nghiên cứu việc sử dụng phương pháp dạy học theo đường hướng giao nhiệm vụ trong dạy học kĩ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ 2 chuyên ngành tiếng anh

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A study on the use of task-based approach in teaching speaking to the 2 nd year English majored students” is my o

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

-* * * -

LƯƠNG THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

A STUDY ON THE USE OF TASK-BASED APPROACH IN

STUDENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG DẠY HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

HA NOI, 2014

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

-* * * -

LƯƠNG THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

A STUDY ON THE USE OF TASK-BASED APPROACH IN

STUDENTS

(NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG DẠY HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Supervisor: Dr Duong Thi Nu

HA NOI, 2014

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A study on the use of task-based approach

in teaching speaking to the 2 nd year English majored students” is my own study in

the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Hanoi, 2014

Luong Thi Minh Phuong

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Dr Duong Thi Nu for her restless and sympathetic encouragement, valuable advice and patient guidance until the completion

of this study

My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at Vietnam University of Commerce for all their helps, supports and encouragement when I encountered difficulties

I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to class 1405ENPR5011 of English Faculty at Vietnam University of Commerce for their enthusiastic participation in the experiment

Finally, I am deeply indebted to my beloved mother, my family members and my post-graduate friends Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Anh20B,

Ta Thi Mai Huong, Anh20B, Tran Thi Long, Anh20B, Tran Thi Huyen, Anh20B, Nguyen Hoang Do, Anh20A and others for their sacrifice and encouragement and care

Abstracts

The focus of this study was on the use of task-based approach in teaching speaking for the 2nd year English majored students at Vietnam University of Commerce A one group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was employed with the participation of 40 students from English Faculty The test results showed that the task-based approach had a positive impact on students‟ speaking achievement after the experiment Another instrument, the questionnaire, was administered to the participants in order to draw on qualitative data The data revealed the positive consequences for significant changes in students‟ learning attitude and motivation The task-based project also welcomed favorable evaluations from the students that would be of great help to the future applications of task-based language teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages

Acknowledgment ii

Abstract iii

Tables of contents iv

List of Abbreviations vi

List of tables vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Theoretical background 5

1.1.1Business English 5

1.1.2Speaking 6

1.2 Task-based language teaching 9

1.2.1Task-based language teaching 9

1.2.2Definitions of Tasks within TBI 10

1.2.3TBL in a Business English course 12

1.2.4Framework for Task-based Instruction (TBI) 13

1.3 Advantages of TBLT 14

1.4 Misunderstanding about TBLT 15

1.5 Theoretical justification for TBLT 16

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHOD 18

2.1 Context of the study 18

2.2 Participants 18

2.3 Research Design 19

2.3.1 Quasi-experimental Research 19

2.3.2 Design 20

2.3.2 Instrumentations 20

2.4 Data Collection Procedures 22

2.5 Data Analysis Methods 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24

3.1 Students’ improvement in learning speaking 24

3.2 Students’ attitudes towards and motivation of the Task-based project 30

a Students‟ attitudes 30

b Level of motivation amongst students adopting the TBL 33

3.3 Students’ difficulties encountered in the TBL project 34

3.4 Students’ expectation of the improvement of the TBL 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 37

4.1Recapitulation 37

4.2 Limitations of the study 38

4.3 Suggestions for further study 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIX I I

APPENDIX II III

APPENDIX III IV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BE: Business English

ELT: English language Teaching

ESL: English as a Second Language ESP: English for Specific Purposes

TBI: Task-based Instruction

TBLT: Task-based Language Teaching TBL: Task-based Learning

TBT: Task-based Teaching

VUC: Vietnam University of Commerce

List of Tables

Table 1: Scores of the pre-test and post-test 26

Table 2: Means and Standard Deviations of the scores of the pre-test and post-tes 26

