任务型教学法(Task-based English teachingmethod)IntroductionTask-based language teaching was first invented by an English linguist Allwright in the 1970s, popularized abroad in the 1980s, and introduced into China in the 1990s.The purpose of this article is to outline the principles that underlie task-based language teaching and to give examples of classroom activities within the approach. Task-based language teaching can be regarded as one particular development within the broader “communicative approach”. It is currently much discussed in many parts of the world and, indeed, is recommended in the official curriculum documents of a growing number of countries and regions.This article has five main sections. The first looks at what is meant by t he term “task”. The second looks at the continuum from “focusing on form” to “focusing on meaning” with the continuum I hope to illuminate the distinction often made between “tasks” and other kinds of activity. The continuum is described and explored in more detail in the third section, which provides a range of examples from different parts of it. The fourth section presents a framework for looking at tasks in terms of how they contribute to the linguistic, cognitive and personality development of the students. The conclusion summarizes some of the main aims and benefits of task-based learning by means of a mnemonic base on the word “task” itself.Ⅰ. What is task?Different teachers and writers use different definitions of the term “task”, such as:1﹑…a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interesting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on the meaning rather on the form. The task should have a sense of completeness, being also to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right. (Nahan, 1989,15)2﹑…any structured language learning endeavor which has a particular objective appropriate contents, a specified working procedure, and range of outcomes for those who undertake the task . (Breen via Brown, 1994, 83)3﹑…an activity which is designed to he lp achieve a particular goal .A number of dimensions of tasks influence their use in language teaching. (Richards Etal, 2000, 468)Most people would probably agree on certain basic characteristics:1﹑Tasks are activities in which students work purposefully towards an objective.2﹑The objective may be one that students have set for themselves or one which has been set by the teacher.3﹑Tasks may be carried out in competition with other or(more often) in collaboration.4﹑They may be carried out individually or (more often) in groups.5﹑The outcome may be something concrete( e.g. a report or presentation) or something intangible(e.g. agreement or the solution to a problem). The main area of disagreement revolves around the relationship between tasks and communication. Some teachers and writers do not see this relationship as crucial. They define a language learning task as including almost anything that students are asked (or choose) to do in the classroom, including formal learning activities such as grammar exercises and controlled practice activities, provided the objective of the activity is related to learning the language.Within this broad definition, some writers distinguish subcategories such as communication tasks and enabling tasks according to the extent to which they involve communication or focus on form.Many other teachers and writers use a more restricted definition. They exclude activities where the learners focus on formal aspects of the language (such as grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary) and reserve the term “task” for activities in which purpose is related to the communication of meanings. Willis (1996,p.23) is one writer who adopts this definition. In this book tasks are always activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.Activities which focus upon and practice specific elements of knowledge, skills and strategies needed for the task are called exercises. The same distinction between tasks and exercises is supported by Ellis Nunan and Skehan. Skehan, for example, describes the criteria for a task as follows: 1﹑meaning is primary; 2﹑there is some communication problem to solve ; 3﹑there is some sort of relationship to real-world activities; 4﹑task completion has some priority; 5﹑the assessment of the task is in terms of outcome .The definition reflects the meth od’s interaction but we can’t make a clear-cut distinction between “task” and “exercises”. This will be discussed in the next section.