| 作者简介:1985年毕业后一直在佛山市顺德一中从事初中英语教学工作。多年以来担任过六届的毕业班。所教的班中考英语成绩在考区的前列。曾参加过佛山市英语优质课评比获三等奖、顺德一等奖。在区举办的英语教学竞赛中荣获《教学能手》称号。辅导学生参加全国英语能力竞赛获优秀园丁奖。担任班主任工作11年，曾被评为优秀班主任。现在是英语科组长。2002年至今带领科组老师开展《初中英语阅读教学的拓展与综合素质提高》的课题研究。
摘要：英语阅读教学是英语教学中的重要环节。然而，初中英语阅读教学仍然存在不少问题。例如，过分地强调语法知识的教学而忽视语言能力的培养，只关注对文章的理解而忽略培养学生的创造力等。本文根据一些主要的现代教学理论，对如何通过任务型阅读教学，发展学生交际能力和创造能力进行探讨。通过任务型阅读教学在初中英语教学中的应用与研究，帮助学生形成高效的学习策略，提高英语运用能力。同时，也提高教师教学理论水平，丰富教学经验。
Abstract
Teaching reading is an important aspect of English teaching. However,
there exist many problems in teaching reading in Junior Middle Schools.
For example, the teaching of grammatical knowledge is emphasized too
much and language skill training is ignored, etc. This paper discusses
how to apply task-based reading to developing students’ communicative
competence as well as their creative competence based on some major
modern theories. With the application of task-based reading in junior
middle schools, students’ learning strategy is highly efficient and
their skills to use English are improved as well.
Keywords
task reading communicative creative competence.
1. The Present Situation and Problems of ELT in Junior Middle Schools
Over the last few years, middle schools in China have been gradually
introducing a new set of English textbooks -- Junior English for China
1-3 and Senior English for China 1-3. These new books place more emphasis
on speaking and listening skills than the previous texts did. Middle
school teachers, especially those in regular schools, generally think
the new materials are quite satisfactory but find them difficult to
teach. Teachers who lack confidence in their spoken English skills
often tend to teach these materials the same way as they did for the
old textbooks --- by explaining the grammar and vocabulary in Chinese.
In general, most English teachers in junior middle schools are more
accustomed to reading English and explaining its grammar than to speaking
it. Although the new curriculum encourages teachers to use communicative
methods such as pair and small group work, yet the senior middle school
entrance examinations still mainly test the language points as well
as the grammatical knowledge. The testing system, to some extent,
imposes a negative influence on ELT in schools. For instance, teachers
ignore the development of the student's communicative competence,
but concentrate on teaching grammatical and lexical items. The result
is that many students may succeed in scoring high grades in the exams,
but they fail to use even simple English for the purpose of real communication.
At present, English teaching in Junior Middle Schools is still far
from being satisfactory, and unable to meet the needs of the development
of our country. Most of the students have found it hard to communicate
even in simple English. The Grammar-focused teaching methods, and
the rigid written exams have hampered the effectiveness of both teaching
and learning.
In order to meet the needs of the students, it is extremely important
that the teaching approach of reading in junior middle school should
be changed. In this paper, the writer would like to suggest a new
approach for teaching reading ---- task-based teaching of reading
through which junior middle school students can be taught more effectively.
This approach is intended to help them develop their communicative
competence in the target language as well as their competence of creative
thinking..
2 The Application of Task-based Reading
A number of theories of language learning have evolved in the past,
attempting to explain the processes by which a language other than
the native language is being acquired in a natural or classroom setting.
For example, Krashen's Input Hypothesis (Krashen, 1985: 56) focuses
on language acquisition in the classroom. His theory suggests that
language learning only occurs under certain conditions, e.g. when
students receive optimal comprehensible and interesting input from
their instructors beyond their present level of competence and not
presented in grammatical sequences. Language acquisition takes place
as a subconscious learning process which results in real communication
skills, rather than actively learning grammar and structural rules
of the target language.
Long's Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1981: 11) serves as yet another
theory in language acquisition. According to Long’s theory language
learners need to be active learners and participants when receiving
language input. Only listening to new language structures will not
lead to successful language learning. The learner has to become an
active participant in the target language by using received input
in immediate interaction and communicative patterns with other learners.
2.1 Task & Task-based Approach
Nowadays, the research of task-based approach is very popular in
the research of Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research.
