Transcript Theoretical Bases of Methods

Topic: Theoretical Bases for TaskBased Language Teaching
 Objectives
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Trainees will be able to give reasons for the
design and procedures of task-based
language teaching.
Lesson One
Giving Reasons for Task-based Language Teaching
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Pre-task activities
 Step One: discussing the language theories underlying
the method.
 Step Two: discussing the language learning theories
underlying the method.
 While-task activities
 Step Three: group work to give reasons for the method.
 Post-task activities
 Step Seven: group speaker reporting to the class.
The Communicative Approach
(1970s )
Theory of language
 Functional linguistics
To sum up, a communicative view of language has the following four
characteristics:
1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.
2.The primary function of language is fo4r interaction and communication.
3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative users.
4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural
features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as
exemplified in discourse. (Richards and Rodgers, 1986: 71)
Hymes’s view
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A person who acquires communicative competence
acquires both knowledge and ability for language use with
respect to
1. Whether (and to what degree) something is formally
possible;(correct)
2. Whether (and to what degree) something is feasible in
virtue of the means of implementation available;(clear)
3. Whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate
( adequate, happy, successful ) in relation to a context in
which it is used and evaluated;(acceptable)
4. Whether (and to what degree) something is in fact
done.(authentic)
Theory of language learning
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The acculturation theory
 The discourse theory
 The monitor theory
 The educational theory
The educational theory
Progressivism
Reconstructionism
Progressivism
“Childhood becomes important in its own
right and is no longer regarded as
preparation for adulthood; freedom is more
important than social order.”
(Lawton, 1989, p.5)
Reconstructionism
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Society-centred
 individuals and the society are seen as
harmoniously integrated rather than in opposition.
 Edu.:improve the society and at the same time
developing individual members of the society.
Main principles
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Communication principle: Activities that involve
real communication promote learning.
 Task principle: Activities in which language is
used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote
learning.
 Meaningfulness principle: Language that is
meaningful to the learner supports the learning
process.
Activities-based Approach
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Theory of Education
The Reconstructionist concern for broad social needs
and interests. Predetermined common objectives .
The progressivist concern for the personal needs and
interests of the individual. learner-controlled
objectives .
Predetermined common objectives in the earlier
stages and learner-controlled objectives in the
later stage of a course
Eight Principles
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Learners learn a language best when
 1. They are treated as individuals with their own needs and interests.
 2. They are provided with opportunities to participate in communicative use of
the target language in a wide range of activities.
 3. They are exposed to communicative data which is comprehensible and
relevant to their own needs and interests.
 4. They focus deliberately on various language forms, skills, and strategies in
order to support the process of language acquisition.
 5. They are exposed to sociocultural data and direct experience of the culture(s)
embedded within the target language.
 6. They become aware of the role and nature of language and of culture.
 7. They are provided with appropriate feedback about their progress.
 8. They are provided with opportunities to manage their own learning.
八条教学原则
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1、学生为中心原则
当学生被认为具有个人需求和兴趣时，语言学习效率最高。
2、积极参与原则
当学生被提供参与大量活动进行语言交际时，语言学习效率最高。
3、沉浸原则
当学生大量接触与他们自己的需求和兴趣密切相关并可理解的交际材料时，语
言学习的效率最高。
4、重点突出原则
当学生为促进语言习得过程而有重点地突出某些语言形式，技能和策略时，语
言学习效率最高。
5、社会文化原则
当学生大量接触目的语传递的社会文化信息时，语言学习效率最高。
6、语言文化意识原则
当学生充分意识语言的性质和作用以及语言的文化内涵时，语言学习效率最高。
7、及时反馈原则
当学生的进步得到应得的反馈时，语言学习效率最高。
8、责任原则
当学生有机会自己管理自己的学习时，语言学习效率最高。
Task-Based Language Teaching
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What is Task-Based Language Teaching ?