Ⅱ﹒ Communication, Tasks and Exercises.As we’ve seen, one of the key features of a communicative task is that centers focus on communicating meanings rather than learning orpracticing forms. However it is not usually simply a question of learning focusing either on meaning or on form. More often, it is a matter of degree. For example, there are some activities in which the learner may focus mainly on the production of certain forms that are being practiced, but he or she ma still be using these forms to convey meanings to somebody. This would be the case in, for example, this “Questionnaire survey” activity, in which the stu dents needs to use “can you…?” in order to find classmates who can do certain things, such as: who can speak three languages/ use a computer/ make cakes/ ride a bike/swim? In this activity, although the students have a communicative purpose (to find classmates with particular skills) it is also clear that they are practicing specific forms. At other times, the emphasis on communicating meanings may increase but students may still pay attention to the forms they are producing (and which indeed, they may just have been taught). This might be the case in this role play if students are asked to perform it shortly after learning how to make enquiries and give information about hotel accommodation. Each student has one of the following role cards: student A: You arrive at a small hotel one evening. In the foyer, you meet the manager(ess) and 1. Ask if there is a room vacant. 2. Ask the price, including the breakfast.3. Say how many nights you would like to stay.4. Say what time you would like to have breakfast; student B: You are the manager(ess) of a small hotel that prides on itself on its friendly, homely atmosphere. You have a single and a double room vacant for tonight. The prices are: ＄100 for the single room, ＄160 for the double room. Breakfast is ＄15 extra per person. For guests with cars, there is a free car park. Since it is impossible to draw a clear dividing line between activities where the focus is on form (exercise) and activities where the focus is ion meaning (task), it is useful to think of a continuum with varying degrees of focus on form and/or meaning. Activities can then be classified according to where they lie along this continuum. The continuum is divided into five sections. From sectionⅠ to sectionⅤ , the content from forms to meaning is becoming stronger and stronger.1. Non-communicative learning. Focusing on the structures of language, how they are formed and what they mean, e.g. through exercise, “discovery” and awareness-raising activities. 2. Pre-communicative language practice. Practicing language with some attention to meaning but not communicating new messages to others, e.g. in “question- and- answer” practice. 3. Communicative language practice. Practicing language in a context where it communicates new information, e.g. information gap activities or personalized questions. 4. Structured communication. Using language to communicate in situations where elicit pre-learnt language but with some unpredictability, e.g. in structured role-play and simpleproblem-solving. 5. Authentic communication. Using language to communicate in situations where meanings are unpredictable, e.g. increative role-play, more complex problem-solving and discussion. The activities at the top are obviously “exercises”. Those at the bottom are obviously “tasks”. Those in the middle (2-4) have features of both.Ⅲ. From Non-Communicative Learning to AuthenticCommunication.The section will elaborate on the previous one by giving examples of activities from five parts of the continuum from “focus on form” to “focus on meaning”. In the terms discussed above, thi s corresponds also to a progression from clearly defined ‘exercises” to clearly defined “tasks”.1. Non-Communicative Learning.It is in this category that there is the least element of communication.Here, for example, students are involved in “discovering” a rule of grammar on the basis of examples. In the examples below, look carefully at the position of the adverbs “always”, “often”, “sometimes”, “usually”, and “never”.What are the rules?A. We are usually hungry when we come home.John is always late.His parents were often tired in the evening.I never sure whether this word is correct.B. I sometimes go to the cinema on Fridays.We never eat much in the morning.Jane often arrives at school early.They always come home late at night.C. They have never written to me again.You can always come and visit me.I will never know why he did it.Pat has often seen him with two dogs.The students are then required to apply this rule to a new set of examples: Put the adverbs into the right places in the sentence below.A. We play football in the evening (often).I can catch the first bus in the morning (never).Jack and Jill are very happy (always).They visit me (sometimes).You write very good English (usually).B. They have been to Jinan (often).We drink tea for breakfast (always).You are cheerful (usually).John can keep a secret (never).He has refused to speak to me (sometimes)2. Pre-Communicative Language Practice.In this category the focus is still on the practice of discrete items of language but, in order to produce the appropriate forms, the students have to pay attention to aspect of meaning. In the first activity, they have to find out what Richard and Fiona “have to do” and what they “would like to do”. Richard’s obligations are cleaning floors, washing windows and emptying the bins. His desires are to go to evening school, to geta better job and to marry Fiona. Fiona’s obligations are typing letters,answering the telephone and doing photocopying. Her desires are to earn more money, to take holiday abroad and to marry her boss.The best known type of activity that belongs to this category is the familiar “question-and-answer practice” in which students have to answer (and sometimes ask) questions about a situation, picture, or topic.The answers are already known but students have to pay attention to meaning in order to produce them. The questions are as follows: How many students are there in the class? Are there more boys than girls? Who is sitting next to Jane? Which lesson is this now? etc.3. Communicative Language PracticeThe main difference between this category and the previous one is that there is now some kind of “information gap”, that is, the language conveys meanings that were not previously known to everybody. Thequestion-and-answer practice just described would come into this category, if the questions elicit information that was previously unknown, e.g. what students did at the weekend or who their favorite singers are. In a task-based approach, however, the practice is more likely to be structured in some way so that there is a recognizable context, purpose and outcome.This structuring may be achieved in a variety of ways, for example, a “guessing-game” format. Another common question probl em is to use simple questionnaire surveys in which the information gap is created by the students’ own individual experiences and ideas. For example, who is one’s favorite singer/actor/actress etc.?As a written follow- up task, students may be asked (individually or in groups) to write a short report on what they have found out about their classmates’ preferences.4. Structured CommunicationIn the examples given so far, it has been possible to predict the exact language that is needed in order to perform the exercise or task. These activities therefore offer clear ways to practice specific areas of grammar. As we move to the next category along the continuum, we entera domain in which the focus shifts further on to the communication ofmeanings. This means that, as we move further into this domain, it becomesincreasingly difficult to predict what language will be required and therefore to associate an acting with the practice of specific linguistic structures. It is, however, possible to structure the activity in sucha way that it is likely to elicit a particular range of language and, aboveall, so that the teacher knows that the students are equipped with language to perform it. Thus, in this activity, the students will need to makethe use of role-play in which the students are given general instructions as to what views or ideas they should express but left to decide for themselves on the exact meanings and language. An example of this was the role-play described earlier, in which students were asked to book hotel accommodation.5. Authentic CommunicationOne of the characteristi cs of “authentic communication” is that the language that is used depends on the meanings that arise naturally in the course of communication. The teacher still “controls” the activity, by creating a situation which he or she thinks is suitable, but has even less control than in “structured communication” over the actual language that students will need. Students may need to activate any part of their language knowledge that is relevant to the meanings they want tounderstand or convey. In authentic communication, then, the students are not asked to focus on individual parts of the grammar. Rather, they areasked to draw on the whole of the grammar that they have so far internalized and use it as a means for conveying whatever meanings may arise. There was always also a strong element of this in structured communication, but there the students were more “protected” from the unpredictable needs that arise in natural communication.In authentic communication activities it is important to have a context and purposeful developments towards an outcome. They are therefore often larger in scope than those discussed earlier. This is not necessarily the case, however, as we see from this example:I Love Music!How do you feel when you listen to music? Why do you like music? Discuss with your partner. Write down five reasons.Here is an example which is larger in scope and also illustrates the principle of “task-dependency”, in which individual tasks are connected with each other to form a more extended task or project:Module: Study, School Life, Work.Unit: Part-time work?Task: Making the Right Choice, Part 1The following are 4 case students of fellow students who wish to take part-time work.1. In groups of four, discuss whether they should take up part-timejobs and give reasons.2. Suggest alternatives to each one of them. Instead of taking uppart-time work, what else can they do to address their needs?3. Each group will select a spokesperson to report theirconclusions to the whole class. After listening to all the groups, the class will vote for the group with the best suggestions.Case 1: MichaelMichael is tall and strong and spends a lot of time on sports activities in school. He lives far away from school. His grades are average.He wants a part-time job so that he can buy more expensive sportsequipment.Case 2: PansyPansy is very smart and is the best student of the form. She is quiet and shy. She wants to take up a part-time job to gain some work experience and develop more confidence when working with other people. She has strong computer