Task-based language teaching has a high profile within contemporary ELT. There
are, however, few empirical studies of how teachers actually implement tasks in
Chinese primary school contexts. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring how
four teachers in two primary schools in Nanhai, Guangdong implement
communicative activities in a top-down national innovation.
This study involves three areas of investigation. The first area describes
classroom practice. A particular focus is on activity types and the degree of
communicativeness of activities. The second area analyzes how the practice reflects
the general understanding of task-based pedagogy: the extent to which classroom
activities are congruent with features of task? The third area concerns factors
influencing communicativeness of lessons.
Extensive data are drawn over a period of an academic year with four selected
teachers (Betty, Rose, Paul and Jane). A total of 55 observations were conducted.
Methods of documenting classroom data include a quantitative instrument based on
COLT observation scheme (Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching) and
qualitative field notes. The tool used to analyze the degree of communicativeness is
derived from a well-recognized framework proposed by Littlewood. 64
semi-structured interviews were conducted to gauge participants’ perception of
task-based teaching. Teachers, school principals and focused-group students were
interviewed.
The main findings are as follows. It is found that Betty and Rose use mainly
focus-on-forms activities, Paul uses meaning-form-focused and Jane meaning-focused activities, suggesting, respectively, a low, medium and medium-high degree of
communicativeness. Further analysis of activity features indicates that Betty and
Rose’s teaching are teacher-centered, decontextualized and without a clear
communicative goal and outcome, and thus not congruent with task features. Paul’s
activities share features of non-communicative teaching and TBLT. Paul tried to
integrate some communicative elements in his approach, although the majority of
Paul’s activities still focus on the practice of language form. Jane’s activities,
message-focused, student-centered and contextualized, reflect general features of
tasks. Three sets of contextual and participant factors are found to influence TBLT
implementation in the two case schools: 1) contextual, 2) teacher factors and 3) those
related to pedagogical practice, including planning and instructional factors.
The significance of this study is threefold. Firstly, I propose an adapted version
of Littlewood’s communicative framework. This version contributes to the existing
literature as it is a useful tool to analyze communicativeness of classroom activities in
school context. Secondly, this study extends our knowledge of the kind of factors that
influence TBLT implementation. Lastly, this study adds insights into character
teachers cope with changes in the new English curriculum and the kind of classroom
activities in Nanhai primary schools. It is hoped that these findings carry some
resonances in other EFL contexts in East Asian Region. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/146131 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Deng, Chunrao., 邓春娆. |
| Contributors | Carless, DR, Andrews, SJ |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Source | http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47232018 |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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