Tài liệu Implementing task based teaching to increase students motivation in speaking lessons an action research with grade 10 students at ngo quyen upper secondary school

M IN IS T R Y OF E D U C A TIO N A N D T R A IN IN G HANOI UNIVERSITY N G U YE N T H I T U Y E T M A I IMPLEMENTING TASK-BASED TEACHING TO INCREASE STUDENTS M OTIVATION IN SPEAKING LESONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH WITH GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT NGO QUYEN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL SU B M ITTED IN P A R TIA L F U L F IL L M E N T O F R E Q U IR E M E N T S OF T H E D E G R E E O F M A S T E R IN T E S O L SUPERVISOR: N G U Y E N T H I N H U H O A ，M .A Ha N oi-O ctober，2008 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the m inor thesis entitled ’’Implementing Task-Based Teaching to increase students9 motivation: An action research with grade 10 students at Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School ỉn Hoa Binh Province” and submitted in partial fu lfillm e n t o f the requirements fo r the degree o f Master o f Arts in TESOL is the result o f m y work, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this m inor thesis or any part o f the same has not been submitted fo r a higher degree to any other university or institution. The research reported in this thesis was approved by Hanoi University. Signed: Dated: TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.........................................................................................................I TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................................................V ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...............................................................................................................ѴИ LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS..................................................................................................ѴШ CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Problem 1.2 A ims statem ent ..............................................................................................................................1 of the s t u d y ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 S ignificance 1.4 Outline of of the s t u d y ................................................................................................................ 2 the t h e sis ......................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................4 2.1 M otivation in Lang uage Lear ning ..............................................................................................4 2.1.1 D efinition ....................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2 Strategies fo r motivating students in speaking lessons................................................... 5 2.1.2.1 Creating a comfortable atmosphere......................................................................... 5 2.1.2.2 Building students9confidence................................................................................. 5 2.1.2.3 Making students more responsible for their learning.............................................. 6 2.1.2.4 Making the materials relevant to the students......................................................... 6 2.1.2.5 Promoting cooperative learning.............................................................................. 7 2.1.3 Teacher and learner role in speaking lessons............................................................. 7 2.1.3.1 Teacher’s role as a facilitator.................................................................................. 7 2.1.3.2 Students’ role as communicators............................................................................. 9 2.2 Implementing Ta sk -B ased T eaching ..........................................................................................10 2.2.1 What is Task-Based Teaching?..................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Definition o f task........................................................................................................... 11 2.2.3 Types o f task ................................................................................................................. 12 2.2.4 Characteristics and advantages ofTBT.........................................................................13 2.2.4.1 Characteristics o f T B T ...........................................................................................13 2.2.4.2 Advantages o f TBT 15 2.2.5 The implementation ofTB T in speaking lessons................................................................ 15 2.2.5.1 Pre- speaking stage................................................................................................16 2.2.5.2 W hile-speaking stage.................................................................................................... 18 2.2.5.3 Post-speaking stage...............................................................................................19 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................22 3.1 Research m e t h o d ............................................................................................................................. 22 3.1.1 Overview o f action research....................................................................................... 22 3.1.2 Action research procedure.......................................................................................... 24 3.2 D escription of the d ata collection in st r u m en t s ........................................................ 26 3.2.1 Classroom observation............................................................................................... 2Ե 3.2.1.1 Reasons for choosing classroom observation...........................................................26 3.2.1.2 Description o f Observation sheets 1 and 2 ...............................................................27 3.2.2 Questionnaire......................................................................................................... 28 3.2.2.1 Reasons for choosing questionnaire......................................................................28 3.2.2.2 Description o f the questionnaire........................................................................... 