DISCUSS: Is Online Learning Beneficial For Students?
Is online schooling beneficial for students, or just a fad within education? You can start thinking about the question by watching the video above, which is from the February 23, 2012 edition of PBS
and addresses the question in a televised report handled by our own John Tulenko.
We encourage you to get involved with the discussion as well. Please post comments below.
Ali Carr-Chellman, Penn State University
At what cost does innovation come?
is Head of the Learning and Performance Systems Department in the College of Education at Penn State University. She has been a school teacher, consultant, instructional designer, university professor, researcher, and is the mother of three young children.
include diffusion of innovations, systemic change, the impact of technology on school reform, e-learning, and cyber charters.
I have been teaching in an online environment for many years.
But it wasn’t without great trepidation that I approached the enterprise of online learning in higher education. The research here is pretty clear: meta analyses of empirical research studies have shown that really there is “no significant difference” between online and face-to-face in traditional measures of achievement in most contexts.
This is good news, it means that online learning is “working.”
While this may be true, there is a great deal of research on the other side suggesting that it will bring on the downfall of the university or school system.
David Noble is among my favorite critics of online learning in terms of ways that this enterprise may serve to hasten some very nasty potential results, particularly for the “life of the mind” that has been the hallmark of university life.
is brilliant, and should be required reading for anyone embarking on the online learning journey.
I believe that the research will show likewise — that K-12 online learning, when we carefully compare similar groups of children in terms of their achievement scores on standardized tests, will be very similar.
We’ll find again that there is little or “no significant difference” between the online mode and the face-to-face mode of delivery.
But the question, particularly for our public schools goes far beyond whether it “works.” Is it good for us as a society, as a community?
Online learning in K-12 settings is a significant boon for Olympic level skaters, severe asthmatics, and some ADHD children who really cannot exist within the confines of a traditional school setting for a variety of reasons.
And for certain specific applications I can definitely understand the usefulness of this approach and medium.
However, I’ve been exploring a number of concerns within cyber charters and am quite concerned by several important issues.
Did you know some of the following?
Cyber charter schools have no limitations on the amount of money they can spend to advertise and/or lobby politicians (and these expenditures allow them to remain non-profit)?
Cyber charter populations tend to be bimodal rather than similar to the larger general schooling population with a large number of high achievement and special needs learners?
Traditional public schools must pay cyber charters for every child who leaves their school for a cyber charter and in PA alone, this amount now approaches $1 billion (with a B) leaving underfunded traditional K-12 schools.
There is no real regulation on the ability of parents to include religious education in the regular school day, or to link religious lessons throughout the curriculum of a cyber charter if they wish to.
That is, the separation of church and state in these schools cannot realistically be policed?
Cyber charter schools use a great deal of their money on expensive curricular materials, which are generally published by the same company that owns the “non-profit” cyber charter school?
There is very little ability of cyber charter schools to monitor cheating.
Exercising choice for individual achievement in the form of cyber charter schooling will likely leave our most vulnerable children behind in underfunded schools.
Research on school choice indicates that parents with more education and better resources are the most likely to exercise choice in any form.
The CEO of the largest provider of cyber charter curriculum, sold specifically to their own non-profit schools, made more than $28 million last year.
These facts make me very concerned.
Is capitalism really the way we want a publicly funded school system to function?
I do believe that schools where significant losses of students have led to innovations of their own represent an exciting possibility for the future of school change.
But I worry at what cost that innovation comes.
If the trade-off is capitalist schooling models that create huge profits, religious education in public schools, unfettered lobbying and enormous advertising budgets within the realm of public schools, I fear we are no longer seeing any service of the public good from public schools, and instead are only concerned about our highest aspirations as individuals and not our greatest successes as a society.
Wendy Zacuto, Pacific Point Academy
Speaking from personal experience
Wendy Zacuto is currently the Director of
in Santa Monica, an independent school serving students with mild to moderate learning challenges through an innovative, transdisciplinary design.
Wendy’s career spans 25 years, as a preschool through high school teacher. She has spent 12 years in school administration in charter, public, and independent schools.
Online education took me by surprise.
Already deeply entrenched in my chosen profession as a school principal, I was offered the opportunity to earn a Master’s Degree through some NCLB funding.
As I surveyed options, I realized that the scope of my job would be best served by earning my degree online.
The experience opened doors for me professionally, both as a function of the degree and through the limitless networking enabled by online communication.
Unlike a brick and mortar university, online university enabled class colleagues throughout the nation and worldwide.
I am now engaged in earning an online Ed. D.
A firm proponent of constructivist learning (preschool and elementary), I saw the theory first-hand in my own online learning.
Now the principal of a school for students with learning challenges and dedicated to differentiated learning, I see online learning as one effective tool to allow innovative educators to tailor instruction to meet student needs.
Quick discussion break:
Here’s a YouTube-exclusive video we produced documenting the experience of students in cyber schools:
Scott McLeod, University of Kentucky
Online schooling is here to stay
is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He also is the Founding Director of the
the nation’s only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators, and was a co-creator of the wildly popular video series,
Online learning opportunities for K-12 students are growing by leaps and bounds. The most recent
report for the U.S. shows that over a million students already are taking at least some online classes. Last year the Florida Virtual School alone provided 260,000 online course enrollments. Harvard professor Clayton Christensen estimates that by 2019
Online learning opportunities that formerly were reserved for working adults or college students have rapidly filtered all the way down to elementary children.
As online enrollments have rapidly expanded, so too have accompanying concerns. Educators and parents worry about losing the nurturing intimacy of teachers and students who are connected with each other in face-to-face classrooms. Pundits opine that our youth are losing their ability to interact with live humans instead of screens. Journalists report that online schooling providers are raking in tens of millions of dollars while providing substandard, perhaps even fraudulent, educational experiences. Superintendents gripe that other districts’ provision of online courses results in interdistrict ‘theft’ of students and state funding.