Focuses on the construction, sequencing,
and evaluation of particular goal-related
action complexes that learners carry out
either by themselves (see Prabhu’s model
1987) or jointly (see Kumaravadivelu 1993)
 (Candlin & Murphy 1987; Nunan 1989)
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The task-based approach aims at proving
opportunities for the learners to experiment
with and explore both spoken and written
language through learning activities which
are designed to engage learners in the
authentic, practical and functional use of
language for meaningful purposes. （香港
中小学英语大纲）
 What are tasks?
 A task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself or
for others, freely or for some reward.
 It is meant what people do in everyday life, at
work, at play, and in between. (Long 1985:89)
任务是人们在日常生活中所从事的
有目的的活动。
What people do in everyday
life:
painting a fence,
dressing a child,
filling out a form,
buying a pair of shoes,
borrowing a library book
taking a driving test
making an airline reservation
writing a check
finding a street destination,
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A task is an activity or action which is
carried out as the result of processing or
understanding language ( i.e.as a response).
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(Richards, Platt and Weber 1986:289)
任务=人们在学习、理解、体会语言之后
所开展的活动。
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The communicative task is a piece of classroom
work which involves learners in comprehending，
manipulating, producing or interacting in the
target language while their attention is focused on
mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order
to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form.
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交际型任务是一种涉及到学习者理解，运用所学语言
进行交流的课堂活动。学生的注意力主要集中在语言
的意义上，而不是语言的形式上。
Listening to a weather forecast and deciding what
to wear
Look at a set of pictures and
decide what should be done
Responding to a party invitation
Completing a banking application
Describing a photograph of one’s family
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Tasks can have variety of starting point.
They may draw on learners’ own input, eg
personal experience, general/world
knowledge, or intellectual challenge; they
may be based on written text, recordings of
spoken data, or visual data; they could be
activities like games, demonstrations or
interviews; they could be a combination of
several of these.
什么不是任务
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Tasks do not include activities which
involve language used for practice or
display, such as ‘ Describe the picture using
the words and phrases from the list below’
or ‘ Ask your partner if he likes the food
listed here using the forms Do you like…?
Yes, I do/ No, I don’t. where there is no
outcome or purpose other than practice of
pre-specified language.
Task-based Language
Teaching
“Practice makes perfect” does not always apply to
learning grammar.
 They( students) often fail to use it correctly when
expressing themselves freely. This temporary
mastery seems to happen when they are paying
conscious attention to form, but not when they are
trying to communicate and paying attention to
meaning.
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Jane Willis
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Knowledge of grammatical rules was no
guarantee of being able to use those rules for
communication. Learners who were able to
identify instances of rule violation, and who
could even state the rule, frequently violated
the rules when using language for
communication.
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语法知识的记忆不能保证语言使用的正确
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David Nunan (1999
语言知识加交际的机会比仅仅讲语法更能
提高学生使用语言的流利程度与语法的准
确度
 Grammar +
opportunities to
communicate lead to greater
improvements in fluency and
grammatical accuracy than
grammar only.
Montgomery & Eisenstein (1985)
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(1985年作了一个实验，实验组教语法，但课
外有实践的机会。另一组只讲语法。结果实验
组交际能力强。而语法测试的成绩也比单讲语
法的班好，虽然他们学的语法少。）
学习者的参与与语言熟练程度的提高关系
极大
 Learner participation
in class is
related significantly to
improvements in language
proficiency.
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Lim
(1992)
基本上以“交际”为导向的课堂教学，但
同时也有明确的语法讲解，要比只注重语
法教学或回避语法讲解的沉浸式教学都更
好
 Classrooms
that were basically
“communicative”for explicit
grammatical instruction, were
superior to both traditional
classrooms that focused heavily on
grammar, and to immersion
programs that eschewed explicit
grammatical instruction.
当学习者积极地参与用目的语进行交际的
尝试时，语言也被掌握了。当学习者所进
行的任务使他们当前的语言能力发挥至极
点时，习得也扩展到最佳程度
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Language is acquired as learners actively
engaged in attempting to communicate in
the target language. Acquisition will be
maximized when learners engage in tasks
that “push” them to the limits of their
current competence.
