1. education
2. english as a second language

IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to
University: From the Perspective and Perceptions of EFL Teachers
of TBLT in Western China
Feng Teng
Nanning University, China
Abstract
Through a series of designed questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation,
this study finds out that there are overwhelming differences concerning perception
and implementation of TBLT in western China’s secondary school and university
English classroom. These differences deeply affect first-year university students
having a difficult role transition in learning English from secondary school to
university. The difficulties lie in the deep-rooted attitudes towards examination,
learning strategies of passive acceptance, lack of motivation and awareness in tasks.
As TBLT is one emerging central methodology for teaching English in Asian context
(Nunan, 2003), its importance needs to be addressed in western China, especially in
the secondary schools in order to let EFL learners have a smooth transition when they
enter university.
Keywords: Task-based language teaching (TBLT), teacher’s perception and
implementation, students’ role transition, secondary school, university
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
1. Theoretical Background
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has become a hot issue in second language
teaching since 1980s. Although it can be traced back to the early educational research
of Dewey (1916) and Kilpatrick (1918) focusing on the relationship between
democracy and education, it was in the 1980s that TBLT, associated with
communicative language teaching, was adopted as a specific method in L2 teaching
and have attracted increasing interests. As a teaching methodology based on the
constructivist theory of learning and communicative language teaching methodology,
TBLT has received great attention by many linguistic researchers (Breen, Candilin &
Murphy, 1987; Prabhu, 1987; Nunan,1989). Breen (1987) points out that task refer to
a range of “workplans”, and these “workplans” are to help and facilitate learning a
language. And to accomplish a task, one needs particular “objective”, appropriate
“content”, a specific “working procedure” and a range of “outcomes”. Prabbu (1987)
proposes four classroom activities to illustrate task-based teaching which are- “rulefocused activity”, “form-focused activity”, “meaningful activity” and “meaningfocused activity”. The core of task-based teaching lies on the awareness of both
learners and teachers towards the notion of classroom activity. It involves a pedagogic
dialogue between teacher’s questions and learner’s responses. Teacher’s questions are
to invite learners to demonstrate their ability to use language in the specific
meaningful task. David Nunan (1989) stresses that task-based teaching involves
learners to use the linguistic knowledge they have to finish “open-ended tasks”, that
means there is no sole and set way to accomplish this goal. A task means a specific
job or something that the learners need to finish, or some problems that is to be
solved.
TBLT entered a new era in the 1990s and it has been widely used in the field of
applied linguistics as language pedagogy, as a unit of second language syllabus
design, and as an assessment instrument (Crookes & Gass, 1993a, 1993b). Littlewood
(1993a) stresses that tasks are learner-centred activities, and it can help the learners
acquire target language. According to Wills (1996) task belongs to a framework,
which includes “pre-task”, “task cycle”, “language focus”. Language learners have
exposure to the actual use of language at the stage of “pre-task”, then language
learners conduct peer interaction and practice with the linguistic exposure they get,
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
“language focus” gives them the opportunities to focus on specific meaning of the
language. Black and William (1998) propose “formative assessment” for task-based
language teaching and suggest that “formative assessment” is very important to help
the teachers use the information and feedback to facilitate language teachings.
Task-based language teaching reached to its peak with advanced research in the
2000s and the concept of “context” play an important role in TBLT. Bygate, Skehan
and Swain (2000b) believe that tasks are “context-free” (c.f. Ellis, 2000). Rod Ellis
(2000) also stresses that task should not be defined as “value”, instead, it should be a
context-free definition and task has different meaning in different contexts of use.
And Rod Ellis (2000) re-stresses that task is a ‘workplan’; that is, it takes the form of
materials for teaching language. A workplan typically involves the following: (1)
some input (i.e. information that learners are required to process and use); and (2)
some instructions relating to what outcome the learners are supposed to achieve.
Candlin ( 2001) proposes that tasks should be tailored to different needs and demands
of different learners, and a variety of contexts and conditions should be the
background where the tasks are implemented. Ellis (2003) further distinguishes tasks
into “focused” and “unfocused”. Under “unfocused” task, there is no need to make
attempt to induce learners to a linguistic feature, just let it be natural. Under “focused”
task, students should be induced to process a linguistic feature. It could be
deliberately or actively.
