Task Design in College English Speaking Teaching

Abstract：In recent years， the college English teachers have been attempting to apply the task-based language teaching in English teaching classroom. However， in most of the task-based language teaching classroom， little attention is paid to the practice of the classroom tasks. Based on the principle of task design， this paper intends to design specific and authentic tasks for college English teaching.

Key words：task design college English speaking teaching

摘 要 近年来，很多的大学英语教师已经开始在英语教学中尝试任务型教学方式。然而，在实际的课堂教学中，大部分的教师对于任务型教学的认识不够，以致于出现课堂任务设计不够合理等问题。本文在任务设计原则基础上，为大学英语口语教学设计各类具体的真实的任务。

关键词 任务设计 大学英语 口语教学

1. Understanding of TBLT

Recently， TBLT has been extensively used in English language teaching. Richards and Rodgers （2001） described TBLT as “an approach based on the use of tasks as the corn unit of planning and instruction in language teaching”. Oxford （2001） stated that the students’ participation in communicative tasks in English is the basis of task-based language instruction. TBLT is the one that uses meaningful task to organize the leaning of second language. It combines the language learning with the language use in the real world. It aims at providing 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.

British linguist Jane Willis （1996： 38） proposed three stages of TBLT： pre-task， task-cycle and language focus. Skehan （1996） called them “pre-task， during task and post-task”. Typically， TBLT is put into practice in these three stages：

The pre-task is usually the shortest stage in the framework. It could vary between two and twenty minutes， depending on the learners’ degree of familiarity with the topic and the type of the tasks （Willis， 1996： 42）. The teacher should call attention， introduce the task， create interest and explain related words， phrases and sentences that will be used in the task.

The task cycle consists of task， planning and report. During the task phase， students work in groups and use whatever language resources they have to achieve the goals of the task， while the teacher just monitors from a distance， gives help when there need it most and stops the task when most groups have finished.

The language focus includes analysis and practice phase， in which the students give feedback after the reports and tasks， during which the errors are corrected by the teacher or by students themselves， and then the teacher conducts the practice of language items.

2. Overview of Task and task design

A task comprises the varieties of purposeful activities which exist in everyday life， at work and at play， and a task has at least three basic features： to achieve an objective； meaning is emphasized and communicative. So in our college English classroom， the task is a goal-oriented communicative activity in which learners use English to achieve a real outcome.

The task acts as a vehicle for language learning and acquisition. Tasks should be properly designed so that learners might learn how to combine language forms with language functions. Tasks should also enable learners to engage themselves in natural speech environments rather than recite the structures they have learned. As for the task design in our college English teaching classroom， firstly， it is vital to design tasks focusing on the attainment of particular and specific goals； secondly， tasks should be designed and chosen to “make the use of structures easier without their being compulsory” （Skehan1998：130）； thirdly， it is important to provide the learners with the most effective opportunity available for the real communication the tasks involve in the context of meaningful language use. The core of task design is to connect language learning with language use in everyday life and simulate a variety of activities in the real world.

3. Task Design in College Speaking Teaching

If there are right tasks or activities， speaking in English class should be full of fun： raising learners’ confidence and motivation and making the English language classroom a dynamic place to be. When designing speaking tasks， the speech must be meaningful and implies interactive dialogues.

3.1 Pre-task

The teacher firstly introduces the topic and the task to the groups. He/She can highlight the key words， offer a piece of recording or read a part of text in order to help students get ready for understanding task instructions and know clearly what their task is. Then the teacher can encourage members to make intelligent guess and discuss freely in their groups to activate their possessed knowledge and supplement new knowledge to enlighten their thinking about the new related topic. At the same time， members can also discuss linguistic knowledge such as vocabulary， sentences patterns so as to pave the way for the new topic.

3.2 Task Cycle

In this phase， students firstly try their best to apply what they’ve learnt to carry out the communicative task. The types of the task can be the information-gap task， in which the members have the different information and they need to obtain information from each other in order to finish a task. For example， each member is given a different picture cut up from a whole picture and he/she must ask other members what they are in their pictures in order to describe the complete picture； the decision-making tasks， in which members must discuss to reach an agreement. For example， there are a lot of subjects to choose when entering the university， but each student only has enough time to choose three subjects. The members must discuss and reach a consensus in their groups； the problem-solving tasks， in which the members discuss to work out the solutions to certain situations or problems and there is a clear objective to be reached； the opinion-exchanging tasks； the dialogues and role-plays， in which the teacher turn the printed dialogue in the book into role-plays. The teacher can ask members to create their own language and the teacher can ask group members to perform it in different moods such as happy， angry， bored， etc or in different relationships such as salesman and customers， wife and husband， two or more friends and so on. During the tasks， the teacher should not interrupt the members or correct mistakes， but make them express themselves freely with a sense of safety.

Then， members in groups prepare for reporting their results or perform role-plays to the other groups. Since demanding to report in front of the classroom， the members try their best to express accurately， at the same time， the teacher can offer a hand. After the planning， all the groups present and exchange their reports to the whole class， and then compare the results of all the groups.

3.3 Language Focus

In this phase， the students analyze and assess the completion of tasks by other groups and also note down those unfamiliar words， phrases or drills they have heard. The teacher gives useful feedback on members’ oral mistakes or errors and explains the difficult language points so as to increase their chances of success and the effectiveness of the practice. Then， the members practice difficult language forms under the teacher’s instruction. The types of the tasks can be the repetition， substitution， transformation drills and dialogues， etc.

4. Conclusion

The task-based cooperative learning mode provides an innovative way to English teaching. In this mode， the core is task designing. A good English teacher should be able to engage students in effective and creative tasks. How to design effective and authentic tasks is the core for college English teachers.

Reference：

[1]Brown，R.1991.Group Work， Task Difference and Second Language Acquisition. Applied Linguistics.

[2]H.D.Brown.2001.Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[3]Nunan David.1989.Designing Tasks for Communicative Classroom. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.

[4]Nunan municative tasks and the language curriculum.TESOL Quarterly. 25（2）， 279-295.

[5]Skehan，P.1996.A Framework for the Implementation of Task-based Instruction. Applied Linguistics， 17（1）， 39-62.