Table 3.1: Paired Samples Test 27

Table 3.2: T-test Results 27

Table 4: Scores of Pre-treatment and post-treatment Tests 29

Table 5: Students’ attitude towards the task-based project 32

List of Graphs Graph 1: Frequency distribution of the pre-test scores 28

Graph 2: Frequency distribution of the post-test scores 29

Graph 3: Levels of interest in the new speaking learning method 31

Graph 4: Students’ attitude towards the TB project 32

Graph 5: Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of the TBL approach 33

PART A - INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Courses in (listening and) speaking skills have a prominent place in language programmes around the world today Ever-growing needs for fluency in English around the world as a consequence of the role of English as the world‟s international language have given priority to finding more effective ways to teach English (Richards, 2009) Vietnam is not out of this current trends for English teaching and learning

The needs for meeting job requirements put students majored in business to enhancing their language skills and ability for international business communication However, the current situation of teaching and learning now in Vietnam is of critical problem to solve resulting from inappropriate teaching materials and instructional techniques Here comes the same context to what happens in the teaching and learning ESP at Vietnam University of Commerce The traditional method being applied now is mainly teacher-centered and lecture-oriented, which commonly results in the passivity and non-involvement in speaking activities of students From all of the above, finding appropriate methods is an urge that the teachers here are striving for

Willis and Willis (2007:1) asserts that “…the most effective way to teach a language is by engaging learners in real language use in the classroom This is done

by designing tasks – discussions, problems, games, and so on – which require learners to use the language for themselves.” Other language researchers and practitioners like Candlin (1987), Swain (1995) and Hutchinson and Walter (1987) all agree that TBLT could bring good opportunities for students to master their language skills through numerous and useful kinds of tasks

From this suggestion and above initial problems, the author decided to

develop a quasi-experimental research on the use of task-based approach in

teaching speaking for the 2 nd year English majored students at Vietnam

University of Commerce

2 Aims of the study

This was a quasi-experiment research of which purpose was to investigate the influence of implementing task-based approach on the second-year-English-major students at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC) Specifically, it addressed the following research question:

- How do second-year English major students at Vietnam University of Commerce benefit from the implementation of the task-based approach?

The focus of the study is not only on student‟s achievement in their speaking skills but also on their changes in learning attitude and motivation

3 Scope of the study

The study was conducted on 40 second-year English major of the English Department of Vietnam University of Commerce and restricted to the first half of the first semester of 2013-2014 The intervention lasted for about one month and a half with five contacts, each a week

4 Significance of the study

The study was conducted to find out whether the TB approach fits the needs

of enhancing second-year students‟ speaking ability As a result, the teachers at VUC are persuaded to adopt this approach in their teaching not only speaking but other language skills

5 Method of the study

a Sample

The sample consists of 40 students of the early second year in English Faculty of Vietnam University of Commerce The students were selected randomly according to their credit registration at the end of the first year

The class were to receive TB instruction following an oral pre-test and then another post-test to check the effect of the new approach on speaking ability

The class were taught by the teacher who is qualified and has 5 years of experience in teaching business English at VUC

b Instrumentation

A quasi-experimental research were employed in this minor thesis to find out the attitudes and motivation of 2nd year students toward speaking as well as the influence of TBLT on their speaking ability

In order to collect sufficient and relevant data for the study, two research techniques were implemented:

- Using an oral pre-test and a post-test to evaluate the teaching and learning results

- Conducting a semi-structured questionnaire to investigate how the students are interested in the intervention

c Procedures

The steps of the study are executed as follow:

1 Administer the first oral test to check the current speaking ability of the participants

2 Implementing the TB instruction to the selected group of participants with

a detailed schedule

3 Issuing a survey questionnaire to check students‟ attitudes, understanding

of the experiment period

4 Administer a post-treatment test

5 Analyze the data and discuss the findings

6 Structure of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A – Introduction presents the rationale, aim, scope, significance and

method of the study

Part B – Development: this part comprises of three chapters:

- Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature review cover the

overview of the literature in which relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning Business English, speaking skills and task-based language teaching (TBLT)

- Chapter 2 – Research Method continues with the research method

including the participants of the study, the instrumentation, the methods and procedures of data collection and data analysis

