The Application Of Task-based Language Teaching In Elementary Chinese Teaching In New Zealand

Task-based Language Teaching is a language teaching method that emerged in the1980 s.It is developed from Communicative Approach,emphasizing meaning as the center,and focusing on learners’ communicative interaction(Skehan,1998).Its main feature is to use “tasks” that are close to the real life and interesting as the teaching carrier,allowing students to carry out initiative inquiring learning and improve their language skills in the process of completing tasks.The Task-based Language Teaching method has been widely used in the Mandarin class for foreigners with its clear teaching objectives,complete communication process,highlighting the student’s dominant position and enhancing students’ interest in learning,and has achieved good teaching results.The application research of Task-based Language Teaching in elementary Mandarin class in New Zealand is still in the exploration stage.On the one hand,due to the different stages of development of Mandarin teaching in various countries and regions,the importance attached to Mandarin teaching is also different,resulting in inconsistent and unstructured Mandarin teaching in primary and secondary schools,and the students’ ability to communicate in the target language is weak;on the other hand,Mandarin class started late in New Zealand,but the rapid growth of Chinese learners has led to the failure of Mandarin teaching research in New Zealand’s primary and secondary schools to meet the growing demand for Mandarin learning.This thesis conducts a systematic survey on the status of Task-based Language Teaching in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and the problems in elementary Mandarin class in New Zealand,and then proposes a two-month teaching design with the educational game Guess Who as an example.Based on the teaching design,this thesis carries out teaching experiments and case study,to provide suggestions and references for Chinese teaching in New Zealand primary and secondary schools.This thesis finds that,first of all,there are many problems in elementary Mandarin class in New Zealand.Chinese teaching in New Zealand’s primary and secondary schools has short semesters and fewer hours,and is basically at the beginning-level.Chinese teachers are short on Chinese course books,and students learn a lot of basic vocabulary during class.Without gradual progress and students have poor language communication skills,therefore,it is very necessary to carry out the practice and research on Chinese teaching.Secondly,the teaching design with the educational game Guess Who as the task is scientific and reasonable,and the advantages of the Task-based Language teaching method are fully utilized.Macroscopically,the Guess Who task is designed to finally realize the class in pure Chinese environment.Microscopically,the ultimate task is refined into the subtasks of each lesson,linking with each other and providing easy-to-hard train,so that the students can carry out initiative inquiring learning.Finally,the elementary Mandarin class designed based on Task-based Language teaching method has a good teaching effect.According to the teaching experiment and case study in elementary Mandarin class in New Zealand,the Task-based Language teaching method can effectively improve the communicability of students in the Chinese class,and help the Chinese learners at the primary stage to successfully learn the language in a more interesting and relaxed environment.On the one hand,this thesis demonstrates the applicability and feasibility of Task-based Language Teaching in elementary Chinese teaching in New Zealand,and helps to promote the application and development of Task-based Language Teaching in New Zealand;on the other hand,this thesis enriches Chinese teaching methods in New Zealand,to provide necessary support for Mandarin teachers,and to promote Chinese teaching in primary and secondary schools in New Zealand.