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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DESIGNING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ASSOCIATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH AT USSH A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERETURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Submitted by TRẦN THỊ THANH TRÚC Supervised by NGUYỄN TIẾN HÙNG, Ph.D Hochiminh City, May 2011 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “DESIGNING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ASSOCIATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH AT USSH” is my own work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any degree or diploma in any other institutions Hochiminh City, 5th May, 2011 Tran Thi Thanh Truc i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that, Tran Thi Thanh Truc, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library By submitting this thesis for purposes of study and research I agree that my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for care and loan Hochiminh City, 5th May, 2011 Tran Thi Thanh Truc ii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to convey my warmest appreciation and deep gratitude to the following: My thesis supervisor, Dr Nguyen Tien Hung for his valuable assistance over the period of carrying out the research and writing this thesis Without his constant guidance, I could not have completed my thesis All the teaching staff of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City for enabling me to this in-depth study d u r in g th e gra du a te ye a rs and for the grounding they gave me during my undergraduate years respectively All teaching staff and students of the Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City who all have enthusiastically helped me accomplish this thesis My family and my friends for their moral support and encouragement that gave me the strength to pursue nothing but success They have made a great contribution to the completion of my thesis iii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the features of designing communicative tasks to teach speakin g s kills fo r u nive rsity students The focus of my thesis is to work out underlying principles in task-based language teaching and learning for modifying communicative speaking activities as well as ways of teaching English speaking skill in a communicative way effectively This is a case study on first-year students of Associate Program of English in the Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City The study is motivated by the need that outside Vietnam many researches on task-based learning have been done and the achievements are great However, few Vietnamese researchers have done the job of designing communicative tasks for college English classes up to now This thesis discusses the main aspects of designing communicative tasks to foster the college students’ communicative competence The analysis of communication tasks in th is thes is is of crucial significance for syllabus design, course design and pedagogic task design for task-based language teaching Survey questionnaires for both teachers and students were designed The questionnaire for teachers was delivered to Vietnamese teachers of English at USSH to investigate their current ways of teaching English speaking skill and how much they apply task-based language to teach speaking skills in a communicative way The questionnaire for students was delivered to the two groups, controlled and experimental, to probe their different perceptions of and reactions to the two ways of teaching speaking skill during the experimental time iv In the experiment, 75 students were divided into two groups of equal ability They were trained for weeks in the first semester of the school year 2009-2010 In the controlled group, students were instructed to practise ready-designed speaking activities in the coursebook In the experimental group, students were asked to conduct newly-modified communicative tasks in which communicative need was created and a number of principles for making an activity communicative and tips for a communicative speaking class were applied At the end of the experimental time, a speaking test was carried out to test each student’s speaking skill of the two groups of student subjects to see whether the experimental group was more successful in communication than the other group The findings showed that students in the experimental group had more positive attitudes toward speaking classes during the experimental time than the other More students in