- Chapter 3 – Findings and Discussion demonstrates the findings

accompanied by data analysis and discussion

Part C – Conclusion recapitulates the major findings of the study and

represents further recommendations for the implementation of TBLT

PART B - DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1.1 Business English

Business English has been receiving much concern from ESP practitioners,

learners and language researchers Orr (2002) sees Business English as a subfield

that focuses on the development of communicative competence for business settings, also known as target situations or situated contexts in business

Business English is a rapidly growing field within the area of English language Teaching (ELT) and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) It is a straightforward term that is widely used and readily understood by practitioners, but its generality can lead to confusion (Johnson, 1993, Pickett, 1986 and Johns, 1986) The term can be used to describe courses that range from an essentially English for General Purposes course that includes the teaching of some business lexis, to very specific courses, either in particular skills such as participating in or chairing meetings or report writing, or in particular disciplines such as finance or marketing

BE also differs itself from other ESP fields in that it is often a mix of specific

content (relating to a particular job area or industry), and general content (relating

to general ability to communicate more effectively albeit in business situation)

(Ellis and Johnson, 1994, p.3)

According to Dudley-Evans and John (1998), Business English is difficult to define and limit in linguistic terms It therefore „requires the careful research and design of pedagogical materials and activities for an identifiable group of adult learner within a specific learning context‟ (Johns and Dudley-Evans, 1991) and must be „designed to meet specified needs of the learner‟ (Streven, 1988)

Picket (1986) considers Business English as a „mediating language between the technicalities of particular businesses and the language of the general public‟, which puts a distinction between General English and Specialist English To

different people, Business English can have different meanings for which suit their purposes of learning and using English

Business English refers to the teaching of non-native speakers who needs English for business purposes usually working in a company at managerial level and needing to communicate in English with either native speakers or other ESL

speakers with whom they do not share a first language (Dudley-Evans and John,

1996) Therefore, teaching BE is believed to be the teaching of English to adults working in businesses, or preparing to work in the field of business, i.e a needs-directed teaching in which as much as possible must be made job-related, focused

on learners‟ needs and relevant to them

The content matter in Business English can be divided into two broad categories of real content and career content and is mentioned in the work of Dudley-Evans and John (1998) Defining the real content and career content in BE teaching are of utmost importance to BE teachers

Career content concerns all activities related to the process of

communication and learning of students including reading, listening, writing and speaking By the way of illustration, career content in speaking skills is placed on the performance-related activities like socializing or providing for personal needs

when on a business trip The real content deals with the language used in ESP

materials and teaching As being defined by Dudley-Evans and John (1998), real content includes linguistic and communicative skills of students‟ communicative and learning activities

There is a significant correlation between career content and real content for the former is made the focal point while the latter is introduced the following career content requirements It leads to the achievement of the integration of particular content with language teaching aims, so that the career content dictates the selection and sequence of language to be learned by students

1.1.2 Speaking

Various definitions on the concept of speaking have been pointed out by a

number of language researchers According to Chaney (1998, p 13), speaking is the

process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts Accordingly, Brown, (1994); Burns & Joyce,

(1997) and Florez (1999, p.1) consider speaking as an interactive process of

constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs,

including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking

Speaking plays a vital role in communication Ur (1996), Bailey and Savage (1994: vii) claim that, “for many people, speaking is seen as the central skill because of the desire to communicate with others, often face-to-face and in real time” In Ur‟s opinion, speaking is intuitively considered as the most important skill

of the four ones

According to Haws and Thomas (1994), in an ESL spoken-English course it

is all too easy to make the mistaken assumption that students‟ competence can be developed by just any kind of speaking activities If the focus of the course is on conversational skills, this will not ensure that learners will develop the ability to use language for informative purposes, which is the aspect of spoken English that students most often have difficulty with These skills must be introduced as a component in their own right and explicitly taught

