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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** NGUY N TH THU PHƯƠNG DESIGNING AUTHENTIC TASKS IN THE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT OF SECRETARIAL ENGLISH THI T K CÁC HO T NG MANG TÍNH TH C TI N TRONG VI C BIÊN SO N GIÁO TRÌNH TI NG ANH VĂN PHÒNG M.A THESIS Course: #13 Field: Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: NGUY N TH VƯ NG, M.A HA NOI, 2007 Certificate of originality of study report I certify my authority of the study entitled: DESIGNING AUTHENTIC TASKS IN THE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT OF SECRETARIAL ENGLISH In partial accomplishment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Nguy n Th Thu Phương July, 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor, Nguyen Thi Vuong for her precious advice, suggestions and especially generous assistance and continual encouragement without which this thesis would not have been accomplished I am grateful to all the lectures of the M.A course at VNU for their teaching and instructions which are of great value to my study and my thesis I am also appreciative of my colleagues at the English Department of Bac Ninh Teacher Training College, and all the post-students of English for their cooperation in the process of data collection for this thesis Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my family for giving me endless supports and encouragements during my three-year course at VNU and during the time I carried out and fulfilled the research Ha noi, 2007 Nguyễn Thị Thu Phơng M.A #13 ABSTRACT Many areas of English Language Teaching (ELT) have undergone a lot of changes in order to meet the requirements of English learners In recent years, ELT has been showing an inevitable tendency of shifting from General English to English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as the number of ESP has been rising This has led to a corresponding increase in the materials development of ESP in which designing authentic tasks plays an important part in enabling learners to master the target language This research aims at finding out the most effective techniques to create authentic tasks in the materials development of Secretarial English, which is to be a compulsory subject in the curriculum to train English majors at Bacninh Teachers Training College This research report is composed of three main parts It begins with the introduction, which states the rationale, aims, scope and methods of the study Part two includes three chapters, the first reviews the related literature, the second presents the study in details and the third deals with major findings from the data analysis and offers recommendations on how to design authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English Part three is the conclusion, which summarizes the whole study and gives suggestions for further research TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………… Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… Table of content……………………………………………………… ……… List of abbreviations, tables and figures……………………… …………… PART A: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… ……………… Rationale of the study …………………………………………………………… …8 Aims and significance of the study……………………… ……………………… Scope of the study……………… ……………………………………………… Methods of the study……………………………… …………………………… 10 Design of the study………………………………………………………… .10 PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………………………… 11 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………… ………………… 11 I.1 An overview of materials development in English Language Teaching …………… 11 I.1.1 Definition and categories of ELT materials………………… …………… 11 I.1.2 Materials development …………………………………………… 11 I.1.2.1 Definition of materials development……………………………… 11 I.1.2.2 Basic principles of Second Language Acquisition relevant to thematerials development for the teaching of languages ………………….11 I.1.2.3 The process of developing materials…………………… ……… 16 I.2 Task authenticity as one of the core parts of materials development ………… 16 I.2.1 The nature of authenticity in ELT materials development………… 16 I.2.2 Authentic materials ………………………………… …… … 17 I.2.3 Authentic tasks … …………………………………… …………… .17 I.2.4 Task authenticity and input authenticity………………… 18 I.3 Materials development, syllabus design and teaching methodology…… 19 I.3.1 Materials development and syllabus design ……………… 19 I.3.2 Materials development of secretarial English and the adopted teaching approach ……… 23 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY ……… 28 II.1 Background to the study ……… .28 II.1.1 The settings of teaching and learning 28 II.1.2 The teachers ……… 28 II.1.3 The learners and their needs .28 II 1.4 The overall objectives and purpose of the materials to be designed …… 29 II.2 The problems and research questions .30 II.3 The surveys ……… 30 II.3.1 Selecting the population 30 II.3.2 Data collection instruments 31 II.4 Data analysis and discussion 31 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO DESIGN AUTHENTIC TASKS IN THE MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT OF SECRETARIAL ENGLISH .39 III.1 Major findings and discussion 39 III.2 Recommendations on how to design authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English .40 III.2.1 A suggested model to enhance task authenticity in the materials development of secretarial English 41 III.2.2 The selection of teaching techniques .41 III.2.3 Suggested activities 42 III.2.4 Authentic class resources 44 PART C: CONCLUSION .46 Conclusion 46 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research .47 REFERENCES 48 APPENDICES 50 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES List of Abbreviations ELT: English Language Teaching EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESP: English for Specific Purpose SLA: Second Language Acquisition TBLT: Task-based Language Teaching TBL: Task-based Learning List of Tables Table 1: A summary of frequency of responses to question for teachers…….………… 26 Table 2: A summary of frequency of responses to question for students……….