Four conditions of language
learning
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Exposure ( rich, comprehensible input,
language in use)
 Use ( of the language to do things,
exchange meanings)
 Motivation ( to process and use the
exposure: listen & read the language; speak
and write it)
 Instruction ( chances to focus on form )
Task-based Language
Teaching (China)
1、面向全体学生，为学生全面发展和终身发展奠定基础。
2、关注学生的情感，营造宽松、民主、和谐的教学氛围。
3、倡导“任务型”的教学途径，培养学生综合语言运用能力。
4、加强对学生学习策略的指导， 为他们终身学习奠定基础。
5、拓展学生的文化视野，发展他们跨文化交际的意识和能力。
6、利用现代教育技术，拓宽学生学习和运用英语的渠道。
7、组织生动活泼的课外活动， 促进学生的英语学习。
8、不断更新知识结构， 适应现代社会发展对英语课程的要求。
9、遵循课时安排的高频率原则，保证教学质量和效果。
1、全体学生全面、终身发展
2、情感，营造宽松、民主、和
谐的教学氛围。
3、“任务型”，综合语言运用
能力。
4、学习策略， 终身学习。
5、文化视野，跨文化交际
6、利用现代教育技术
7、组织生动活泼的课外活动
8、不断更新知识结构
9、遵循课时安排的高频率原则，
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1、学生为中心原则
2、积极参与原则
3、沉浸原则
4、重点突出原则
5、社会文化原则
6、语言文化意识原则
7、及时反馈原则
8、责任原则
Functional Linguistics
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Contribution of Bronislaw Malinowski(马
利诺夫斯基）
 Contribution of J.R. Firth （弗斯）
 Contribution of M.A.K.Halliday （韩礼德）
Contribution of Bronislaw Malinowski(马利诺夫斯基）
(Born in Krakow, Poland ,1884 - 1942 )(P10)
He did some ethnographic
researches among some
Melanesian tribes of
Eastern New Guines.
He arrived at he conclusion
that “the meaning of any
single word is to a very
high degree dependent on
its context” and an
utterance has no
meaning at all if it is out
of the context of
situation.
Contribution of J.R. Firth （弗斯)(1890--1960）
He approached the context of situation from a linguistic point
of view and attempted to establish a descriptive framework
for the analysis of language by the application of the
context of situation.
He held the position that all branches of linguistics are
concerned with meaning, and the meaning of linguistic
items depends on the context of situation.
His main approach to developing a linguistic theory was
by means of the concept of system. For Firth a system is
simply a set of choices within a specific context. Any
linguistic item has got two sets of contexts: the context
of the other possible choices in a system and the context
where the system itself occurs
Contribution of M.A.K.Halliday
（韩礼德）
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M.A.K.Halliday （韩
礼德）(1925-- ) is the
founder of systemicfunctional linguistics.
He made the London
School of Linguistics one
of the most competitive
linguistic theories in the
world.
Three primary levels of linguistic
events
Substance: the material of language which can be
phonic or graphic
form:
the organization of the substance into
meaningful events
context:. the relation of the form to non-linguistic
features of the situations in which language
operates , and the relation of form to
linguistic feature other than those of the item
under attention
Formal meaning and
contextual meaning
Formal meaning : its operation in the
network of formal relations
Contextual meaning: its relation to
extratextual features, i.e. the context
Three dimensions of context
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Field: the ongoing social activity
Tenor: the role relationship involved
 Mode: the symbolic organization of the text,
rhetorical modes (persuasive, expository,
etc); the channel of communication, such
as spoken/written, monologic/dialogic,
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computer- mediated communication
Language functions
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TEXTUAL
 INTERPERSONAL
 IDEATIONAL
Gestalt psychology
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Origin of Gestalt psychology
 Theory of Gestalt psychology
Origin of Gestalt psychology
The 1920s saw the
emergence of a new
psychological school
called Gestalt psychology.
