国外任务教学研究主要著作

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原文地址：国外任务教学研究主要著作作者：鲁子问

国外任务教学研究主要著作

   

    近日一单位一定要我讲讲任务教学，对此专题其实已经很久没有讲了，因为现在的研究重点在学习方案，也就是任务多样化的问题上。所以不得不整理一下思路。备课时整理了一下国外任务教学的研究的一些主要著作，贴出来分享。会议论文集不包括其中。20年来，任务教学一直很有声势，尤其是在运用层面的研究，越来越广泛。国内关于任务教学的真正理论研究不多，我自己更是不曾对此开展任何理论研究，主要只是探讨如何实施。也是一种遗憾，不过也是一种选择，因为这样可以把更多精力放在需要进行理论研究的学习方案上。

Task-based Language Learning and TeachingRod Ellis

Like almost all of Ellis's books, this book is a very good representation and summary of much of the pertinent research up to the time of the book's publication (2003) on the now-all-important concept of 'task-based learning'. The problem in the plan, though, is most likely that TBL will be old news and not really provide definitive solutions to real-world teaching and language learning. Second Language Acquisition is very good at breaking down learning into chunks for academic analysis, but it is very weak at putting the poor Humpty Dumpty of real language teaching back together. And why shouldn't it be weak? It isn't like most people who are professional SLAers actually have to teach a full course load or write syllabues and tests for those courses.

Task-based Language Teaching

David Nunan

The field of task-based language teaching has developed considerably since the publication of Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom (Nunan, 1989), a book which helped to set the research agenda in teaching methodology for the following decade. While Designing Tasks underpins this new title, the material has been thoroughly updated and includes four completely new chapters. Task-Based Language Teaching offers a comprehensive and up-to-date appraisal of the field.

There are better books - Willis, Skehan, Ellis, Edwards and Willis. I read the original of this book, and the new updated version is definitely better. Nunan a lot of the time when he thinks he's talking about TBL is in fact really talking about PPP. I have read almost everything on TBLT and Nunan in my view is a very minor figure rather than one of the important researchers/writers in this area of methodology. I bet in the future his next article or book won't be on this subject. So based on all the above I give it 3 and say there are better books out there.

Second Language PedagogyN S Prabhu
Dr N S Prabhu's study presents a range of ideas on language teaching and learning which are marked equally by boldness in thought and a sense of the classroom.
The basic assumption underlying the study is that language form is best learnt when students are concentrating on meaning rather than form.
Dr Prabhu rejects the linguistic syllabus, opting instead for a task based 'procedural' syllabus where students have to solve problems through reasoning and self-reliance.
The study is based on research carried out during a five-year classroom experiment (The Bangalore/ Madras Communicational Teaching Project) and provides an example of operational research in which theory and practice help to develop each other.


A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning
Peter Skehan
This book addresses issues such as the relation of form to meaning, the relevance of SLA research, and the validity of task-based learning. It also contrasts universalist accounts of language learning and individual differences between learners.

As a student of second language acquisition and an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher myself, I have found this book a great resource. The first half of the book discusses psycholinguistics as it relates to instruction and testing. The second half of the book then discusses task-based learning (TBL) and how you can employ it in the classroom to support the psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition (SLA). Since TBL is a relatively new and promising area of research in the field of SLA, its investigation would not be complete if you overlooked Skehan's thoughts and contributions to TBL development.

A Framework for Task-Based Learning
Jane Willis

Jane Willis gives them a thorough grounding in the principles and ideas that go into Task-Based Learning. In a book that is very practical and accessible, Willis gives quite a detailed introduction that is still very usable in the classroom.

Willis breaks down the three major phases of a Task-Based lesson and addresses each in turn, effectivley taking the reader through a very detailed lesson overview. With excellent diagrams and pictures to help, there is little to get confused about. There are also sections with plenty of advice for getting the most out of TBL and what problems one may encounter. There are also some good sample lessons to back all this information up.



