hui论文三稿

The Application of Task-based Approach in Business EnglishTeachingAbstract:This paper firstly introduces the background of the study, the reason for TBA’s application to the Teaching of Business English and the purpose of the thesis. Secondly, it reviews the definition and the theoretical foundation of TBA. Thirdly, it tries to design a class according to TBA and points out the improvement in students' language communicative ability by using TBA. Finally there are some pedagogical implications drawn by the author from the study.Key words: Task-based approach; Business English teaching; application;任务教学法在商务英语教学中的应用摘要：本文首先介绍了研究背景、任务教学法应用于商务英语教学的原因和研究目的。

其次，本文回顾了任务教学法的定义和理论基础。

另外，本文尝试根据任务教学法进行教学设计，并且指出任务教学法有利于提高学生语言交流能力。

最后，作者从研究中总结出了一些教学启示。

关键词：任务教学法；商务英语教学；应用The Application of Task-based Approach in Business EnglishTeaching1. IntroductionThe present study aims to find out the feasibility and the effectiveness of task-based approach in business English teaching. In this chapter the author explains the background and the significance of the study. The outline of the thesis is also introduced in this chapter.1.1 The Background of the StudyMany colleges and universities in China have provided majors and courses of business English. As an important branch of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), business English is often a mix of specific content (relating to a particular job area or industry), and general content (relating to general ability to communicate more effectively, albeit in business situations). Dudley-Evans & John also points out that business English refers to “communication with the public and communication within (inte r) a company or between (inter)companies”. So through learning business English, the students should enhance their com petence on both “language” and “business” sides. That is to say, China’s college students majoring in business English should have the ability to communicate effectively in English in their daily lives as well as in their future business activities.Theref ore how to improve the students’ business oral English and foster their ability to communicate is the most important undertaking for the teachers. And it has also long been a big headache for the teachers.Furthermore, t he students’ communicative incompetence has a lot to do with the teaching methods.A lot of efforts have been made to search for a more efficient approach for Business English teaching. But the current situation is still not so satisfactory. The stress on development of students' communicative ability makes it extremely necessary to find out more scientific and effective ways of Business English teaching.1.2 Reason for TBA’s Application to the Teaching of Business EnglishAs mentioned above, business English, as the most important offshoot of ESP, concerns many specific communicative situations in which effective communication is the final goal. Hartley once said that speaking “essentially involves the creation and exchange of meaning”. Mark Ellis and Christine Johnson described speaking in business English under the heading of “socializing” which means the spoken interactions in business and/or social situations. Dudley-Evans and John used “building relationship” in replacement for “socializing” to express the communication in business. A good business relationship is dependent on understanding, credibility, goodwill and trust. All these statements show that business people shall try to communicate well with the manipulation of business oral English.In TBA classrooms, the students join in team work, that is, the members of the group pool their wisdom to complete the task successfully. Therefore they should express their viewpoints clearly and correctly. As the active participants, the students can improve language competence as well as the communicative competence. Besides, through the fulfillment of tasks, the students learn each other, build good relationship and establish a spirit of cooperation. All of these are the cultural marrow of today’sbusinesses which are facing fierce competition. The mastery of the above abilities can help the students stand the keen competition in the future work. Just as Mark Ellis and Christine Johnson once pointed out that one basic principle of teaching business oral English is “task-based learning”.Furthermore, it is known that a business has various departments such as management, finance, sale, personnel and so forth. Each department performs its specific task. By the same token, oral English about business targets at particular situations. It is convenient to adopt TBA in the teaching of business English. In other words, business English teaching can offer a space for the development of TBA. In general, task-based approach should and can be adopted to teach business English. 1.3 Purpose of the ResearchThis research is undertaken to find out a more feasible and effective approach in BE teaching and test a worked-out framework in TBA which aims at improving the students' language learning and language using abilities in Business English. It is of great significance to the Business English teachers and worthy of discussion.While teaching Business English, it is rather necessary not only to teach the language, but also to develop the students' communicative competence. It has been proved by many researchers that the TBA can help students to acquire language using ability. The communicative tasks involved in Business English classes are to evoke students' interest and cultivate students' confidence in order to help them develop a good learning habit and form an effective learning strategy. In this thesis, the author tries to explore whether there is perfect combination of the application of TBA in the teaching of Business English