skills.Case 3: NickNick’s father has been out of work for a long time and his mother may soon lose her job. Nick wants very much to earns some money for the family. His grades in school are not very good. He is polite andhardworking.Case 4: LucyLucy has average grades in school. She is the only child in the family and her parents are busy at work all the time. She feels bored at home. She wants to take up a part-time job because she thinks it may be fun. She loves music and plays the piano and violin.Module: Study, School Life and WorkUnit: Part-time work?Task: Making the Right Choice, Part 2The 4 people in Part 1—Michael, Pansy, Nick and Lucy—have read the following 8advertisements for part-time work and have made the following choices:Michael: Distributing leafletsPansy: Chinese Character Input.Nick: Poster DistributionLucy: Fish and Chips ShopYou think one of them has selected a job highly unsuitable for him/her. Write a letter about 150 words to persuade him/her not to take up the job. You may consider the factors discussed in Part 1, such as: his/her need for a part-time job, the working hours, traveling time, the pay, effects on his/her health and studies, nature of the work, his/her personality and skills and alternatives which may address his/her problem At the beginning of this section, two examples of “grammar discovery” activities were given, one relating to the placement of adverbs and the other to the use of the passive. These were described as examples from the “form-focused” end of the form-to-meaning continuum (i.e. as “exercises”), because the students’ purpose was to discover grammar rules rather than communicate with each other. If, however, the students are asked to discover the rule in groups and the language which they use is English, then the activity fulfils the criteria for a “task”: the discussion has a context, a communicative purpose and an outcome. Indeed, in the context of the English classroom, discovery tasks related to grammar are a natural component, comparable to discovery tasks in science and other so-called “content” subjects.Ⅳ Three “generations” of taskIn the previous section we moved from the domain of exercise and into the domain of tasks: the first two subsections contained clearly “tasks”; the last two subsections contained clearly “tasks”; and the middle subsection was a transition or mixed category. Now we will start in the “task” part of the continuum and look at tasks from another perspective, namely, the ways in which they contribute to the communicative, cognitive and personality development of the students. The discussion will take us through three “generations” of tasks, from relatively small-scale tasks in which students practice aspects of communication, through tasks whichdemand greater cognitive input from the students, to larger-scale tasks which also deve lop other aspects of students’ personality.This framework is the one presented by Ribé and Vidal (1993). The examples are also taken from the same source.First Generation TasksThe main aim of “first generation” tasks is develop students’ communicative ability in a specific type of situation or area of language.The task is often structured around a particular set of functions or a simple problem (often involving an “information gap”). Here are two examples:SimulationYou are a customer in a big store. You want to buy the following items:a pair of slippers, two compact-discs, and a filofax. Walk around and askpolitely for directions to the departments/counters you need. Buy the items. Use the language you have practices in class.Problem-solvingThe students have a map of London with bus underground routes. They discuss and select the best route for going from one point to another according to a set of given variables (price, time, distance, comfort, etc.)Second Generation TasksThe tasks in the second category pose challenges of a broader nature.They aim at developing not only communication skills but also general cognitive strategies of handling and organizing information, such as:1. analyzing what information is needed in order to complete the task.2. deciding on procedures3. collecting information.4. selecting relevant data5. presenting data in an organized way6.analyzing process and resultsThe language is now a medium for carrying out a “real” piece of work, similar to what students may also need do outside their language course. Students therefore need to draw on a wider range of language. They also need to engage in continuous processing of input and output (reading for information producing reports, etc.). For example, “Throu ghforeigners’ eyes”. The objective of this task is to collect and analyze information on what tourists of different nationalities think ofstudents’ country/city/town.1. Students decide (a) what they need to know; (b) how to get thisinformation (interviews, questionnaires, tourist brochures, etc) (c) where to get the information (airport, beach, library, touristinformation office, etc) (d) when to obtain the information (e) whatgrids/database format they want to use to collate the information (f) the kind of questionnaires/interviews they want to devise (g) the language they need to carry out the interviews.2. Students