Using task-based language teaching to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research at Đức Thiện vocational school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN USING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT ĐỨC THIỆN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL (SỬ DỤNG PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC GIAO NHIỆM VỤ ĐỂ TĂNG CƢỜNG SỰ THAM GIA CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG CẤP ĐỨC THIỆN) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English language teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN USING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO INCREASE STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT ĐỨC THIỆN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL (SỬ DỤNG PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC GIAO NHIỆM VỤ ĐỂ TĂNG CƢỜNG SỰ THAM GIA CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG CẤP ĐỨC THIỆN) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English language teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr Dƣơng Thị Nụ HANOI - 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of tables and charts viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aim and objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Speaking skill 1.1.1 What is speaking? 1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill in learning language 1.2 Student participation 1.2.1 What is student participation? 1.2.2 Factors affecting student participation in speaking class 1.2.2.1 Students‟ learning styles 1.2.2.2 Students‟ motivation 1.2.2.3 Teachers‟ teaching techniques 1.2.2.4 Teachers‟ personal qualities and characteristics 1.3 Task-based language teaching (TBLT) iv 1.3.1 What is of TBLT? 1.3.2 What is task within TBLT? 1.3.3 Task classifications 1.3.4 A framework for TBLT Implementation 10 Previous studies relating to applying TBLT in teaching speaking skill 11 1.5 Summary 12 Chapter 2: Methodology 13 2.1 An overview of action research 13 2.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 14 2.3 Description of the context of the research 15 2.3.1 The current method of English language teaching at DTVS 15 2.3.2 The teaching program and materials 16 2.4 Description of the research 17 2.4.1 Subjects of the research 17 2.4.2 Data collection instruments 17 2.4.3 The action procedures 19 2.4.4 Data analysis procedures 21 2.5 Summary 22 Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion 23 3.1 Analysis of questionnaire 23 3.1.1 Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill .23 3.1.2 Students‟ participation in speaking class 24 3.1.3 Students‟ motivations and learning styles 24 3.1.4 Students‟ difficulties in learning speaking skill 26 3.1.5 Students‟ opinions on speaking activities in the textbook 26 3.1.6 Teacher‟s teaching methods in speaking class 27 3.1.7 Students‟ preferences and suggestions to increase their participation in speaking lessons 28 3.2 Analysis of observation 29 v 3.2.1 Number of students participating in speaking lessons 30 3.2.2 Students‟ speaking turns 31 3.2.3 Students‟ quality of participation 31 3.2.3.1 Data from Observation sheet 32 3.2.3.2 Data from Observation sheet 33 3.3 Analysis of interview 35 3.3.1 Students‟ attitudes towards applied tasks and TBLT 35 3.3.2 Students‟ difficulties in task-based speaking lessons 36 3.3.3 Students‟ suggestions for better implementing task-based lessons 36 3.4 Discussion of the research questions 36 3.5 Summary 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 40 Conclusions 40 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further research 41 PART D: REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I Appendix I Appendix IV Appendix VI Appendix VIII Appendix IX Appendix XII Appendix XV vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DTVS: Đức Thiện Vocational school TBLT: Task-based Language Teaching TBL: Task-based Learning TBL: Task-based Lesson NTBL: Non-task-based Lesson vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS TABLES Table 1: Students‟ motivations on learning speaking skill Table 2: Students‟ learning styles Table 3: Students‟ difficulties in learning speaking skill Table 4: Students‟ opinions on speaking activities in the textbook Table 5: Students‟ comments on their previous teachers‟ teaching speaking skill Table 6: Students‟ preferences in working in speaking lessons Table 7: Students‟ recommendation for the things the teacher should CHARTS Chart 1: Students‟ attitude towards importance of speaking skill Chart 2: Students‟ attitude towards interestingness of speaking skill Chart 3: Students‟ participation in speaking lessons Chart 4: Students on-task behavior Chart 5: Students‟ speaking turns viii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study English has been extensively studied and taught in Vietnam for decades However, there exists some weakness in the teaching and learning of the speaking skill in non-English major courses at vocational schools, colleges and universities I realize that most of students have many problems in learning this skill It is due to the fact that the common teaching approach applied is teacher-centered and lectureoriented, which normally results in learner passiveness and non-involvement in English speaking activities Since I started teaching at Đức Thiện vocational school, I have always been trying my best to help my students speak better However, I have had many frustrations because my students are always inactive in speaking lessons In fact, at the beginning of each new course, teachers of English at DTVS always make as many efforts as possible to teach speaking skill carefully Even though the students are really encouraged by the teachers, their participation in speaking lessons is very poor This problem leads to the fact that the teachers often omit or teach speaking lessons perfunctorily to spend time teaching other parts in units so that their students can pass the final exam well Although the students are not required to take