Also, the authors state that one of the related problems that teaching speaking encounters is motivation In order to encourage language learners to speak without hesitation, it is advisable for teacher to raise a willingness and a need to talk in each learner by providing them with familiar topics or situations that they feel they need

or reasonable to talk about The resultant lack of interest and motivation can be attributed to the purposelessness of the language they are being asked to produce

While Ellis & Johnson (1994), Dudley-Evans & St John (1998) divide speaking skills in BE into meetings and discussions, oral presentations, telephoning

and socializing, Brieger (1997) separates BE into presentations, meetings, telephoning and negotiations The following will focus on four common types of speaking skills employing in BE

a Meetings and discussions

Ellis & Johnson (1994:91) and Brieger (1997:48) agree that there are different types of meetings and discussions covering from large, formal meetings, small, informal meetings and discussions of all kinds Each of them requires specific kinds of language and language skills Besides, language functions relating

to participating in meetings can be found in negotiating, setting out facts and figures, expressing opinions, supporting an argument, agreeing and disagreeing, balancing points of view, make suggestions, promising, interrupting, and adding new points (Ellis & Johnson: ibid)

b Oral presentations

Oral presentation, or spoken monologue, can be a feature of EOP and EAP works (Dudley-Evans & St John, 1998:112) including BE Presentations are great way to have students practice all language system areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, listening and writing) They also build confidence and presenting skills that needed for most people in the world

of work Presentation skills can be built through different sets of activities and learning form, take task-based as an example According to Dudley-Evans and John (1998), confidence is a significant factor for many people in speaking a language and classroom feedback should be based on maintaining and increasing confidence Teacher can make a motivation for speaking by highlighting and building on their students‟ strengths as well as discussing positive features first Areas for improvement in students‟ oral presentation skills need concrete suggestions of ways and means of achieving them

c Telephoning

Telephoning can be distinguished as a performance area even though it actually refers to a channel of communication and may cover a wide range of situations and types of interactions (Ellis and Johnson, 1994) in business For non-native speakers, speaking on the telephone presents a variety of new and difficult barriers to natural communication because of having no visual supports (graphics, figures, facial expression, etc.), yet it is an unavoidable and crucial part of the business world

d Socializing

Controversial ideas are raised accordingly whether socializing can be considered as a performance area of BE Dudley-Evans and John (1998) alert language learners of avoiding the misunderstanding of the term „socializing‟ as they may forget to remain it in business context The socializing skill consists of three distinct types of situation and behavior: (1) the transactional situation where speakers have a particular purpose, (2) the situation where people make contact with other for business reasons, and (3) where speakers interact with no fixed purpose other than to pass the time of day or to create a more relaxed atmosphere in which they can get to know each other better (Ellis and John, 1994)

1.2 Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

1.2.1 Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

Task-based language teaching (TBLT), or task-based language learning (TBL) or task-based instruction (TBI), was first developed in India by N.S Prabhu

in the 1980s and has become a keen contemporary interest in English language teaching (ELT) field Willis (1996), Brown (1994), Littlewood (2004), some of TBLT proponents, presents it as a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) since the emphasis of TBLT is on communicative learning and teaching of language

TBLT has been advocated by a number of language researchers and teachers

in the world despite the fact that its clear definitions are still in search Say

Richards & Rodgers (2nd ed 2001), TBLT is an approach based on the use of tasks

as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching Foster (1999) points out that different task-based approach all share the common ground: giving learner tasks to transact rather than items to learn This means that with TBLT, learners are provided with an environment that best promotes the natural language learning process During this interaction practices, students have chance to understand each other and to express their own meaning Richards and Rodgers (2001) and Larsen-Freeman (2000) give their own definition on the term „task‟, a frequently used words in classroom for years In TBLT, tasks are always central activities where the target language is used for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome emphasizing on exchanging meaning not producing language forms The tasks here cover a wide range of language but a concentration on one particular structure, function, or vocabulary group This belief is based on the belief that student can use language effectively when focusing on the task itself rather than

on the language they are using Since tasks are basic unit of a TBLT framework, it

is crucial to give clear definitions of tasks

2.3.1 Definitions of tasks within Task-based Instruction (TBI)

According to Willis (1996), tasks are activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome That means a task can be anything from doing a puzzle to making an airline reservation

