Communicativeness of activities in EFL primary school classrooms in Nanhai Guangdong, China: teachers'interpretations of task-based language teaching

Abstract

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.