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Astudy of Application of Task-based Approach Based on Level Teaching in English Teaching in Higher Vocational Colleges

Author: XiangLi
Tutor: HuYanLing
School: Shandong Normal University
Course: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Keywords: task-based approach based on level teaching oral English proficiency overallEnglish proficiency
CLC: H319
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2010
Downloads: 484
Quote: 4
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Abstract

In order to solve the serious problem of losing interest and confidence in English learningand English class among the students in higher vocational colleges, task-based approach basedon level teaching is studied in this thesis. Task-based language teaching approach aims to createa“real language environment”and strongly emphasizes“learning by doing”. The process ofclassroom instruction is actually the process of students completing tasks in the target language.In recent years, task-based approach has been widely applied in primary and high schools inChina. However, few relevant researches have been conducted in China’s higher vocationalcolleges. And level teaching requires teachers to grade students into different levels to teach andevaluate under their adequate consideration of students’practical difference in order to helpstudents achieve their best improvement. Up to now, most of the researches just focus on eitherthe implementation of task-based approach or the implementation of level teaching, and fewresearches have combined the two approaches in the context of the English teaching in highervocational colleges.Considering the difference between the students’English proficiency when entering college,a one-term experiment research on task-based approach based on level teaching was conductedin the college where the writer teaches, to explore its feasibility and effectiveness in the contextof English teaching in higher vocational colleges. Task-based approach based on level teaching isadopted to design different tasks and activities for students with different English levels in aclass. The tasks and activities for different levels are correlated in content and have continuity indifficulty. Two classes the writer taught were selected as the experimental class adoptingtask-based approach based on level teaching and the control class adopting the traditionalteaching mode. The students in the experimental class were graded into three levels according totheir English scores in the college entrance examination and a questionnaire was employed tosupport and confirm the grading.In the thesis, three research questions are raised:1. Which approach will effectively improve students’oral English proficiency, task-basedapproach based on level teaching or the traditional teaching mode in higher vocational colleges? 2. Which approach will effectively improve students’overall English proficiency,task-based approach based on level teaching or the traditional teaching mode in highervocational colleges?3. Which approach will effectively inspire the students’interest in English learning andteaching, task-based approach based on level teaching or the traditional teaching mode in highervocational colleges?The experimental instruments involved in this research include three questionnaires, twotests, interviews and observations. The first two questionnaires which were conducted before andafter the experiment aim to understand students’interest in English learning and teaching in thetwo classes. The third questionnaire was conducted after the experiment to know students’viewsabout task-based approach based on level teaching in the experimental class. Two tests, that is,the pretest and the posttest were conducted to answer the first two research questions. With theseinstruments, the following findings were obtained from the statistical analysis by SPSS 13.0 andMicrosoft Excel 2003: 1) task-based approach based on level teaching improves students’oralEnglish proficiency more effectively than the traditional teaching mode; 2) task-based approachbased on level teaching improves students’overall English proficiency more effectively than thetraditional teaching mode; 3) task-based approach based on level teaching has a more significantand positive influence on students’interest in English learning and teaching. Therefore, it can beconcluded that task-based approach based on level teaching is a feasible and effective teachingmode in English teaching in higher vocational colleges. This research offers some implications tosome educational institutions, higher vocational colleges and English teachers. However, somedifficulties and limitations of task-based approach based on level teaching were also found in theexperiment. It remains to be improved by other English teachers.

Astudy of Application of Task-based Approach Based on Level Teaching in English Teaching in Higher Vocational Colleges

Abstract

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