the second group were successful in making themselves understood than the first one They talked more and used the target language in a more fluent and natural way than the other The results proved that the principles suggested were actually effective in making a speaking task communicative itself, which is a prerequisite for the success of a speaking class Besides the principles, a number of techniques for teaching the speaking skill communicatively were also proposed In the last chapter, some conclusions and recommendations for the teachers were also made in order to implement successfully this teaching designing in college English classroom v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgement s iii Abstract iv Tables of content vi List of tables ix List of figures x Abbreviations xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 The aims of the study 1.3 Significance of the research 1.4 The overview of the research CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Defining of ‘task’ 2.2 Communicative language teaching and task-based teaching 2.3 Syllabus design and task design 10 2.3.1 Syllabus design 11 2.3.2 Task design 13 2.4 Task types and the components of the task-based learning framework 14 2.4.1 Task types 14 2.4.2 The components of the task-based learning framework 18 2.5 Teacher and learner roles 19 vi 2.6 Principles for task-based language teaching, interaction and output 22 2.6.1 Principles for task-based language teaching……………… 22 2.6.2 Interaction and output……………………………………….23 2.7 Task difficulty……………………………………………………… 24 2.8 Research in pedagogic tasks ……………………………………… 26 2.9 Tasks, production and second language acquisition/learning……….28 2.9.1Implicit and explicit knowledge ……………………………… 28 2.9.2 Language production and implicit and explicit knowledge……………………………………………………… 29 2.10 Focused tasks and second language learning …………………… 35 2.10.1The purposes of focused tasks …………………………… 35 2.10.2 The design of focused tasks …………… ……………… 37 2.10.3 Implementing focused tasks … ……………………… 38 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 39 3.2 Research design 39 3.2.1 Characteristics of subjects 40 3.2.2 Instruments 42 3.2.2.1 The questionnaires 42 3.2.2.2 Testing speaking 44 3.2.3 Data collection procedure 45 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaires 47 4.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skills 47 4.1.2 Teachers’ ways to enhance students’speaking skills 48 4.1.3 Teachers’ frequency of designing tasks for students to accomplish 48 vii 4.1.4 The task types that teachers use 49 4.1.5 Teachers’ ideas on criteria for a good task 49 4.1.6 Teachers’ evaluation on students’ performance in language classroom 50 4.1.7 Teachers’ difficulties in using tasks to teach speaking skills 50 4.1.7 Conclusions 51 4.2 Students’ responses to the questionnaire and scores of the speaking test 54 4.2.1 Students’ responses to the questionnaire 55 4.2.1.1 Students’ perceptions of and reactions to learning speaking skills 55 4.2.1.2 Students’ ideas on doing pair and group work 56 4.2.1.3 Students’ activeness in speaking activities 57 4.2.1.4 Students’ self-evaluation on their speaking competence 58 4.2.1.5 Students’ average talking time in class 60 4.2.1.6 Learners’ difficulties in speaking classes ……… 61 4.2.2 Students’ scores of the speaking test 63 4.2.2.1 Fluency 63 4.2.2.2 Task completion 64 4.2.3 Conclusion 65 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 66 5.2 Recommendations 67 BIBLIOGRAPHY 72 APPENDICES 76 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Information on teachers’ age and gender 40 Table 3.2: Information on teachers’ background 41 Table 3.3: Students’ background information 42 Table 4.1: Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching speaking skills……………….47 Table 4.2: Teachers’ ways to enhance students’speaking skills……………….48 Table 4.3: Teachers’ frequency of designing tasks for students to accomplish 48 Table 4.4: The task types that teachers use…………………………………… 49 Table 4.5: Teachers’ ideas on criteria for a good task……………………….…49 Table 4.6: Teachers’ evaluation on students’ performance………………….