Perhaps all of this is just expected shakeout and pushback as we transition to more technology-mediated learning environments. Maybe these concerns are just temporary, necessary bumps as we learn how to create better instructional and quality assurance mechanisms for online education. Or maybe they’re deep-rooted problems inherent to virtual schooling.
Should we be concerned,
about the rapid growth of online learning or is its very expansion tangible testimony to its power and possibility? Is it possible that online learning is okay for adults but not for younger students? Online learning is here to stay, however: the question now is how we approach it for our children.
Audie Rubin, Provost Academy Colorado
Three key benefits exist
Executive Director Audie Rubin leads
not only with his years of experience in education as both an administrator and teacher, but also with his background of leadership and vision as a pioneer in the use of online education technology to open the classroom to the world and accelerate learning for Colorado students.
Online is a valuable education choice for many Colorado students and their families seeking an alternative to the traditional high school setting, whether because a need for more challenging classes, family circumstances or the need for flexibility. For many students, virtual high schools have meant the difference between giving up on school altogether and earning a high school diploma.
There are three primary benefits you should know about online learning:
Individualized learning plans tailored to students’ unique learning styles and levels: Every student learns differently. Some learn quickly while others learn more slowly. Some learn visually while others learn by reading textbooks. Online education can tailor a learning plan to meet the unique needs of each learner.
Flexible scheduling: High school students today have a lot going on in their lives. Many students work to support themselves and their families, while others engage in time-consuming extracurricular activities like competitive sports. Online education gives students a flexible option that allows them to do what they need to do and graduate from high school at the same time. Online education provides this option as it can be completed anytime and anywhere.
Real-time monitoring of student progress and success:
Online education leverages a web-based curriculum that tracks progress and success using high touch methods, instantly illustrating what work you’ve done, what information you know as a result and what you still need to learn to graduate on time.
In a traditional school, time is fixed and learning is variable. The flexible, web-based curriculum offered through online education has flipped this dated approach, making learning fixed and time variable to meet the specific learning needs of each student.
Quick discussion break:
Here’s another YouTube-exclusive video we produced, documenting the experiences of teachers in cyber schools:
Tom Carroll, NCTAF
It’s effective when used as a cornerstone of collaboration, building
President, oversees
research, policy, and implementation projects, develops and maintains strategic partnerships, and provides thought leadership about transforming schools from teaching organizations into learning organizations.
Debates over online learning effectiveness are fraught with confusion over purpose and mode.
Online learning is least effective when the purpose is knowledge consumer and the learning mode is knowledge transfer and retrieval.
When online learning emulates traditional schooling, where teachers download and distribute knowledge and information and when the learner’s primary purpose is to access knowledge and information, it is difficult to show significant effectiveness gains over traditional teaching and learning that is not mediated by digital technology.
Online learning becomes more effective when the purpose is knowledge collaboration and application in a wiki-like environment.
In this mode, the learners are not just consumers of information, but collaborators who work together to develop a collectively built body of knowledge and information.
This learning mode achieves significant gains over traditional knowledge transfer and distribution modes (as a wide spectrum of publishers from textbooks to newspapers are rapidly discovering).
Online learning becomes most effective when the purpose is to create new knowledge in a crowd-sourcing mode that gives the learners an opportunity to build off of each other’s concepts, strategies and responses as they develop new responses to complex learning challenges. When the learners become co-creators, they simultaneously deepen their personal knowledge and skill as they expand the universe of information and understanding that is available to others.
It is regrettable that although this is the most powerful mode of online learning, it is least often used in traditional school settings.
It’s time to transform schools into 21st century learning organizations, where we fully embrace all three learning purposes and modes.
(2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
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Application of TBLT to English Reading Class in Junior High School
Application of TBLT to English Reading Class in Junior High School摘要阅读是人们学习语言的四种基本技能之一， 是人们获取信息的一个重要途径。 学生一旦具备 了独立阅读的能力，就将为以后的语言学习打下坚实的基础。因此长期以来，阅读一直受到 国内外外语教育界的广泛关注。 但是在现如今的外语教学中， 尽管老师和学生在阅读方面投 入了大量的时间和精力，然而，学生的阅读能力和阅读现状并不令人满意。绝大部分学生的 阅读能力与教学大纲要求甚远。阅读课上学生缺乏学习的主动性、积极性，教学效果低。值得幸运的是新的《英语课程标准》提倡的任务型教学途径将会改变学生被动学习的局面。 然而， 在英语教学中， 尤其在英语阅读教学中怎样运用这种教学模式是一个值得研究的课题。 基于以上原因， 本文旨在探讨以下问题： 任务型阅读是否能够激发学生学习英语的兴趣？ 1） 2） 任务型阅读是否对于提高课堂效率提高学生阅读能力有帮助？3） 实施任务型阅读教学是 否比传统的阅读教学方法更能促进学生学习成绩的提高？本文研究的目的主要是探讨任务型教学在英语阅读教学中的应用， 从而找到提高学生英语阅 读能力和培养学生英语阅读兴趣的方法。 本论文作者先对本校初中英语阅读教学现状进行了 问卷调查研究， 找到了英语阅读教学中存在的问题， 然后通过实验试图在初中英语阅读教学 中贯彻实施任务型教学的理念，对初中英语任务型阅读教学进行研究。 作者在葫芦岛市实验中学的初二的两个平行班中 118 名学生中进行了实验。其中实验班 60 人,控制班 58 人.实验时间从 2007 年 9 月到 2008 年 3 月.笔者通过测试和采访收集数据信息。 实验结果显示， 采用任务型教学的班级比采用传统教学法教学的班级在阅读方面成绩取得了 更为显著的进步，平均成绩比对比班高出 2.02.从而说明任务型语言教学能够有效运用于初 中英语阅读课堂， 提高了学生的阅读水平。 实践证明该理论在我国初中英语阅读教学实践中 的可行性，为初中英语阅读教学改革提供一些参考。关键字：任务型语言教学， 初中英语阅读教学，阅读任务Abstract Reading，one of the four basic language skills，is an important approach to getting English information. Once the ability of independent reading has been developed，the students can study independently forming the solid basis for their future studies. Hence, reading has been drawn the academic concerns of TEFL both at home and at abroad for a long time. An enormous amount of time, money and effort is spent in teaching reading, however, no remarkable success has been received, and the students’ competence hasn’t reached the level required by the teaching syllabus. Fortunately，the English Curriculum Criteria is being carried out throughout China，and it advocates the approach of task-based teaching and learning，which would completely enhance the instructional situation in which students learn knowledge passively. But how to employ the model in teaching English，especially in teaching English reading，is a theme worth exploring. The main questions addressed in this study are as following: 1) Can TBR improve students’ interest in English learning? 2) Is TBR helpful to improve the effect of the English class and the students learning or facilitate students` reading ability? 