Курсовая с практикой на тему Using task-based approach in developing speaking skills

Содержание:

INTRODUCTION.. 4

1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF USING TASK-BASED APPROACH IN
DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS. 7

1.1 Notion of
the task-based approach. 7

1.2 Speaking
skills as a focus of attention in teaching a foreign language. 13

1.3
Disadvantages of using the task-based approach in developing speaking skills
and ways of solving the problem.. 18

2 PRACTICAL
USAGE OF TASK-BASED APPROACH FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SPEAKING SKILLS. 20

2.1 Stages of
the lesson. 20

2.2
Principles and methods of the task-based approach. 25

2.3 Types of
learning activities using the task-based approach. 28

CONCLUSION.. 33

BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 35

Введение:

While communicating people transmit thoughts,
information, and knowledge to each other. Moreover, relationships and culture
are formed. Oral communication in a foreign language is a productive skill, the
formation of which is given great attention in all civilized countries. The
situation is complicated by the fact that foreign language learners often lack
an authentic situation in which they can apply their skills. Therefore, a
foreign language lesson is sometimes the only place where students can
communicate in the target language.

The problem of methods of teaching foreign languages
constantly attracts attention of the researchers. After all, any educational
institution seeks to provide students with the most relevant and useful
information in an interesting and accessible form. It is especially important
to solve this problem at a school level, since it is at this stage of training
that students develop basic skills and abilities in the foreign language being
studied. Naturally, the interconnection between approaches to teaching and the
social order of society is of great importance.

Nowadays, growing globalization has created a great
need for people who can communicate in English. As Russia is establishing more
and more international relations, foreign languages become an important foreign
policy resource. Consequently, it affects the processes taking place in the
language and culture, causing changes in goals and objectives of education, and
with them the teaching methods in general.

Students often do not have enough conversational
skills because they do not use the target language outside the classroom in
real life situations. On the other hand, the content of educational materials
does not always correspond to the communicative intentions. Then a
contradiction arises between the ultimate goal of teaching and the content of the
material being studied. In such a situation, it becomes difficult to stimulate
interest and motivate students to learn a language and communicate in a foreign
language.

Most researchers (Lochana and Deb, 2006, Nunan, 2004)
believe that language learning is most effective when students are in a
supportive environment and are able to communicate in authentic situations.
Accordingly, teachers all over the world are encouraged to abandon the
traditional teaching approach and replace it with communicative language
teaching. In this situation task-based approach gives them the opportunity to
develop not only speaking skills, but also cognitive processes. While
completing tasks, they are required to think creatively / critically, solve problems,
work in a team, and use language with the communicative purpose.

D. Nunan (2006) suggests that ‘task-based learning
encourages student-centered learning, helps learners develop individual
differences and supports learning autonomy’. The researcher states that after
using task-based learning, teachers can be confident that they are meeting
institutional requirements and facilitating the development of genuine
communication skills among learners.

The study of progressive approaches to teaching
foreign languages remains relevant,
since pedagogical practice needs to be updated in order to achieve better
results and increase the effectiveness of teaching. The use of new technologies
and methods of teaching foreign languages will contribute to the improvement of
personality traits, which will help to develop the ability of critical and
creative thinking, to form communicative competence, the ability to interact in
a multicultural space, as well as to help students be able to independently
obtain additional material, be able to critically interpret the information
obtained, be able to draw conclusions correctly, argue them and solve other emerging
problems.

The object of
the research is developing speaking skills in foreign language studying.

The subject
of the research is using task-based approach in developing speaking skills
while learning a foreign language.

The aim of
the research is to study the usage of task-based approach for the development
of speaking skills in foreign language learning.

To achieve this aim the following tasks should be solved:

— to
define the notion of the task-based approach and its forms;

— to
consider the features of speaking skills in a foreign language;

— to
define the shortcomings of the approach under study;

— to
identify the components of a task-based learning framework;

— to
outline principles and methods of the task-based approach;

— to
describe some types of learning activities using the task-based approach.

Research data is collected through a students’ and
teacher’s questionnaires and investigates their attitudes towards task-based
approach in teaching and learning foreign language. In addition to the
questionnaire method, the work uses methods
of analysis, comparison and systematization of the material.

The study results can be useful for all teachers of
foreign languages because they show a modern approach towards language teaching
in order to enable students to communicate in a foreign language and to make
classes more student centred.

Заключение:

Teaching by the method of communicative tasks gives
the student the opportunity to use a foreign language in real life situations.
This teaching method focuses directly on the task itself, rather than
grammatical or lexical insertions. The goal is not to learn the structure, but
to complete the assignment. However, in order to successfully cope with it,
students must use speech correctly and exchange their ideas. Tasks are understood
as ‘activities in which the target language is used for a communicative purpose
to achieve an outcome.’

