Taskbased syllabuses任务型教学大纲

PAGEPAGE3AReportOnTheAnalysisofTask-basedSyllabusTheoreticalassumptionsunderlyingthetask-basedSyllabusTask-basedSyllabuses,whichusuallyconsistofalistoftasksandactivitiesthatthelearnerswillundertakeinclass.Thetheoreticalassumptionsbehindtask-basedsyllabusaroseoutoftherecognitionofcertaintheoryoflanguageandtheoryoflearningasfollows,i)Languageisprimarilyameansofmakingmeaning;ii)Multiplemodelsoflanguageareinvolvedintask-basedlearning;iii)Lexicalunitsarecentralinlanguageuseandlanguagelearning;iv)Conversationisthekeystoneoflanguageacquisition.Withrespecttotheoryoflearning,itisbelievedthat；Tasksprovideboththeinputandoutputprocessingnecessaryforlanguageacquisition;Taskactivityandachievementaremotivational;Learningdifficultycanbenegotiatedandfine-tunedforparticularpedagogicalpurposes(Richards&Rogers2001:223-234).Inaddition,therationalefortask-basedsyllabusesadvancedbySLAresearchersiscognitivescience.Itispremisedonthetheoreticalviewthatthetask-basedinstructionneedstobecompatiblewiththecognitiveprocessesinvolvedinL2acquisition.Andtheimportanceoflearnerengagementisemphasized.Taskswillbecognitivelyinvolvingandmotivatingaslongastheyprovideareasonablechallenge(Ellis2003:209).Inthissense,tasksserveasasuitableunitforspecifyinglearners’needsandthusfordesigningspecificpurposescourses.What’smore,Task-basedsyllabusis‘psycholinguistic’inthesense“thatitisbasedoninteractionalcategoriesthathavebeenshowntoaffecttheopportunitieslearnershaveandtomodifytheirownoutput”(Ellis2003:215).Maincomponents(includingselectingandgradingcriteria)Coursedesignisconcernedwiththeselectionandsequencingcontent.Inrelationtotask-basedsyllabus,selectionandgradingtaskswillbeparticularlyconcernedinthissection.2.1AnalysisoftasksInanalyticterms，Nunan(1989)suggeststhatthetaskwillcontain(implicitlyorexplicitly):1).agoal(GoalsofTBLaretodevelopstudents’communicativecompetenceincludingsociolinguisticcompetence，discoursecompetenceandstrategiccompetence.)2)Input[Taskscontainsomeformofinputdatawhichmightbeverbal(forexampleadialoguepassage)ornon-verbal(forexampleapicturesequence)3)Activity(referstotasks,notexercises.Anactivityisinsomewayderivedfromtheinputandsetsoutwhatthelearnersaretodoinrelationtotheinput.)4)Rolesforteachersandlearners(studentsarecommunicatorswhileteachersarefacilitators,organizers,monitorsandsometimespartners.)5)Setting(classroomorganizingfrom,e.g.pairwork,groupworkandsoon)goalsteacherroleinputtaskslearnerroleactivitysettingsAframeworkforanalyzingcommunicativetasks(Numan,1989)2.2TaskSelectionThetaskisapieceofmeaning-focusedworkinvolvinglearnersincomprehending,producingand/orinteractinginthetargetlanguage,andthattasksareselectedaccordingtotheirgoals,input,activities,rolesandsettings.AsDoyle(1979;1983)maintainsthat,1)Theproductsstudentsaretoformulate.2)Theoperationisrequiredtogeneratetheproduct.3)Theresourcesavailabletothestudentstogeneratetheproduct.2.3TaskGradingTask-basedsyllabusintroducesafocusonformintoameaning-centeredcurriculum.Thesyllabusconsistsoftasksaswellasallowingforthesystematictreatmentoflinguisticforms.Forexample,Ellis(2002)proposedcriteriafordeterminingthedifficultyofgrammaticalstructuresasexplicitknowledge.Cadlin(1987)offerssomecriteriaforjudginggoodtasks.Andthemostimportantare;1)Encourageattentiontorelevantdata.2)Involvelanguageuseinthesolvingofthetask3)Promotesharingofinformationandexpertise.3Meritsofthetask-basedsyllabusTask-basedsyllabusesrepresentaparticularrealizationofcommunicativelanguageteaching.Insteadofbeginningthedesignprocesswithlistsofgrammatical,functional-notional,andotheritems,thedesignerconductsaneedsanalysiswhichyieldsalistofthetargettasksthatthetargetedlearnerswillneedtocarryoutinthe‘real-world’outsidetheclassroom.1)Task-basedsyllabusoffersacommunicativeactweachievethroughlanguageintheworldoutsidetheclassroom.Apieceofclassroomworkwhichinvolveslearnersincomprehending,manipulating,producingorinteractinginthelanguagewhiletheirattentionisprincipallyfocusedonmeaningratherthanforms,whichENABLElearnerstotakepartincommunicativetasks.2)TasksinEnglishteaching,butthefocusofeverytaskisonsolvingacommunicativeproblem,

whichhassomeconnectionswitharealworldoflearners'livesandlearningexperience,andwhichcanarouselearners'interestandparticipation.3)Thiskindofteachingtakesaspecifictaskasthemotivationofstudy,sincestudentshavedifferentmotivationsofstudy,Englishteachingcannottotallydependontheirwoninterest.InterestingactivitiesmustbedesignedinwhichstudentscompletesomerealtaskinEnglish,thustheirstudymotivationisaroused.4)ThepurposeofEnglishteachingistodevelopstudents’comprehensiveabilityandqualitywhichismuchmorethandevelopingtheirabilityofusingthelanguageorcommunication.Asaresult,itisnecessarytoletstudentsgetinvolvedinrealtaskinwhichtheyhavetosolveproblemsinEnglishsoastocultivatetheircomprehensivecompetence.4.Drawbacksofthetask-basedsyllabusDespitemeritsoutlinedabove,task-basedsyllabusisnotwithoutproblems,whicharewhatthissectionwillbeconcernedwith.1.Thetasksmustbesuitableforthelanguagelearners–nottoodifficultandnottoosimple,sointhiscasehowtomakeabalanceaboutthesetwotendenciescomes2.Itseemstohavenoplacefortheteachingofgrammar.Learnerswhoareusedtoamoretraditionalgrammaticalsyllabusmayfindthisapproachdifficulttocometotermswith.3．Itiseasytoneglectthestudyofthebasiclanguage，resultingfromlearningbydoingdirectly.Willthelearnersevergraspwhatisgoingon,orwhattheyaresupposedtohavegainedfromtheexperience?4.Itistoodifficulttocoverallaspectsthoroughly.5.Task-basedsyllabusesrequiremoreskillfulinstructors.Ifaninstructorlacksofthecommunicativelanguageskills,hows/hecandirectlearnerstoattaintheseskills.6.it’sdifficulttodegreetasks.Howmanylevelsofanalysisareneeded?Whathierarchicalrelationshipsexistbetweenonelevelandanother?7.Itisverydifficultforthedesignerstoselect,gradeandsequencethetasks

scientifically.ReferencesCheng,X.2002.TheAnalysisandDesignofEnglishMaterials.Beijing:ForeignLanguageteachingandresearchpress