any English speaking tests, communicative skill is very important for their future jobs How to help students become more active and participate in speaking lessons better, it is really a big question for me and my colleagues In some recent years, many modern approaches have been applied Task-based language teaching has been preferably applied in teaching languages with the hope to achieve the expected communicative results Thanks to lectures on English language teaching methodology delivered in my master course, I understand about and really felt interested in TBLT Richards and Rodgers (2001:228) asserted that “Tasks are believed to foster process of negotiation, modification, rephrasing, and experiment that are heart of second language learning” Besides, Nunan (2005) argues that “task-based teaching does provide a flexible, functionally compatible and contextually sensitive approach for many teachers, as well as learners” Therefore, the research “Using task-based language teaching to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research at Đức Thiện Vocational School” was conducted in the hope of solving the problem in my school‟s teaching context Aim and objectives of the study The study is designed with an aim to increase students‟ participation in speaking lessons at DTVS by using task-based language teaching Specifically, it has three objectives: - To find possible explanations for the poor participation of the students - To justify the effect of task-based language teaching on students‟ participation Research questions What are possible reasons that lead to students‟ participation in speaking lessons? To what extent does task-based language teaching help increase students‟ participation in speaking lessons? Scope of the study The study concentrates on communicative tasks that students are assigned in English speaking lessons, which result in increasing the participation of first-year students‟ at DTVS Within its scope, the research was aimed at justifying the extent of class activity participation improvement of the students Methods of the study This study is conducted as an action research because action research is the best choice for the purpose of investigating students‟ difficulties in learning speaking and improving the students‟ participation in speaking lessons In order to get data, a combination of different instruments, namely class observation, informal interviews and questionnaire, is used The data collected from the observation and interviews will be analyzed by qualitative method, and the data collected through the questionnaire will be analyzed by quantitative method Significance of the study The study is an attempt to the concern of teachers and administrator who take responsibility of the course quality and students‟ learning From the findings of the study, teachers and administrator can decide whether or not task-based language teaching should be used for teaching English at DTVS in future This new method may become the positive solution to the students‟ poor participation in learning not only speaking skill but also other skills Design of the study The study consists of three main parts as follows  The first part, Introduction, deals with rationale, purposes, research questions, scope, methods, significance and design of the study  The second part, Development, contains three chapters, in which chapter reviews the literature focusing on the theoretical basis related to task-based language teaching and speaking skill, chapter presents a detailed description of the research methodology, and chapter discusses the findings of the study  The final part, Conclusion, recapitulates all the main points discussed throughout the thesis, provides pedagogical implications and suggests further research orientations APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is intended for the thesis “Using task-based language teaching to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research at Duc Thien Vocational School” I am grateful for your goodwill and cooperation in completing the questionnaire Please, be assured that the information you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence Thank you very much! How important is speaking skill to you? a very b rather c little d Not at all How much are you interested in speaking skill? a very b rather c little d Not at all In speaking lessons, how often you participate? a always b often c sometimes d rarely e never except when asked by the teacher Why you learn speaking skill? (You can tick more than one answer) a It‟s one of the compulsory skills in the textbook/English course b It will be helpful for my future job c It helps me enjoy English songs and stories d It helps me communicate with foreigners e Other(s) (please specify): Tick the statement which describes your learning styles? a learning by games, pictures, films, videos; listening to cassettes and talking in pairs or in groups I b learning by observing and listening to native speakers; talking to my friends in English and learn English wherever possible c learning grammatical rules and doing grammar exercises and learning through reading newspapers, magazines d learning English words by reading and writing them again and again and listen to teacher explain everything in the textbook and writing down everything in my notebook What are your difficulties in learning speaking skill (You can choose more than one option) a My pronunciation is not good b My vocabulary is poor c I lack some necessary grammar structures d I lack background knowledge e I not know how to express my ideas f I have nothing to speak g I am too shy to speak English and afraid of making mistakes h It is not a must for me to speak English In your opinion, how are speaking topics in your textbook? a interesting b boring c difficult d unfamiliar e impractical Which statement(s) is/are true about your previous teacher of English? (You can choose more than one option) a Teachers could not monitor activities because of the larger class size b Teachers‟ instructions