The Task for Teaching Upper Level Asian Students to Learn English

王倩

1.Definition of task

The definition of this task is very broad.A task is an activity in which students use their available language resources and complete a real outcome， or a piece of work or an activity， usually with a specified aim， under-taken as part of an educational course at work， or used to elicit data for research （Richards & Rodgers， 1986）.Skehan concludes that there are four key features of a task： the tasks meaning； there are some links between the real world and the task； the priority is to complete the task； the assessment of the task is based on the outcome （Skehan， 1996）.

2.The task to teach speaking to upper level Asia students

The task is a speaking lesson on the topic of planning a day out in Beijing and uses a listening exercise to supply the language input.

Pre-task （15-20min）

Aim： To introduce the topic about how to spend a day out in Beijing with your partner to the class and to expose the students to the language related to it.To focus on words and phrases.

· Look at some pictures of Beijings places， such as Tian An Men， The Great Wall， Gugong and so on.

· Brainstorm alternative words/ phrases related to the topic using the board： nouns /verbs/ feelings etc.

· Introduce the listening of people mentioning interesting things in Beijing.Write different alternatives on the board to give them a reason for listening e.g.（a） place； （b） special performance； （c） snacks.

· Tell them that they are going to plan a day out in Beijing and give them a few minutes to think about it.

Task （10min）

· Students do the task in groups and make a plan for a day out in Beijing with a partner.They state their own plan and compare different ideas with their group partners.

Planning （10min）

Each group rehearses presenting their plan.The teacher walks around， helping if students have a problem and noting any language items or grammatical problems on which to give feedback later.

Report （15min）

· Each group selects a speaker to report their plan and give detailed reasons for it.Other students can choose the best one after the presentations.

· The teacher gives feedback on the content and reviews what was suggested.

Language Focus （20min）

· Write on the board any useful phrases and sentences used by the students during the tasks and correct the wrong grammatical or sentence structures used in the presentation.The students review the revised sentences.

· Hand out the typescript of the listening and ask the students to underline the useful sentences and phrases.

· The students note down any language items which they interest them.

Post-task

The teacher hands out the Fill in exercises and True or False questions for the students according to the listening in class.

According to the group discussion， they write a 150 word assignment as homework.

（This task is adapted by TE Editors example of a task-based lesson plan）

3.How it relates to TBLT theory and how the task could be assessed

3.1 The task structure is based on pre-task， task/ language focus

In the planning task stage， the typical task structure is： pre-task； task； language focus or analysis.The actual task is divided into 3 stages： discussion； planning： presentation or reporting back to the class （Wills， 1996）.In the pre-task step， the teachers set the task topic and situation for the learners.In this planning task， the teacher introduces the topic of how to spend a day out in Beijing with a group partner to the class students and asks them to design a plan for a day trip.In the task cycle， the aim of the task is to involve the learners in discussing the task in pairs or groups and to decide task content.In the task planning step， students discuss the outline and take notes for the presentation draft.They check and improve the draft and prepare to a presentation for the audience.In the report step， students give their presentation to the all class and sum up the purpose of the task.In this speaking task， the students are divided into group of five and make a plan for a day out in Beijing.During the discussion， each student state his/her own plan and compares different ideas with his/her group partners.Each group rehearses presenting their plan.A speaker from one group reports their plan and gives detailed reasons for it.Other students can choose the best one after the presentations.This speaking task structure is based on the typical task structure.

3.2 The speaking task elements are based on the theory of task elements

According to Nunan （1992）， each learning task involves： Goals； Input data； Activities procedures Role； and Settings.Goals are related to particular areas of language use： academic， professional， social， and commercial skills.The goals have been settled for developing the skills necessary to take part in academic study and obtaining sufficient oral and written skills.Input is spoken or written instructions， diagrams or pictures which the learners are faced with at the beginning of the task.The activities or procedures are what are actually accomplished by the learner.However， there several important aspects should be considered here， such as： how many members of the group understand the crucial knowledge and how central is information exchange to the task？ is the task focused on a professional interactionor on social interaction？； and the roles for teachers and learners， as the teacher will spent less time on communicative processing.For large parts of the actual task， the teachers operate in the background.According to Breen and Candlin （1980）， the role of teachers should be classified into three main roles in the classroom.The first as a facilitator of the communicative process； the second is that of participant； and the last as motivator or observer.The learners role is the main element during the language processing.The main characteristics of the learners role are： as a negotiator or interactor who is capable of giving as well as taking； as a performer and listener， with little control over the content of their learning； and as being responsible for his/her own learning.The setting refers to the teachers and students physical environment， such as how many students there are per group or whether the students do the task in small or large groups.

In this speaking task lesson， the goal is to highlight speaking fluency and plan a trip which can be used in real-world situation.The input data are a telephone conversation listening take of people describing the interesting things to do in Beijing.The activities procedure is that the students in groups plan a trip.The role of the teacher is to state the topic， monitor the whole discussion during the task， and then give feedback.The students are divided into small group to discuss how to design the plan and time.During the task， they must compare each idea， make a decision， and give a presentation to the whole class.The setting is that 30 students are divided into 6 groups according to their seating arrangement.

4.Assessment of the TBLT speaking lesson for Chinese Students

For this speaking task， it is possible to use formative assessment.The procedure for conducting a formative assessment is a multi-level approach involving self- and teacher-assessment （Spolsky， 1992）.Self-assessment of this speaking task motivates the students regarding their own English language learning.All of the students are given a chance before and after the units of instruction to assess their own performance， based on their understanding， speaking and writing （Council of Europe， 2001）.Understanding includes the listening skills question about how much of the words， phrases and the main points of the listening material they can understand.Speaking includes spoken interaction and spoken production （Nunan， 2004）.That is the question of how they can interact with the group members and how they can express their own ideas about the planned a day trip to Beijing.Writing includes how they can write a short conclusion about the discussion.The teacher assessment in this speaking task involves assessing the learners performance in terms of range， accuracy， fluency， interaction and coherence （Council of Europe， 2001）.Range includes whether students have a sufficient range of language to express their ideas on topic or a good broad range of language to enable them to give clear descriptions.Accuracy consists of grammar control， complex language， clause misunderstanding and so on.Fluency is the assessment aspect of fluent， natural colloquial or spontaneously expressed ideas.Interaction includes whether the learners language enable them to interact with the discourse， and coherence is discourse coherence and cohesion （Nunan， 2004）.Meanwhile， it is helpful for teachers to evaluate whether the task is of an appropriate level of difficulty for the learners.

Conclusion

TBLT is an educational framework for the theory and practice of teaching second or foreign languages.The ideas underlying the approach are based on the philosophy of education， theories of second language acquisition， and empirical findings on effective instructional techniques.In particular， TBLT essentially grew from the communicative class teaching theory that aims to improve learners communicative competence by focusing on students language interaction.However， TBLT is considered the “strong version” of CLT， where language is applied by communicating meaning and the approach requires the learners to communicate without focusing the language forms alone.According to the typical task structure and the theory of task elements， a speaking lesson plan is designed on the topic of planning a day out in Beijing with group partners.In this TBLT class， the aim of the lesson is to develop students speaking skills in terms of accuracy and influence.In this speaking task， it is possible to use both formative assessment and self-assessment.The formative assessment is developmental assessment and intended to give feedback to enhance the learners understanding and performance by the teacher according to their range， accuracy， fluency， interaction and coherence.Self-assessment of this speaking task motivates the students regarding on their language learning.Applying these two forms of assessments， by both the teacher and students， will help to successful assessment.