When it comes to 2010s, the importance of TBLT in applying language teaching has
become very prominent and the association of TBLT to a specific language
acquisition has become obvious. Newton (2013) points out the incidental vocabulary
learning can be achieved in communicative tasks. But also, TBLT has become
doubtful in some countries. Hu (2013) concludes that teachers in China were very
doubtful of the effectiveness of TBLT in teaching classroom English, and also the
pedagogical practices have not witnessed any significant changes. Even the method of
top-down has been adopted in China.
2. Background to the Study
2.1 TBLT in China
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
The task-based language teaching (TBLT) method has been one of the suggested
teaching methodologies in China since 2001. The core element of teaching English
has shifted from focus on singular linguistic elements to communicative outcome.
Learners learn to speak rather than mechanical memorizing of single morpheme. The
new English language curriculum named “the National English Language Curriculum
Standards” for secondary schools was issued in July of 2001 and was carried out
experimentally in 42 designated national experimental districts throughout China
beginning 1st September, 2001 (MOE, 2001, c.f. Long). From 2003, the application of
TBLT has become widespread in China. In 2011, the latest English language
curriculum standard was amended. According to the new English language
curriculum standard, different needs and characteristics of EFL learners should be
paid attention to. For example, there are differences in terms of developmental stages,
personality, cognitive ability, living district, and only on the basis of satisfying the
needs of EFL learner, these can achieve maximum success in communicative
competency of English. So, TBLT is showing its importance in achieving this goal,
especially the design of TBLT (MOE, 2011).
However, there have been few studies on the practical process of implementing the
task-based language teaching in the context of Mainland China ( Carless, 2004; Zhang
2005; Cheng, 2011; Xiang & Mads, 2012) The similarity of these researches is that
there is limited application of TBLT in China, and most of the researches focus on the
middle schools or primary schools. A very few studies have analyzed how TBLT is
undertaken in university.
2.2 Motivation for this study
The researcher of this study comes from Guangxi, one of the dynamic regions in
western China. As the center of ASEAN, it is getting more and more attention
worldwide. And other western parts of China including Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, are
also facing new opportunities and challenges as China began to focus on developing
the western part. One of the challenges is the practical use of English. Thus teaching
English is not only a subject at both secondary school and university, but also a local
and social requirement. In 2003, there were several curriculum innovations in ELT
launched by Guangxi education bureau in terms of pedagogy, syllabus, assessment,
and teaching materials. For example, how to improve students’ ability to
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
communicate in English, how to let students have cooperative learning strategy, how
to conduct off-school task-based learning in secondary school (Guangxi EOB, 2003).
It has been 10 years since this revolution in English teaching methodology was
launched. So, it is necessary and meaningful to conduct research or investigation on
whether these innovations have achieved any fundamental changes in ELT in middle
schools and university, and whether traditional teacher-dominated, knowledgetransmitting and grammar-based methods are still prevalent in ELT paradigms.
Secondly, the researcher being the university English teacher feels the need to
investigate the subject as TBLT is being considered as a troubled and an impossible
task, not fit even to the local needs of teaching by the collogues. So, it is meaningful
to conduct a more through investigation to find out whether TBLT is effective in both
secondary school and university.
Thirdly, out of the researcher’s teaching experience to university first-year student,
the researcher observed that there is a big gap for the students to make transition from
middle school to university. EFL teaching begins from Grade 1 in junior schools and
when the learner enters university, they have already learnt this language for about 6
to 7 years. But their learning strategy is still on the stage of mechanical memorizing,
not to mention the practical language use. They are afraid of taking part in any
English activities or tasks. So, it is also meaningful to make a comparison on the
differences of applying TBLT in middle school and university and how it affects
learner’s performance.
2.3 Significance of this study
The major objective of this study is to investigate how TBLT is perceived and
conducted by EFL teachers in both secondary school and university. It can provide
new insights to curriculum and methodology innovators in Western China in terms of
the implementation of TBLT. It can also help teachers change what happens in the
classroom by using an effective methodology. This suits with the scenario proposed
by Swan (1985) which is to change learner’s low proficiency in classroom
comprehension tasks. That is changing what happens in the classroom not what
happens in the learner himself (p. 8).
This study also analyzes whether EFL learner’s role transition from secondary school
to university gets affected regarding the implementation of TBLT. This study can help
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
the EFL teachers in secondary schools to have a more profound understanding of
TBLT and how its practical use in English teaching classrooms will affect the
learner’s role transition to university. And also, it can help university teachers to
adopt an effective methodology in classroom which can help first-year students make
a transition to learn English in university.