28 3.2.3 Document analysis (Speaking tasks analysis)............................................................................ 30 3.2.3.1 Reasons for choosing document analysis..............................................................30 3.2.3.1 Description o f document analysis creteria................................................ ............30 3.3 T he procedures of d ata collection ......................................................................................... 31 3.4 Pa r t ic ip a n t s ............................... ........................................................................................................ 31 3.4.1 The students.......................................................................................................................................... 31 3.4.2 The researcher-observer; the researcher-teacher................................................................... 32 3.4.3 The teacher-observer......................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................33 4.1 T he initial d a t a ................................................................................................................................. 33 4.1.1 Data collectedfrom observation sheets....................................................................................... 33 4.1.1.1 Data collected from Observation sheet 1...............................................................33 4.1.1.2 Data collected from Observation sheet 2...............................................................35 4.1.2 Data collectedfrom questionnaire............................................................................. 35 4.1.3 Textbook E n g lis h 10 in tro d u c tio n a n d speaking tasks a n a lysis .......................................40 4.2 T he action p l a n .................................................................................................................................. 44 4.2.1 Providing non-task p re p a ra tio n activities in the pre-speaking stage......................... 44 111 4.2.2 G ivin g assistance when students are w orking in p a irs o r in group w ork .......................... 45 4.2.3 Setting a time lim it ........................................................................................................ 46 4.2.4 Supplem enting o r substituting some speaking tasks .............................................................. 46 4.2.5 A rousing students ’ interests fro m presentation ................................................................... .4 7 4.3 T he post d a t a ...................................................................................................................................... 48 4.3.1 Data collectedfrom Observation sheet 1.......................................................................48 4.3.2 Data collectedfrom Observation sheet 2.......................................................................49 4.3.3 Data collectedfrom Questionnaire.................................................................................................. 50 4.4 ACTION r e s e a r c h e v a l u a t io n ....................................................................................................... 54 4.4.1 Comparisons.................................................................................................................54 4.4.2 Summary.................................................................................................................................................. 55 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 57 5.1 S um m ary of main f in d in g s ............................................................................................................. 57 5.2 Limitation a n d suggestions for further r e se a r c h ........................................................... 59 REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................61 APPENDIX 1: OBSERVATION SHEET 1: ON-TASK BEHAVIOR.........................................66 APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION SHEET 2: OVERALL CLASS MOTIVATION__________68 APPENDIX ЗА: STUDENT’SQUESTIONNAIRE..........................................................................69 APPENDIX 3B: PHIẾU ĐIỂU TRA HOC SINH...............................................................................71 APPENDIX 4: THE DATA COLLECTED IN THE FIRST PHASE........................................73 APPENDIX 5: THE DATA COLLECTED IN THE SECOND PHASE....................................74 APPENDIX 6A: UNIT 11， TEXTBOOK....................... - ...................................................................75 APPENDIX 6B: THE LESSON PLAN................................................................................................76 APPENDIX 7A: UNIT 12， TEXTBOOK.............................................................................................81 APPENDIX 7B: THE LESSON PLAN...................................... .........................................................82 APPENDIX 8A: UNIT 13， TEXTBOOK.............................................................................................87 APPENDIX 8B: THE LESSON PLAN................................................................................................88 iv ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback, which I have received from my supervisor, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa, in completing the study. My special thanks are sent to Mrs. Nguyen Thai Ha, M.Ed from the department o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi University for her valuable guidance and advice. I also wish to acknowledge the support and encouragement o f Dr. Vu Van Dai and other staff members o f the Post Graduate Department, Hanoi University. I would also acknowledge my great gratitude to all my lecturers at Hanoi University during my M.A. course, and to the organizers for this Master course. M y sincere thanks are due to my colleagues and all my students in class 10B o f Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School (NUSS), who offered excellent assistance in the data collection; to my college’ s management board for their support and encouragement while the work was in progress. Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people，my family, my father, my mother, and especially my husband for their love, care and tolerance that encouraged me a lot in completing this study. ABSTRACT In an attempt to increase students9 motivation in speaking lessons for Grade 10 at Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School (NUSS), the research aimed to seek the answers for the two questions: (1) What are the causes of students’ low motivation in speaking lessons? (2) How does task-based teaching increase students9 motivation in speaking lessons? To find the answer to these questions, an action research was carried out. The subjects o f the study, 35 students o f Grade 10B at NUSS in Hoa Binh Province were observed in speaking lessons and invited to complete survey questionnaires. The speaking tasks in the course book were also analyzed. The initial stage revealed that the demanding nature o f speaking tasks, the lack o f pre- and post- stages, the unappropriate time allocated for each task and the lim ited range o f the speaking activities were the causes o f students’ low motivation in speaking lessons. Based on these findings, the hypothesis o f the study was formed: “ The students’ motivation levels could be improved if the stages of TBT are precisely implemented, and the supplementation or substitution of inappropriate speaking activities could be an effective tool to motivate students” . An action plan which applied the knowledge gained from the literature review specified by lesson plans was implemented. The post stage found a positive answer to the hypothesis. The evaluation of the action research showed that students’ motivation significantly increased when the action plan was in progress. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NUSS Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School МОЕТ M inistry o f Education and Training твт Task-Based Teaching PPP Presentation, practice, production AR Action Research LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1 Students’ opinions on the teacher， s organization o f pre-speaking activies. (pre-intervention) Table 2 Students，opinions on the teacher’s help towards students’ work in pairs or groups, allocating time, and supplementation or substitution speaking activités, (pre-intervention) Table 3 Students9 opinions on the presentation, using peer-assessment，and the teacher’s feedback (pre-intervention) Table 4 Students’ opinions on the speaking topic and speaking activities that they have finished (pre-intervention) Table 5 Speaking topics in the texbook English 10 Table 6 Task analysis worksheet Table 7 Supplementaed/ substituted activities in three lessons 11，12，and 13 Table 8 Students’ opinions on the teacher’ s organization o f pre-speaking activies (after-intervention) Table 9 Students9 opinions on the teacher’s help towards students’ work in pairs or groups，allocating time，and supplementation or substitution speaking activités, (after-intervention) Table 10 Students9 opinions on the presentation, using peer-assessment, and the teacher’s feedback (after-intervention) Table 11 Students’ opinions on the speaking topic and speaking activities that they have finished (after-intervention) Chart 1 Students times on-task/off-task behaviour phase 1 Chart 2 Overall class motivation phase 1 Chart 3 Students times on-task/off-task behaviour phase 2 Chart 4 Overall class motivation phase 2 Chart 5 Students times on-task/off-task behaviour phase 1 and phase 2 Chart 6 Overall class motivation phase 1 and phase 2 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the background to the study, states its scope and aims and presents the organizations o f thesis. 1.1 Problem statement In recent years，the teaching and learning o f English have become a great concern in Vietnam. English is now taught not only at all universities and colleges, but also as a compulsory subject at almost every upper secondary school, including Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School (NUSS). The book was complied following the theme based and taskbased teaching approaches, and fouces four skills. This was a new textbook applied at beginning o f academic year 2006-2007 under the decision given by M inistry o f Education and Training (МОЕТ). The book contains 16 teaching units and is covered in 103 periods o f the term, 3 periods per week. Each teaching unit consists o f four 45-minute periods, four o f which focus on the skills: Reading, Speaking, Listening, W riting, and one o f which is Language focus. The aims o f the speaking lessons are to develop students’ skill about issues relating to the topic o f learning unit. A speaking lesson generally covers three or four tasks. The first one or two tasks provide language input and develop students’ language competence or specific fiinctions such as expressing preferences, talking about the uses o f computer...The other tasks require students, after practicing specific language functions, to summarize the content and create a small text to practice speaking skill. One o f the new points in English 10 is that learning activities are divided into tasks with clear instruction. The task-based teaching proves some advantages. Firstly, it creates real situation for students to use language. Secondly, it has ready- made activities，which are convenient for the teacher, especially those who are not experienced enough to adapt the book to suit their students’ needs. However, it is challenging to implement task-based teaching successfully in class. W illis (1996) suggests the use o f tasks as the main focus in language classroom, claiming that tasks create a supportive methodological framework. As a rule, when faced with various problems, language teachers are in search o f finding something that could create a difference in their classroom. The problems are generally caused by students’ lack o f 1 motivation to the lesson. In NUSS, students’ motivation in speaking lessons is not high. Teachers often complain that many students display negative attitudes to speaking English, and that most o f them are observed to be passive during speaking lessons. They keep talking in Vietnamese, jawning, looking outside the class and some even fall asleep. In fact, the students9 low level o f motivation has been a great concern for all English teachers in the school. This is the reason why the researcher has decided to conduct the action research in order to find out the causes of, and solustions to the lack o f students’ motivation and some solution to increase the students’ motivation in speaking lessons for grade 10 at NUSS in Hoa Binh province. By doing the action research, the researcher hopes to explore the usefblness o f TBT for speaking lessons. 