Study on the application of Task-based Language Teaching in English Class

Abstract

In the late 1980s, the Ministry of Education advocated “designing certain language activities aimed at completing tasks” in professional English teaching. The revised outline in 2000 also stipulated that “more task centered and diverse teaching activities should be carried out”. In 2001, the Ministry of Education emphasized that middle school English instruction should advocate a “task-based teaching method”. As a task-centered approach to English teaching, Task-based Language Teaching has been studied and implemented by many Chinese and foreign researchers and teachers. While it is acknowledged that Task-based Language Teaching brings benefits to students and instruction, especially compared to traditional language teaching, its application to different types of real-world classroom lessons has exposed some problems. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the theoretical basis, relevant information about tasks, previous research, advantages, problems, procedures and suggestions for the implementation of Task-based Language teaching, and to express some of personal opinions to some extent.