carry out the research, transcribe the interviews andput the information together.3. Students select relevant data, decide on a format (posters,dossiers, etc) for their presentation.4. Students make a report and present itThird Generation TasksWith third generation tasks, the scope widens further. In addition to the communicative and cognitive strategies mentioned above, they also aim to develop the personality of the students through the experience of learning a foreign language. They go further than the previous tasks in aiming to fulfill wider educational objectives, such as enhancingmotivation and awareness, developing creativity and interpersonal skills, etc. they also go further than the previous tasks in their degree of authenticity and the extent to which they involve all aspects of the students’ personality and experience. Here is the example given by Ribé and Vidal (1993, p.3):Designing an alternative world1. Students and teachers brainstorm aspects of the environmentthey like and those would like to see improved. These may include changes to the geographical setting, nature, animal-life, housing, society, family, leisure activities, politics, etc.2. Students are put into groups according to common interests. Thegroups identify the language and information they need. The students carry out individual and group research on the selected topics. The students discuss aspects of this “Alternative reality” and then report back. They decide on the different ways (stories, recordings, games, etc) to link all the research and present the final product.3. Students present the topic and evaluate the activity.The three generations of tasks and their contribution to the students’ development are summarized below:▲ First generation task: communicative development▲ Second generation task: communicate development and cognitive development.▲ Third generation task: communicative development cognitive development and global personality development.Second and (particularly) third generation tasks will often be integrated into extended project work.The n otion of “generations” of tasks implies that each category has developed out of the preceding one and is thus in some way more advanced in the demands it makes on learners and teachers alike. It may thus beexpected that learners and teachers will not start with second or third generation tasks but begin with the simpler, first generation tasks and as they gain in experience, gradually extend their repertoire to include those which are more advanced.Within this framework, student and teacher are no longer two separate poles (i.e. the teacher gives information and the students receives it) as in the more traditional type of teaching, but two entities working together, planning, taking decisions, carrying out the task and sharing the final sense of achievement.Ⅴ ConclusionTo conclude this article, I would like to use a simple mnemonic, based on the word “task” itself, to summarize some of the aims and benefits that we can hope for task-based learning to achieve: T (together: speaking or silently) A (activate: purposefully) S (skills: communicative, cognitive and interpersonal) K (knowledge: from all domains ofexperience). The message is self-explanatory. Together, over coming the isolation of the traditional classroom, students with their teacher activate their skills and knowledge. Often this togetherness may take the form of overt speaking, but even in silent tasks students may keep a sense of the classroom as a learning community. The activity that takes place is not unguided “busy-work” but purposeful mov ement towards targets and objectives (both in the overall direction of learning and in terms of specific learning activities). The skills which students perform and develop are communicative and also —particularly as they move into the second and third generations of tasks—cognitive and interpersonal.Finally the boundary between the classroom and the outside world is increasingly reduced, as the tasks encourage students to relate learning to the whole domain of their experience.Acknowledgement:This paper would not have been possible without Mr. Li Zhiqiang, whoheld the light of understanding while explored the darkness. It was his patience and sound advice that saw me through.It would be impossible to name Mr. Xie Hongming and other friends who offered their advice and great help.Sincerely thank you all.References:1. Byrne, D.1986. Teaching Oral English. London: Longman2. Freed-Booth, D. 1986.Project Work. Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress.3. Ellis, R 2000. Task-based research and language pedagogy.Language Teaching Research: 193-220.4. William Littlewood 1981. Communicative Language Teaching: AnIntroduction. Cambridge University Press.5. Harmer, J. 1987.Teaching and Learning Grammar. Longman.6. Skehan, P. 1998 A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning.Oxford University Press.7. Nunan, D. 1989. Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom.Cambridge University Press8. Ribē,R. and N. Vidals. 1993. Project Work: step by Step.Oxford, Heinemann.9. 鲁子问. Task-based Language Teaching Design（《任务基础上的语言教学设计》 2002）10. 杨树香. On designing Tasks.（《浅议任务设计》2003.）。