Doing Task-Based Teaching
Dave Willis, Jane Willis
Doing Task-based Teaching by Dave and Jane Willis is a great book for those who are new to TBT and even for those who are more experienced with TBT as ELT teachers. Doing Task-based Teaching is well written, well thought out, clear and easy to understand unlike some of the more famous books on the market, which are used nowadays in many of the master's level TESOL degree programs. The authors really know what they are talking about as esch chapter begins with a cogent goal and overview of hat will be covered. The authors do a fine job of putting each chapter's goals into perspective both theoretically and realistically. If you are still a bit confused, as was I before I read this book, what TBT is and how it can empower your students in the classroom, this is a good book for you, which will tell you more than you initially anticipated, and perhaps desired, about TBT than you expected. This book went far beyond my expectations. The chapters I liked the best were Chapter 1, "The Basis of a Task-based Approach;" Chapter 2, "Task-based Sequences in the Classroom;" Chapter 3, "Tasks Based on Written and Spoken Texts;" Chapter 7, "The Task-based Classroom and the Real World;" Chapter 8, "Adapting and Refining Tasks: Seven Parameters;" and Chapter 10, "How to Integrate TBT into Coursebooks and other Frequently Asked Questions." The Willis's are both wise and very experienced teacher trainers in TBT and their book, "Doing Task-based Teaching" is well worth the money, shipping and waiting for the book to arrive. The authors have a nice talent for clearly explaining without over simplifying or appearing to talk down to their reading audience, which I did not feel in other, more famous and well-known tomes. Finally, this book will always have a place on my ever growing ELT and TESOL bookshelves for the sheer number of TBT tips and teaching ideas, which alone, in my informed opinion, is worth a lot on it's own merits.

I would also like to suggest that if you are relatively new to TBT, that you try reading Doing Task-based Teaching simultaneously with Teacher's Exploring Tasks in English Language Teaching, a collection of papers, edited by Corony Edwards, a tutor at the University of Birmingham's (UK) MA TESOL program and Jane Willis, who used to teach in Aston University's (UK) MsC TESOL program. I also liked this book, too, except for four statistically based papers about four teacher's in-class action research, which were not exactly pertinent to my own teaching and interests. But that was a small price to pay for another fine book, which should be reviewed separately on this site.

Designing Tasks for the Communicative ClassroomDavid Nunan

A major addition to the growing body of work on communicative language teaching, this book provides a balanced introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of communicative task design. It is targeted toward all second and foreign language teachers, and is ideal for innovative teachers who wish to develop their own tasks, or adopt/adapt those of others. The purpose of the book is to integrate recent research and practice in language teaching into a framework for analyzing learning tasks. This framework should help foreign and second language teachers select, adapt or create their own communicative tasks. Intended for both practicing and trainee teachers of second or foreign language, the ideas presented can be employed in a variety of teaching situations with different levels of students. It should be useful for teachers of children and adults, and to teachers of English for Specific Purposes as well as those of general purpose English.

Researching Pedagogic TasksEdited byMartin Bygate, Peter Skehan, Merrill SwainResearching Pedagogic Tasks brings together a series of empirical studies into the use of pedagogical tasks for second language learning, with a view to better understanding the structure of tasks, their impact on students, and their use by teachers.
The volume starts with an introduction to the background and key issues in the topic area and is then organised into three sections:* the first section focuses on the language and learning of students on tasks* the second on the use of tasks in the language classroom* the third on the use of tasks for language testingEach section begins with a succinct section introduction, and the volume concludes with an afterword relating the theme of the volume to issues in curriculum development. The chapters include both experimental and qualitative approaches to the topic, some providing original accounts of specific studies, others offering overviews of linked series of studies. The book will be of interest to graduate students in Applied Linguistics, teacher educators, testers, materials writers, senior teachers, and researchers. Teachers Exploring Tasks in English Language TeachingEdited byCorony Edwards, Jane Willis

This book was written for language teachers by language teachers, with a view to encouraging readers to use more tasks in their lessons, and to explore for themselves various aspects of task-based teaching and learning. It gives insights into ways in which tasks can be designed, adapted and implemented in a range of teaching contexts and illustrates ways in which tasks and task-based learning can be investigated as a research activity. Practicing language teachers and student professionals in graduate TESOL and Applied Linguistics programs will find this a rich resource of varied experience in the classroom and a stimulus to their own qualitative studies.