3) Can task-based reading improve the scores of students? In this study, the author attempts to investigate the application of Task-Based Language teaching in the junior English reading classroom with a view to improving the students’ reading competence and enhances their interest in reading. In this thesis, the author makes the investigations about the situation of reading teaching in her school and points out the problems, and attempts to study the implementation of TBLT in reading class . The current thesis tries to get the approval by means of carrying out task-based reading experiments in two parallel classes in Grade 8 of Hu Ludao experimental middle school. One class is an experimental class with 60 students，and the other class is a control class with 58 students. The experiment lasted from September of 2007 to March of 2008. According to the results, we know that the mean of experimental classes is 2.02 higher than that of comparative classes. The results of the experiment show the experimental class that adopts TBLT has more remarkable progress than the control class that adopts traditional teaching method. That indicates that TBLT can be used in the reading classroom effectively and designing different and proper tasks can increase the students’ reading ability. Keywords: Task-based language teaching, junior English reading teaching, reading tasksContents Chapter I Introduction. 1 1.1 Significance and purpose of this research. 1 1.2 The structure of the thesis. 3 Chapter II Literature Review. 4 2.1 Task-based language teaching. 4 2.1.1What is a task. 4 2.1.2 The definition of task-based language teaching. 5 2.1.3 The characteristic of TBLT. 6 2.1.4 The principles of TBLT. 7 2.1.5 The components of a TBLT framework. 8 2.2 Theoretical background of Task-based language Teaching. 9 2.2.1 Constructivism.. 9 2.2.2 Second Language Acquisition. 10 2.2.3 Input and Interaction Hypothesis. 11 2.3 A brief review of bout Reading. 12 2.3.1 The Schema Theory. 12 2.3.2 Reading models. 12 2.4 Reading Tasks. 14 2.4.1 Definition of Reading Tasks. 14 2.4.2 Features of Reading Tasks. 14 2.4.3 Components of Reading Tasks. 152.4.4 Types of Reading Tasks. 19 2.4.5 Features of Junior English Reading…………………………………………………22 2.4.6 Basic Principles for Designing Reading Tasks. 24 Chapter III Experiment 26 3.1 Investigation of teaching reading in junior schools. 26 3.l.1 Classroom observation. 26 3.1.2 Investigations from the students. 26 3.1.3 Point out the problem……………………………………………………………….29 3.2 experiment design. 29 3.2.1 Purpose. 29 3.2.2 hypothesis of the problem.. 29 3.2.3 Subject 29 3.2.4 The instruments. 30 3.2.5The procedure. 30 3.2.5.1Pre-test………………………………………………………………………30 3.2.5.2The teaching technique in the control class…………………………………30 3.3.5.3Application of TBLT in reading class in the experimental class………….31 3.2.5.3.1 Designing Reading Tasks……………………………………… ….313.2.5.3.2 A Framework of TBLT in Reading Class………………………….35 3.2.5.3.3Samples of Task-based Reading Classes……………………... ….38 3.2.5.4 Post-test…………………………………………………………………….40 3.2.6 Interview.. 41Chapter IV results and analysis, discussion. 42 4.1 A comparison between the tests of both classes. 42 4.1.1A comparison of mean of reading comprehension. 42 4.1.2 A comparison of excellence rate and Passing rate of both classes. 42 4.2 Discussion. 43 4.2.1 The advantages of TBLT. 43 4.2.2 The insufficiency of TBLT. 45 4.2.3 Suggestions. 45 Chapter V Conclusion. 47 5.1 Limitations of study. 47 5.2 Conclusion. 47 Bibliography Appendix A Samples of Reading Tasks Appendix B Some Reading Materials in Go for it! Appendix C 中学生英语阅读情况调查问卷表Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Significance and purpose of this research Reading，one of the four basic language skills，is an important approach to getting English information. Once the ability of independent reading has been developed，the students can study independently forming the solid basis for their future studies. So in English teaching specially emphasis is laid on reading，and in the entrance examination reading makes up a large proportion of the scoring. The English syllabus of primary and secondary schools advocate developing the reading ability on the basis of the complete practice of listening，speaking and writing. In New English Curriculum Standard(2001:15),issued by the Ministry of Education，junior students in China are expected to have the following reading capabilities when they finish the three-year study: (1) Be able to find out the main idea and useful information from gener (2) Be able to guess the meaning of new words acco (3) Be able to predict what will happen next acco (4) Be able to adopt different reading skills according to the various (5) Be able to collect information needed by diff (6) The amount of after-class reading needs to be more than 200,000 words, which doesn’t include what students read in class. English teachers in China do know it is really difficult to achieve those goals. We really face a great challenge in English teaching now. In current junior English reading class in China, many teachers deal with the text sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph: explaining the language points, dwelling upon the grammar rules, analyzing the sentences, providing the Chinese equivalents and giving examples to show the usage of certain words and expressions. The teachers influenced by traditional teaching methods assume that what the students’ need is a good command of grammar and vocabulary. In their minds, it is still believed that grammar rules, sentence patterns and language points are the most important things for the students to learn in English reading class. In those reading classes, students only learn the knowledge of English. Besides, there is no real communication but only dull drills because there is no information gap in the classroom activities. As a result, the training of the students’ comprehensive reading competence is often neglected in the actual teaching and a reading class generally becomes teacher-centered and boring. Having practiced TBLT in junior English class for more than four years, the author thinks TBLT is an effective way to solve the problems mentioned above in English reading teaching. More andmore teachers prefer TBLT because it makes English classes active, motivates students well, fosters the students’ comprehensive abilities to use the target language appropriately and fluently. During the learning course，the students acquire the language by completing tasks. The authentic and meaningful tasks designed by the teacher are the torches to light up the students’ passion energy and interest and afford the students interactive chances to acquaint the language actively and creatively. Students learn English with the clear aim，to develop their ability of language， thinking，communication and cooperation. However it’s a pity that the study about the use of TBLT in junior English reading class has been done a little so far. To many English teachers，Task-based learning is a new concept for them ,some of them have the wrong ideas of it. For example, some language teachers only teach language points in class, they regard them as the main tasks，meanwhile，teachers neglect the communicative task in English reading class neglect the‘student-centered’principle，therefore， in order to apply the new method in junior English- reading class, through this study, the writer wants to explore the methods about how to use TBLT in junior English reading class effectively, accumulate some experiences about how to design reading tasks and try to find out the framework of task-based reading teaching in junior English, and evaluate the possibility of the application of TBLT in junior English reading class. 