A Study On Task-based Language Teaching In Senior High School English Reading Teaching

In the1980’s, language teaching experts did a lot of research and attempts and finallythey put forward an important and influential teaching approach-TBLT, that is Task-basedLanguage Teaching Approach. In this approach, specific tasks are the power and motivationfor study. Finishing tasks is regarded as the learning process. Students’ presenting theachievement of the tasks is a reflection of the teaching results. Task-based Language Teachingis students-centered, and it promotes “learning by doing”.As we all know, reading is one of the most important skills among Englishskills—reading, writing, listing and speaking. Reading ability may be a reflection of thelearners’ ability. It is a goal for Chinese senior high school English teaching to developstudents’ reading ability. At the same time it is also the focus of the tests. But at present thereare still some problems existing in the reading process. Traditional English reading teachingmethods hinder the students’ reading ability, because it just pays much attention to thelanguage forms, rather than the students’ reading ability.Is there a more effective method to improve the students’ reading ability and at the sametime get the students interested in reading? It is the application of task-based languageteaching that can be used in reading. In2002, Ministry of Education issued high schoolEnglish Curriculum Standards, which advocated that Task–based teaching should be used inthe class.The author will carry out an experiment which lasts about6months in Fengnan No.1Senior Middle School. There are altogether60students in each class, and the classes will bedivided into controlled class and experimental class. Task-based Language Teaching will beapplied in the experimental while the traditional method will be employed in the controlled.After six months’ experiment, the author found out that the reading ability of the students inthe experimental class has improved greatly. Students’ ability in the experimental class inreferring, guessing, getting the main idea and detailed information has improved moreobviously than that in the controlled class.In the paper, under the guidance of the new curriculum and the necessity of applying themethod to the actual reading teaching, the author presents the principles for task design andconstruct the TBLT model of reading in order to prove whether TBLT is useful and practicalfor English reading.Although the Task-Based Teaching mode may not be suitable for the present educationsituation in our country, from data of the experimental application of the Task-Based Teachingin English reading in senior high school, it is a teaching mode worth advocating.