任务型教学法的“任务”究竟是什么？David Nunan如是说（英语教学法原著选读57）
题解：“英语教学法原著选读”这个系列是本订阅号开天辟地就有的，办到现在已经57期了。顾名思义，这个系列是为英语教师准备的，是从全球英语教学法研究领域的经典著作的英文原版中选取精彩片段，加以注释或解读，从而为英语教学和教研提供参考。
本系列经历过若干不同的发展阶段。一开始，我是从上海外语教育出版社出版的《教学法丛书》中选取，自己会写一些解读，后来发现写起来不容易，自己不见得有那样的积累，所以就改为翻译。最开始用的是《英语教学成功之道》，有点一段一段连载的意思，后来觉得这样不对，就停下来，换了一本《Professional Development for Language Teachers-Strategies for Teacher Learning(2005)》，但又有点连载的意思，又换成克拉申的《第二语言习得的理论与实践》（Theory and Practice in SLA），再读大卫·努南的《任务式语言教学》（Task-Based Language Teaching），改成重点介绍书中的概念与观点，思路清晰了一些。今天更新的第二篇是这个系列到目前为止的总目录（不包括本篇），朋友们可以去看看。
有一段时间本系列文章主要是翻译，后来我想想，英汉对照，其实就等于放弃英文阅读，所以还是取消了汉译，当然这里也有更新压力大、没空翻译的原因。现在的选读方式是注释+解释，也请朋友们多批评指正。
下文选自任务型语言教学法泰斗David Nunan的经典著作《Task-Based Language Teaching》，注释、解读：武太白。
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Before doing anything else, I need to define the central concept 中心概念 behind this book. In doing so, I will draw a basic distinction 指出基本的区别 between what I will call real-world or target tasks, and pedagogical tasks: target tasks 目标任务/真实任务, as the name implies 暗示, refer to uses of language in the world beyond the classroom 教室以外的世界; pedagogical tasks 教学任务 are those that occur in the classroom.
Long (1985: 89) frames his approach to task-based language teaching in terms of target tasks 围绕真实任务构建了他（Long）对任务型语言教学的看法, arguing that a target 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, making a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping 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.
The first thing to notice about this definition is that it is non-technical 非专业性的 and non-linguistic 非语言性的. It describes the sorts of things that the person in the street would say if (he or she is) asked what they were doing. (In the same way as learners, if asked why they are attending a Spanish course, are more likely to say, ‘So I can make hotel reservations and buy food when I’m in Mexico,’ than ‘So I can master the subjunctive 掌握虚拟语气.’) Related to this is the notion that, in contrast with most classroom language exercises, tasks have a non-linguistic outcome 任务的结果和言语无关. Non-linguistic outcomes from Long’s list above might include a painted fence, possession – however temporary – of a book, a driver’s licence, a room in a hotel, etc. Another thing to notice is that some of the examples provided may not involve language use at all 完全不涉及语言运用 (it is possible to paint a fence without talking). Finally, individual tasks may be part of a larger sequence of tasks 更大的系列任务的一部分; for example the task of weighing a patient may be a sub-component 次级组成部分 of the task ‘giving a medical examination’.
When they are transformed 转换 from the real world to the classroom, tasks become pedagogical in nature 本质上变成教学型. Here is a definition of a pedagogical task:
. . . an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing 处理 or understanding language (i.e. as a response 即一种语言反应). For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction 指示 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 a variety of different kinds of tasks in language teaching is said to make language teaching more communicative . . . since it provides a purpose for a classroom activity which goes beyond the practice of language for its own sake 为语言本身（的学习）而练习.
(Richards, et al. 1986: 289)
In this definition, we can see that the authors take a pedagogical perspective 采用了教学视角. Tasks are defined in terms of what the learners will do in class rather than in the world outside the classroom. They also emphasize the importance of having a non-linguistic outcome.
Breen (1987: 23) offers another definition of a pedagogical task:
. . . any structured language learning endeavour 结构化学习行为 which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure 具体的作用程序, and a range of outcomes 多样的可能结果 for those who undertake the task. ‘Task’ is therefore assumed 被认为 to refer to a range of workplans which have the overall purposes of facilitating 促进 language learning – from the simple and brief exercise type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem-solving or simulations 模拟 and decision-making.
This definition is very broad, implying as it does that just about anything the learner does in the classroom qualifies as a task 都算得上任务. It could, in fact, be used to justify any procedure at all as ‘task-based’ and, as such, is not particularly helpful. More circumscribed 界限清晰的 is the following from Willis (1996), cited in Willis and Willis (2001): a classroom undertaking 教学行为 ‘. . . where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome’. Here the notion of meaning is subsumed 被……所代替 in ‘outcome’. Language in a communicative task is seen as bringing about an outcome through the exchange of meanings. (p. 173).
Skehan (1998), drawing on 吸收 a number of other writers, puts forward five key characteristics of a task:
• meaning is primary 首要的是有意义
• learners are not given other people’s meaning to regurgitate 反复背诵
• there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities 与现实世界的活动有可比拟的关系
• task completion has some priority 任务的完成有一定的必要性
• the assessment 评估 of the task is in terms of outcome.