Other definitions are provided by a number of scholars like Nunan (2004), Long (1985)s, Breen (1987), Skehan (1996b) Those concepts are defined on the

basis of scope and perspective Nunan (2004) describes task as a piece of classroom

work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting with the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning … rather than form He

emphasizes the fact that pedagogical tasks involve communicative language use as well as agrees with Willis and Wills (2001) that tasks differentiate themselves from grammatical exercises by aiming to achieve an outcomes with a free use of range of

language structures Skehan (1998) proposed a definition of task following Candlin (1987), Nunan (1989), Long (1989) and others that a task is an activity in which: (1) meaning is primary, (2) there is some communication to solve, (3) there is some sort

of relationship to comparable real-world activities, (4) task completion has some priority, and (5) the assessment of the task is in terms of an outcome

To sum up, tasks can be understood as classroom activities designed for learner to practice the information exchange and meaning negotiation using the target language to achieve an outcome

a Task types

Nunan (2004, pp.1) and Richards & Rodgers (2001) classify tasks into two main types: (1) target tasks or real-world tasks and (2) pedagogical tasks The former, as the name implies, refer to the use of language in the world beyond the classroom, and the latter are those that occur in the classroom Generally, target tasks tend to give more specific and explicitly related to classroom instruction while pedagogical tasks includes a series of techniques designed ultimately for students to

perform the target tasks According to Richards and Rodgers (ibid), targets tasks are

designed to practice or rehearse those activities that are found to be important in a need analysis and that turn out to be important and useful in the real world He also

provides examples of pedagogical tasks such as jigsaw, information-gap, problem solving, decision-making, and opinion exchange tasks

In nature, tasks are categorized in different ways Pica, Kanagy and Falodun (1993) categorizes tasks based on the types of interactions in the product including jigsaw tasks (learners combine different pieces of information to make a whole, information-gap tasks (students negotiate to find out and match complementary sets

of information), problem solving tasks (students make decisions on a given problem through negotiation and discussion), and opinion-exchange tasks (students engage

in discussion and exchange of ideas, an agreement may not need to be reached)

From another viewpoint, Long (1989) suggests six types of tasks in pairs

based on their functions: (1) dealing with information: One-way tasks (describing

information without pre-reading), two-way tasks (accessing final results of a problem solving activities); (2) dealing with task preparation: planned tasks (for dealing with interviews), unplanned tasks (face-to-face conversations); (3)

convergent tasks (problem solving through social interaction) and divergent tasks

(exchanging information to achieve the same outcome)

b Task components

Drawing on the conceptualizations of Candlin (1987), Wright (1987a) and some others, Nunan (1989:48) analyzes task in terms of its components: goals, input, procedures, teacher role, learner role, and settings The diagram of task and its components is displayed as follow:

Figure 1: Task components

- Goals are the general intentions behind any given task

- Input refers to the data that form the point of departure for the tasks

- Activities specify what learners will actually do with the input

- Teachers and learners roles refer to the part that learners and teachers are

expected to play

- Settings refer to the classroom arrangements carrying out the tasks

1.2.3 Task-based learning in a Business English course

According to Ellis and Johnson (1994:39), in case of applying TBLT in teaching BE, more attention should be paid to such following points:

- Task simulation must be the fabric of a business course as should fit in the learner‟s real situation as closely as possible

- Practice tasks may comprise of long or short ones, from asking learners to describe a company‟s product to setting up a telephone role-play or a

simulated meeting or getting them to prepare a short presentation defending a certain point of view

- Within classroom environment, tasks must be deeply defined so that the learners know exactly what the setting is, who they are supposed to be, what sorts of things they are supposed to communicate in certain business contexts, and what is expected in performance

- It is essential to set up the tasks thoroughly in order to get maximum value from it as much time can be wasted if learners do not know what they are supposed to be doing

