The Application Effects of Task-Based Language Teaching in German Listening and Speaking Instruction: An Empirical Study Based on Second Language Acquisition Theory

Abstract

This study empirically investigates the effectiveness of task-based learning in German listening and speaking instruction and explains its mechanism through second-language acquisition theories. The design is particularly relevant to technical German training for engineering fields, including electromagnetic measurement, antenna systems, and advanced manufacturing communication. A quasi-experimental design is adopted with two parallel classes of first-year German majors at a university, including an experimental group of 30 students and a control group of 30 students. A 16-week teaching experiment is conducted. The experimental group uses task-based learning built around listening and speaking task chains designed according to information-gap, viewpoint-gap, and reasoning-gap principles, while the control group uses traditional language-structure teaching. Data are collected through pre- and post-tests of German listening and speaking proficiency, classroom observation recordings, and learning-motivation questionnaires. The results show that task-based learning provides meaning-centered communicative situations and effectively improves learners’ processing of comprehensible input, meaning negotiation in interaction, and language output. It therefore promotes comprehensive listening and speaking development. The article also proposes specific suggestions for vocational and technical-language education and highlights future directions for integrating specialized terminology, including smart and electromagnetic engineering vocabulary, into communicative language training.