Innovation in Language Learning
Investigating Task-Based Language Teaching in a Big-Size ESL Spoken Classroom
Junming Chen, Xiamen University of Technology (China)
Abstract
Since the documented record of Prabhu’s (1987) experimental study in Bangalore, India, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has become a popular phrase for researchers and teachers (Bryfonski, 2020; Qin & Lei, 2022). TBLT practices language learning by designing and assigning tasks for learners in the classroom using the target language. It introduces authentic text, stimulates motivation, and helps learners acquire L2 with non-linguistic problems. However, although TBLT is assumed to affect learners’ oral language learning positively, previous TBLT investigations found less investigation on spoken courses and big-size classrooms. Therefore, this study seeks to examine how TBLT works in a large ESL classroom. Specifically, it aims to explore how TBLT facilitate learners’ oral English learning in a class of over thirty students in the foreign language context. The participants were around 40 English learners in a 16-week spoken English course at a Chinese university. Two types of tasks, authentic situation tasks and authentic interaction tasks (Ellis, 2003), were employed. Observations included learners’ attendance, willingness to communicate, speaking manners and language progress. Findings showed that TBLT generally benefited oral learning in the big-size second language spoken classroom. Learners showed good attendance during the study. They were active in communication, willing to talk to peers in English and share stories and spoke the target language in a relaxed mood. Learners also progress in oral communication with confident, fluent and complicated speech. Such findings provide a better understanding of the effects of TBLT on a big-size L2 spoken classroom while calling for more research on the detailed benefits of TBLT on language development.
Keywords： TBLT, ESL, a big-size classroom, Chinese English learners
Selected References
[1] Bryfosni, L. (2020). Current trends and new developments in Task-based Language Teaching. ELT Journal, 74 (4), 492-511.
[2] Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[3] Prabhu,N.S.(1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[4] Qin, J., & Lei, L. (2022). Research trends in task-based language teaching: A bibliometric analysis from 1985 to 2020. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 12(3), 381-404.