2.4 Research Questions
The study aims to find out the answers to the following research questions1) Is it really difficult for the EFL learners in middle school to make a transition to
university and do they find it hard to accept university English teaching?
2) What are secondary school EFL teachers’ perceptions of TBLT?
3) What are university EFL teachers’ perceptions of TBLT?
4) What are the differences concerning the perception of TBLT between middle
school and university? Does that affect EFL learners in middle school to make a
transition to university English teaching?
3. Research methodology
The study adopted multiple-method design which includes: qualitative methods
(interviews and classroom observation) and quantitative methods (questionnaire).
To understand whether it is difficult for the EFL learners to make a transition to
university in learning English, a qualitative questionnaire and interviews were used to
assess the EFL learners’ difficult role transition.
As Tom Good puts it, "one role of observation research is to describe what takes place
in classrooms in order to delineate the complex practical issues that confront
practitioners" (p. 337). To understand EFL learner’s performance and the
implementation of TBLT, classroom observation was used to evaluate the process.
3.1 Participants and setting
The participants of the questionnaire were the EFL teachers in secondary schools and
universities and also university first year students. For the interview part, a
comfortable and relaxed setting was quite important since all the participants were
university first year students. The 20 participants were chosen from different majors,
in order to let them talk everything needs to be natural. The setting for conducting
classroom observation should be very relaxed and natural. The first classroom
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
observation was to be taken in high school, and a speaking class for university first
year student was also observed to make comparison.
3.2 Procedures
To understand university first-year students’ thoughts about the differences of
learning English in secondary school and university, 800 university first year students
were offered questionnaires out of which 519 returned the answered questionnaires.
For the interview, 20 university first-year students from different majors were chosen
randomly. All the contents of the interview were transcribed. The results were
discussed in contrast with the results of the questionnaire I.
In order to understand
FEL teacher’s perception and implementation of TBLT in secondary and university,
questionnaire II (see Appendix IIII) was designed and used. 30 middle schools were
visited in May and 400 teachers were requested to take part in the questionnaire out of
which 390 teachers actively participated. All the schools are located in Guangxi
province. 100 teachers in secondary school from other provinces including Gan Su,
Yun Nan, Gui zhou province, which are all in the western part of China, were also
sent the questionnaires but only 30 teachers mailed back the answered questionnaires.
There are more than 30 universities in Guangxi and most of them are connected, so it
was easy to request 500 teachers from different background to take part in this
questionnaire. The different backgrounds helped in collecting richer data for this
study. Out of the collected responses 412 responses are marked as useful and 380
responses were analyzed in order to have fair comparison with the responses from
secondary schools.
For the classroom observation, high school class and a university class were observed
and videotaped. The data was compared with the data from the questionnaire and
interview.
4. Data Collection and analysis
Every procedure of the study was dealt with caution in order to get plausible and
detailed answer. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) version 19.0 for
windows was used to analyze the data. For all the questionnaires in this study, fivepoints likert scales were used, strongly disagree=1, disagree=2, no comments=3,
agree=4, strongly agree=5.
4.1 Questionnaire 1
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
Appendix I is used and 519 responses were obtained from this. The students were
from different parts of western China and of different background. They have
different proficiency levels. But they share the similarity that they have learnt English
for 7 years and have never studied abroad. This appendix is to understand first-year
students’ ideas of whether there are differences between English teaching in middle
school and university and whether they have good role transition from middle school
to university. All the data were analyzed. The means and standard deviation were
calculated to compare and contrast the findings.
Table 1 First-year students’ perception of English classes in secondary school and
university (n=519)
Question
SD/D(%) NC(%) SA/A(%) M
SD
38.6
38.7
3.16 0.76
1．I like university English course 22.7
very much
2. I think university English is very 29.2
38.4
32.4
3.03 0.78
interesting and creative
3. I think it is too hard to follow 23
19.4
57.6
3.15 0.76
university English course
4. I think there are many tasks to 28.6
9.7
61.7
3.33 0.89
finish in university English course.