In the past twenty years, many applied linguists have made deep research
on task-based approach in different points of views. In recent years,
there have been quite a few books published (e.g. Willi, 1996; Skehan,
1998).
Prabhu is the first person who presented task-based approach to
the syllabus and the teaching practice. He believed that students
might learn more effectively when their minds were focused on the
task, rather than on the language they were using. (Prabhu, 1987:
15). He is considered as the founder of task-based learning activities.
Basically a task is a piece of meaning-focused work involving learners
in comprehending, producing and/ or interacting in the target language,
and that tasks are analyzed or categorized according to their goals,
input data, activities, settings and roles. Then what is task-based
approach? According to David Nunan, it is "an approach to the
design of language course in which the point of departure is not an
ordered list of linguistic items, but a collection of tasks",
(Nunan, 1999:24) which have three components: goals, input and activities.
The assumptions of this theory is summarized by Feez (1998:17, cited
by Richards & Rodgers, 2001: 224) as follows:
(1) The focus is on process rather than product;
(2) Its basic elements are purposeful activities and tasks that
emphasize communication and meaning;
(3) Learners learn language by interacting communicatively and purposefully
while engaged in the activities and tasks;
(4) Activities and tasks can be either those that learners might
need to achieve in real life or those that there is a pedagogical
purpose specific to the classroom;
(5) Activities and tasks are sequenced according to difficulty;
Because of its communicative features of tasks and activities and
because of "the creation of communicative tasks for teaching
such as vocabulary, pronunciation, semantics, pragmatics, or cohesion”
(Crookes & Gass 1993:157). This approach has been gaining considerable
attention within linguistics and more support from researchers. And
just because of " the use of tasks as the core in unit planning
and instruction", the designing of tasks becomes the key issue
in practice.
2.2 Reading Process
The task- based reading is applied in our school (Shunde No.1 Junior
Middle School) for more than one year. In order to adapt to the requirement
of the new curriculum, students are asked to read not only the texts
of JEFC but also other reading materials for the extracurricular reading.
They are required to read a passage of about one thousand words per-day.
So we have intensive reading and extensive reading classes. The reading
process is: Task preparation (before class)--- Task report (in class)---
Writing (after class). For the first reading stage---task preparation,
students are required to read the text or extra reading materials
and accomplish the tasks designed by the teacher in advance independently
out of class. This stage aims at cultivating students’ reading skill
and self-instruction competence. Here take an extensive reading class
as an example. The students were required to read a short story ---Sara
Says No written by R.L.Scott-Buccleuch (England). This story is about
Sara and her father Mr. Fruit who is dishonest. They live on selling
fruits, but Mr Fruit always cheats his customers. That’s why Sara
says No. The tasks for the reading are as follow:
Pre-reading
Task 1: Christmas Day is coming. Here are some presents for you to
choose--- the wealth, the happiness, the honesty, the success, the
wisdom, and the health. Which one would you choose? Why?
While-reading
Task 2: Why does Sara say No? And what do you think of Sara?
Task 3: What do you think of Mr. Fruit?
Task 4: What do you learn from this story?
The second stage--- task report is the core of the task-based reading
which provides opportunity for language use; engaging in planning
post-task, in which students can draft and rehearse their public performance,
and reporting, the public performance which itself heightens attention
to form and accuracy. Meanwhile, the teacher should help smooth away
linguistic difficulty met by students during speaking. The post-reading
task is designed as follow:
Post-reading
Task 5: Some students are afraid of exams. They often cheat in exams.
What do you think of their cheating action?
The teacher tries to build a language speaking environment, adopt
many ways and encourage students to open their mouths to speak, allow
the students to be themselves rather than expecting them to conform
to the teacher’s preconceived ideas about how they should behave.
After the students finish their speaking in class, the teacher should
encourage them and let the students feel they have made some progress
with a sense of their fulfillment.
The last stage is concerned with writing which is focused on practicing
writing. Students are required to write a composition related to what
is discussed in class. Thus helps students consolidate linguistic
items and develop their writing skill as well.
Therefore, task-based reading focuses not only on developing students’
reading skill and self-instruction competence, but also on improving
their essential communicating skills of listening, and writing, as
well as on their development of cognitive skills.
2.3 Task Design for Reading
Task is an activation technique in teaching reading. What kind of
task the teacher designs is appropriate for the students to accomplish?