A rich collection of tasks, used successfully by the chapter authors, that EFL teachers anywhere can use to increase their own repertoire--or to implement task-based learning for the first time in their own classrooms. ESL teachers in the United States and other English-speaking countries likewise can make effective use of every chapter in the book.
Task-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education: Practices and ProgramsEdited byBetty Lou Leaver, Jane WillisThis book is a handbook of concrete, adaptable models of task-based language teaching, which seeks to use real-world activities in the classroom to teach language skills. (For example, role-playing rather than reading dialog from a textbook.) The successful examples come from college, university, adult professional, and online programs. Case studies include programs in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Korean, Spanish and Ukrainian, as well as web-based programs, and most can serve as generic models suitable for any foreign language. The introduction presents an extensive overview of the history and theory of task-based instruction and presents models and typologies of tasks. The book concludes with chapters on faculty development and task-based testing. This book is a companion to Content-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education: Models and Methods, edited by Stephen B. Stryker and Betty Lou Leaver (Georgetown University Press, 1997).
Task-Based Language Education:From Theory to PracticeEdited byKris van den Branden Task-based language teaching (TBLT) has been attracting the attention of researchers, curriculum developers, teacher trainers and language teachers for many years. However, much of the available literature and research has been from a psycholinguistic perspective, driven by the desire to understand how people acquire a second language. Far less research has been carried out as to whether TBLT works for real teachers and real learners in a classroom environment. This book aims to offer a unique contribution by uniting a discussion of task-based pedagogical principles with descriptions of their application to real life language education problems. It provides an account of the many challenges and obstacles that the implementation of TBLT raises and discusses the different options for overcoming them. The book contains a substantial body of research from Flanders, where the implementation of TBLT has been a nationwide project for fifteen years in primary, secondary and adult education.

Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching with Technology
Michael Thomas, Hayo Reinders
This title examines widespread interest in new technology-enhanced learning environments and how they are being used to promote task-based learning. This edited collection considers the relationship between task-based language teaching (TBLT) and technology-enhanced learning. TBLT is concerned with a number of macro-tasks such as information gathering and problem-solving as well as evaluative tasks, all of which are increasingly available via online and Web-based technologies. "Technology Enhanced Learning" refers to a broad conception of technology use in the language classroom and incorporates a range of interactive learning technologies such as Interactive Whiteboards and mobile learning devices. The popularity of Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networking sites, podcasting, and virtual worlds), as well as practical applications of mobile learning, place a fresh emphasis on creating project-orientated language learning tasks with a clear real-world significance for learners of foreign languages. This book examines the widespread interest in these new technology-enhanced learning environments and looks at how they are being used to promote task-based learning. This book will appeal to practitioners and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and education studies.

A Task-based University EFL Program in Korea: Design, Implementation and Formative Evaluation
Andrew Finch   2010.5

This study presents a formative evaluation of a three-year task-based conversation program designed for tertiary students in the Republic of Korea. Every aspect of the program was the subject of continuous reflection and modification, in which program design, implementation, and evaluation were a single formative process. A humanistic view of language learning as education was found to be appropriate for the student-centered emphasis of the task-based approach, and program goals promoted acquisition of long-term learning skills through development of student confidence, motivation, independence, and communicative competence. Assessment reflected these goals via self-evaluative and reflective methods. The program evaluation used a mix of quantitative and qualitative research, focusing on affective aspects of language learning, and on the importance of student beliefs, perceptions and attitudes in the learning process. Research questions focused on positive attitude change in students and teachers as a marker of program success.

A Study of Task-based Learning and Teaching in a Large EFL ClassJennifer Chun Tzu Chao, Angela Mei-Chen WuThis book uses detailed qualitative method to explore the implementation of task-based learning and teaching in an Elementary School English learning classroom in Taiwan. This paper examined the process of task implementation by analyzing the data from intensive classroom observations, on-going interviews with the teacher, in-depth interviews with the students and their reflective journals. This study identified the issues that were not addressed in previous studies. Previous studies have tried to show the effectiveness of task-based learning and teaching. The overall results of the present study have shown the implementations of task-based learning have shown to be challenging for both the teacher and students involved; however students enjoyed working on the tasks at different levels and the difficulties that were raised were able to be adjusted over a period of time with the exception of one. The results suggested that Taiwanese Elementary Schools are unique contexts in which careful considerations should be taken when using the task-based learning approach. Suggestions were also made for the implementation of task-based learning in an Elementary School context.