….50 Table 4.7: Teachers’ difficulties in using tasks to teach speaking skills……….50 Table 4.8: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills……………………61 Table 4.9: Fluency scores 64 Table 4.10: Task completion scores 64 ix Trung bình buổi học, bạn nói tiếng Anh bao lâu? (Chỉ chọn phương án trả lời) A < 10 phuùt B 10-15 phuùt C 15- 20phuùt D >20 phút Bạn có nghó có nhiều thời gian để nói tiếng Anh lớp điều giúp ích cho việc cải thiện kỹ nói bạn? A Có B Không Những khó khăn bạn thực tập nói tiếng Anh gì? (Có thể chọn hai phương án trả lời) A.Vốn từ vựng không đủ để diễn đạt B Các hoạt động giao tiếp không thật không thú vị C Chủ đề tập kỹ nói không thú vị D Sợ mắc lỗi ngữ pháp E Phản xạ nói chậm F Mắc cỡ G Không có đủ thời gian để thực tập kỹ nói Cám ơn bạn hợp tác! 78 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed to examine the perceptions of and reactions to speaking class during the experimental time at Associate Program in English for first year students of Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature, in which speaking skill is a focus and taught in a communicative way by using communicative tasks Your answers will be really meaningful to the results of the research Please give your answers by ticking “X” in the box Thank you for your assistance and contribution to the completion of my thesis Part I: Personal information Gender A.Male B.Female Age A.Under 18 years old B 18-19 years old C 20-21 years old D 21-22 years old E Above 22 years old How long have you been learning English? A.More than 10 years B.8-10 years C.5-7 years D Less than years 79 Part II: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to English speaking class Did you enjoy your learning speaking in class? (Choose only one) A.Yes, I really enjoyed B Yes, I did C No, not really D Absolutely not Did you enjoy doing pair and group work with your classmates? (Choose only one) A.Yes, I really enjoyed B Yes, I did C No, not really D Absolutely not Did you actively participate in speaking activities? (Choose only one) A.Yes B No How you think of the communicative situations given in speaking class? (Choose only one) A.They are real-life & thus I am motivated to speak English B They are artificial & I find it unnatural and reluctant to speak English What you think about your English speaking competence and your confidence in speaking English after the course? (Choose only one) A I feel more confident and thus can communicate in English much better B I feel rather confident and can communicate in English better C I don’t feel more confident and my English speaking competence hasn’t been improved 80 On average, how much time did you spend speaking English in a speaking class? (Choose only one) A.Less than 10 minutes B.From 10 to 15 minutes C.From 15 to 20 minutes D.More than 20 minutes Do you think you have more time to speak English in class and thus can improve your speaking skill? A Yes B No What makes you find it difficult to express yourselves in English in speaking class? (Choose more than one) A.Poor English vocabulary B.Communicative situations are artificial and not interesting C.Topics for speaking are not interesting D.Being afraid of making grammar mistakes E.My speaking reaction speed is slow F.Shyness G.Not having enough time to speak English Thank you for your answers 81 APPENDIX PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO GIÁO VIÊN Phiếu khảo sát thực nhằm phục vụ cho việc nghiên cứu việc giảng dạy kỹ nói học sinh viên năm chương trình cao đẳng tiếng Anh khoa Ngữ văn Nga trường ĐHKHXH&NV Những ý kiến phản hồi quý Thầy/ Cô có ý nghóa quan trọng kết nghiên cứu Quý Thầy/ Cô vui lòng cho biết số thông tin ý kiến cách điền vào chỗ trống đánh dấu “X” vào ô vuông cho phương án chọn Xin chân thành cảm ơn nhiệt tình hợp tác quý Thầy/ Cô Phần I: Thông tin cá nhân Giới tính A.Nam B.Nữ Độ tuổi A.Dưới 25 B.Từ 25 đến 29 C.Từ 30 đến 39 D.Từ 40 đến 49 E.Trên 50 Bằng cấp cao chuyên môn mà Thầy (Cô) có A.Tiến só B.Thạc só C.Cử nhân hệ đào tạo quy D Cử nhân hệ đào tạo chức/ văn 82 Thầy (Cô) giảng dạy Tiếng Anh bao lâu? A.Dưới năm B.Từ 3-5 năm C.Từ 5-10 năm D.Trên 10 năm Phần II: Ý kiến quý Thầy (Cô) việc giảng dạy kỹ nói: Thầy (Cô) đánh giá tầm quan trọng kỹ nói? (Chỉ chọn phương án trả lời) A.Rất quan trọng B.Quan trọng C.Tương đối quan trọng D.Không quan trọng Thầy (Cô) làm để nâng cao cải thiện kỹ nói sinh viên? (Chọn phương án trả lời) A Tạo nhu cầu giao tiếp hoạt động nói B Dùng phiếu bìa (flash card/ worksheet) phát cho sinh viên C Cho sinh viên trao đổi thông tin cá nhân D chỉnh sửa luyện nói giáo trình E Ý kiến khác: …………………………………………… Thầy (Cô) có ý đến việc tạo luyện nói nhiệm vụ (task) mà học sinh phải hoàn thành ?(Chỉ chọn phương án trả lời) A.Luôn B.Đôi C.Ít D.Không Thầy (Cô) sử dụng loại nhiệm vụ (task) nào? (Chọn phương án trả lời) A Ô trống thông tin (Information gap) 83 B Thảo luận (Discussion) C.