and the improvement of students' abilities in communication.2. Literature ReviewIn this chapter, the author reviews the definition, components of task and introduces a framework of TBA. Then the author introduces the theoretical rationale of TBA.2.1 The Introduction to Task and TBA2.1.1 Definition of Task-based approachTask-based approach (TBA) as a contrasting methodology to traditional grammar-oriented teaching originated from communicative approach for language teaching. Gradually, it has become a better known and more influential and more widely practiced method.Long & Crookes (1992, 1993) had very detailed discussions about TBA and other teaching methodologies from the perspective of syllabuses. They divide syllabuses into type A syllabus and type B syllabus. Type A syllabuses are also called synthetic syllabuses, and the type B syllabuses are also called analytical syllabus. Generally speaking, type A syllabuses focus on what is to be learned. They are interventionist. Someone pre-selects the language to be taught, dividing it up into small pieces, and determining learning objectives in advance of any consideration of who the learners may be or of how language are learned. So, they are external to the learner, because the learning is other-directed, determined by authority. They treat the subject matter of instruction as important, and assess success and failure in terms of achievement or mastery. Type B syllabuses, on the other hand, focus on how the language is to be learned. They are noninterventionist. They involve no artificial pre-selection or arrangement of items and allow objectives to be determined by a process of negotiation between teachers and learners as a course evolves. They ate thus internal to the learner. They emphasize the process of learning rather than subject matter, and assess accomplishment in relationship to learner criteria for success.According to Long & Crookes (1993:30-34), the traditional or forms oriented method , including functional and notional methods belong to Type A syllabuses because they all involve breaking down the language to be learned. Type B syllabus or the analytical syllabus refer not to what the syllabus designer .Analytic syllabuses are those which present the target language whole chunks at a time, without linguistic interference or control. They rely on learners assumed ability to perceive regularities in the input and to induce rules or to form new network underlying what looks like rule-governed behavior. Since early 1990s, tasks ate used as the unit of analysis in those syllabuses and TBLT, as Long& Crookes (1992.45) noted, is distinguished by its compatibility with research findings on language , a principled approach to content selection and an attempt to incorporate findings from classroom-centered research when making decisions concerning the design of material and methodology. The point here is that teaching should be internal to the learners or should be learner-centered. It is important to give learners enough leeway to develop its language ability on their own route of learning.TBA has provided an important concept from the educational point of view. Prabhu (1987), while discussing TBA, distinguished two ways of teaching as that of “equipping” and that of “enabling”. Equipping is to give students knowledge and skills that are supposed to be useful in their future work and life. However, what the future will require of us is hard to predict exactly. So in the classroom, it is hard to teach students exactly what they need for the future. However, students can be presented with questions, problems or tasks and the teaching is to discuss with students the ways of solving or handling problems. Thus, students are trained to face problems and to solve problems during the process of problem-solving. It is clear that the essence of enabling is ability education and that is what Chinese education is trying to turn to.By applying TBA in our classrooms, the idea of student-centered teaching can really be put into practice and teachers can have more power to carry out the classroom activities. Of course, this involves a change of our habitual way of teaching and a reconsideration of our teaching in the light of the concept of improving our EFL classroom practice, TBA is worth our attention.2.1.2 Framework of TBAThe model of TBA proposed by Wills (1996) provides a guide to the practical implementation of this teaching method. In this model, the procedures of TBA include the following three stages.Pre-task (Introduction to topic and task)At this stage, the teacher introduces the topic and helps the students get the idea of the target of the task. The teacher activates the relevant words and phrases that may be useful for the competition of the task. To let the students know better what they will have to do during the task, the teacher may play a recording of other people doing the task. The teacher should ensure that the students understand the task instructions. What the students should do in this phase is to note down the useful words and phrases as well as spend several minutes preparing the task. In Willis’ opinion, the pre-task stage is often the shortest phase in her framework.Task CycleThree stages are covered in this stage: task, planning and report.TaskThe students carry out the task in pairs or in groups. All members of a group should be given opportunities to speak. At this stage, the teacher can walk around, act as a monitor and give encouragement to the students.PlanningAfter doing the task, the students prepare a report (oral or written) to the class on how they did the task and what they discovered or concluded. The teacher may give language advice if necessary. Sometimes the teacher may note down the serious mistakes and give