were not clear enough c Teachers often focused on grammatical rules more than language use d Teachers followed the speaking activities in the textbook all the time II e Teachers interrupted me to correct every grammatical or phonological mistakes that I made while talking f Teachers sometimes used English; he/she mainly used Vietnamese in speaking lessons g Teachers asked students to practice while sitting at his desk and observed h Teachers only called some active students who raised hands to speak He/ She seldom encouraged weak students to speak i Teachers praised you when you did well How you like doing in speaking lessons? a whole class work with teacher directing b group work ( The appropriate number of members: ) c pair work d work individually Give reasons for your choice: …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… 10 In your opinion, what should the teacher to improve your participation in speaking lessons? a To give clear instructions b To provide necessary vocabulary c The focus and objectives of the activities are stated d Not to interrupt to correct when students are speaking a To move around the class and support III APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Observer: …………………………………………………………………… … Date and time of observation: …………………………………………………… Lesson Topic: …………………………………………………………………… Material: ………………………………………………………………………… Lesson:  non-task-based lesson Work :  individually  task-based lesson  In pairs  In groups of Total number of students observed: …………………………………………… Instructions:  This sheet is used by teachers invited to observe class (they are non-participants)  This sheet focuses on both frequency and nature of participation  Observers observe students during speaking lessons  Observers write Student Code at first column, then tick  in the corresponding column  Each observer observes a small cluster of students who sit next to each other (equally a fourth of class)  Notes: On-task: being engaged in in group work, pair work or individual work Off-task: not being engaged in group work or individual work (for example, having private talks, doodling, daydreaming, working at other subjects, physically bothering other students, attempting to draw attention etc.) Teambuilding: correcting peers’ mistakes, encouraging, consulting, tutoring etc IV On-task Student Off- Code task Responding Turns of Speak Speak speaking in L1 in L2 Initiating Asking for Simply agreement with simply disagreement agreement development disagreement with reason # # # V Eliciting Evaluating explanation Team- and building clarification APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET (Adapted from Willis (1996) about the learners’ roles in the framework of TBLT) Observer: ………………………………………………………………………… Date and time of observation: …………………………………………………… Lesson Topic: ………………………………………………………………… Material: …………………………………………………………………………… Work :  In pairs  In groups of Instructions:  This sheet is for observing the whole class‟s participation  This sheet is used by the teacher/ researcher only  Start observation during the task-based lessons  Tick  in the column Yes or No for each statement below  Add final comments in the next column if necessary Yes Stages of task A Pre-task Do the students write down useful words and phrases from the pre-task activities and/or the recording? Do most of students understand the instruction of task? Do the students spend a few minutes preparing for the task individually? B Task cycle Are students engaged in the task? Are they active in doing their task or wait until being asked by their peers? Are there some students working individually rather than as part of the group? VI No Comments Are there any students dominating a group? Are there any students speaking Vietnamese? Do most weak students say very little? 10 Do group leaders or good students encourage weak students to speak? 11 Do the students seem to be comfortable in working in pair/ group? 12 Are there any students showing their limits /difficulties when interacting with group mates? (note what they to overcome the difficulties) 13 Do the students prepare to report how they performed the task and what they discovered to the class 14 Do the students rehearse what they will present to the entire class? 15 Are the students willing to present their spoken reports to the class? 16 Are the students confident in making their presentation? C Post-task (Language focus) 17 Do the students perform consciousness- raising activities to identify and process specific language features from the task and transcript 18 Do the students ask about other features they noticed? 19 Are the students interested in practising words, phrases and patterns from the analysis activities? 20 Do the students enter useful language items in their language notebooks? VII APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (Conducted after each task-based speaking lesson with students chosen randomly by the researcher) What you think of the lesson today? In comparison with non-task-based speaking lessons, did you participate more in the lesson today? If “Yes”, can you clarify how this new teaching approach helped you? If “No”, tell me the difficulties that prevented you from engaging in the task? In your opinion, which stage of a task-based lesson is the most helpful for you? Explain why? What you think the teacher should to help you participate more actively in the next task-based lesson? VIII APPENDIX DESCRIPTION OF A SAMPLE TASK-BASED SPEAKING LESSON For my task-based speaking lesson plans, I adopted Willis‟ (1996:52) TBLT framework, as follows: • Performing a communicative task; • Planning a report of the performance; • Reporting the task results to the class In order to incorporate tasks with a clear link to units of the textbook (Hutchinson, 1997:68), I took the following steps: I listed vocabulary from the textbook unit; I assigned topics to the vocabulary lists; I listed tasks following Willis‟ (1996a) task-types; I decided the way students would work (individually, in pairs or in