5. I think the learning style is 12.9
5.9
81.2
3.69 0.68
different from secondary school
6. I think learning English in 5.6
1.9
92.5
3.87 0.46
secondary school is for examination
7. I think learning English in 42.2
29
28.8
2.83 0.82
university is for examination
8. Why I learn English in university 37.8
23.5
38.7
3.01 0.87
is that I really want to learn it well
9. I think my learning style has been 7.6
5.7
86.7
3.79 0.56
influenced by the way in secondary
school
10. I think the way of learning 31.8
38.6
29.6
2.98 0.78
English in university is better than in
secondary school
Note: SD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree NC=No Comment SA=Strongly Agree A=
Agree M=Mean Score SD=Standard Deviation
From table 1, concerning question 3, most students believe that it is very difficult to
follow and learn English course in university (SD/D 23%, SA/A 57.6%). In response
to question 4, most students believe there are more tasks in university English course
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
than in secondary school (SD/D 28.6%, SA/A 61.7%). About question 5(SD/D
12.9%, SA/A 81.2%) , this particularly indicates that students have the awareness that
learning style is different in university, and if you want to learn English well, you
need to change your learning style. From question 6 (SD/D 5.6%, SA/A 92.6%), it
can be understood that the core aim of English learning or teaching in secondary
school is for examination. And when students enter into university, it is very difficult
to change their learning style because their learning style has been greatly influenced
by the way in secondary school (Question 9 SD/D 7.6%, SA/A 86.7%). For questions
1,2,7,8,10, the data might not be compared because the gap of the outcome is not big,
and some of the untrue data from the students need to be considered.
4.2 Semi-structured interview
In this interview, a series of eight questions were asked to find our first-year students’
perceptions about the strategic differences of learning English between secondary
school and university (see Appendix II). When it comes to the question of what did
you learn English for when you were in secondary school? The answer was ‘for
examination’ (Transcript1 (T1), T2, T4, T6, T7, T8, T9, T11, T12, T13, T14, T15,
T17, T20), that counts for 70%. The purpose of learning English in university was
also examination (T1, T2, T6, T9, T13, T17), that is for 30% students. Other students
think learning English can help find a better job (T3, T4, T5, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11,
T12, T14, and T15). This is according to 55% participants. Nobody thinks that the
textbooks in secondary school are interesting and only three people (T3, T10, and
T16) think the textbooks in university are interesting. What they always did in English
classroom of secondary school were exercises and tests (T1, T4, T6, T9, T11, T14,
T15, T16, T17, T18, T19, and T20). The proportional rate is 60%. What they do in
university English is just listening and no activities (T1, T3, T6, T7, T11, T15, T16).
That is according to the 35% of the participants. What they do in university English is
just listening but sometimes they have tasks (T2, T4, T8, T12, T18, T19). It is also
according to the 35% of the participants. When it comes to the question whether there
are differences between teaching English in secondary and university, the answer was
‘yes’ (T, T2, T4, T5, T6, T7, T9, T10, T11, T12, T13, T15, T16, T18, T20). That is
according to 75% of the participants. However, no negative answer was recorded,
only some students avoided to answer the questions.
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
www.eltsjournal.org
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
4.3 Classroom observation
The use of classroom observation was to have a vivid understanding of actual
language teaching in terms of using TBLT in secondary school and university. It was
also a way to collect data about learners’ behaviors in English classroom context. The
classroom observation continued for a month, and three typical lessons were chosen
and videotaped based on the teaching plan and teacher’s availability.
The majority of teacher A’s ( Zhang’s) lessons were about instructions and exercises
and can be analyzed through several stages (See Appendix III). The first stage in a
new class was to have a quick preview of the language points learnt from the last
lesson. The second stage was to learn a new passage or new grammar points. The
third stage was to allocate students to finish the exercises. The last stage was to
explain the answer of the exercises. Some of the classroom tasks like role-play were
designed based on the dialogues in the textbooks, but unfortunately, most chapters of
the textbooks were about language points, and some additional exercises textbooks
were required to be purchased for the examination. In teacher B’s (Marek’s ) class, a
new topic was introduced in each lesson (See Appendix III). In each lesson, at least a
task was designed to facilitate the use of language involving the topic. The tasks
included presentation, role-play, and debate with a clear purpose of improving
learners’ commutative competency in real-life context and tried to provide more
opportunities to have actual language use. And this purpose was in line with the
requirements of TBLT. The unsatisfied point was that learners were not fully engaged
in the tasks. It is always the same active learners only who were taking part in the
tasks. Most of the EFL learners were greatly affected by the way of learning in
secondary school which is sitting and listening and waiting for the explanation.