How does the teacher design tasks that can generate the students'
participation in the teaching of reading so that the tasks really
have an effect on the students' EFL acquisition?
In terms of communicative value and orientation, some researches both
on EFL and second language classrooms have already found that there
are mainly two types of tasks, open tasks and closed tasks (Ellis,
1999). The closed tasks permit only one acceptable answer. For example,
in checking the students' understanding of Lesson 94, the writer designed
a task involving the main idea of the text like this: " What
is the place of interest introduced in this text?" The only right
answer is "Ayers Rock in the centrer of Australia. After scanning
the whole text, tasks for comprehension were designed like: How far
is Ayres Rock from Sydney? What does Ayres Rock look like? When is
the most beautiful time of the day? All of these tasks are closed
ones. The exchange encouraged the students to display or present their
understanding of the text. At the same time, the students' speaking
ability was practiced, because such tasks are both clear and available
to the majority of the students. The stronger ones provide the information
they obtained from the text via their answers rather than through
the teacher's input, while the weaker ones could get an opportunity
to participate. Thus, the students could have a good consolidation
of the text through the teacher's reading tasks. But this exchange
is only a transmission of the text, no real communication. Open tasks
permit a number of different ideas which require the students to extend
an open mind search to provide all the possible ideas. So the writer
further designed tasks for some deeper learning of the text material
as follows: What is magic about Ayres Rock? (Some integration was
required in accomplishing this task. Thus the writer really wanted
the students' imagination and description.). Then the other task was
like: Would you like to go to Australia after learning the text? Why?
The students were required to exchange their opinions and ideas.
This exchange was rather communicative and meaningful, because it
carried some real information gap not only between the teacher and
the students, but between the students themselves. It was more open
than the previous exchange for comprehension and consolidation. The
students couldn't get the information directly from the text, but
they were related to the text. The students could hardly accomplish
them so promptly as the closed ones. These tasks certainly bore learning
value, which stimulated thinking and responses that would probe more
deeply in the text material. Therefore, the students found the tasks
interesting, challenging or stimulating.
So far as the reading interaction or exchange is concerned, the
teacher's task designs should be varied and adjustable according to
the students' level of proficiency. And the tasks he/she designs should
be so effective as to elicit fairly prompt, motivated, relevant and
full response. If, on the other hand, the tasks result in long silences,
then there is probably something wrong. It is necessary for the teacher
to make some adjustment, so that he or she will successfully get the
students to engage with the language material actively through speech.
And this will make the task-based reading more effectively.
2.4 Development of Communicative Competence
English learning is meaningless unless students can acquire communicative
competence. The task-based reading is effective for developing such
competence. Task-based reading is part of whole communicative tasks
in the foreign language classroom. Nunan defines a communicative task
as “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending,
manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while
their attention is focused on meaning rather than form" (Nunan,
1993:5). The idea is to get something done via the language, to read
a text and do something with the information.
Here present some types of tasks which orient developing students’
communicative competence.
1) Task for information transfer – it is a type of communicative
activity that involves the transfer of information from the text to
form, table or diagram. Such activities are intended to help develop
the learner's communicative competence by engaging them in meaning-focused
communication.
Example 1. Let’s take as an example ----JEFC Book 3 Lesson 10. Make
Our World Beautiful. This text presents some ways of collecting rubbish
and call on people to protect the environment. The task for information
transfer is designed as the following:
The second part of the text Bad behavior to the environment Good
behavior to the environment
What’s mentionedin the text?
2) Task for problem solving--- it is that students are required
to solve the possible problems they encounter in the real life with
their own knowledge and ability of reasoning in English.
Example 2: After reading and learning L10 the task for problem solving
is designed like this: Some people are writing letters to the mayor
to complain about some problems they meet in their life. Please read
the letter and think: “If I were the mayor of Shunde City, how would
I solve the problem?” Students are required to discuss in a group
of four.
3) Task for information gap --It is a type of communicative activity
in which each participant in the activity holds some information other
participants don't have and all participants have to share the information
they have with other participants in order to successfully complete
a task .
Example 3: After finishing the discussion above one of the participants
would interview the other three to complete the following task.
problems:
2.5 Development of Creative Competence
Creative competence refers to the ability of thinking creatively.