Đóng vai(Role play) D Động não (Brainstorming) E Miêu tả tranh (Picture describing) F Kể chuyện/ tìm kết thúc cho chuyện (Story telling and/ or story completion) G Tìm khác (Finding the difference) H Ý kiến khác: …………………………………………… Thầy (Cô) nghó nhiệm vụ (task) tốt? (Chọn phương án trả lời) A Khuyến khích sinh viên sử dụng ngôn ngữ với nhu cầu giao tiếp thật B Dựa tài liệu thực (athentic materials) C Khuyến khích sinh viên giao tiếp chia sẻ thông tin D Có mục tiêu học rõ ràng E Cho sinh viên có hội khám phá nội dung F Khiến sinh viên phải vận dụng kỹ ngôn ngữ khác G Khuyến khích hoạt động làm việc theo nhóm H Ý kiến khác: ……………………………………………………………………… Thầy (Cô) có nghó nhiệm vụ (tasks) mà áp dụng giúp cho sinh viên tham gia tích cực hoạt động nói? A.Có B.Không Sinh viên Thầy (Cô) có cải thiện kỹ nói tốt so với trước? A.Có B.Không Những khó khăn sau mà Thầy( Cô) gặp phải sử dụng hoạt động giao tiếp hay nhiệm vụ (task) dạy kỹ nói? (Có thể chọn phương án trả lời) 84 A Không đủ thời gian để thiết kế hoạt động giao tiếp hay nhiệm vụ (task) không đủ thời gian áp dụng chúng lớp B Khó thiết kế hoạt động giao tiếp phù hợp với nội dung giáo trình C Thái độ động học tập sinh viên D Khó kiểm soát lớp học ngôn ngữ sử dụng E Sinh viên thường nói tiếng Việt thực hành nói I Ý kiến khác: ……………………………………………………………………… Chân thành cám ơn 85 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This questionnaire is designed to investigate the teaching of speaking skills to first year students of Associate Program in English of Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature Your answers will be meaningful to the results of the research Please give your answers by filling in the gaps or tick (X) in the box Thank you for your assistance and contribution to the completion of my thesis Part I: Background information Gender: A.Male B.Female Age A.Under 25 B.From 25 to 29 C.From 30 to 39 D.From 40 to 49 E.Over 50 Qualifications A Ph.D B M.A C B.A (Full-time) D B.A (Distance training or in-service training) How many years have you been teaching English? A Less than year B.3 -5 years C.5-10 years D More than 10 years 86 Part II: Teachers’ ideas about teaching English speaking skill How much important you think speaking is in your English teaching ? (Choose only one) A.Very important B.Important C.Less important D.Not important What did you to enhance the speaking skills of your students in this course? (Choose more than one) A.Create communicative need in speaking activities B Modify the designed speaking activities in the coursebook C Use flashcards/ worksheets D Give students chances of exchanging personal information F.Others: …………………………………………… Do you design “tasks” for students to accomplish? (Choose only one) A.Always B.Sometimes C.Rarely D.Never What kinds of task types you use? (Choose more than one) A.Information gap B.Discussion C.Role play D.Brainstorming E Picture narrating and describing F.Story telling and/ or story completion G Finding the difference 87 H Others: …………………………………………… How you define a good task? (Choose more than one) A Encourage users to use language in a communicative manner B Based on authentic materials C Get learners to interact and share information in meaningful ways D Have clear objectives E Give learners opportunities to explore new content F Require learners to demonstrate their language skills G Encourage collaborative learning H.Others: …………………………………………… Do you think your tasks encourage students participate actively in different types of speaking activities? A.Yes B.No Did your students show any improvement in speaking skills compared with their performance in the previous module? A.Yes B.No In your opinions, which of the following are your difficulties in using tasks to teach speaking skills? (Choose more than one) A Lack of time to design tasks and them in class B Hard to desing a good task which is suitable with the coursebook content C Learners’ attitudes and motivation D Fear of losing control of class or language E Learners’ use of L1 I.Others: ………………………………………………………… Thank you for your answers 88 APPENDIX EXAMPLES OF SIX TYPES OF TASKS AND THEIR OUTCOME AND BENEFIT Here are some oral activities in English class designed in the experimental duration by using the six types of tasks and their benefit and learning outcomes All the six types of tasks might be performed separately in different units or topics and can be combined into a great creative task in one Here some samples of practical use are listed in detail: (1) Type of task: Listing Text: Unit – Food and Health , Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Food Task: Brainstorming—work in pairs, students should list all the possible dishes in the dinning hall of the university Outcome: After careful investigation, students should hand in a completed list of