Evaluation And Analysis On Task Design Of Public English Textbooks In Higher Vocational Colleges

Since the twenty-first Century, higher vocational education is increasingly valued and the number of higher vocational colleges is growing. In 2000, the Ministry of Education promulgated The Basic Teaching Requirements for Higher Vocational English Courses. Take this as an opportunity, a large number of English textbooks, which are complied according to the characteristics of higher vocational college English teaching, arise at the same moment. In the face of numerous English textbooks, teachers cannot help but think: which set of textbooks is more suitable for students; which one can promote students’ English ability? As one of the core components of the textbook, the quality of the tasks has a direct impact on the overall quality of the textbook. Based on this point, the author thinks it is necessary to make a in-depth study about the task design of English textbooks. The study about task design of Public English textbooks in higher vocational colleges is an important part of the textbook research field and it is also a new field that needs further exploration. To some extent, the importance of task design exceeds text selection because it plays an important role in guiding and standardizing teaching. For example, the design of tasks can lead students to carry out inquiry learning, independent thinking and problem solving, so as to promote students’ autonomous learning ability. Thus it can be seen that task design can reflect the editor’s view of language, learning and education, and the idea of the editor is achieved through reasonable task design. The research on the task design of Public English is of great significance in improving the quality of Public English textbooks, promoting students’ comprehensive development and improving students’ overall quality.In reviewing the study results on English textbooks and task design at home and abroad, the author puts forward a theoretical framework for the task design of higher vocational public English textbooks according to the input and output hypothesis, constructivism theory, and communicative competence theory, combined with The Basic Teaching Requirements for Higher Vocational English Courses.This theoretical framework of task design in high vocational comprehensive English textbooks is composed of the following three sections:(1) language knowledge;(2) language skills;(3) principles and theories of foreign language teaching. Language knowledge mainly contains pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary knowledge; Language skills include five kinds of skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating; The last section is primarily concerned with the theories and principles of foreign language teaching and related disciplines that should be followed when designing tasks, such as the diversity, interestingness, difficulty, authenticity of tasks and the rationality of language input and output etc.Based on the above theoretical framework, and combined with the results of the questionnaires and interviews, the author comparatively evaluate and analysis the task design of the two sets of representative higher vocational colleges English textbooks: New Practical English Comprehensive Course and College English New Concept Comprehensive Course. The results show that both of these two sets of textbooks pay much attention to the training of the basic language knowledge and skills, the content of the task is relatively abundant and relevant to students’ daily life, which helps to stimulate students’ learning interest and learning initiative. English practical writing in writing tasks well embodies the practicality of the English language in real life. The common problems are: First, many tasks are just like language exercises with mechanical repeating practice of vocabulary and sentence structures. Oriented by graded exams and traditional exercise patterns, most of the tasks such as blank-filling, word-conversion etc. are regarded as unauthentic tasks. Though the English language teaching in China is governed by the traditional education system, it is advisable to give learners more chances to approach authentic tasks instead of test-centered exercises. If learners were constantly exposed to this kind of tasks, their imagination and creativity would be impeded. Second, the tasks lack of interestingness and diversity. At last, the task design does not fully reflect the concept of independent learning, and the cultivation of students’ cooperation spirit also does not give enough attention.At last, the author puts forward her own suggestions on how to improve the task design of public English textbook in higher vocational colleges, hoping to provide references for the textbook compilers to design tasks and for teachers to flexibly use textbooks in teaching.