Tasks chosen depend on the needs of the learners in relation to their jobs If the learners are experienced ones, more supporting materials will be referred to the tasks as well as relied on only minimal input from the learners

1.2.4 The framework for task-based instruction (TBI)

Willis (1996:38) presents TBLT in three sections: pre-task, task cycle, and language focus

The pre-task stage aims at exploring the topic with the students to raise the

schematic knowledge of it, and to provide a reason for real communication as well

as providing a model of similar task to make the language available so noticing can occur (Schmidt, 1990) Concurrently, this stage covers the brainstorming and mind maps activities Skehan (1998) accordingly proposes the activities used in pre-task stage including a model to introduce, mobilise, recycle language, to ease processing load (content focus), and to push learners to try new form of language (Sato, 1988; Chafe, 1994) Learners may be asked to engage in pre-task planning with which they can be guided language or content focus, or there is even no planning needed at all (Foster and Skehan, 1996; Skehan and Foster, 1997)

Willis (ibid) calls the second stage during task as “task cycle” that includes three sub-stages: (1) task (student perform the task and teacher monitors); (2) planning (students prepare to report to the whole class and teacher provides help with the language) (3) reports (chosen/volunteer groups to present before class)

According to Skehan (1998), there is a number of options which may influence attentional availability: (1) time pressure: the speed with which a task needs to be complete (time limit or no time limit) (Yuan and Ellis, 2003); (2)

support: whether to allow students access to the input data while performing the task (Robinson, 1995; Brown et al, 1984; Foster and Skehan, 1997); (3) surprise: introducing some surprise element into the task (Foster and Skehan, ibid), and (4) control: giving learners opportunity to choose the way they like to do the task (Kuramadivelu, 1993; Breen, 1997)

The post-task stage is called as „language focus‟ that includes

consciousness-raising activities and practice-oriented work of words, structures, and functions required for a communicative purpose and relevant to learners (Willis, 1996) Meanwhile, Skehan (1998) suggests altering attentional balance through post-task activities such as public performance (Samuda et al, 1996), analyzing task performance (Lynch, 1998) This stage also covers the reflection and consolidation that are to encourage learners to restructure, and to use the task and its performance

as input to help in the process of „noticing the gap‟ and to develop language (Willis and Willis, 1996; Johns, 1991) Bygate (1996, 1999), Lynch and Maclean (2000, 2001) believes within the cycles of task-based activities, there may be task repetition

1.3 Advantages of TBLT

Task-based Language Teaching is an application of second language teaching informed by the most recent research findings on second Language acquisition (SLA) As such, it plays an important role in current language pedagogy (Solares, 2006) Amongst advocates of TBLT are Ritchie (2003), Skehan (1996b), Bowen (2000), or Nunan (2005) TBLT has the advantage of getting the student to use their skills at their current level To help develop language through its use It has the advantage of getting the focus of the student toward achieving a goal where language becomes a tool, making the use of language a necessity Ritchie (2003), consider TBLT a better approach over traditional ones because learners are exposed

to richer language, namely the comprehensible input

Skehan (1996b) indicated that the strength of TBLT is that it provides learners the opportunity to make use of lexical resources they have either from previous knowledge or the pre-task input Then through interactions or negotiations of meanings, students can eventually develop greater fluency (p.22)

Bowen (2000) and Frost (2004) highlight the advantages of TBLT over the more traditional Present, Practice, Produce (PPP) approach as it allows students to

be free of language control, not the pre-selected items and focus on form in general, not any the single ones In addition, Nunan (2005) added that “TBL does provice a flexible, functionally compatible and contextual sensitive approach for many teachers, as well as the learners” He also emphasizes that the attractiveness of TBL

relates not only to the enumerated benefits as “it provides rather a useful practice

that can be applied across many approaches, as well as boundaries TBL may provide an enduring legacy that meets the test of the time It may also provide a curricular and syllabus framework of flexibility that logically students and teachers will be drawn to even if it need not to be the central features for certain places”

