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11B - A Case Study of a Task-Based Approach for School-Age Learners in China

from Part V - Task-Based Language Teaching with School-Age Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Yafu Gong  and
Peter Skehan
Edited by
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian  and
Michael H. Long
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Michael H. Long
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

English is very important in schools in China, but attempts to introduce task-based materials have encountered difficulty. One reason for this is a mismatch between the content of many imported sets of materials and the content that Chinese schoolchildren find engaging. Research was undertaken to explore what such children do find motivating and interesting. The findings suggested a range of new topics that could be the basis for tasks. The findings led to proposals for three ‘worlds’ for students: ‘inner’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘future’, leading to a multi-goal curriculum. A coursebook series was developed based on the research, and a preliminary evaluation revealed positive reactions to these materials.

Keywords

Task designEnglish teaching in Chinaschool age learnersmulti-goal TBLTcontent identification for tasks
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching , pp. 432 - 444
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Butler, Y. G., Kang, K. I., Kim, H., and Liu, Y. (2018). “Tasks” appearing in primary school textbooks. ELT Journal, 72(3), 285–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Van den Branden, K. (2006), ed. Task-based language education. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Willis, D. and Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

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