1.2 The structure of the thesis This thesis consists of altogether five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction providing the reasons why adopts TBLT in reading teaching and the outline of the thesis. Chapter Two offers literature review of TBLT theory and the theory of the essence of reading, which provide theoretical support for this thesis. It also offers something about reading tasks to English reading class in junior high school. Chapter Three is the experiment, which consists of purpose, subjects, instruments, experiment procedure, what the author does in daily teaching and the interview. Chapter Four is results and analysis, discussions. The last chapter offers a conclusion to the whole thesis and including some limitations for the thesis.Chapter II Literature Review 2.1 Task-based language teaching 2.1.1What is a task In general education, and in other fields such as psychology, there are many different definitions of tasks. There is also quite a variety from within the field of second language teaching. (1) Long’s definition is a non-technical, non-linguistic one. A task is “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. Thus, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair ofshoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, taking a hotel reservation, writing a check, finding a street destination, and help someone across a road. In other words, by “task” is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between. “Tasks” are the things people will tell you they do if you ask them and they are not applied linguists.” (Long, 1985:89) (2) Another definition is from a dictionary of applied linguistics: A task is “an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language, i.e. as a response. For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, and listening to an instruction and performing a command, may be referred to as tasks. Tasks may or may not involve the production of language. A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful completion of the task. The use of variety different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make teaching more communicative…since it provides a purpose for classroom activity which goes beyond practice of language for its own sake.”(Richards, Platt, and Weber, ) (3) Crookes(1986) A task is “a piece of work or an activity, usually with a specified objective, undertaken as part of an educational course, at work, or used to elicit data for research”. (4)Prabhu(1987) A task is “an activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process”. (5)According to Nunan, a communicative task is “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. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right.”(Nunan 1989:10) (6)Skehan(1996a) A task is “an activity in which: there is some sort of relationsh task completi and the assessment of task performance is in terms of task outcome.” (7)Lee(2000) A task is“(1) a classroom activity or exercise that has:(a)an objective obtainable only by the interaction among participants,(b)a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and(c)afocus(2)a language learning endeavor that requires learners to comprehend, manipulate, and/or produce the target language as they perform some set of work plans ”. Although these researchers emphasize the different aspects of the task, the definitions we have looked at share something in common: they all imply that tasks involve realistic language use in which learners focus their attention on meaning rather than linguistic structures，and that learning tasks help learners acquire‘the ability to perform certain communicative functions through a new medium(English)’(Coupland, 1984:12).2.1.2 The definition of task-based language teaching Task-based language teaching offers the student an opportunity to do exactly this. The primary focus of classroom activity is the task and language is the instrument, which the students use to complete it. The task is an activity in which students use language to achieve a specific outcome. Jane Willis (2000:41) thinks TBLT is an approach to language teaching, which makes use of authentic materials in communicative pedagogical tasks. These pedagogical tasks reflect real-world tasks that the learners in a given situation would complete as a part of their daily life. Pedagogical tasks act as building blocks to an ultimate objective. Thus, TBLT relies both on the learner’s ability to learn analytically and on the teacher’s flexibility and creativity. The learner’s ability to learn analytically is necessary in completing tasks focused on meaning rather t the teacher’s flexibility and creativity are demanded as s/he diagnoses the outcome of each task and creates new materials in response to newly revealed learner needs. TBLT is a complex approach to language teaching, but in its complexity it responds to both current SLA theory as well as the practical needs of the classroom. In brief, TBLT is a communicative teaching approach, which offers the students opportunities to learn and use the language by doing all kinds of things, which are likely to happen in the real life.2.1.3 The characteristic of TBLT Compared with the traditional English teaching，task-based teaching not only absorbs the strong points of traditional teaching method，but also gives play to its special great advantage. First of all，it embodies the humanistic ideas and the learning notion advocated by constructivism by emphasizing the development of human beings as well as the student-centered notion. Giving respect to the sense of students，task-based teaching let students participate activities and taste the joy of success as well as the value of themselves. Secondly， balances theoretically the conflict of it the form and sense of language，that of the development of language system and the development of the communicative ability of language，that of the classroom teaching and the natural acquisition， well as that of the improvement of language fluency， as accuracy and complexity. No matter it is seen from the point view of the goal or the mode of task-based teaching，it integratesthe advantages of the traditional teaching methods and co therefore，it has a great appeal in theory. Nunan()concluded the characteristic of TBLT as following: 1) An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language? 2) The introduction of authentic text into the learning situation. 3)The provision of opportunities of learners to focus，not only on language，but also on the learning process itself 4) An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. 5) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.2.1.4 The principles of TBLT Willis offers five principles for the implementation of TBLT (qtd. from the training materials 2002). They are: (1) There should be exposure to worthwhile an (2) There shoul (3) Tasks should motivate learners to en (4) There should be a focus on language at some po (5) The focus on language should be more and less prominent at different times. According to Nunan，language is better achieved in an inductive way，i.e.，Teachers should let students observe and conclude what the language is like instead of giving students the rules and examples. In case students develop wrong rules，teachers are there to help and correct. Students learn the rules from meaningful and practical contexts or tasks. Nunan(1999) suggests the following eight principles of TBLT: l) S Lesson and materials should provide support to the students. Scaffolding is a process of ‘setting up’ the situation to make the students’ entry easy and successful and then gradually pulling back and handing the role to the students as he becomes skilled enough tomanage it.(Bruner, ) Task C that’s also called the task dependency principle. Exercises，activity and task should build upon the ones that have gone before. A series of tasks in a lesson or unit of work forms a kind of pedagogical ladder，each task representing a rung on the ladder，enabling the learner to reach higher and higher levels of communicative performance. 3) R Recycling language maximizes opportunities for learning. 4) Organic L Language ability “grows” gradually. 