Transcript 幻灯片 1 - Beijing Normal University

Presentation
The Task-Based Syllabus
By Lin Xiao lan, Zhou Xiao Zhou, Su Xiao Wen, Cheng Men
Seb.23, 2008
Theoretical assumptions
Task-based syllabus design has interested
some researchers and curriculum
developers in TEFL since the mid-1980s,
as a result of widespread interest in the
functional views of language and
communicative language teaching.
• (in language teaching) a SYLLABUS which is
organized around TASKS, rather than in terms of
grammar or vocabulary. The syllabus may
suggest a variety of different kinds of tasks
which the learners are expected to carry out in
the language.
• It has been argued that this is a more effective
way of learning a language since it provides a
purpose for the use and learning of language
other than simply learning language items for
their own sake.
The definitions of tasks
• A task is a piece of classroom work which involves
learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or
interacting in the target language which their attention is
particularly focuses on meaning rather than form (David
Nunan 1989. 10).
• …a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others,
freely or for some reward. Thus, examples of tasks
include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a
form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline
reservation…In other words, by “task” is meant the
hundred and one things people do in everyday life.
(Long 1985:89)
From this one we can draw on the following features:
• it is a piece of meaning-focused work,
•
a piece of work involving learners and communicative
language skills, and a series of interactions which are
needed to meet the learners’ ends.
In other words, a task is a piece of work which is done by
learners in everyday life, involving learners in processing
information and using target language, then a final
product is completed.
• The other definition is Syllabus: refers to
the selecting and grading of content
(Nunan.1989. 14).
• Task-based syllabuses are constructed
with varieties of tasks as the basic blocks,
focusing on using the target language in
real world rather than drilling on the isolate
grammatical items.
fundamental components
A task is consisted of six fundamental components
1.“Goals” . the general goal of tasks is to attain
communicative language skills, which is a most
important aspect in the nature of language learning.
Let’s think about this matter: what do we attain our
native language for? No matter who they are, their
purpose is to get information from others, expressing
their own feelings, communicating with the others in
the society and so on. So one of the most important
aspects of language using is communication. It is the
goal that task-based syllabuses are based on.
Personally this kind of syllabuses is more suitable for
our needs.
2.“input”, which refers to the verbal and nonverbal data such as a dialogue, a reading
passage, a picture or a chart etc.
Apparently these materials are objective and can be
used in everyday life. And this can result in a shortterm achievement, leaving the learners the sense of
success, which will surely enhance the learners’
interests and motivation.
3.“activities”. Task-based syllabuses involve
learners’ participation, including series of
activities, which lead to learners’ higher interest
and motivation. In the activities every learner is
a player.
They augment their amount of knowledge and language
skills by involving in different kinds of activities. It is
said that learning is living and it is also playing and
growing. Children begin to know this world by touching
and doing. So do language learners.
4.“Teacher role and learner role” may be the most
controvertible issues in the educational field in China
these years.
Which one should be paid more attention, teachercentered or learner-centered? Now we are sure to
choose the learner-centered one, because we know it
is the scientific way to learn language. Teacher, as we
know, is a monitor or a server in language teaching,
because learning is the learner’s own developmental
process, just like a baby growing up gradually by
contacting the world s/he is living in. In Task-based
syllabuses learner role is emphasized and the main
body in learning comes out.
Goals
↘
Input
→
Activities ↗
↙ Teacher role
Tasks
← Learner role
↖ Settings
The merits of the task –based
syllabuses
①. Compared to grammatical syllabuses
and functional-notional syllabuses, it is not
the language but the tasks which are
selected and graded.
②. The tasks which are designed according
to input data, learners’ current level with
precise goals can be rearranged and
graded in various ways
③. Task–based approach promotes
naturalistic learning and acquisitioned
processes, particularly when combined
with group work, they provide a close fit
with communicative language teaching.
The problems in task design
①. It is hard to find clear criteria for the
selection and grading of tasks.
Just as Nunan states “determining task
complexity is made difficult ,not only by the
range of factors involved, but also by the
interaction of these factors with each other”.
②. It is obvious the task difficulty is affected
by complexity of input data.
However task can be designed easy or difficult by
setting activities which require different learner
responses. So in designing the tasks,
can we completely ignore the materials?
Are authentic materials better than elaborated
written texts?
How can learners be exposed to the language as a
system?
There are no precise answers in it.
③. In task-based teaching, how can we
deal with language knowledge? Should
grammar be taught in it? If so, how can it
be dealt with by the teacher and students?
The status of grammar is not clear.
The problems of task-based
syllabus
1. It is very difficult for the designers to select, grade and
sequence the tasks scientifically.
2. It neglects the importance of the knowledge of the target
language. In some sense, the language knowledge is the
basis for a further learning of the target language. A
second language learner outside the linguistic
environment which a native speaker enjoys can speak
the target language fluently but can’t accurately without
enough linguistic knowledge. It can be said that fluency
will be meaningless and valueless without accuracy.
3.The teacher’s syllabus is only a teaching
syllabus but the learners have their own in-built
syllabuses for learning or acquiring based on
their own motivations, interests, needs,
experiences, background knowledge, aptitudes,
cognitive styles, and so on. Sometimes, there is
a mismatch between these two syllabuses.
4. It neglects the differences between different
cultures. So, learners from different cultural
backgrounds can have different understandings
and responses in the same task.
drawbacks
• 1. The tasks must be suitable for the
language learners –not too difficult and not
too simple, so in this case how to make a
balance about these two tendencies
comes ambiguously.
• 2. It is hard to find clear criteria for the
selection and grading of tasks.
The teacher-centered and form-focused
syllabuses have been dominating the
foreign language teaching in China for a
long time. It is agreed that language
teachers should have a thorough reflection
of the language teaching at both a
theoretical and practical level. It is hoped
that the theory about the task-based
syllabus can show them the direction to
improve their teaching methods
THE END
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