It was founded by a group
of German psychologists
such as Max Wertheimer韦
特墨(1880 - 1943), Kurt
Koffka考夫卡(1886-1941）
and Kurt Lewin
Theory of Gestalt psychology
People perceived objects and scenes as
organized wholes before they noticed their
component parts.
Solutions to problems came as wholes rather
than in bits and pieces.
The mind must be understood in terms of a
whole, not individual parts.
The acculturation theory
Meaning of acculturation
Social distance
Social factors that create good language
learning environment
Psychological distance
Psychological factors increasing the
psychological distance
Meaning of acculturation
Individuals of one culture have to
go through the process of modification
in attitudes, knowledge, and behavior
in order to function well in another
culture
Social distance
Social distance is created by the
relations between the learner and
members of the target social group.
Social factors that create good
language learning environment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
There is social equality between first language and target
language group.
Both groups desire assimilation.
First language group is small and not cohesive.
First language group’s culture is congruent with target
language group.
Both groups have positive attitudes toward each other.
Both groups expect first language group to share
facilities.
The first language group expects to stay in the target
language area for an extended period.
Psychological distance
Psychological distance is the result of various
affective factors of the learner.
Psychological factors increasing the
psychological distance
Language shock, culture shock, low
motivation and high ego boundaries are
negative psychological factors that will
increase the psychological distance
The discourse theory
Halliday’s view
Main points of the discourse theory
Main points of the discourse theory
1.
2.
3.
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4.
In second language acquisition, the rules of grammar are acquired in a
natural order.
When communicating with a non-native speaker the native speaker will
adjust his discourse.
The strategies and means used in discourses and the adjusted language input
will influence the speed and order of second language acquisition in the
following aspects:
1) The order in which the learner acquire the second language grammar
is consistent with the frequency of the grammatical structures appearing in
the language input.
2) The learner acquires the usual structure patterns in the language input
before he is able to analyse them into component parts.
3) The learner acquires the formation of cohesive discourse before he
acquires the formation of single sentences.
Therefore, the natural order of second language acquisition is the result of
the learner’s learning to make discourse interactions.
The monitor theory
The acquisition-learning hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis
Three conditions for the use of monitor
The natural order hypothesis
The input hypothesis
The affective filter hypothesis
The acquisition-learning
hypothesis
Acquisition which refers to the subconscious process
in which they develop their language proficiency
through natural communications in the target
language and it id very similar to the process
children use acquiring their first language.
Learning refers to the conscious process in which
they acquire the explicit knowledge of the rules of
the target language.
The monitor hypothesis
The only function of which is
to monitor or edit what has been or
is going to be produced according
to the norms of the target language
Three conditions for the use of
monitor
The first condition is that the speaker must have
sufficient time to monitor his productions.
The second condition is that the language performer
must have his focus on form.
The third condition is that the language performer
must have an explicit knowledge of the rules of
the target language , otherwise, the language
performer won’t be able to monitor his production.
The natural order hypothesis
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This hypothesis claims that there is a predictable, natural order for the
acquisition of grammatical structures in a second language, irrespective of
age differences and language backgrounds of acquirers. foreign language
learners acquire the rules of the target language in the same order.
Grammatical sequencing is not desirable nor necessary when our goal is
language acquisition. But when our goal is conscious learning, sequencing
is necessary and unavoidable. Krashen suggests three requirements for
presenting rules:
Learnable: Simple rules which can be learned more easily should be
presented first;
Portable: Rules that can be carried around in the learner’ head should be
presented;
Not yet acquired: Rules that our students have already acquired need not be
taught. Only rules that have not been acquired need to be taught.
The input hypothesis
Language is acquired by
people’s comprehension of input
that is slightly beyond their current
level.
The affective filter hypothesis
Language acquirers with a low affective filter will
get more input containing i+1 and they are able to
make a better use of the input in their acquisition
process.
Learners with a high affective filter which will block
the input will get less input and they won’t be
able to make the full use of the input in their
language acquisition process.