5) Active L that’s also called Learning by doing principle. Learners learn best by actively using the language they are learning. They learn by doing. Learning by doing motivates students to fulfill their potential. Learners master the language by using it communicatively in the classroom，although they still have to learn grammar and memorize vocabulary. 6) I the lesson should teach grammatical form and how the form is used for purposes of communication. 7) R learners should be given opportunities to think about what they have learned and how well they are doing. 8)Copying to creation: Learners should not only drill and practice what has been written for them， but also be given the opportunity to use their creativity and imagination and what they have learned to solve real world tasks.2.1.5 The components of a TBLT framework Jane Willis(1996)，in her book“A framework for task-based learning” outlines a model for organizing lessons. It presents a model that is based on sound theoretical foundations and one which takes account of the need of authentic communication. Task-based learning is typically based on these stages: The first of these is the pre -task stage，during which the teacher introduces and defines the topic and the learners engage in activities that either help them to recall words and Phrases that are essential to the task. This stage is followed by what Willis calls the task cycle. Here the learners perform the task. (typically a reading or listening exercise or a problem-solving exercise) in Pairs or small groups. They then prepare a report for the whole class on how they did the task and what conclusions they reached. Finally they present their findings to the class in spoken or written form. The final stage is the language focus stage during which specific language features from the taskare highlighted and worked on. Feedback on the learners’ performance at the reporting stage may also be appropriate at this point. 2.2 Theoretical background of Task-based language Teaching 2.2.1 Constructivism The core of task-based approach is “learner-centered” and “human-oriented” with a philosophical and psychological theory-the prevailing constructivism. Fosnot (1996:ix) pointed out that constructivism is a theory about knowledge and learning. Based on psychology, Philosophy and anthropology, constructivism holds that knowledge is temporary，developing and subjective， which is constructed by learners and affected by social culture. The theory thinks that the cognition of human beings is developing with experience: knowledge is a reorganization and reconstruction of experience， continuous psychological process of construction， a Process of a and experience，discovery and creation. A real，natural teaching task provides learners with such precious process for experience. The authentic，natural tasks wi11 surely animate the cognitive structure and schema. Containing the goals waiting to be attained and the questions remaining to be solved， will inevitably stimulate the learner’ desire to new knowledge and new information. it s By carrying out tasks and participating activities，the learners promote the“recombination” and “reconstruction” of their knowledge，improve the interaction，connection，blending as well as integration of the new knowledge input and the learner’s known cognitive schema. Once the learner tastes the significance of the participation of the activity and the success in constructing new knowledge, he/she will be more initiative and active, and the absorbing of knowledge will thus be accelerated. Constructivism claims that knowledge should be constructed through interaction and cooperation and emphasizes particularly learning by social interaction and cooperation. Isolated learning cannot lead to the increase of knowledge or development of ability: only when interacting with the others and cooperating with companions can one stimulate the inner elements. As is stressed by Fosnot(1996:ix)，teachers teaching according to constructivism should get rid of the incorrect thought that meaning could be infused into learners’ brain by signs， that students can Precisely copy the teacher’ knowledge for his/her own use， s that intact concept could be separated and that knowledge can be taught without context (experience). The characteristic of now-advocated task-based language teaching(abbreviation is TBTL) lies right in the multi-leveled activities， which can meet these needs.2.2.2 Second Language Acquisition Task-based language teaching accords with the theoretical hypothesis of the SLA internalizing process. Many linguistics have Put forward many hypothesizes on the cognitive process of language acquisition. Rod Ellis()once retold the flow chart of language acquired by the brain cognitive system depicted by Gass (1988)，believing that after being input into the brain，information go through the following process: Noticed input-----&Comprehended input-----&intake-------&implicit knowledge and explicit knowledge. He illustrates the mode in this way:As is proven by fact，the listening and speaking ability of a foreign language mainly come from implicit and explicit knowledge. The latter refers to the language rules stored in the brain，which can supervise consciously the language spoken，while the former refers to the token of language rules，which is the internalized grammar of et the learner .This kind of grammar hides deep in man’s instinctive perception to language. The implicit knowledge，as a matter of fact，is the so-called“interlanguage”. It is the relatively stable language system constructed by SLA learners, which can help one to generate language and conduct communication. That one communicates in a foreign language in conversation mainly depends on implicit knowledge. Nevertheless though it can rely on classroom instruction and repeated exercises，it largely depends on the understandable sufficient language exposure and input，and the teaching activity that blends the structure and function in particular. so，task-based approach provides su comprehensible input provided by the real teaching tasks is composed of the intake environments that acquisition must possess，the learners have chance to receive sufficient language input in this environment，then they go on the meaning negotiation and obtain the real feedback，in which the language structure is absorbed and assimilated，rules are used modified and expanded. All these promote the development of interlanguage. 2.2.3 Input and Interaction Hypothesis It is usually thought that another theoretical basis of TBLT is Krashen’s “Input and Interaction Hypothesis”, in which he declares, “The Input Hypothesis claims that we acquire language in only one way by understanding messages, which is by receiving comprehensible input. If the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner’s current level of competence in the language, i.e., then comprehension and acquisition will occur.”(qtd from the Training Materials,2002/9) Ricardo Schütz said in his article Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition that the Input Hypothesis is only concerned with acquisition, not learning. According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses when he/she receives second language input that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. Since not all of the learners can be at the same level of linguistic competence at the same time, Krashen suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some comprehensive input that is appropriate for his/her current stage of linguistic competence.