……… 26 List of Figures Figure 1: The rating of teachers' answers to question ……………………… 28 Figure 2: The rating of students' answers to question ……………………… 28 Figure 3: Students’ rating to question 1……………………… 29 Figure 4: The rating of teachers' responses to question & students' responses to question 30 Figure 5: The rating of teachers' responses to question and students' responses to question 30 Figure 6: The rating of students' responses to question 31 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale As English language has become an important medium for international business, politics and other fields, a good command of the English language is particularly important for those who want to go on to work in an English-speaking environment The development of English for interacting professionally as a result of the integration and globalization processes has been rapidly increasing in almost all workplaces in our country However, the situation of teaching and learning English in our country hasn’t met such demands The fact is that English is taught as a foreign language (EFL), it is a compulsory subject in all curricula of any schools But English is not often used outside the classrooms A great number of students not need English to engage in day-to-day life functioning or to participate in society There is little or no motivation to learn a new language when they can communicate only in their first language As a result, low achievement in teaching and learning English has been gained In recent years, the communicative approach in language teaching has become more and more predominant However, the real quality of the outcomes proves to be a matter of concern of all language teachers and learners The fact is that a lot of learners’ linguistic performance is quite good in class learning, but when they engage in real-life communication in which the target language is used, they seem to be hindered by many factors such as linguistics problems, inappropriate responses, communicative skills, etc Especially, ESP students face a great deal of obstacles when using the target language at their workplaces The problems begin the moment the students step outside the classroom into the real world They are surrounded by a vast range of spontaneous and unpredictable language They have no control over the range of vocabulary they may encounter or the kind of things they will hear or need to respond to It is the fact that a lot of students who very well in the classroom find it difficult to express when faced with a 'real' situation Perhaps we simply haven't taught them in a way that will help them cope with this It is not a joke that a number of students and graduates rush to their language teachers and ask questions like: “Why is English used inside classroom different from outside communication?”, “Is English in learning too bookish”… On the other hand, the writer often hears complaints from her colleagues: “Students seem so quiet and lazy during the lessons It is so difficult to get them involved in learning activities” Such matters may rest with many reasons, including teaching materials, characteristics of learners, teachers’ proficiency, classroom methodology as well as classroom learning activities, among which learning tasks account for a very important part firstly in motivating and getting students involved in the lessons, then in helping them achieve the goal of using the target language in real-life communication That is why the concerns of all EFL teachers share an agreement that it is essential to design interesting classroom activities which can motivate the enthusiasm and involvement of learners in an EFL classroom, and particularly for ESP learners such activities should be useful and related to their future jobs If so, the aims of the lessons will be achieved As a result, the quality of English language teaching and learning will be improved as well Things considered, the writer would like to conduct a mini-research on finding suitable techniques to design authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English, which is one of compulsory subject in the curriculum of the writer’s college to train English majors As the goals of teaching secretarial English is to give students intensive experience in the use of general and professional English for the sake of their career, to help students to develop their communication skills effectively, to express themselves confidently and to provide students with the opportunity to gain first hand experience which can be adapted to the future workplace situations In order to achieve these aims, teachers should find ways to create authentic tasks to increase the students’ confidence and ability in using English in such environment and also develop their cognitive processing skills so as to enable them to understand and express ideas, attitudes and feelings, to think and respond creatively In other words, students will get used to using the target language appropriately by performing authentic tasks in contextualized situations, so that they will be capable of using the target language effectively in their future workplace In sum, everything is to be done with a view to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning secretarial English Aims and significance of the study This study aims at - Investigating the attitudes of teachers of English and college/ university graduates working as secretarial or administrative staff towards the effectiveness of techniques used to create authentic tasks in teaching and learning English; - Finding out the most effective techniques to design authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English; If the study is successfully completed, the quality of teaching and learning secretarial English will be bound to be better As a result, English majors who might work as secretarial and administrative staff will be more competent in using their target language at their workplace Scope of the study The study focuses on finding techniques to design authentic tasks in the materials development of Secretarial English for third-year English majors at Bacninh Teacher Training College Methods of the study The methods used are questionnaires and individual interviews Then an analysis of the collected data will be quantitatively discussed together with qualitative analysis of the results of the individual interviews Design of the