《任务型教学》读书报告

《任务型研究：表现，评定与教学法》

读书报告

李红宇

外国语学院

大学外语教学部

2012年8月30日

A Book Review of RESEARCHING TASKS: PERFORMANCE, ASSESSMENT AND

PEDAGOGY

I．Introduction of the author and the book

Peter Skehan, the internationally renowned applied linguist, with rich and broad experience in teaching practice, has been engaging in research on language teaching theory and practice. Especially, he gained great success in the research field of task-based teaching and learning. The book RESEARCHING TASKS: PERFORMANCE, ASSESSMENT AND PEDAGOGY collected the author’s major papers about task-based learning, teaching and test, which were published on internationally authorititave journals. The themes of these papers involve theoretical background, empirical research, teat, assessment and pedagogy of task-based research.

II. About TBLT

TBLT is the abbreviation of the term task-based language teaching. Just as its name implies, it is an approach of language teaching on the basis of task. Over the past two decades, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has gained considerable momentum in the field of language education. It aims at providing opportunities for the learners to experiment with and explore both spoken and written language through learning activities which are designed to engage learners in the authentic, practical and functional use of language for meaningful purposes.

III. Personal review

For some time discussion of task-based learning has been expanding from articles to books for teachers. In Peter Skehan’s book it has reached a book-length academic justification, bringing together work from applied linguistics, psychology and language teaching to provide a basis that many people can now cite as a support for their work. It is a useful and timely book that enables one to see how such an approach can be justified.

The book overall tries to argue for a ‘processing account’ of second language learning. Because of its wide scope, the book falls into distinct sections. A chapter 1 concern sidesteps towards applied linguistics. The next two chapters make the first section, theory. Chapter 2 systematically introduces a framework for the implementation of task-based instruction. Chapter 3 presents a model of second language performance, in which accuracy, fluency and lexis are included. Chapter 4 rejects three models of L2 learning, Universal Grammar, Multidimensional Model and Analysis/Control, in favor of a ‘dual-mode’ model having rule-based and exemplar-based systems. The next group of chapters concerns language teaching. Chapter 5 presents the history of task-based teaching based on a variety of classroom-based research, relating three goals of fluency, accuracy and complexity to the dual-mode model. Chapter 6 establishes a set of five principles for task-based instruction concerning the choice of target structures and tasks, task sequencing, continuous evaluation by the students, and a need for focus on form. Chapter 7 discusses various models of testing, considering how they need to be modified by the three goals in a model that balances rules and exemplars. The next batch of three chapters covers individual variables in L2 learners. Chapter 8 defends aptitude