4.4 Questionnaire 2
This is specified in the Appendix IIII and from this 380 responses are obtained.
Table 2 Teachers in university have a better awareness of TBLT than teachers in
secondary school n=380
Part I perception towards TBLT SD/D(%)
NC(%) SA/A(%) M
SD
1.I am familiar with the theory SC 5.3
13.7
81
3.76 0.53
of TBLT
UNI 5.1
11
83.9
3.79 0.50
2. I am familiar with the practice of
SC 23.1
20.2
56.7
3.34 0.82
TBLT
UNI 13.2
6.4
80.4
3.68 0.69
3. TBLT is a student-centeredSC 46.1
23.1
30.8
2.85 0.86
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
method
UNI 30.1
15.4
54.5
3.25 0.88
4. TBLT focuses on the meaning SC 30.2
15.2
54.6
3.25 0.88
UNI 16.5
6.4
77.1
3.61 0.75
5. TBLT focuses on grammar
SC 63.8
23.1
13.1
2.50 0.71
UNI 81.8
10.1
8.1
2.26 0.59
6. Test should be used to assessSC 45.1
30.1
24.8
2.80 0.81
TBLT
UNI 58.6
38.1
3.3
2.45 0.55
7. TBLT is the same with com SC 43.1
23.2
33.7
2.91 0.87
municative language teaching
UNI 56.2
13.5
30.3
2.74 0.89
Note: SD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree NC=No Comment SA=Strongly Agree A=
Agree M=Mean Score SD=Standard Deviation SC=secondary school UNI=university
From table 2, concerning the perception of TBLT, most of the EFL teachers in secondary
schools and universities have a clear understanding of the theory and practice. Although
university teachers seem to have a more thorough understanding than secondary school
teachers (SC 81%, UNI 83.9%, SC 76.7% and UNI 81.4%). The gap is narrow and
considering the slight difference of collected useful responses, this point can be
neglected. Most of the secondary and university English teachers think test is not
necessary for assessing the performances of TBLT (SC 45.1%, UNI 58.6%) and TBLT
does not focuse on grammar, especially the university English teacher (SC 45.1%, UNI
65.2%, SC 63.8% and UNI 81.8%). The unexpected point is that there are many teachers
who don’t believe TBLT is student-centered, especially the secondary school teacher (SC
46.1%, UNI 30.1%).
Table 3 Teachers in universities have a better implementation of TBLT than teachers in
secondary school n=380
Part I Implementation of TBLT
SD/D(%)
NC(%) SA/A(%) M
SD
8. Our school requires us to use
SC 39.4
TBLT
UNI 9.5
9. I often use TBLT in my teaching SC 56.6
UNI 21.7
10. Our school gives supports on
SC 43.6
using TBLT
UNI 3.8
11. It is very difficult to implementSC 47
TBLT
UNI 16.7
12. In the process of teaching with
SC 61.7
TBLT, the students are very
UNI 40.7
passionate
30.5
20
20.3
63.2
23.2
1
30
33.1
25.1
30.1
70.5
23.1
15.1
33.2
95.2
23
50.2
13.2
2.91
3.61
2.67
3.42
2.90
3.92
2.68
3.34
2.52
0.82
0.65
0.83
0.82
0.87
0.37
0.72
0.74
0.72
23.1
36.2
2.96
0.87
International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2308-5460
July-September, 2013
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IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: 2
EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
Teng, Feng
13. Students’ inactive involve-ment is the main reason of
avoiding using TBLT
14. It is impossible to use TBLT
because of the
important
examination
SC 55.9
24.1
20
2.64
0.79
UNI 25
SC 16.5
25
23
50
60.5
3.25
3.44
0.82
0.75
UNI 46.4
13.6
40
2.94
0.92
Note: SD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree NC=No Comment SA=Strongly Agree
A= Agree M=Mean Score
SD=Standard Deviation SC=secondary school
UNI=university
From table 3, firstly, the secondary school does not require or give any supports on
implementing TBLT in English classroom. On the contrary, most universities give
emphasis on TBLT(SC 30.1%, UNI 70.5%, SC 33.2% and UNI 95.2%). Under this
situation, more EFL teachers in universities than secondary school use TBLT in
teaching English (SC 23.1%, UNI 63.2%). Although examination is not so important
in universities as in secondary schools (SC 60.5 %, UNI 40%), but because of
students’ inactive performance and insufficient passion in joining the tasks (SC20%,
UNI 50%, SC 13.2% and UNI 36.2%), one half of the EFL teachers in universities
think it difficult to implement TBLT in English classroom, not even the teachers in
secondary school (SC 23%, UNI 50.2%).