Creative thinking can help to find the nature and inner relations
of a fact or a problem. On the basis of creative thinking, some particular,
new and meaningful result might be achieved. It is an initiative psychological
activity and manifestation of human intelligence sublimation.
The following aspects should be taken into consideration for a reading
task design so as to develop learners’ creative competence.
1) Motivating learners’ curiosity and desire for knowledge. Curiosity
and desire for knowledge are the main links to the development of
creative competence. Motivating learners’ curiosity and desire for
knowledge is the promotion for new consciousness and ideas, and for
creative methods and strategies. Experimental studies show that a
learner with curiosity and strong desire will be confident, creative
and willing to investigate. Thus, it is true for the saying that “curiosity
is the first virtue of a learner.”
2) Developing both divergent thinking and convergent thinking. This
is important for developing learners’ creative competence. In creative
activities, both divergent thinking and convergent thinking should
be regarded highly. If divergent thinking is neglected, the learner
will form only one thinking model and the development of his observation,
curiosity, imagination and initiative will be affected. Learners trained
simply by convergent thinking might be authority-oriented or knowledge-accumulated.
A person with divergent thinking is sensitive to new ideas and has
a strong desire to avoid the old way of problem-solving. Therefore,
in language teaching, teachers should not only pay attention to convergent
thinking, but also to divergent thinking. Teachers should guide the
students to think broadly, to doubt, and to express their own opinions,
whilst also encouraging them to solve problems creatively.
3) Developing intuitive thinking and logic thinking. Intuitive thinking
refers to the quick and reasonable reflection of the means and answers
to certain problems without detailed analysis, such as guesses, premonitions,
assumptions, insights and so on. Logic thinking is a term which refers
to the reflection of the nature of a fact or a problem by connecting,
judging and reasoning. Both intuitive thinking and logic thinking
will help to develop learners’ creative competence.
The development of creative competence should be incorporated into
language tasks and activities. Tasks and activities not only provide
the contexts for the use and learning of English but help to foster
intellectual growth and the development of critical skills and creative
competence. So the reading tasks should be meaningful to meet the
needs of learners.
Here’s an example about how to develop students’ creative competence
through task-based reading of Jim’s Train Ride (JEFC Book 3 Lesson
14).
This text is about Jim’s experience of traveling to Mount Emei with
his family by train. The content is very simple. How to make this
reading class more pleasant and more productive and how to help students
develop their creative competence, the tasks for the reading text
are as follows:
1).Why do his family like to travel by train?
2).What did Jim’s family do before taking a train to Chengdu?
3).What did Jim feel on the train?4).What did Jim think of his train
ride?
The above tasks are to train students’ intuitive thinking. They
can directly get the information from the text.
Another group of tasks is:
1).Why do you go traveling?
2).What do you usually do before traveling?
3).What do you think of traveling? What are the good points and
bad points?
These tasks tend to develop students’ divergent thinking and convergent
thinking. They have to use their own minds to analyze, synthesize,
abstract and generalize so that their logical thinking is improved
as well. In order to develop students’ creative competence these tasks
relate the content of the reading text to personal experience which
help extend the development of language skills through task-based
reading.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the task-based reading is an innovation in English
language teaching (ELT). It is based upon the idea that language is
used for a genuine purpose meaning that real communication should
take place. The aim of task-based reading is not only to develop the
students’ reading skills but also their communicative competence and
creative competence . The range of tasks available offers a great
deal of flexibility and should lead to more motivating activities
for the students. As we have seen from above, no matter what kind
of competence is to be developed, task design plays a very important
role in task-based reading. Tasks directly influence the success of
the application of task-based reading. Good reading tasks typically
help the learners make use of authentic and challenging texts, provide
students with opportunities to use the language in lifelike situations
that are meaningful, non-trivial, of direct interest to students,
and involve the students interacting with the text and with each other,
transferring the text information to a visual or diagrammatic representation,
thus stimulating the students’ desire to learn English and consequently
making the reading lesson an efficient one. We shall see that the
teacher has been asked to take on more of a role as advisor and facilitator
than of instructor, and that it is one of his/her basic functions
to design different tasks and activities within his/her class. The
teacher has to improve teaching skill and knowledge level to meet
the need of the new approach.
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4. Ellis, R. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford University
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5. Hymes．D．H． On Communicative Competence. University of Pennsylvania
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