Task-based Language Teaching in English Movies Appreciation 英语教学法论文.doc

Task-based Language Teaching in English Movies Appreciation1. IntroductionThe present paper is a study on the use of English movies in the teaching of college English, focusing on the use of Task-based Language Teaching in design and interactive teaching process of the course "The Appreciation of English Movies". English movies play a positive role in creating an authentic communicative situation and acquainting students with western culture. The recent years have witness a shift of emphasis in learning English from grammar to speaking after the quality- oriented concept is advocated. With the fast growing international trade among China and other countries, English, as a world language, will be more widely used; therefore spoken English is greatly valued by more and more college students. In order to keep pace with the times and become competitive in the future job market, it is crucial for us to speak fluent and idiomatic English. Presently, in order to contribute to oral English of college students, most universities have realized the significance of English films and set up the course of English movie. However, the video course is the most difficult and most weak link in the teaching of college English. Therefore, it is important to reform the traditional language teaching method to improve students communicative competence. Task-based Language Teaching is a type of teaching method which generalized based on a great number of studies and practices. Nowadays it is widely promoted in English language teaching. This paper mainly deals with the advantages of Task-based English Language in English Movies Appreciation and proper use of it to contribute to oral ability of college students. 2. Literature Review2.1 Theoretical Framework of TBLT2.1.1 Constructivist Theory The best way to learn is to make students build their own knowledge instead of having others construct it for themThis belief is explained by the Constructivist Learning TheoryWilliams and Burden claim that learners make their own personal sense of learning tasks，the teacher, their environment and the actual process of learningTBLT focuses on the belief learning by doing, which is theoretically on the basis of the constructivismThe Learners learn by doing2.2 The Definition of TBLTTBLT refers to a type of language teaching approach which takes task as its key units for the designing and implementation of second language instruction. 2.3 The Definition of TaskA task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. In other words, by 'task' is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between. Long (1985:89)A task is an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process. Prabhu (1987:24)A piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. Nunan (1989:8) From the above definitions we can see that a task can hold different meanings for different people.3. The Questions in Traditional Course of English Movies Appreciation1. Selection of FilmsNow most universities have realized the significance of English films and set up the course of English movie. But there are many questions in the selection of films. For example, the degree of difficulty and the content of the film.2. Teaching ModelThrough deep analyzing of the course, the author find that some teachers are usually show some classic movies to student. But the students are always passive accepters in this course. English movies appreciation has many advantages. But the irrational misuse of resources and absence of systematic and effective teaching model make the course become a simple “enjoyment”. 4. The Application of TBLT in English Movies Appreciation Understanding the theory of TBLT and the questions in traditional course of English movies appreciation, we can set specific plan to improve the studentsoral English to check the appropriateness of TBLT .The English movie appreciations theory is based on the task based language teachings. The main teaching links includes task design, task accomplishing and task evaluation. It takes different activities to draw the students attention and interest to complete the tasks of listening. Besides, it can help the students to enlarge their linguistic cultural knowledge and improve their ability of listening and speaking efficiently. The three stages are pre-task, task-cycle and language focus. 1) Pre-task(任务前阶段)Pre-task stage need to accomplish the followings: The Selection of films. Design effective tasks. Consider that how to explain every task and how to guide students to accomplish the tasks.2) Task-cycle(任务链阶段)Task-cycle stage is the most important link in this model. When students are carrying out a task, they are focusing on the complete act of communication. So before the movie begins, teacher should give some activities that are aim to motivate students, to activate their prior knowledge, and to the key word or background to the students. The types of task can be various. For instance, teachers can ask students to answer questions, to retell the plot, to write a comment and so on. 3)Language focus(语言分析阶段)This stage is an estimate for the finishing degree of the students tasks. Students can evaluate each other, or the teachers give you a evaluation. 4.1 A Sample of the Application of TBLT in EMA Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump was well received by critics and became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released that year. As an example I will present this film to introduce the use of TBLT in English movies appreciation. According to the movie, teachers give students different types of tasks. At the same time, they can search out the background information about the movie and summed up the difficult words in it. (2) task - cycle (任务链阶段)  1）The teacher can introduce the background information, the main role (Gump、Mrs. Gump、Jenny Curran who is loved by Gump)or the key words in this movie at first. Before watching the movie, teacher can ask the Ss to thinking about three questions: Forrest Gump begins with a feather flying in the air and ends with it, too. What does it suggest? How do you understand the role of Forrest Gump? How do you think of Jenny and the society? 2) Some questions about details. For instance, “Why did Jenny decline Gump? If you were Gump, would you love her? And why?”3）Role- plays. Perform a dialogue with a partner based on the plot of the film. 4) Ask the students to retell the experience of Gump.(3) language focus (语言分析阶段) Teachers give the right answer to students and evaluate the representation of each group. At last, student can exchange their ideas about what they can learn from Gump.5. ConclusionsTBLT provides a cheerful, creative and harmonious environment in which students are totally and authentically engaged in using English to do things by means of negotiating, communicating and cooperatingIn this aspect，the students can attain ample meaningful language input and get practical access to what they learn in the classroom to solve problems in real lifeBased on Task-based Language Teaching method, it is necessary to make the best choice of movie subjects and teaching methods and make students play the main role in the comprehensive teaching with a view to the teaching optimization of English movies appreciation.Through the experiment, in addition to communicative competence, the author finds out that it call help promote students listening comprehensionSurprisingly, students are discovered to have made some contributions to positive emotions and their noble characters like tolerance，confidence, cooperation, determination and the forth, which are likely to be advantageous to their future study and lifeTherefore, it can be firmly concluded that TBLT can be effective and practical in English movie appreciation.References:1 杨玉国. 电影语言与英语视听说J . 广西教育学院学报,2001 (6)2 王蔷. 英语教学法教程. 高等教育出版社2000（7）3 李颖. 论英语电影欣赏课程的教学模式优化J. 安徽工业大学学报, 2009(1)4 邓杰等. 学习与实践策略+自主学习"任务型网络教学模式研究 中国大学教学，2010（2）