Table 4 Few EFL teachers have a positive view about using TBLT n=380
Part III Reflections after using SD/D(%)
NC(%) SA/A(%)
TBLT
15. TBLT brings pressure SC 8.6
10.2
81.2
instead of help
UNI 35.6
1.3
63.1
16. TBLT is better than SC 58.7
15.2
26.1
grammarUNI 46.2
13.2
40.6
-translation
method
in
classroom
17.
TBLT
brings
more SC 26.7
23.1
50.2
opportunities for students to UNI 14.6
12.2
73.2
speak English
18. The current textbooks are SC 44.3
32.7
23
useful for implementing TBLT
UNI 41.6
25.4
33
19. I think TBLT can be SC 56
23
21
applied effectively in Western UNI 50.7
15.3
34
China
20. I think TBLT is appropriate SC 59
21
20
for the students in Western UNI 56
20
24
M
SD
3.73
3.28
2.77
2.95
0.60
0.95
0.89
0.93
3.24
3.59
0.84
0.73
2.79
2.92
2.65
2.83
0.79
0.86
0.80
0.90
2.61
2.70
0.80
0.85
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China
21. TBLT lets students have the SC 31
23
46
3.15 0.86
motivation to learn English
UNI 10.3
24.2
65.5
3.56 0.67
22. TBLT will let students SC 51.3
15.2
33.5
2.82 0.90
understand what they lack in UNI 42.5
12.3
45.2
3.02 0.93
learning English
23. Teaching in a large class is SC 48.6
2.5
48.9
2.91 0.93
difficult to conduct TBLT
UNI 10.2
1.3
88.5
3.79 0.60
24. TBLT can improve students’ SC 64.5
23
12.5
2.48 0.71
results in examination
UNI 49.2
15
35.8
3.87 0.91
Note: SD=Strongly Disagree D=Disagree NC=No Comment SA=Strongly Agree
A= Agree M=Mean Score
SD=Standard Deviation SC=secondary school
UNI=university
The shocking point learned from table 4 is that TBLT brings more pressure than help
for the EFL teachers, especially the secondary schools teachers(SC 80.2%, UNI
63.1%), and few EFL teachers think TBLT is better than the traditional grammartranslation method (SC 26.1%, UNI 40.6%). Although more than half of the teachers
think TBLT can provide more chances for students to speak English (SC 50.2%, UNI
73.2%) and let students have the motivation to learn English (SC 46%, UNI 65.6%),
few teachers think TBLT is appropriate for the students in western China (SC 20%,
UNI 24%) and can be applied effectively in western China (SC 21%, UNI 34 %). The
similar problem for the EFL teachers in secondary schools and universities is the
inappropriate textbook (SC 44.3%, UNI 41.6%). The main problem for university
teachers behind not using TBLT is the large size of the classes (88.5%). The main
difficulty for the EFL teachers in secondary school is the examination as few teachers
think TBLT useful for examination (SC12.5%, UNI 35.8%).
4.5 Results and Discussion
For the mentioned question1, it is difficult for the EFL learners in middle schools to
make a transition to university and they find it hard to accept university English
teaching. It is also clear from questionnaire 1 that most of the first-year students think
the teaching in secondary school is for examination, and when they enter university, it
is difficult for them to learn English in a way that should be active. They may get
good results in examination, but when comes to the output ability of speaking or
writing, it is quite impossible for them to perform. They have stored the input they
receive, and then they transform their input into the sole goal of examination. Mixed
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feelings can be found from the students. They think the goal for leaning English in
secondary school is for examination, but nobody wants to escape from this reality.
More than half of them also know learning English in university can help get a better
job after graduation. But very few students want to change their learning strategies.
Most of them just sit in the classroom and choose to be passive recipients to accept
what the teacher teaches. They all agree that there are differences in learning English
between secondary school and university, but they won’t take the initiative to change
it.
