In the schools that I have studied, I have found EFL teachers encouraged to focus on task-based learning in favour of any other possible language pedagogies that may be used as part of the reform. Task-based learning is an approach where tasks are employed as the centre unit of planning and instruction in language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Richards and Rogers view employing tasks which promote learner use of communication and authentic language in EFL language classrooms as having significant pedagogical value, where the tasks are pieces of planned work used in teaching and learning in classroom practice. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001) ‘task’ is a core unit of planning and teaching. They further state that involving learners in tasks helps to develop better contexts for activating learning processes, providing better opportunities to engage in language acquisition. A task used in such ways as an activity to achieve a goal provides learners with experiences of processes of ‘negotiation, modification, rephrasing and experimentation’, the core of EFL language acquisition (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). As they put it:
A task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end (p. 228).
Donato (1994) represents tasks in language acquisition as cognitive activity, suggesting that they are internally defined ‘through the moment-to-moment verbal interactions of the learners during actual task performance’ (p. 272). Myers (2000) interprets the notion of tasks from a Vygotskian perspective, focussing on internal
verbal interaction. Lee (2000, cited in Myers, 2000) proposes adopting tasks in EFL teaching and learning to set the stage for implementing real communication.
Communication, as Lee (2000, cited in Myers, 2000, p. 10) argues, is the expression, interpretation and negotiation of meanings, rather than answering teachers’
questions. He further argues that using this approach means that language is used to accomplish tasks rather than practising particular language forms. I have drawn upon these discussions to obtain an understanding of task-based learning as it applies to the EFL curriculum reform.
According to Ellis (2000), tasks are interpreted differently in different contexts. Nunan (2004) argues that target tasks are based on the use of language that occurs beyond the classroom; pedagogical tasks are those based on the language which occurs within the classroom. I have emphasized pedagogical tasks as my research is concerned with studying teacher classroom activities. Bygate et al. (2001) argue that pedagogical tasks highlight formal language teaching and learning and its assessment and, more specifically, emphasizing teachers’ actions, learners’ roles and learning processes as well as assessments and evaluations. Nunan (2004) defines pedagogical tasks as pieces of classroom work that involve learners’ understanding, engagement, production and interaction with the target language, emphasizing organization of grammatical knowledge as they attempt to express or convey meaning. He further points out that pedagogical tasks involve
communicative language, suggesting that language learners are required to focus on expressing their meaning rather than on grammatical form.With this concept in mind, I have investigated task-based learning which Chinese EFL teachers are encouraged to use in classroom teaching as part of the reform under study.
Task-based learning is an approach which offers learners tasks to engage, rather than items to learn, providing an environment which can best promote language acquisition in a natural process (Foster, 1999). This approach provides learners with opportunities for various interactions to promote language acquisition (Fotos & Ellis, 1991). Nunan (2004) suggests that task-based learning incorporates the following principles and practices:
A needs-based approach to content selection; an emphasis on learning to communicate though interaction in the target language; the introduction of authentic texts into learning situations; the provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on language but also on the learning process itself; an enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as an important contributing element to classroom learning; the linking of classroom language learning with language use outside the classroom (p. 1).
Successful language acquisition on the basis of task-based learning, then, links learners with meaning, providing them with particular kinds of input to facilitate their learning (Richards, 2002), so that meaning and input are key issues in task-based language learning. Mackey (1999, cited in Bruton, 2005a; Bruton, 2005b) stresses that tasks be proposed as both input and interaction. Meaning, input and interaction are the key features of task-based learning, a concept which is consistent with the concept of Transformational Grammar and comprehensible input and Vygotskian perspectives. Transformational Grammar includes an understanding of deep structures of language, which underpins the meanings communication in language. Comprehensible input as part of language acquisition is based on the idea that that human language is acquired through an understanding of meaning. Vygotskian perspectives focus on meaningful interaction in language acquisition. All three are fundamental concepts in relation to task-based learning.