3 TBLT only focuses on oral skills, especially speaking

4 TBLT requires group work

5 The teacher‟s role is simply to manage students‟ performance of tasks

6 TBLT requires teachers and students to use English all the time

7 TBLT is only suitable for ESL contexts

8 TBLT provides learners with very little input

Those misconceptions have arisen for a number of reasons but named two in particular: misrepresentations of the theoretical background for TBLT and failures

to acknowledge the differences existing amongst advocates of TBLT like Seedhouse (e.g 1999; 2005), Sheen (1994; 2003), Swan (2005a; 2005b), Widdowson (2003), Carless (2005), and Littlewood (2007)

It is obvious that TBLT allows interactions to take place depending on three factors: the proficiency of the students, the design features of tasks, and the method

of implementation Therefore, more advanced learners performing more complex tasks will engage in more linguistically rich interactions, especially if they are given the opportunity to engage in pre-task and online planning (Yuan and Ellis, 2003) Moreover, the rich evidence from task-based literature can firmly show that tasks can result in highly complex language use Different kinds of tasks in different levels bring students chance to employ the TBA flexibly from group works (i.e problem solving, socializing) or individually (input-based tasks, information gap tasks, for example, according to Prabhu) Besides, the role of the teachers do not show only in facilitating learners to understand what to do but also in the pre-task and post-task stages as correctors and providers of new language Also, the TBLT

do not prohibit learners from using L1 (mother tongue) all the time as sociocultural theory views the L1 as a useful cognitive tool for scaffolding L2 learner production and facilitating private speech (see, for example, Anton and DiCamilla, 1998); and Learners make effective use of the L1 to establish the goals for a task and the procedures to be followed in tackling it

1.5 Theoretical justification for TBLT

TBLT has evolved in a respond to a better understanding of the way languages are learned, claimed Foster (1999), that is, language is acquired through communication (Howard, 1984) This comment is based on the research findings in

SLA (second language acquisition) that learners do not acquire target language in

the order it is presented to them no matter how carefully teachers and textbooks organize it (Foster, 1999; Skehan, 1996) The rationale for the employment of communicative tasks is based on contemporary theories of language learning and acquisition, which claim that language use is the driving force for language development (Long, 1989; Prabhu, 1987) For example, advocates of such theories (see Pica, Kanagy, and Falodun, 1983) suggest that, as Norris et al (1998) put it,

the best way to learn and teach a language is through social interactions […they] allow students to work toward a clear goal, share information and opinions, negotiate meaning, get the interlocutor’s help in comprehending input, and receive

feedback on their language production In the process, learners not only use their interlanguage, but also modify it, which in turn promotes acquisition (p31)

According to Kasper (2001:520), for foreign language (FL)/ second language (L2) learners, the classroom may be the only available environment where they can try out what using the foreign language feels like, and how more or less comfortable they are with different aspects of FL pragmatics That is why using tasks conforms

to the most prominent hypotheses interpreting FL acquisition

The use of tasks as vehicles for facilitating L2/ FL development is supported

by Swain‟s output hypothesis (1985) Swain argues that it is through the process of

producing language (output) that learners may be able to test their theories about the target language, gain control over form, and perhaps internalize linguistic knowledge Therefore, output produced in tasks is not the result of the language learning process, but rather a step in the process (Adams, 2003:248)

Another prominent reason for using tasks in the L2 classroom evolved from

Long‟s interaction hypothesis (1996) According to his hypothesis, learners,

throughout interaction, often negotiate meaning to achieve mutual comprehension The effort to achieve mutual comprehension involves the use of a variety of strategies, such as asking an interlocutor to confirm message content, or requesting that an interlocutor explain something further This sort of interaction was assumed

to foster L2/FL development Similarly, from a communicative competence perspective, tasks were assumed to help learners engage properly with discourse by dong it (McCarthy & Carter, 2001b:59; Dinapoli, 2000:1 and Ellis, 2003:58) In consideration of the learner-centered approach, Candlin (1987) points out that TBL

is a means to enhancing classroom communication and acquisition Sheen (1994) regards Task-based approaches as the mechanism to induce language acquisition