For the mentioned questions 2 & 3, the findings of teachers’ perceptions and
implementations of TBLT from the questionnaires and interviews are in accordance
with the evidence from the classroom observation. The implementation of TBLT in
university is insufficient but the rate is still higher than secondary school. That means
TBLT is not totally used in university and very few secondary schools use TBLT in
their classroom teaching. Mixed feelings can also be found amongst the teachers.
More than 80% of teachers think that they understand the theory and the practice of
TBLT. However, they seem not to have a complete understanding of the theories.
Some common misconceptions, inadequate understanding could be found from the
questionnaires about TBLT, particularly in response to TBLT, almost one half of the
teachers think TBLT should be teacher-centered. The teachers should control and
dominate the classroom. Many teachers think the school does not give any supports
on implementing TBLT, but they also do not take the initiative to use this method by
themselves. More than 80% of teachers think TBLT brings more pressure than help.
And they also do not change this situation. Even more than 70% of the teachers still
think TBLT can provide more chances to speak English. Many teachers think the
textbook materials are inappropriate and TBLT is not an appropriate method in
western China. They are doubtful about the effectiveness of TBLT and they are
unsatisfied with a large class. And the lessons are still used for examination.
However, more than 60% of the teachers think that TBLT can let students have the
motivation to learn English.
For the mentioned question 4, the differences in implementing TBLT between
secondary schools and university deeply affect first-year students’ performances in
the class as can be seen from the questionnaire and classroom observation. A
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EFL Learner’s Difficult Role Transition from Secondary School to University
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mismatch can be seen from the implementation of TBLT in university with the
performances and involvement shown from the students. Learning English is no
longer for examination in university, but more than 30% of the students think that to
the pass of English examination weighs everything. When students have so many
tasks in the class that they have always dreamt of in secondary school, their attitudes
become passive and they just want to escape from the activities. Many first-year
students want to speak English as they had wished in secondary, but when they need
to speak English, they become afraid of showing themselves.
5. Conclusion
In a learning setting, where Chinese is the medium of instruction and examination is
the main aim of study, the success of learning a foreign language lies in the changing
of classroom practice from the traditional teacher-centered way to a student-centered
leaning practice. TBLT is an increasingly important in getting EFL learners acquire
communicative competency by providing more opportunities to be exposed to more
actual language use. Nunan (2003) points out TBLT as one emerging central concept
in many Asian context including China based on a series of interviews with teachers,
educators.
However, it can be critically found that TBLT is not implemented in China from this
study, especially the western part of China, a region where economy is under
developing and not so prosperous. Although the implementation of TBLT in
universities is more widespread than secondary schools, TBLT has not yet been
adopted empirically in classroom practice, especially in secondary schools. Not only
EFL learners in secondary school have limited accessibility to use English in their
daily life, they also need to memorize specific linguistic points again and again in
classroom in order to pass the examination. It is a big gap and it is difficult for EFL
learners in secondary school to adjust their learning style when they enter university.
The limitation of this study can be shown from the participants who were involved in
the study. Because of time constraints and also without any authority power to expand
the scope of the questionnaire, it didn’t get full and in-depth responses. And also
when visited the 30 schools and had a face-to-face instruction, most of the responses
were helpful. But other data received from other regions might be misleading without
face-to-face instruction. This study only gives insight on how the EFL learners’
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learning style in university are influenced by the way in secondary school due to the
insufficient implementation of TBLT in secondary school. This study does not probe
into how and to what extent the differences of implementing TBLT between
secondary schools and universities influenced EFL learners.
The study of the EFL learners’ transition from secondary school to university is a
wide and vast topic which can be analyzed from a more micro perspective. This study
focuses on the macro perspective. A micro and in-depth perspective of analyzing
learner language, acquisition process, learning strategy is also a good way to study
role transition from secondary school to university in Chinese context.
About the Author:
Feng Teng is a lecturer and researcher in English with the department of English,
Nanning University, China. He has done intensive research on the TBLT (Task-Based
Language Teaching) in China specially in the regions like Guangxi, one of the
dynamic regions in western China, and other western parts of China including
Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu to investigate the EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions
towards this methodology and approach of teaching and difficulties and challenges
faced by them while implementing this concept in ELT. This paper is a part of this
research.