study The study is divided into three parts which are briefly presented as follows: Part A is the Introduction which states rationale, aims and significance, scope and research method of the study Part B is the Development of the study, consisting of three chapters: Chapter one reviews the literature concerning an overview of the materials development in ELT, task authenticity as one of the core parts of materials development and the relationship between materials development, syllabus design and teaching methodology Chapter two presents the background to the study, the problems and research questions, the surveys and the data analysis and discussion according to the research questions Chapter three shows major findings from the data analysis and offers recommendations on how to design authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English Part C is the Conclusion which summarizes the overall study and states its limitations and suggestions for further research 10 negotiating, then coming to decision-making Such task will encourage the students to readily respond to the use of the target language with eagerness, demonstrating revived interest and commitment to the simulated task Additionally, other qualities, namely being critical minded, self-confident, diplomatic and strong-willed will be fostered during the task performance + Encouraging sharing experience Students work together to share ideas and express attitudes about an event, a matter, just a piece of new or anything This activity fosters critical thinking and self-expression Students learn how to express and justify themselves in polite ways while disagreeing with the others Students can work with various people and learn to be open to different ideas In class or group discussions, whatever the aim is, the students should always be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support, check for clarification, and so on Interviewing, for example is also a good way for exchanging opinions Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized + Stimulating creative tasks Creative tasks with end-products can be appreciated by audience, for example project works are good for English learners to develop their creativity and autonomy in learning Besides, projects have been used in educational environments for two basic purposes: motivating students and creating more effective learning experiences which will make students more selfconfident and active later on + Organizing other authentic activities As stated in the literature, “authentic” tasks should be ones that resemble as much as possible real tasks that real native speakers would if they were using the language for communicative functions The discussions in the data analysis suggest a number of tasks advocated by teachers and graduates of English who believe them to be useful to their use of the target language at their workplace They also add other learning tasks that replicate reallife challenge such as Information gap, Information transfer, reporting, etc In short, all types of learning tasks mentioned above are of great help in designing authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English as they can be the bridge to shorten the gap between classroom language learning settings with real-world use of the language Nevertheless, learners may have different expectations of classroom activities and their realworld parallels In order to increase task authenticity, task designers should bear in mind that authenticity can be increased through a genuine purpose (whether real communication takes place and whether the language has been used for a genuine purpose); authenticity through real world targets (a task might be said to be authentic if it has a clear relationship with real 43 world needs) The importance of student "engagement" and student interaction in a task should also be considered as an essential part in determining task authenticity For example, when students are given the task of reading a short text, sharing the contents with a partner, listening to an explanation of what their partner has read about the same topic and then consolidating that information to share with a larger group of students, a variety of skills are activated and engaged to communicate a specific outcome ensuring task authenticity Any tasks to be performed in classroom learning must ascertain the two utmost important qualities, that is task authenticity and coherence between tasks One criterion of coherence in a set of tasks is the existence of recycling from one exercise to another (Hutchinson and Waters 1991:124) Thus, one task should generate output or outcome that can be used for the ensuing task(s) And a balance should be kept between fluency, which is what the task provides, and accuracy, which is provided by task feedback * Some problems with the “authentic tasks” Students can easily be demotivated when faced by tasks that are very challenging, particularly the first few times, but if you show them that you will gradually lead them to an the fulfillment of the task which promises a fluent and accurate use of the linguistic items and communicative skills as set forth in the aims of the lesson, they will gradually start to relax more about dealing with more difficult tasks And in the long run they will develop a much greater sense of achievement and experience far less stress when dealing with challenging situations in the real world Many students expect us as their teachers to make things easy for them and to help them This is also our instinct on seeing our students struggling, but we must try to resist this urge to the work for them and help students to see that by doing the work for them we undermine their potential to achieve for themselves III.2.4 Authentic class resources It is undeniable that in recent years on, technical and pedagogical progress increases the need to prepare learners to be able to cope with authentic input We are now in a situation where learners have more and more contact with authentic materials through increasing access to foreign publications, satellite TV, CD-Roms or the Internet and email systems New developments in language teaching require the use of authentic samples to carry out learning tasks, and actually they contribute