Thus, the language becomes a communication tool that
is aimed at helping the student to successfully cope with the task at hand.
Thanks to this, immersion in the language environment occurs, and students
begin to communicate in a foreign language with a practical purpose. It is the
achievement of this goal that becomes the main thing. Since there is usually no
single correct answer to such problems, creative thinking develops.

Using the task-based approach in teaching practice makes
it possible to:

 ­ stimulate not
only active but also passive vocabulary;

 ­ speak a foreign
language without fear of being corrected;

 ­ actively
monitor the processes of learning and teaching;

 ­ discuss
materials in the language of topics that are outside the traditional ‘educational’
topics and are taken from real life communication.

The task completion process covers at least 3 stages:
‘pre-task’ or statement of the problem, ‘task cycle’ or group activity and
‘reviewing’ or follow-up discussion. Each stage has its own task, but they are
all subordinated to a common goal ­ communication in a real life situation. Several
assignment topics as well as a lesson plan using the task-based approach were
suggested in this study.

The task-based learning is based on certain teaching
principles: communicative orientation of teaching a foreign language; interactive
pedagogical interplay, with the teacher acting as an instructor; using authentic
materials as a model of the situation; concentration not on the correct use of
language but on the process of using it; active involvement of the observations
and life experience of the students themselves while completing the task; connection
of classroom activities with the life of the students after school /
university.

Several modern teaching technologies are already using
the task-based approach, such as project work, play activities, presentations,
debates, small group discussions, interviews, quests and some others. The most important thing is that the situation under
discussion is close to the students and arouses their interest. The other necessary
condition is the participation of everyone in the performance of the
communicative task. Finally, it is desirable that the task is followed by
a stage of reflection.

Each approach has its drawbacks. If the education
system is focused on passing an exam that includes a written assignment, the
approach under study requires a combination with other methods aimed at
mastering the rules of spelling and writing various types of written tasks. This
combination of approaches requires further scientific and methodological
research.

Фрагмент текста работы:

1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF USING
TASK-BASED APPROACH IN DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS

1.1 Notion of the task-based approach Task-based language teaching 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.

‘The Task-Based Approach is a means of learning the
language by doing tasks negotiated by learners with the help of the teacher,
who is viewed as a facilitator of learning opportunities in class’ (Ismaili,
2013).

In the last years of the previous century, the concept
of ‘communication activity’ is gradually being replaced by ‘tasks’ (Bygate et
al., 2001). In raising awareness of this approach, N.S. Prabhu is the most
visible person. His main effort was to raise awareness of a task-based learning
approach.

According to N.S. Prabhu, task is ‘an activity that
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, 1990). J. F.
Lee proposes a similar definition of a task as ‘a classroom activity or
exercise that has an objective obtainable only by interaction among
participants, a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction and a
focus on meaning exchange’ (Lee, 2000).

C.J. Richards considers ‘something that learners do or
carry out using their existing language resources’ (Richards, 2006: 31) as one
of the characteristics of the problem. According to J. Willis, ‘tasks are
activities in which the target language is used for a communicative purpose to
achieve an outcome’ (Willis, 1996: 13). R. Ellis (2006: 25) simplified the
definition of the task to the following:

• ‘meaning is primary;

• there is a problem to solve;

• the performance is outcome evaluated;

• there is a real world relationship.’

M. Breen refines the definition of the task,
emphasizing that it is ‘a structured plan to provide opportunities for the
refinement of knowledge and capabilities entailed in a new language, which are
subsequently used during communication’ (Breen, 1989: 190).

Regarding a communication task, D. Nunan defines it as
‘a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending,
manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their
attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form’ (Nunan, 2006: 14).
In his opinion, the task should also ‘provide a sense of completeness, able to
stand alone as a communicative act in its own right’ (Nunan, 2006: 15).

In the context of modern post-methodical didactics,
the founders of which are N. Prabhu (Prabhu, 1990) and B. Kumaravadivelu (Kumaravadivelu,
2006), teachers are offered not specific instructions, but certain principles
of effective teaching. Being open and neutral, these principles do not restrict
creative freedom, allowing effective learning activities. Among the principles
of post-methodical didactics developed by teachers around the world
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006; Brown, 2002; McMorrow, 2007; Galante, 2014), the
following can be distinguished (Popova, 2019: 168):

1. Maximizing learning opportunities. This principle
characterizes teaching as a process aimed at creating and using opportunities
for learning (for example, one of the students asks a question about the
meaning of a word, and the teacher asks other students to suggest their options).
The teacher follows the course of the lesson, actually acting as its moderator;
when interesting educational opportunities arise, he focuses the attention of
students on them, thus making situational changes in the work plan.