I have considered task-based learning as a reaction to traditional teaching methods such as teacher-centred and grammar-translation in EFL teaching. As I have discussed previously, this derives from considerations of language acquisition as a developmental process that involves communication within social interaction. I have argued that task-based learning provides students with tasks to engage and appropriate environments designed to engage language acquisition successfully in natural ways. As Jong (2006) argues, task-based learning assists students in learning the target language more effectively through a natural exposure to
meaningful task-based activities. Paired or group work is fundamental to activities that implementing task-based learning in EFL as part of language acquisition. In a task-based classroom, learners are guided ‘through cycles of task planning,
performance, repetition, and, finally, comparisons with native speaker norms’ (Willis, cited in Foster, 1999, p. 69). The curriculum documents which outline the EFL curriculum reform suggest that this is appropriate for EFL teaching and
learning in China, especially as it fits into contexts of large class sizes and limited time described above, and has as its focus students’ comprehensive competence in using English language.
According to Oxford (2006), teachers and students can play multiple roles in task-based learning, where the teacher may be
[S]elector/sequencer of tasks, preparer of learners for tasks, pre-task consciousness raiser about form, guide, nurturer, strategy-instructor and provider of assistance’ while the learner is ‘group participant, monitor, risk-taker/innovator, strategy-user, goal-setter, self-evaluator, and more (p. 108).
Given this, task-based learning is a significant shift in pedagogy from
‘teacher-centred to student-centred; a shift from textbook-based to task-based learning and a shift from summative assessment to formative’ (Ko, 2000, cited in Adamson & Davison, 2003, p. 30 ). Such considerations of teachers’ and students’ roles in EFL teaching and learning, where both of these are designed for language acquisition, are also in line with the focus of the reform under study, where students are expected to change from passive listeners to active participants while teachers are required to change from main speakers to guides or directors in class.
EFL teachers in Chinese secondary schools are encouraged to adopt task-based approaces in implementing the reform. Teachers are to design appropriate tasks in order to provide opportunities for student language interaction. These tasks are also required to take account of the concept of ZPDs as this offers a theoretical basis for task-based learning, where various resources can be provided according to different individuals’ requirements. Such considerations have provided me with insights to language pedagogy in relation to the reform under study.
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have given consideration to issues relation to curriculum as well as a framework for language pedagogy. I have approached the notion of curriculum to open up discussions of curriculum reform. I have explored the concept of
curriculum reform in relation to issues of curriculum development, and I have further taken account of issues of curriculum implementation and curriculum evaluation which are tied to those of curriculum reform. These considerations have provided me with conceptual tools to generate further understanding of the
implementation of the EFL curriculum reform. I have also given consideration to the issues of Transformational Grammar, Vygotskian perspectives and task-based learning methods as these relate to EFL teaching and learning in China. In the following chapter, I have discussed the methodological framework for my research.
Chapter 4 Methodological Framework
Introduction
In the previous chapter I have detailed issues related to conceptual tools used to examine the reform under study. In this chapter I have examined issues of
methodology to inform my research, based on the concept of methodology as ‘the study of, or a theory of, the way that methods are used’ (Dunne, Pryor, & Yates, 2005, p. xxi). Babbie (2008) describes methodology as the way of finding solutions to problems. My engagement with issues of methodology has helped me to design my research program and to investigate appropriate research methods, as well as to evaluate the research design that I have developed, as Krippendorff (2004)
proposes.
My research question is: In what ways is the current EFL curriculum reform in Chinese secondary schools linked to globalization? In considering this issue, I have developed a number of subsidiary questions, which are: In what ways has the current EFL curriculum in Chinese secondary schools developed? In what ways may this current EFL curriculum reform in Chinese secondary schools be
constructed as being comparable to The Great Leap Forward? My investigation has helped me to engage discussion on ways in which the current EFL curriculum reform has contributed to ways in which EFL teaching and learning in China have developed. I have detailed considerations of methodology on which I have based my research below.