to make the tasks more authentic We believe that the use of modern technology is a must for the modern secretary, be it in a business, legal or whatever environment and students would have a lot to benefit from the use of computers in office simulations, or simply from the use of computer applications in teamteaching classes 44 In addition, the learner participants could be presented with video material relevant to their specialty, depicting situations, in which they will find themselves in their future careers However, there is a danger in exploiting that provision of authentic documents or authentic tasks For instance, introducing learners to an Internet site where they can communicate with native speakers, for example, is undoubtedly useful, but probably not effective if that activity is not backed up with reflection on what is happening 45 PART C: CONCLUSION Conclusion Being a teacher of English for nearly ten years, the writer has always been thinking of finding the most suitable ways in teaching to cater for various learning styles of different kinds of learners so as to help them get the best results in their study, more importantly to make them able to use the target language for real-life communicative functions effectively In recent years, the demand for learning ESP has been increasing as a result of the international globalization Many ESP syllabuses and instructional materials have been designed This trend does not exclude Secretarial English, which emerges from the fact that the number of people working as secretarial and administrative staff in English speaking environment is also on the rise and they need to learn it for the sake of their professions But it is the writer’s wonders that materials (even authentic materials) are not enough, we mustn’t forget that authentic materials come from the real world, and the real world is where genuine engagement happens, which suggests that students need to be given the opportunity to practice communicating authentically in the target language How often we as teachers ask our students to something in class which they would in everyday life using their own language? The answer is probably not often enough If we can make language in the classroom meaningful therefore memorable, students can process language which is being learned or recycled more naturally The problem mentioned above encouraged the writer to this research Having reviewed the literature in a thorough and critical way, the writer did a mini-research, collected and analyzed the data and has come to a conclusion that Task-based Learning in combination with drama games carried out in ways of cooperative learning is of great hope to make classroom learning activities more authentic so that ESP learners in general, learners of Secretarial English in particular will be more competent in using the target language at their future workplace This approach clearly takes into account the need for authentic communication It also supports the notion that learning occurs most effectively when related to the real-life tasks undertaken by learners TBL encourages the development of the reflective learners, and accommodates a wide range of learning styles In the research, a model to enhance task authenticity in the materials development of Secretarial English has also been recommended It is drawn upon the interaction of input, language, content, and task, in which the main focus of the lesson unit is the task Students gain a fluent and accurate use of the language through their task performance and completion After all, basing on the results of the research, the researcher has suggested learning activities which are considered as authentic tasks suitable for a course on Secretarial English 46 Hopefully, this research will be a little bit useful for those who concern English language teaching and learning in general, and ESP teachers and learners in particular; also for those who design or adapt ELT materials The writer has made great efforts in completing this research with tremendous interests, enthusiasm and responsibility However, mistakes and limitations are inevitable All constructive ideas and comments for the improvement of the research are always welcomed Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research The study has been done with the quantitative data analysis and discussions from questionnaires for teachers and graduates of English It has achieved the aims initially set forth However, the results would be more convincing if it was carried out with some experimental teaching One important related problem is that there should be one continuous research on the evaluation of the implementation of authentic tasks designed in the materials development of Secretarial English Sothat the conclusion of the findings will probably reach higher reliability 47 REFERENCES Breen, M P (1985) Authenticity in the language classroom Applied Linguistics, 6, 60-70 Brown, S & Menasche, L (2005) Defining Authenticity Accessed at http://www.as.ysu.edu/~english/BrownMenasche.doc Dulay, H , M Burt and S Krashen (1982) Language two New York: Oxford University Press Edwards, C & Willis, J (2005) Teachers exploiting tasks in ELT Pal Grace Mc Milan Ellis, R (2003) Task-based language learning and teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Guarentio, W and Morley, J (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom ELT Journal, 55(4), 347-359 Hutchinson T & Waters A (1987) English for Specific Purposes: A learning- centered approach C.U.P Hymes, D (1971) On Communication Competence Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Little, D., S Devitt, and D Singleton (1988) Authentic Texts in Foreign Language Teaching: Theory and Practice Dublin: Authentik Lochana, M & Deb, G (2006) Task-based Teaching: Learning English without tears Assessed September 2006 at http://www.asian-efl-journal.com Mc Grath, I (2002) Materials evaluation and design for language teaching Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Methold, K (1972) The practical aspects of instructional materials preparation RELC Journal 3.1/2: 88-97 Munby, J (1978) Communicative Syllabus Design London: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1989) Designing tasks for the communicative classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (2004) Task-based language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Prabhu, N S (1987) Second language pedagogy Oxford: Oxford University Press Richard, J and Rodgers, T (2001 2nd edition), Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richards, J (1985) “Conversational competence through role play” RELC Journal 16:1, pp 82-100 Richards J and Rodgers, T (2001), Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 48 Schmidt, R (1992) Psychological mechanism underlying second language fluency Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 14 Slavin, R E (1995) Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research and Practice Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Stone, L (2000) Task-Based Activities: Making the Language Laboratory Interactive ERIC Taylor (1994) Inauthentic authenticity or authentic inauthenticity? TESL-EJ, Assesses at http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/tesl-ej/ej02/a.1.html Tomlison, B (1998) Materials development in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press White L (1990) Implications of learnability theories for second language learning and teaching Amsterdam: John Benjamins Willis, J (1996) A Framework for Task-based Learning Longman Willis, J (2003) Task-based Language Learning and Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press www.asian-efl-jounal.com www.esp-world.infor www.exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols www.onestopenglish.com/section/asp 49 Appendix QUESTIONNAIRES (For graduates of English now working as secretarial or administrative staff in an English speaking environment)) This survey questionnaire is designed for my research on “Designing authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any circumstances A From questions to 5, please answers or tick (V) the given ones Which college/university did you graduate from? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Who you work for now? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… What’s your position at your workplace? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… How important is English for your work? a very important b not very important c a little d not at all What difficulty in using English at the workplace did you have on the first days? a slow response in conversations b not flexible in problem-solving situations because of linguistic problems c not flexible in problem-solving situations because of having no chance of facing such problems in presupposed situations when learning the target language d not active in oral presentation in public e.others:………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… f no difficulty ********************************************************* B From your experience as a learner of English and your work experience, please circle the answers that best reflect the extend to which you agree with each of the following statements: When you feel better in learning English? a when you work with your partners b when you work on your own Reasons: ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……….………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… How familiar were you with the following ways of learning activities when you were a student in an ESP class? (Please tick V in one of the following columns): Column 1: know very well Column 3: know a little Column 2: not know very well Column 4: not know at all 1a Pair / Group work 1b Drama games (role play and simulation) 1c Listing (Brainstorming; Fact-finding) 1d Ordering and sorting Ranking in order; Classifying) 1e Comparing tasks (Finding similarities; Finding differences 1g Problem-solving tasks 50 (Analysis of real situation; Decision-making) 1h Sharing experience (Opinions and comments; Attitudes) 1i Creative tasks (end-product can be appreciated by audience) Such learning activities (in question 2) can help: Strongly agree Agree Not sure disagree Strongly disagree a Create a relaxed learning atmosphere b Bring a lot of fun and laughter c Provide you with opportunities to experience real-life situations d Increase your creativity, self-expression and selfconfidence e Raise both cooperation and positive competition among learners f Improve your linguistic competence g Better your oral communication h Help you interact with others better When you had opportunities to carry out such activities mentioned above, you felt more and more … day by day: Very much A little Not very much Not at all a confident b interested c motivated d progressive e others … … Please rank the degree of benefit that you gain from participating in such activities: from the most beneficial (4) to the least beneficial (1): not at all a little quite very Ranking Activities Drama games Role-play Simulation Listing Brainstorming Fact-finding Ordering and sorting Ranking in order Classifying Comparing Finding similarities Finding differences Problem-solving Analysis of real / hypothetical situations Decision-making Sharing experience Opinions and comments 51 Attitudes Creative tasks How have such learning activities assisted you in using the target language at your workplace? Very much Quite a lot A little Not very Not at all much a useful b self-confident c flexible d quickly-minded e active f others: … What other activities you suggest should be frequently conducted in teaching and learning English to make classroom practice an authentic experience to real life communication? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Great thanks for your assistance! 52 Appendix QUESTIONNAIRES (For teachers of English) This survey questionnaire is designed for my research on “Designing authentic tasks in the materials development of secretarial English” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any circumstances Where you teach English? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… How long have you been teaching English? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Do you ever teach ESP? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ********************************************************* B From your work experience as a teacher of English, please circle the answers that best reflect the extend to which you agree with each of the following statements: How often you use the follow for your ESP class? Please tick V in the most appropriate column for each item: Techniques / Activities Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never 1a Pair / Group work 1b Drama games (role play and simulation) 1c Listing (Brainstorming; Fact-finding) 1d Ordering and sorting Ranking in order; Classifying) 1e Comparing tasks (Finding similarities; Finding differences 1g Problem-solving tasks (Analysis of real situation; Decision-making) 1h Sharing experience (Opinions and comments; Attitudes) 1i Creative tasks (end-product can be appreciated by audience) What are the benefits that such techniques / activities bring about? Strongly agree Agree Not sure disagree Strongly disagree a Create a relaxed learning atmosphere b Bring a lot of fun and laughter c Provide students with opportunities to experience reallife situations d Increase students’ creativity, self-expression and selfconfidence e Raise both cooperation and positive competition among learners f Improve students’ linguistic competence g Better their oral communication h Increase interactions among students 53 i others … How you find students involved in those learning activities day by day? Very much A little Not very much Not at all a confident b interested c motivated d progressive e others … … To what extend you agree that those learning activities will help your students in using the target language at their future workplace? Very much Quite a lot A little Not very much Not at all a useful b self-confident c flexible d quickly-minded e active f others qualities …… What other activities you suggest should be frequently conducted in teaching and learning English to make classroom practice an authentic experience to real life communication? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Great thanks for your assistance! 54 Appendix QUESTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS Do you find pair/ group work, role-plays, simulations and different types of task-based activities interesting and useful in classroom learning? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… State the reason why you find the following tasks beneficial to your use of the target language at your workplace: - Listing (Brainstorming; Fact-finding) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… - Ordering and sorting (Ranking in order; Classifying) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… - Comparing tasks (Finding similarities; Finding differences) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… - Problem-solving tasks (Analysis of real situation; Decision-making) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… - Sharing experience (Opinions and comments; Attitudes) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… - Creative tasks (End-product can be appreciated by audience) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 55 Appendix SAMPLE TASKS DESIGNED FOR TWO UNITS OF SECRETARIAL ENGLISH Unit title: Office documents Pre-teach Vocabulary TASK 1: Brainstorming: Students work in groups of four and discuss what kinds of office documents that a secretary often deals with TASK 2: Sorting out: Group work Mr Mc Andrew has dropped his briefcase and mixed up his paperwork He has asked Jackie- his secretary to help him to sort out the papers INPUT Students working in pairs look at the extracts and decide whether they are from: A computer manual, a formal business letter, a note from a colleague, a fax or the minutes of a meeting? TASK 3: Matching Match the words in the minutes of a meeting with the words that were actually said LANGUAG Students study and match the words in two columns, basing on their E meaning Then they compare the styles of the language used TASK 4: Simulation of a Telephone Conversation: Pair work Students get in pairs to prepare a telephone conversation between a secretary or an administrative officer of a company and a customer The secretary phones to confirm the information in the fax of an order of new products CONTENT Then, they perform a simulated telephone conversation Topic: Confirming the order of new products TASK 5: Reporting Students watch a video of a meeting; they have to write a minute of it as if they are part in the meeting Then, they have to report it orally to their colleagues who didn’t participate in the meeting, basing on the report they have written 56 Unit title: Apologizing Letters Pre-teach Vocabulary TASK 1: Information Transfer The students take notes as requested in the given form while listening to INPUT recorded oral complaints from a customer Topic: Complaints of the late delivery of the goods ordered TASK 2: Language Focus The students practice making several sentence patterns and using some LANGUAG vocabulary items from the INPUT with the help from the teacher E TASK 3: Writing Letters Teacher showed and explained the layout of a formal letter CONTENT The students write an apologizing letter to the customer TASK 4: Simulation of a telephone Conversation The students get in groups to prepare a telephone conversation between a secretary or an administrative officer of a company and an officer of their partner company Then, they perform a simulated telephone conversation Topic: handling a misunderstanding between them TASK 5: Role-play in a problem-solving situation: Writing Follow-up Letter Students in pairs playing roles of a secretary and an officer from a partner company write an apologizing letter which is based on the content of the previous telephone conversation They have to think how to handle the misunderstanding with their partner company by writing an apologizing letter 57 ... % 75 75 66.7 66.7 58.3 75 75 50 41.7 33.3 25 25 T2a T2b strongly agree T2c agree 25 16.7 T2d not sure 25 16.7 T2e T2f disagree T2g T2h strongly disagree Figure 1: The rating of teachers'' answers... 60 50 40 30 19.4 20 13.9 10 S3a S3b strongly agree 72.2 55.5 63.8 61.1 52.3 50 47.2 41.6 38.9 27.8 S3c agree S3d not sure 25 S3e disagree 25 S3f S3g S3h strongly disagree Figure 2: The rating... appreciated by audience) Such learning activities (in question 2) can help: Strongly agree Agree Not sure disagree Strongly disagree a Create a relaxed learning atmosphere b Bring a lot of fun