(See also Bygate, Skehan and Swain 2001, who argue that the way we define a task will depend to a certain extent on the purposes to which the task is used.)
Finally, Ellis (2003: 16) defines a pedagogical task in the following way:
A task is a workplan that requires learners to process language pragmatically 实际应用地 in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content 内容命题 has been conveyed. To this end, it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may predispose 预设 them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in language use that bears a resemblance 有相似之处, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world. Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive 输出或输入的, and oral or written skills and also various cognitive processes 认知过程.
My own definition is that a pedagogical task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending 理解, manipulating 运用, producing 生成 or interacting 互动 in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing 动用 their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone 独自 as a communicative act 交际行为 in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end.
教学任务就是一项课堂活动，要求学生在注意力集中在意义表达的情况下对目的语言进行理解、运用、生成、互动，充分利用已掌握的语法知识，以达到传达意义的目的，而非操练语言形式。任务还应该有一种完整感，即能够独自作为一种交际行为而存在，有开始、有中间、有结尾。
While these definitions vary somewhat 在某种意义上有所不同, they all emphasize the fact that pedagogical tasks involve communicative language use in which the user’s attention is focused on meaning rather than grammatical form. This does not mean that form is not important. My own definition refers to the deployment 部署，运用 of grammatical knowledge to express meaning, highlighting the fact that meaning and form are highly interrelated, and that grammar exists 语法之所以存在就是 to enable the language user to express different communicative meanings. However, as Willis and Willis (2001) point out, tasks differ from grammatical exercises in that learners are free to use a range of language structures to achieve task outcomes – the forms are not specified 具体指明 in advance.
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如果我没记错的话，任务型语言教学十多年来在中国大地上如一声春雷，对中小学英语教学的震动之大怎么说也不为过。到现在再来探讨“任务”是个啥，似乎有点晚，但我想“朝闻道夕死可也”，懂了总是好事。
上面对于“任务”的定义，我已经附了中文翻译，应该不难看懂，但我想如果再给个现实生活中的比照，会更加容易懂。
现在假定一位60岁的大妈要学电脑操作，除了认识屏幕上的英汉文字，看得清屏幕上的图案，这位大妈其他什么都不会。首次接触电脑嘛！怎么教呢？
学院派的教学法——可以认为是语法派——是这样的：买一本《个人计算机入门与提高》，打开后依次是：个人计算机的历史与现状；个人计算机的结构；个人计算机的运行原理……
任务型教学法——现在基本都是这样的：带大妈坐到电脑跟前，告诉大妈这叫电脑，这是鼠标，这是键盘，这是主机，这是显示器，晃晃鼠标屏幕上那个小光标会跑来跑去，点左键一下叫“单击”，点左键两下叫“双击”，点右键是上下文菜单，用手指滑动中间的滚轮称为“滚屏”。
有的朋友会叫起来：学院派在“个人计算机的运行原理”这一章后面也会教这些的！
是的，这我承认。但是，往下呢？
学院派的教法：来，现在你学会鼠标的单击、双击和右键单击了，各练习200遍。于是大妈在屏幕的空白处——如果老师比较懂行的话——单击、双击、右键单击各200下，共600下。
任务型教法：来，现在你学会鼠标的单击、双击和右键单击了，现在我们来玩玩Windows系统中自带的一个小游戏“扫雷”，这里有很多小方格，单击就能打开一个小方格，如果是地雷，那你就死了，如果不是地雷，那就可以继续；如果方块上出现数字，则该数字表示其周围九宫格中的地雷数（一般为8个格子，对于边块为5个格子，对于角块为3个格子）。可以用右键单击方块标记为地雷，方便后面判断，但不代表这个方块真的是地雷；在确信一个方块不是地雷的情况下可以双击，这样就把九宫格的其他方块全打开了。你的任务就是尽快完成整张地图的扫雷工作，会有一个扫雷耗时排行榜。加油！
大妈开开心心地玩了起来，单击、双击、右键单击了无数次后，已经停不下来了……当然这三种鼠标操作也都自然掌握了。
我们按照David Nunan的定义来比对一下，不难知道“扫雷”游戏就是一种典型的任务型教学：
注意力集中在意义表达：大妈的注意力集中在扫除地雷；
对目的语进行理解、运用、互动：大妈在扫雷的过程中对电脑操作逐步有了理解、运用、互动；
充分利用已掌握的知识：大妈充分利用了“这是鼠标”、单击、双击、右键单击等知识；
完整感：“扫雷”是一个独立的小游戏，有开始（点开第一个方块）、中间（判断、点击）和结尾（成功或失败）。
英语教学中的“任务型教学法”，就是要求我们像“扫雷”游戏的设计者一样，设计出这样的、类似的活动，带领学生在英语学习的海洋中遨游。
最后，我的问题是：Windows操作系统自带的“纸牌”游戏，是用任务型教学思维重点对哪一种电脑操作技能进行练习？单击、双击、右键单击都已经练过了，不算。请点击本文右下角“写留言”按钮，写下您的答案并提交。
前十名答对的有奖哦！