(qtd.from Schütz, http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html ) 2.3 A brief review of bout Reading As the writer is going to discuss the implementation of TBLT in English reading class, it’s necessary to have a brief review about the schema theory and the reading process.2.3.1 The Schema Theory The schema theory is very important in reading. Christine Nuttall(2002:7) said in his book Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language that a schema is a mental structure. It’s abstract because it doesn’t relate to any particular experience, although it derives from all the particular experiences we have had. The way we interpret depends on the schemata a and whether we interpret successfully depends on whether our schemata are sufficiently similar to the writer’s New information, new concepts, new ideas can have meaning only when they can be related to something the individual already knows. It is the Gestalt psychologists who first formalized it as schema theory, starting in 1912.In meaning learning, already-known general ideas “subsume” or “anchor” the new particular proposition found in the texts. The readers have to be aware of which aspects of his knowledge are relevant. The full development of schema theory as a model for representing how knowledge is stored in human memory didn’t occur until the revolution in our conception of how humans process information spurred by the computer scientists doing simulations of human cognition. And in the 1980s, schema theory became an important component of discourse analysis, reading theory, and applied linguistics. Now we know reading makes use of existing schemata and modifies them. That means when we design a task, we need to take account of readers schemata. 2.3.2 Reading models According to the schema theory, text comprehension requires the simultaneous interaction of two modes of information processing――the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. Christine Nuttall ()had vivid descriptions about the two approaches in the book Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. He said that we might compare top-down approach to an eagle’s eye view of the landscape. From a great height, the eagle can see a wide a it understands the nature of the whole terrain, its general pattern and the relationships between various parts of it, far better than an observer on the ground. However, he said, our image of bottom-up processing might be a scientist with a magnifying glass examining the ecology of a transact-a tiny part of the landscape the eagle surveys. (1)Bottom-up Approach This text-based process occurs when linguistic input from the text is mapped against the reader’s previous knowledge. It is also called data driven because it is evoked by the incoming data. The readers build up a meaning from letters and words, working out sentence structure. (2) Top-down Approach This knowledge-based or conceptually driven information process occurs when readers draw on their prior knowledge to make predictions about the data they will find in a text. We understand the text based on the schemata we have acquired. Activities that assist students in gaining oraccessing background knowledge facilitate top-down processing. (3) Interactive Approach On the other hand, in practice readers continually shifts from one approach to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says. This has become known as interactive reading. Both approaches can be mobilized by conscious choice, and both are important strategies for readers. We had a literature review of TBLT and reading just now. Many teachers have been practicing the implementation of task-based teaching and learning. However we find only a few books and articles about the application of TBLT in English reading teaching. Jane Willis’ A Framework of Task-based Learning, Rod Ellis’ Task-based Language Learning and Teaching have mentioned how to teach reading with TBLT. And we may find some articles discussing this problem in magazines, newspapers or on the Internet. There’s a need to have a further study on the implementation of TBLT in reading class.2.4 Reading Tasks 2.4.1 Definition of Reading Tasks When we try to give a definition to a reading task, first of all, we’d better have a look at the definitions of task given by different education experts. In Chapter Two, we have made a list of definitions of task. Though these definitions emphasize different aspects of tasks, they have something in common. According to these definitions, the writer gives a definition to a reading task like this: A reading task is a piece of work based on reading materials and reading comprehension. Students do different kinds of activities by using what they are learning now and their schemata to achieve a certain reading purpose. By doing so, students understand the text, learn and use the new expressions and try to improve their comprehensive ability to use English in real life.2.4.2 Features of Reading Tasks Skehan made a summary of the general features of a task in his book A cognitive Approach To Language Learning. He thought there are five key characteristics of a task (1995:95) (1) M(2) There is a communicative
(3) There is some sort of relationship to comparable real- (4) Task completi (5) The assessment of the task is in terms of outcomes. Similarly we may find that reading tasks have the following characteristics: (1) It usually aims at a reading purpose that may happen both in their study and everyday life. (2) The input is mainly in the form of printed or written words. (3) Reading comprehension is the basis of a reading task. (4) Task completion comes first. The teacher has to allow students to try every means to finish the task. (5) The quality of the outcome of a reading task is the key factor when we evaluate students’ performance during the process of the task completion. 2.4.3 Components of Reading Tasks Nunan(2000:48)suggests that tasks will have six components. They are goals, input, activities, teacher role, student role and settings. In this study, a reading task consists of goals, reading materials, arrangement and evaluation. The writer tries to illustrate the components of a reading task concretely with the help of Teaching Sample 1 in Chapter 3.2 Then let’s demonstrate the components one by one based on this example. 1. Goal On the one hand, the beginning of task design should be the goals that are set out in the syllabus or curriculum guidelines. On the other hand, we also need to take account of the reading objectives in real everyday life. As Nunan(2000:48)said,“Goals provide a point of contact between the tasks and the broader curriculum…A reading program can be designed to provide learners with skills to carry out the hundred and one reading tasks that from looking up a program in the T.V. guide, to reading the sporting page of the afternoon newspaper. On the other hand, it might be designed to develop the specialized reading skills needed for studying successfully in a second language. Given the importance throughout the world of English as a medium of instruction at the tertiary level, it’s not surprising that a great deal has been written about these second, specialized reading goals.” In teaching sample 1, students learn to describe a person to their partners and identify the person their partners described. This is likely to happen in real life.And from the sample lesson, we know there isn’t only one purpose in a reading task in most situations and a complex task, which involves a series of activities, may have several goals as well. In addition there is rarely a simple one-to-one relationship between goals and tasks. In this class, we have five kinds of goals that are requested in the new English curriculum. At the same time, some activities are done to achieve the same objective. The problem is what the goals of a reading task are? Then it’s necessary for us to discuss why people who learn English as a second language and read English materials in their daily life. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of purposes: (1) Reading for information Most people read in order to get some information they need in their ever life. For example, when people want to go abroad, they look for the information and read some materials about the country they will go. However, a lot of people read news in English to know what happening around the world. In English reading classes, students often try to get useful information to do reading tasks. (2) Reading for study Both students and some adults also read for their study. Study here has meanings. As for students study means reading to learn a foreign language as well as to improve their reading skills and strategies. However some adults read to help research. Most scientists have to read books written in English to help them know more about what they are studying. In this thesis, we care for both of them. (3) Reading for fun Why do many people love reading? The major reason is reading bring happiness. We read jokes, stories, novels, poems, or letters from friends etc. to enjoy ourselves in our spare time. 2. Reading materials The input of a reading task is usually printed or written in English. In real classes, we often call it reading materials. The problem is where we can get the suitable reading materials. Of course, the textbook is a main resource. However, in current society, we get information we need easily in many different ways. For example, we may get it from the Internet, a library, magazines, newspapers, popular songs, and students’ homework and so on. A good and convenient way is to make the best use of newspapers and the exercises. 3. Arrangement After making the goals and choosing the reading materials, it is the time to arrange the class. Thisis a major part in a reading task. In this part, it includes activities, forms of how to complete tasks, settings, teaching procedures, teacher’s role and students’ role. Let’s have a discussion in details. (1) Activities Nunan said (2000:59) that activities specify what learners will actually do with the input, which forms the point of departure for the learning task. In Teaching Sample 1 of Chapter 4.2, we have 11 activities to finish the tasks and to achieve the teaching purposes. There are different kinds of activities in this lesson, such as writing, guessing games, short speech, match, memory challenge, listening and drawing, telling differences, etc. (2). Forms Forms mean how the students finish the task. Students may work in pairs, in groups or do it alone. Forms also mean how students show their outcomes of their tasks. Sometimes they may share their outcome by acting. Sometimes they may make a poster. Sometimes they do a survey and give an oral report or written one. In Teaching Sample 1, students are supposed to write a short article in pre-task phase before class. The outcome is a composition. In Activity 2, Step 1, students show the teacher if they understand by sitting down. However in Activity 4, Step 2, students show us their outcomes by drawing a picture. Forms are usually restricted by available conditions now that the students and the teachers have. (3) Teaching Procedures We usually carry out a task-based reading teaching by following certain teaching procedures designed before class by teachers. Teaching procedures tell students and the teacher what activities to do, when and how to do them. (4) Settings Settings refer to the following two things in a task-based class. First, how should we decorate the classroom so that students will be more interested and feel more comfortable in learning? Second, we have to think about the allotment of time. This is very important when we design a lesson. How much time do we need to finish a task? How much time should we spend in pre-reading phase? And how much time should we give to students for their reports? For every procedure, we should think about the matter of time. (5)Teacher’s role and students’ role English teachers now have realized that the role of teachers and students are quite different and become more complex. What’s more, it differs in type because of goals, activities, input and some situations. In a task-based reading class, the role of a teacher and students shifts from one to another frequently in a class. Roles of a teacher may be a guide, a host, a monitor, a manager, afacilitator, a partner, a helper or a judge and so on. Roles of students can perhaps be a speaker, an actor, a listener, a news reporter, a drawer, an interviewer etc. Their roles are the ones that they are likely to be in a real learning or living situation. 4. Evaluation Why do we need evaluation? Every time when students finish a task, it’s necessary for both teachers and students to reflect and evaluate how they perform in a task completion, what they have learned in this class and how much they have mastered. On the other hand, it’s a good chance for us to learn from failure. We try to find the problems we have had in order to accumulate experiences about how to do the tasks and how to use English better. In this way, we will do better next time. (1). Contents of Evaluation Though the evaluation of a reading task is in terms of outcomes, we also take these factors into account: If the students use English whi If they use English co If they use the new items they have learned in the lesson as
If they do it in If everyone has done something f If the report accor If they have already mastered wha… (2) Ways of Evaluation Of course scores always reveal how well the students learn directly. This is often called terminal assessment. Nevertheless, we often have formative assessment before, in or after a task-based reading class. Small quizzes, exercises or some games are helpful for teachers to know how students have learned.Observation is a good way to know the students’ performance. If possible, take some notes and then give your comments to the students at the end of the class or sometime when it’s necessary. There are other ways supplied by professional educators. Sometimes we may adopt their suggestions, especially when we have difficulties in measuring or testing students’ reading ability more objectively. (3)Evaluators Who gives the evaluation? Teachers are usually the leading role in both formative and terminal evaluations. They organize all kinds of tests or quizzes and correct the test papers and give the marks to show how well the students study in a given period of time. They are also important evaluators to monitor the process of the students’ learning. Thus they are able to give advice and comments on their further study. Besides teachers, students’ parents are good evaluators. They have a close relationship with the students who are evaluated. So they may evaluate from different aspects of students’ study. In addition, we may have an evaluation committee formed by students, teachers and parents. In this way, we may get a more comprehensive evaluation.2.4.4 Types of Reading Tasks A reading task is a piece of meaning-focused work involving learners in comprehending, producing and interacting in the target language, and that tasks are categorized according to the goals, input reading materials, activities, arrangement and evaluation. In fact, tasks have different types according to different criteria. For example: According to the forms of task completion, there are tasks in class, in groups or solo tasks. There are also opened tasks and closed tasks. According to the places where the students finish the tasks, we have two types of tasks, in-class tasks and after-class tasks. According to the time that we need to finish a reading task, there are immediate tasks, short-term tasks and long-term tasks. According to the ways to get and transfer information, tasks are usually classified by English educators into three kinds: information gap activities, reasoning