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHOD

2.1 The context of the study

The study was conducted at Hanoi University of Commerce which has a reputation in the fields of commerce and economics Six years ago, the English Faculty was established in order to meet the demand of producing qualified graduates that have both English proficiency and economic background The students have to pass a severe entrance examination to attend a 4 – year – training program which equips them with plenty of knowledge, skills and experience Tightly following the standard of higher education quality, the university provides different courses in eight semesters to students of English Faculty, focusing on four receptive and productive skills (Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing) namely Basic English freshmen (pre-intermediate level), Business English 1 (1.1 – 1.4) for sophomores (intermediate level), and Business English 2 (2.1 – 2.4) for juniors (upper-intermediate level); theories of language (Phonetics, Advanced Grammar, Semantics, Pragmatics, etc.); and translation studies (for senior students, such as Translation practices, Interpretation, etc.) Students here have chances to study with

one of the latest Business English course books – The Business by MacMillan –

which provides a wide range of business English knowledge covered in the four skills and specialized for the first to the third year of studying at this university The course book adapted in this research paper is The Business Intermediate

for the second year students in English Faculty

2.2 Participants

The participants of the study were 40 second-year students aged from 18 to 20 years old and from both urban and rural areas Their English proficiency was measured with the score range of Business Basic 4 from 5.5 – 9.3 (band 10) and is equivalent to 350 – 450 TOEIC or 3.5 – 4.0 IELTS As having studied basic economics before Business English 1, these students have certain basic economics background as well as language skills It is therefore advantageous for them to participate in topics and productive activities in Business English

As being adult learners, the students are notable for a number of special features (Harmer, 2001:40) such as (1) engagement with abstract thoughts, (2)

whole range of life experience to draw on, (3) expectation about the learning process and (may have) their own sets patterns of learning, (4) better disciplinary (5) rich range of experiences, which allows teachers to use a wide range of activities with them, and (6) having clear understanding of why they are learning and what they want to get out of it

The classes were classified upon the results of the previous semester and the new credit registration This means the participants have been familiar with the

course book The Business pre-intermediate which has similar layout like the current one of a higher level, The Business Intermediate

The researcher conducted the study herself at the English Faculty, Vietnam University of Commerce

2.3 Research design

2.3.1 Quasi-experimental research

Aiming at using task-based approach (TBA) in teaching speaking skills for the second-year major students at Vietnam University of Commerce, the author suggested implementing a quasi-experimental research in this study due to the fact that students were classified upon passing the final examination results of the first year and their registration for credits required

So, what is a quasi-experimental design? Quasi-experimental design is a form

of experimental research used extensively in the social sciences and psychology A quasi-experiment is an empirical study used to estimate the causal impact of an intervention on its target population These designs share many similarities with the traditional experimental design or randomized controlled trial, but they specifically lack the element of random assignment to treatment or control Instead, quasi-experimental designs typically allow the researcher to control the assignment to the treatment condition, but using some criterion other than random assignment (e.g.,

an eligibility cutoff mark) (Dinardo, J., 2008)

According to Cohen et al (2007:275), a quasi-experimental design includes: (1) the one group pretest – post-test; (2) the non-equivalent control group design; and (3) the time series design The authors also state that quasi-experiments may covers pre-experiments in which one group pretest-posttest design is employed This sort of experiments helps researchers to evaluate the significant of a new

teaching method or the attitude of the participants towards a change or renovation in syllabus design

2.3.2 Design

In this paper, the author used only one treatment group with two tests applying before and after the intervention The experiment mentioned above can be visualized as follow:

- O2: post-treatment test (post-test)

The one group pre/post-test design was used in order to compare the results of the both two tests that come before and after the treatment On the basis of this, the researcher can evaluate the influence of the task-based instruction on the process of learning English speaking skills

(2000, p.300) including five subscales as appropriacy of language, accuracy,

fluency/ style, dealing with questions and cultural factors The marking scales range