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Appendix I
Questionnaire 1
Years of learning English _____
Experiences of studying abroad ______(yes/no)
Gender ______
Come from_______
Major _______
According to strongly disagree ( 1 ) disagree 2 no comments ( 3 ) agree 4
agree 5 , please write the number at the bracket.
1 I like university English course very much
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
2. I think university English very interesting and creative
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
3. I think it too hard to follow university English course
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
strongly
4. I think there are many tasks to finish in university English course.
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
5. I think the learning style different from secondary school
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
6. I think learning English in secondary school is for examination
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
7. I think learning English in university is for examination
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
8. Why I learn English in university is that I really want to learn it well
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
9. I think my learning style has been influenced by the way in secondary school
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
10. I think the way of learning English in university is better than in secondary school
strongly disagree ( ) disagree no comments ( ) agree
strongly agree
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Appendix II Interviews questions for the students
1) Why did you learn English When you were middle school?
2). Why do you learn English When you are at university now?
3) What do you think about the textbook you are using? Is the textbook interesting?
Do they have any difference from the textbook used in middle school?
4) What did you normally do in your English lessons in middle school?
5) What do you normally do in your English lessons in university?
6) What kinds of activities did you have in the middle school English lessons?
7) What kinds of activities do you have in university English lessons?
8) What do you think about university English teaching? Do you think there are any
differences between middle school and university English teaching? If so, what are
they?
Appendix III Summary of classroom observation
Teacher A (Zhang)
Lesson 1 April 8th , 2013
0’00 Greeting
10’30 Review
20’18 teacher instruction
25’23 students’ self-study
40’00 Exercises explanation
Lesson 2 April 15th, 2013
0’00 Greeting
11’00 Review of the main points in last lesson
30’37 learn a new passage
40’00 learn the language points in the new passage
Lesson 3 April 22nd, 2013
0’00 Greeting
9’38 Review of the main points in last lesson
15’20 Role-play of the conversation
20’10 teacher comments
30’30 vocabulary learning
40’00 Dictation
Teacher B (Marek)
Lesson 1 April 9th, 2013
0’00 Greetings
6’37 Introduce a topic
10’40 students prepare to present the topic
20’30 presentation
30’30 Teacher comments
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38’30 Group work
40’00 Teacher summary
Lesson 2 April 16th, 2013
0’00 Greeting
9’20 Warm-up
14’09 Teacher presentation
30’40 Role-play
40’00 teacher comments
Lesson 3 April 23rd, 2013
0’00 Greeting
6’58 Warm-up
11’20 new topic
20’20 preparation for Debate
38’20 debate
40’00 comments
Appendix IV
Questionnaire II
Dear Teachers,
Thank you for your sincere cooperation for completing this questionnaire.
Teach in _____ (secondary school/university)
Years of teaching English ______________
Please write down the answer at the bracket.
Strongly Agree please write 5, write 4 for Agree, 3 for No comments, 2 for
disagreement and 1 for strongly disagreement.
Part I perception of task-based language teaching (TBLT for short)
1. I am familiar with the theory of TBLT ( )
2. I am familiar with the practice of TBLT ( )
3. TBLT is a student-centered method ( )
4. TBLT focuses on the meaning. ( )
5. TBLT focuses on grammar. ( )
6. Test should be used to assess TBLT.
7. TBLT is the same with communicative language teaching ( )
Part II Implementation of TBLT
8. Our school requires us to use TBLT. ( )
9. I often use TBLT in my teaching. ( )
10. Our school gives support on using TBLT. ( )
11 It is very difficult to implement TBLT ( )
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12 In the process of teaching with TBLT, the students are very passionate ( )
13 Students’ inactive involvement is the main reason of avoiding using TBLT ( )
14 It is impossible to use TBLT because of the important examination ( )
Part III Reflection after using TBLT
15. TBLT brings pressure instead of help. ( )
16. TBLT is better than grammar-translation method in classroom. ( )
17. TBLT brings more opportunities for students to speak English ( )
18. The current textbooks are useful for implementing TBLT ( )
19. I think TBLT can be applied effectively in Western China ( ).
20. I think TBLT is appropriate for the students in Western China. ( )
21. TBLT let students have the motivation to learn English. ( )
22. TBLT will let students understand what they lack of in learning English. ( )
23. Teaching in a large class is difficult to conduct TBLT. ( )
24. TBLT can improve students’ results in examination ( )
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