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims at finding out ways to increase students’ motivation in speaking lessons for grade 10 at NUSS in Hoa Binh province. In order to achieve this aim, answers to the following questions are sought: 1. What are the causes o f the students’ low motivation in speaking lessons? 2. What should be done to increase students’ motivation in speaking lessons? 1.3 Significance of the study It is hoped that the study w ill identify the causes o f students’ low motivation in speaking lessons, and appropriate suggestions based on these findings could be made to solve the problem. The result o f this study may be useful for high school English teachers at NUSS in particular and in Hoa Binh in general to improve their speaking lessons，which in turn, may result in the improvement o f their students’ speaking ability. 1.4 Outline of the thesis The thesis consists o f five chapters, organized as follows: Chapter I - Introduction - provides background to the study, states the the aim 2 o f the study scope, the significance, and outlines the organization o f the thesis. Chapter II - Literature Review - presents a review o f related literature that provides the theoretical background o f motivation including motivation definition, strategies for motivating students in speaking lessons, and teacher and students role. This review also provides the detail at theoretical foundation o f TBT approach; characteristics and advantages o f TBT, and stages in implementing TBT in speaking lessons. Chapter III - Methodology - describes the research method, the rationale for the method and data collection instruments, and procedures o f collecting the data. Detailed information about the participants o f the study and the research procedures is also provided. Chapter IV - Results - analyzes the initial data collected to form the hypothesis o f the study. An action plan is worked out and implemented. The data to monitor change is collected and analyzed to make an evaluation o f effectiveness o f the action plan. Chapter V - Conclusion - summarizes the action research, which are hoped to be o f some help to increase students’ motivation in speaking lessons for Grade 10 at Ngo Quyen Upper Secondary School. Limitations o f the study and suggestions for further possible research are also given in this chapter. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents a review o f related literature that provides the theoretical background o f the study. It includes 3 main sections: section 2.1 discusses the motivation in language learning, section 2.2 examines roles o f teacher and students. Section 2.3, the last section discusses the theoretical foundation o f task-based teaching. 2.1 Motivation in Language Learning 2.1.1 D e fin itio n There are different definitions o f motivation in language learning. Littlewood (1998) defined motivation as communicative needs for a second language, attitudes towards the second language community and intergrative and instrumental orientation. Sharing the same definition, Lightbrown and spada (1999: 96) claimed that motivation in the second language learning is a complex phenomenon. I f learners need to speak the second language in a wide range o f social institutions or to ftifill professional ambitions, they w ill perceive the communicative value o f the second language and w ill therefore be motivated to acquire proficiency in it. Likewise, if learners have favorable attitudes towards the speakers o f the language，they w ill desire more contact with them. According to Gardner (1982)，motivation is perceived to be composed o f three elements. These include effort, desire and effect. E ffort refers to the time spent studying the language and the drive o f the learners. Desire indicates how much the learners want to become proficient in the language，and effect illustrates the learners’ emotional reactions with regard to language study. For this study, motivation is defined in the terms put towards by Crookes and Schmidt (1991) as interest in and enthusiasm for the materials used in class; persistence with the learning task, as indicated by levels o f attention or action for an extended duration; and levels o f concentration and enjoyment. This definition is selected for this study because it covers all the major aspects o f motivation in classroom, and it helps to break motivation an abstract term into quantifiable iterms，which facilitates the research process. 4 2.1.2 Strategies fo r m otivating students in speaking lessons In order to motivate students in English lessons, especially in speaking lessons, teachers need to acquire more techniques and strategies than now. According to explanation o f the motivational strategies by Domyei (2001)，motivational strategies refer to those motivational influences that are consciously exerted to achieve some systematic and enduring positive effect. Domyei,s Motivational Teaching Practice Model is processoriented, consisting o f four motivational units: creating the basic motivational conditions, generating initial motivation, maintaining and protecting motivation, and encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation. Each o f these aspects includes several components, which consist o f a few motivational strategies adapted from the Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom by Donyei, (2001) 2.1.2.1 Creating a comfortable atmosphere In order to get learners more involved in class, a favourable classroom atmosphere is considered indispensable. As Domyei (2001) argues, students often feel embarrassed in language classes because teachers force them to speak well in front o f the other classmates with their lim ited vocabulary. To help change this situation and facilitate activities，teachers need to have students understand that mistakes are all right. As Harmer (1999) asserts, when foreign language learners make errors, they are demonsữating part o f the natural process o f language learning. Explicit error correction tends to make students feel they are criticized. Therefore, he argues that teachers should correct errors in indirect ways in stead. For instance, i f a student says, “ I go to school yesterday， ， ，instead o f pointing out the mistake, a teacher can say the correct sentence, “ You went to school yesterday， ， ，in a non-threatening way. Moreover, Domyei (2001) goes on to argue that in a safe and supportive classroom students feel comfortable taking risks because they know that they w ill not be embarrassed or criticized i f they make a mistake. 