dishes they have found in the dinning hall and have a dialogue with partners about what they have eaten every day in the school dinning room Benefit: Students can accumulate many expressions of food, esp English or Vietnamese traditional food by making the list of dishes; meanwhile, they can improve their comprehension and induction ability (2) Type of task: Ordering, sorting Text: Unit 12 – Planet Earth, Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Animal Task: Classifying—firstly, students name those animals on pictures that the teacher presents and can add some animals which are not included in those pictures Then, classify all the animals mentioned according to some given specified criteria they themselves put forward, such as types, colors, food, etc 89 Outcome: After hot discussion and careful thinking, students should hold a discussion with their group members and list the specified criteria and animals as many as possible Then, give a report about their discussion in public Benefit: Students can accumulate many expressions of animals; meanwhile, they can enhance their comprehension, logic and reasoning ability Type of task: (3) Comparing Text: Unit 13 - Time, Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Festival Task: Finding similarities or differences—firstly, brainstorming Students are divided into two groups, one should find out some Vietnamese traditional festivals while the other might try to list all the foreign festival they’ve known, and list them on the blackboard Secondly, try to find out some similarities between those festivals Thirdly, try to find out some differences between those festivals The categories they used might differ, such as which festival is the most united one? Which festivals relate to ghost? Outcome: Students can give a role-play to present the custom how people celebrate those festivals and give a speech or discussion on what the differences and similarities are By using different categories, the result might be different Benefit: Students can share the knowledge of different festivals and their cultural background; meanwhile, they can strengthen their ability of discretion Type of task: (4) Problem-solving Text: Unit - Appearances, Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Personality Task: Decision-making - students are given several situations where positive person and passive person encountered the same difficulties After careful thinking and hot discussion, students should put forward some possible solutions to solve the problem 90 For example, two students took a math’s exam yesterday One is so worried about his exam while the other is quite confident and relaxed Then, how could the latter comfort the former student by using some effective methods? Outcome: Students should give a role play or dialogue between the two types of person Benefit: In order to make a right choice, students should find a balance between different opinions and try to persuade others, which help foster students’ reasoning, persuading and decision-making ability Type of task: (5) Sharing experience Text: Unit – In your life, Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Travel Task: Students share their experience of traveling with group members, describe some beautiful scenes during the process, explore some difficulties and troubles they have encountered and explain their attitudes and opinions towards those problems during their journey Outcome: Students should give a role-play or dialogue between the travel agency and travelers to solve some problems during the journey Benefit: Students can share some personal feelings, experience of their personal life, which can help students to express themselves clearly and smoothly Type of task: (6) Creative tasks Text: Unit 14 - Work, Lifelines Pre-Intermediate Topic: Career planning Task: Work in groups Firstly, students will a brainstorming to list all the jobs they think about Secondly, find out the differences and similarities between those jobs Thirdly, share some experience when they some part-time job or the summer 91 practice with group members Fourthly, pick up some friends or teachers, name their personality, and try to make a career planning for them Outcome: Students give a report of a certain person’s career planning Try to explain the procedure they undergo and the reason why they make such a decision Benefit: this is a comprehensive task which includes almost all the activities mentioned above Thus students can promote their ability of solving problem by improving their language competence 92
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