help when necessary.ReportThe students are selected to present their report to the whole class. Or the groups present their performance in front of the class. In this phase, the students are required to use language appropriate for public presentation or display. The students are encouraged to make comments and give feedback on the tasks.Language FocusAt the end of the activity, language focus occurs. This is different from the traditional teaching method where the focus of language is put at the beginning of the activity.AnalysisThe teacher highlights the language that the students used in the task for them to identify and think about particular features of language form and use.PracticeThe students do some additional activities to consolidate their mastery of language forms. Willis’ framework offers a model for language teachers and has been accepted by many teachers in the world. This framework can be adjusted according to the specific situations.2.2 Theoretical Rationale for TBAFrom the above propositions, we can see that task-based teaching is based on constructivism theory. Constructivism theory shows that students don’t learn th e knowledge passively; instead, they take responsibility for their own learning, constructing their own understanding actively from their experiences.Based on constructivism, in language teaching, teachers should build a student-centered learning environment to encourage and guide the students to construct their own knowledge and learning. The students shall not be regarded as the passive receivers of knowledge. In fact, they take an active part in the construction of their personal understanding. Meanwhile the teacher is not the controller but a facilitator.3. Analysis of teaching caseThis chapter makes a comparison on different teaching methods.The Feedback from the students suggests that task-based method has Positive influence on the teaching of business English.3.1 The task-based English classIn the classroom, the author adopted Jane Willis framework for the TBA, which consists mainly of three stages: pre-task, while-task and post-task and designed sometasks with which Business English can be taught more effectively. In the following passage, the author presents a sample lesson of TBA.The textbook used here is Pass Cambridge BEC Preliminary. And the author took "Establishing Business Relationship" for example.3.1.1 The Pre-task Stage:Step 1:Lead-inTeacher gives necessary background information about business negotiation to Students.Step 2: Group DivisionDivide all students into many groups (about 6 Students in one group).Step 3: Assign Tasks to StudentsTeacher asks students to look for business partners through the Internet and to establish business relationship by writing business letters. Give students a real situation and ask them to do tasks according to it.Suppose:(1) you are the member of a company which specializes in coconut-carved crags in Haikou,(2) your company wants to sell your products abroad,(3)it is the first attempt of your company to sell goods abroad;What you should do are: (1) looking for potential customers abroad, (2) establishing business relationship with them.3.1.2The While-task Stage:Step 4: Group DiscussionTeacher asks students the following question and asks students to answer them after group discussion.(1) Do you know how to look for business partners and establish business relationship with them?(2) Can you list the general methods to establish business relationship?Teacher gives the students 3-5 minutes and encourages them to discuss in their small groups and find methods to search for the potential customers.Step 5: Further DiscussionStudents analyze the lists and choose some potential customers they think suitable. Step 6: Case StudyAfter choosing the potential clients, it's time to get in touch with them and establish business relationship with them. There are various ways to get in touch with them, either by making telephone calls or writing business letters.Teacher shows the students a sample letter of establishing business relationship on the projector. And ask them to answer the following questions in group:1 .What's the aim of writing this letter?2. What's the main content of the letter?3. Who is the letter addressed to?4. If you are the writer, how can you write an excellent business letter?5. Can you use some other expressions and structures to complete the letter?After students present their answers to the above questions, the teacher make conclusions. While summarizing, Teacher assigns students another task to do, that is, to find out the general procedure of writing a letter concerning establishing business relationship.Step 7: Letter EditingIn this part, Teacher asks students of each group to edit a business letter on establishing business relationship and send it to their "potential customers". This tasks include edition of letters, correction of letters and examination of letters. Each groupmust hand in three letters. There are 6 students in each group. Three students write the letters and the other three correct the letters with red ink and then all of them sign their names on the letters. Finally the neighboring two groups exchange their letters, examine them and give some advice and suggestions.3.1.3The Post-task Stage:Step 8: Language FocusIn this part, Teacher makes summary.1. The main structure of business letter on establishing business relationship;2. The words, expressions and sentence structures usually used in business letters;3. The general principle of 5 C's: clear, correct, concise, complete and courteous. Step 9: Out of Class TaskTeacher assigns some other tasks for students to do after class.3.2 Improvement in students' language communicative abilityFrom the analysis above, we can see that students' language