2.1.2.2 Building students9confidence One crucial way to build students’ confidence is to moderate students’ anxiety in the classroom. As Oxford (1990) argues, a certain amount o f anxiety sometimes helps learners to reach their peak performance levels, but too much anxiety blocks language learning. According to him, harmful anxiety presents itself in many forms: worry, self- 5 double, frustration, helplessness and fear. Scarcella and Oxford (1992) suggest that the use o f pair work, group work, or cooperative learning activities (student-centered learning) helps in not putting too much pressure on individual students in front o f the whole class. 2.1.2.3 Making students more responsible for their learning One way to help students become more independent and responsible is applying studentcentered activities, such as those in TBT, in which students are assigned specific roles in a meaningful and purposefiil context. Another way to help students be more responsible is to develop students’ self-awareness by allowing them to do self-assessment o f tasks during class activities. As Brown and Hudson in Brown (2001) assert, a lot o f advantages to using self-assessment, such as increased speed, greater student involvement, increased independent learning, and higher motivation, have been identified in many research studies. These techniques would be crucial ways for teachers to employ in the classroom for their effectiveness in making students responsible for their learning. 2.1.2.4 Making the materials relevant to the students Another salient approach for motivating learners is making the teaching materials relevant to the students; in other words, it is important to individualize and personalize learning. Teachers should take note o f the students9 lives，and take their interests into account when designing and selecting teaching materials. Richards and Rodgers (1986) said that practitioners o f communicative language teaching view materials as a way o f influencing the quality o f classroom interaction and language use. They added that materials thus have the primary role o f promoting communicative language use and the role o f instructional materials might be specified in the following terms. 1. Materials w ill focus on the communicative abilities o f interpretation, explanation，and negotiation. 2. Materials w ill focus on understandable, relevant, and interesting exchanges o f information, rather than on the presentation o f grammatical form. 3. Materials w ill involve different kinds o f texts and different media, which the learners can use to develop their competence through a variety o f different activities and tasks. (Richards & Rodgers, 1986: 25) 6 2.1.2.5 Promoting cooperative learning Cooperative learning, especially pair work, improves communication, lower students’ anxiety level, raises their self-esteem, and improves classroom climate (Leinenweber, 1992). Learning English through cooperative group work allows students to learn from one another，and the teacher in a supportive environment. They become more proficient in language as a result o f group work because they have more comprehensible input peer interactions, have better listening skills as a result o f responding to what has been said, have longer conversational turns than in whole-class teaching situation, and focus on meaning rather than on accuracy (Kessler, 1992). One way to bring cooperative learning into the classroom is applying TBT，in which pair work or group work are often used. Another way to do this is to use peer-assessment, which has many advantages, such as students’ involvement，responsible learning，and higher motivation. For example, students can do this after an oral presentation. Then, they can get their classmate’s immediate feedback. In conclusion，motivating students in classroom is a really important task for every teacher. Therefore, roles o f teacher and students are important factors in the class. The next part o f the study w ill have a close look at teacher and learner role in speaking lessons. 2.1.3 Teacher and learner role in speaking lessons 2.1.3.1 Teacher’s role as a facilitator According to Larsen-Freeman (2000)，the teacher is a facilitator o f students’ learning to communicate. This is different from the traditional role o f a teacher as an authority or master. As such the teacher has many roles to fu lfill. Manager. The teacher is a manager and organizer o f classroom activities. LarsenFreeman (2000) states that in this role, one o f the major responsibilities is to establish situation likely to promote communication and to try organize the classroom as setting for communication and communicate activities (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). Language is not spoken in a vacuum and communication takes place in a real situation，so classroom activities should not be performed abstractly but realistically in an appropriate situation. Any classroom exchanges，in which students do not have to think about the situation 7 where the language is used, belong to mechanical exercises. In order to set up situation, we may use words, visual aids, facial expressions, gestures, actions, etc. In such classes students exchange messages, solve problem and bridge the inform ation gap, thus language is learned as it is actually used in real life situation. Adviser. During the conduct o f tasks, some students may have learning difficulties and need help; others may have problems and confusions to be settled, so the teacher is expected to exemplify an effective communicator seeking to maximize the meshing o f speaker intention and learner interpretation，through the use o f paraphrase, confirmation and feedback (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). The teacher may walk around the classroom to a particular group/ pair/ individual to solve problems. S till，other students may not be communicating effectively and making errors during conversation, so the teacher should also act as a monitor, taking note o f students’ linguistic or cultural mistakes, but usually w ill not intervene to correct a mistake when they are expressing themselves creatively so as not to interrupt their chain o f thoughts or make them influent. The teacher may correct mistakes in other ways. For example, after the activities, he/ she points out the severe mistakes without referring to student names for their self-correction discussion. Co-communỉcator. The teacher might be a “co-communicator， ， ， acting as an independent participant w ithin the learning-teaching group (Breen & Candlin，1980: 99)，thus ensuring the two-way communication in class. There are three ways o f the teacher’ s communication w ith students: teacher-individual student; teacher-group; teacher-whole class. However, in these roles，the teacher should not become a main communicator in order not to occupy students’ communicating time. The teacher is only to demonstrate how to do tasks, to help weaker students or to substitute an absent student as another form o f tasks, Student-Student interaction, is preferable. Motivator. Beside the above three, there are other roles o f teachers such as “ motivator” and “ evaluator” . To ensure students to become active communicators, the teacher should motivate them because only strongly motivated students are active. Students w ill be more motivated i f they have interest in and needs o f study. Evaluator. To examine how good students’ performance in class is, and what degree o f linguistic and communicative competences they have gained, the teacher should act as an evaluator so as to improve his/her teaching i f the evaluation does not reach the desired 8 goal. The teacher can informally evaluate students’ performance on the role as an advisor, m onitor or co-communicator. 2.1.3.2 Students9 role as communicators According to Larsen-Freeman (2000)，students, above all, are communicators. They are actively engaged in negotiating meaning, in trying to make themselves understood even when their knowledge o f the target knowledge is incomplete. They learn to communicative by communicating. Therefore, the teacher should device a variety o f tasks for students to perform in order to learn to communicate. Meanwhile, the teacher must introduce the information gap ֊ the essence o f communication. In real life ，we usually talk in order to tell people things they do not know, or to find out things from other people; we have a reason to communicate, a “ communicative need” . In classroom activities, the teacher can create a similar need to communicative by introducing an information gap, have some students have information that others do not have, thus there is a reason to talk and ask questions. Breen and Candlin (1980: 110) describe the role o f learners as negotiator - between the self, the learning process, and the object o f learning - emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes. The implication for learner is that he should contribute as much as he gains, and thereby learn in an interdependent way. Larsen-Freeman (2000) also points out, since the teacher’ s role is less dominant than in a teacher-centered method, students are seen as more responsible managers o f their own learning. This means that i f students want to study more independently, they must cultivate correct attitudes and approaches to learning. In other words, students should be helped to know not only why to learn but also how to learn. Therefore the teacher should begin from the very beginning with the “ leaming-aim education， ，to clear about the true learning purposes. 9 2.2 Im p lem en tin g Task-Based Teaching 2.2.1 W hat is Task-Based Teaching? TBT is based on Haliday and Hasarfs Systemic-functional linguistic theory (1976). They state that communication is the negotiation o f meaning in an interaction between the speaker and the listener. The aim therefore is to help students to develop the necessary language skills in order to negotiate meaning in various interactions. In practice, learners are progressing towards a clear goal by undertaking different kinds o f language activities or real-word tasks in classroom settings. David Nunan (1989) says task-based teaching and learning is teaching and learning a language by using the language to accomplish open - ended tasks. Learners are given a problem or objective to accomplish but are left with some freedom in approaching this problem or objective. TBT is the futher development o f the theory o f communicative language teaching. The aim o f communicative language teaching is to foster the learners’ communicative competence. TBT is an approach seeking to provide learners with a natural context for language use. As learners work to complete a task, they have abundant opportunity to interact. Such interaction is thought to facilitate language acquisition as learners have to work to understand each other and to express their own meaning (Larsen-Freeman 2000: 144). As Candlin and Murphy (1987) note, the central purpose we are concerned with is language learning, and tasks present this in the form o f a problem solving negotiation between the knowledge that the learner holds and the new language. TBT takes an analytic approach to language teaching and learning. It focuses on how the language is to be learned rather than on what is to be learned. Taking a task-based approach means looking at the purposes for which people are learning a language and what specific kinds o f language performance are necessary for them to fu lfill these purposes. The teacher and the learners negotiate course objectives as the course progresses, and they assess accomplishment o f the course objectives according to criteria that the learners have helped to set. Teachers who follow an analytic approach present whole chunks o f the target language at one time, without imposing any structural or lexical control on the language. In a synthetic approach, on the other hand, the target language is separated into discrete linguistic units (e.g.，structures or functions) that are