gap activities and opinion gap activities (qtd. from Li Hua, 2004:18). These are the ways adopted in this study. Information-gap activitiesThere are four kinds of information gaps. -Gap between the text and the students’ schemata. -Gap between students and the teacher. -Gap between students and students. -Gap between students’ current need and background knowledge. Let’s take the task before class in Teaching Sample1 for example. Though the reading in Unit 1, Book 2B talks about robots, nearly all the students know something different about robots before class. This causes a gap between students’ schemata and the text. And what the teacher knows is different from what students know. This is another gap between the teacher and students. The same thing happens among students. The information they know differs from each other, which forms the third kind of gap. Finally, when students are asked to look for information about robots, they will show different interests about different aspects of robots. That will bring different needs to students. However, students maybe know little about the things that they are interested in. This is the last information gap. Reasoning-gap activities These activities include deriving some new information from given information through processes of Induction, Deduction, Practical reasoning, A perception of relationships or patterns Opinion-gap activities Different people will have different ideas about the same topic. In a reading class, students are very often asked for personal opinions or asked to have a discussion or debate. In performing these activities, students may use factual information and formulating arguments to justify their opinions. These activities include: -identifying and articulating a personal preference -expressing personal feelings -giving personal response to a given situation such as story completion -taking part in the discussion or debate of some issues Another way adopted in this study is given by Willis. Reading tasks are task-based. She believes that reading tasks aim to encourage natural and efficient reading strategies, focusing initially on retrieval of sufficient relevant meaning for the purpose of the task. This will entail both holisticprocessing, i.e. gaining an overall impression, and picking up detailed linguistic clues: a combination of what are commonly called ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ processes. She shows us six kinds of tasks (). This way makes task designing more explicit and easier. Prediction This is also a reading strategy to help students understand the material better. Before reading students can make predictions based on -the title -non-linguistic features like pictures or diagrams -linguistic features, such as boldfaced words or figures -their own schemata, i.e. background knowledge While reading, students make further predictions based on fast reading to have a deeper comprehension. After reading, students make other predictions based on an overall comprehension. Jumbles It seems more like games. When we do jumble tasks, students are given a series of words, phrases, sentences or maybe sections or parts of a complete text, but in the wrong order. Students have to read or hear the text and decide in which order they would be the best. This often requires quite deep understanding of the text, and an appreciation of the coherence of the whole meaning. These tasks help students understand the passage more logically. Restoration tasks A teacher may do it like this: -omit some key words, phrases or even sentences from the text, then ask students to fill in the blanks. -ask students to add extra sentences to the text. -make a list of the items that are mentioned as well as the ones that are not mentioned in the article. Ask students to discuss and judge. ComparisonWhen do we make a comparison? Children often play this kind of game to improve their ability of observation. But they only try to find the differences between two pictures. In reading classes, we make comparisons in different situations. For example, when we learn the passage IF I BECOME AN ATHLETE, WILL I BE HAPPY? (Unit 5, Book 2B), students are expected to make a comparison of different jobs and decide what they are going to be. When we learn the passage WOULD YOU MIND KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN?(Unit 7,Book2B),the students try to find the different etiquette in different cultures and in different situations. So you see, we make comparisons when it is necessary. In fact, our life are full of comparisons every day, from buying toothpaste to choosing schools for children, from seeing a movie to making a plan for vacation. Whenever we want to make a decision, we need to compare different choices. Memory challenge tasks These tasks are designed to foster students’ ability to read fast and memorize as many things as possible in limited time. They are based on the fact that different people will notice and remember different things from a text they have read fast. We can do them in different ways. We may show students a picture for a minute or more and then ask questions or do “True” or “False” exercises to check how much information the students remember. We may also ask students to give a performance, maybe a short show, and then the other students describe what they have remembered. We can also try to read a passage fast and then share what they have30 remembered in class. In practice, there are some other kinds of tasks in reading classes. Retelling This is a very common task in a reading class. Retelling in TBLT reading classes has new forms. Teachers design some activities that are likely to happen in real life. For example, when we learn the passage WHY DON’T YOU LEARN TO SING ENGLISH SONGS? (Unit 8 Book2B), we designed a task――who is the best journalist? Students work in pairs. one is a journalist, the other is the interviewee. They are asked to make an interview. The group who find the most interesting news about the contest of singing popular English songs will be the best journalist. In this way, students try to read and understand the passage very well. At the same time, they need to think about how to finish the task in a creative way and how to make the best use of the passage. There are some other forms like giving a short speech based on the text, writing a summary for a magazine, making conversations or short plays etc. BrainstormStudents usually discuss or debate in order to find some new or creative ideas about a certain theme mentioned in a text. Survey or interview Students make a survey or interview to get the data. By analyzing the data, students will draw a conclusion and give a report orally or in written form. Writing There are a lot of opportunities for students to imitate the text to write a composition, a letter, a report or other kinds of articles. Problem solving Very often, the reading materials talk about problems that students also have in their life. Thus they get an opportunity to help each other to solve the problem by using what they learn. 2.4.5 Features of Junior English Reading In Junior English, students meet different kinds of reading materials. The author has shown some junior English reading materials in the textbook GO FOR IT in Appendix B. These materials have these features: (1)The materials are getting more and more difficult step by step. (2)The contents are becoming more and more complex gradually. (3)They have a close relationship to students’ life. (4)The styles of the reading materials are various. (5)There are usually more than two passages in a unit. (6)Different materials have different goals to achieve. (7)The length of the passages is shorter than those in senior English, but much longer than those in the old textbooks of juni