communicative ability can be improved to a large extent by applying TBA in municative ability includes: 1) Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language; 2) Knowledge of rules of speaking; 3) Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologies, thanks and invitations; 4) Knowing how to use language appropriately.In a task-based class, students are the center of the classroom and they have plenty of opportunity to do such class activities as group discussion, debate, presentation and so on. During the whole class, the teacher doesn't explain so much and just stand by and monitor the class. Teacher only answers questions when students ask and gives some advice when students meet some difficulty on language points and some information related to business letter writing. This means that learners master the language by using it communicatively. Learning doing may help students fulfill their potential. By performing tasks using the language as instrument, the students learned knowledge and skills about business and business English.Students in the task-based English class take part in these activities more role-play, frequently than that of the traditional English class. Thus, they are encouraged to express their own opinions and work in group cooperatively to accomplish the tasks. So they can use the English language to communicate with others more smoothly. In contrast, in a traditional class students pay much more attention to vocabulary, sentence structures and grammar rules instead of communicative competence and have little opportunity to practice and use English in class. Consequently, the students taught by the traditional approach may fail to communicate successfully in real business situations after their graduation.Through interaction, the students can also learn to practice some learning strategies such as collaborative learning and risk-taking. And they will learn to ask questions consciously, to name topics, to shift the subjects, and to control the conversations. In a word, their ability to initiate communication can be enhanced through interaction with others.3.3 Pedagogical implicationsFirstly, classroom focus should be changed from teachers to learners. Learners should be offered enough opportunities to develop their learning competence and should be encouraged to play the role as participants and innovators. Teachers shouldbe responsible for designing effective tasks and monitoring the students' performance on the tasks.Secondly, the teacher should note that the students are of different English levels and different personalities. Therefore the tasks should be intermediately designed, neither extremely easy nor extremely difficult. And the tasks should be designed in a wide range of forms to arouse students' interest and enthusiasm. The teacher should make sure that all students particularly the low-ability ones have the chance to speak when doing the task. And the teacher should give the introverted and shy students more encouragement. So that all students will be ensured to have chances to make progress.Thirdly, the teacher should design tasks that relate to the students' real life and reflect students' needs and interests. That is to say, the tasks and the selected materials should follow the principle of authenticity. Teachers should make the best use of the teaching materials, creating real-world learning situations and tasks related to students' life experience, providing plenty of opportunities to practice their language using ability.Fourthly, it is very important for teachers to develop their own ability. The quality of English teaching has been given more and more special attention. TBA has great expectations on the teacher. As the instructor and task designer, the teachers should pay more attention to the development of their own ability. In order to make TBA class more effective, the teacher is expected to be resourceful and have all-round abilities, such as the abilities of management, organization and so on. Thus, teachers should be provided with more opportunities for further education to improve their own ability to keep in touch with the development of modern teaching.Finally, when necessary, for example, when introducing new words and new business knowledge, the teachers should resort to the traditional method. Instead of giving up the traditional teaching method completely, the teachers should combine TBA and the traditional method successfully.4. ConclusionThe teaching practice proves that, task-based teaching method mobilize the enthusiasm of the students and meets the need of student- centered. It improves the effect of classroom teaching, actives classroom atmosphere, cultivates students' interest, increases the exchange between students and teachers, but also strengthens the ability of using language and business skills. Therefore, the task-based teaching method is an effective way in Business English teaching.Works cited[1] Ellis R. Task-based Language Learning and Teaching [M]. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.[2] Long, M.H. and Crooks, G. Three Approaches to Task-based Syllabus Design TESOL Quarterly [M]. 1993.[3] Mark Ellis, Christine Johnson. Teaching Business English [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2002.[4] Nunan, D. Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.[5] Nunan, D. Aspects of Task-based Syllabus Design [M]. Karen’s Linguistics Issues. 2001.[6] Wills. J. A Flexible Framework for Task-based Learning [M]. London: Longman Press, 1996.[7]魏永红.任务型外语教学研究[M].上海: 华东师范大学出版社,2004.[8]田卉．任务型商务英语教学研究[M]．北京: 国防工业出版社，2011．[9]蒋景东．商务英语教学论[M]．杭州: 浙江大学出版社，2011．[10]罗茜．任务型语言教学[M]．北京: 高等教育出版社，2011．[11] 丰玉芳,唐晓岩.任务性语言教学法在英语教学中的应用[J].外语与外语教学,2004(6).[12] 方文礼.外语任务型教学纵横谈[J].外语与外语教学,2003, (9).。