Implementing task-based language teaching (TBLT) to teach grammar in English classes in China: using design-based research to explore challenges and strategies

ABSTRACT

This paper aimed to develop culturally appropriate TBLT practices to enable teachers and students in China to employ TBLT to teach grammar in English classes. The study deployed design-based research with a total of 122 students at a Chinese university. The mixed-method study utilised questionnaires with 122 students, interviews with 10 students as two focus groups and autiotaoped group discussions of the focus groups. The findings disclosed several mismatches between teaching and learning traditions in China and the principles of TBLT: (1) The students failed to acquire implicit knowledge while TBLT aimed to enable students to understand what was not explicitly described; (2) The students depended on the teacher’s presentation while TBLT required students to learn independently; (3) The students were reluctant to work in group while TBLT emphasised student-centred learning in group work; and (4) The students required related grammatical input while TBLT required students to obtain holistic acquisition of knowledge. To address these mismatches, main adjustments of TBLT were made: adding grammatical input, encouraging the students to focus on form, to discuss grammar matters and to provide mutual corrective feedback, and emphasising the teacher’s participation into tasks as a facilitator. The study developed new tools that could assist teachers and students to adopt TBLT in a non-Western context.

KEYWORDS:

• Task-based language teaching
• China
• English
• grammar instruction
• design-based research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Yi Ji is currently doing her PhD program at Monash University. She has been working as an EFL teacher in China since 2013. Her major fields of study include language teaching and learning, intercultural teaching, and teaching methodology. Ji's current research focuses on the pedagogic innovations to pursue the cultural appropriateness of some western-based teaching methods in the non-western context.

Thanh Pham has been working in intercultural education and graduate employability for more than 10 years. Her main research interest is to bring various cultural and intellectual resources together to develop so-called ‘global effective pedagogies’. Pham's current research focuses on graduate employability with a focus on exploring new ways of thinking about strategies to enable international students to manage their employability. This approach differs the current approaches to graduate employability which have tended to view the predominance of the skills and competency development as the focal point of graduate employability.

ORCID

Yi Ji http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5168-501X

Thanh Pham http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7001-5011