and states the reason forchoosing the topic. The second chapter reviews the origins of the TBA, thedevelopment status and related literature reviews at home and abroad. In Chapterthree, the author designs specific tasks for English LDs from migrant workers’families and leads one of the experimental lessons to gain an understanding of lessonstructures, content delivery and other issues that could arise in the classroom. Chapterfour is the collation and analysis of the materials in the experiment and its results.There are analysis of questionnaires, interview materials, pre-tests and post-tests donebefore and after the experiment. Based on all evidence the study has come to theconclusion that the task-based approach will help to enhance English LDs interest inlearning in School H significantly. That targeted and personalized task can improvestudents’ self-learning abilities and self-confidence. At the end of this thesis the authorconcludes the major findings with an analysis of the inadequacies of the study andrecommendations for future implementation of teaching and research. |
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