A task comprises the varieties of purposeful activities which exist in everyday life, at work and at play, and a task has at least three basic features: to achieve an objective; meaning is
emphasized and communicative。 So in our English classroom , the task is a goal-oriented communicative activity in which learners use English to achieve a real outcome。
The task acts as a vehicle for language learning and acquisition。 Tasks should be properly designed so that learners might learn how to combine language forms with language functions。 Tasks should also enable learners to engage themselves in natural speech environments rather than recite the structures they have learned。 As for the task design in our college English teaching
classroom, firstly, it is vital to design tasks focusing on the attainment of particular and specific
goals; secondly, tasks should be designed and chosen to “make the use of structures easier without their being compulsory” (Skehan1998:130); thirdly, it is important to provide the
learners with the most effective opportunity available for the real communication the tasks involve in the context of meaningful language use。 The core of task design is to connect language learning with language use in everyday life and simulate a variety of activities in the real world。文献综述
If we want to design a task accurately, as first, we should consider those five problems:
① Is the goal of the task clear and do the students know what kind of learning they are supposed to be aiming for? In particular, if the goal is linguistic, do they know what language they are trying to work on? If it is not linguistic, what is the role of any eventual goal achievement?
② Is planning presented as strategically valuable,and if so what is it focused on?
③ Is formative feedback provided?
④ If feedback is not provided, are dyads formed so that one of the pair is already an expert in the target domain, and if so, is the expert briefed to allow the novice to participate actively?