groups) I decided in which weeks each unit would be covered The results for one such unit are summarized in the table below Unit 10 Vocabulary car, lorry, boat, motorboat, bus, train, bicycle, plane, helicopter, coach, taxi, moped, ship, double-decker, cable car, cyclo, sailboat Topic Guessing means of transport for travelling Pre-task - List means of transport to use for travelling (listing); (type) - rank the items by common (ranking); - discuss what transport you used to travel in your nearest trip (sharing personal experience) Task (type) “explore” which means of transportation that another person is thinking of (problem solving) Work Pair-work Material Color chalks, cards of transports Week # IX In general, I always try to loosely associate the tasks I use with the textbook where possible, though when I use textbook activities I remove suggested phrases from the material to avoid setting a “language agenda” while still giving students enough help to encourage them to be successful In unit 10, there is a lot of emphasis on travel vocabulary and past simple tense To give students opportunities to practice these transportation words and past tense in an activity with a “real” outcome, I developed the tasks using these words above The vocabulary items were printed on small laminated cards, with a picture on one side and the word on the other The goal of the task was to find out which vocabulary item one partner was thinking of One student wrote the word on a piece of paper, and the other partner had to find out what it was After that, they change the role to ask and answer LESSON PROCEDURE Time: hour A Pre-task (15 minutes) To introduce the topic of the lesson I conducted a series of pre-task which included listing vocabulary of transport, ranking the transport in term of common, and talking about the transport we used for our latest holiday This part of the lesson was teacher-fronted to help students get comfortable talking and to give me better control over the class timeline The listing and ranking tasks could easily have been performed in pairs, and with intermediate students I probably would ask them to perform these pre-tasks in pairs and then present their findings to the class After that, I stick the cards on the board and have students practice these words aloud As a final pre-task activity I rehearsed the task with the class as a whole I wrote down the transport I used, and they asked me questions to discover what it was I did not criticize students‟ utterances, nor did I correct their grammar errors This pre-task was intended to provide students with a model for task performance and to demonstrate that communication was more important than language form when performing the task X B Task cycle (35 minutes) Task While students were doing the task, I moved around them and assisted with any communication difficulties, though I tried not to correct grammar or pronunciation, instead encouraging them to communicate with as little support as possible Planning and report Implementing the planning and report phases with the students proved the biggest challenges of the lesson and I need to make some adaptations The students are often embarrassed and timid when speaking English before audiences, so to encourage a greater contrast between task and report language, and to facilitate successful reports, I asked students to switch from a spoken to a written medium After performing the task, in the subsequent planning phase, students were asked to write a “script” of the task for a role-playing performance They worked in pair to write their scripts, discussing what language to use, and I moved between the pairs to help them correct language errors The report phase thus involved a role-play of student-generated scripts In future classes, when students got familiar to reporting their tasks and make progressive, I didn‟t have them write “scripts” any more (as Been & Candlin (2001) note, spoken language should be spoken and written language should be written) However, in this first task-based lesson, scripting encouraged students not only to be more confident when performing but also to focus on language complexity and improving accuracy To give the students the classroom experience they expect, I had them practice and roleplay their scripts in front of the class, at the report stage of the lesson (See Appendix …) The teacher listens to the reports carefully and took notes of words, phases or sentences that could be mentioned in language focus phase C Language focus (10 minutes) From the notes I had taken while the students were reporting, I wrote on the board the words, phrases or sentences that the students used correctly and incorrectly I evaluated the selected language in order to upgrade students‟ awareness of grammar rules It was a step focusing on form XI APPENDIX TRANSCRIPT OF TASK SAMPLE Teacher-fronted task rehearsal transcript T: Last summer I travelled to Nha Trang for my holiday I traveled by um I will write it down It‟s secret Can you guess what I used to travel? H: Did you go there by car? T: By car? No Not car H: By plane? T: No Not plane A: By train? T: Oh, yes I travelled by train A: (laugh) T: Okay Well-done Thank you Learner task performance Pair 1: M: You go by train? G No M: Motorbike? G: No M: Car? G: Not, not car On water M: ?? G: Water – “nước ấy” On water M: Boat? G: Yes, boat Pair 2: C: Bus? H: No XII C: Car? H: No C: Plane? M: No C: He-li (show at the card of helicopter) H: Yes (laugh) C: (laugh) Written student “script” Pair 1: M: Did you travel last summer? G: Yes, I did M: Did you travel by train? G No, I didn‟t M: Did you travel by motorbike? G: No, I didn‟t M: Did you travel by car? G: No, not car It‟s on water M: Did you travel by boat? G: Yes That‟s right Pair 2: C: Are you travel by bus? H: No C: Are you travel by car? H: No C: Are you travel by plane? H: No C: Are you travel by helicopter? H: Yes XIII Transcript of script role-plays Pair 1: Teacher: Ok, so Mai and Giang, please stand up M: Do you ah did you travel last summer? G: Yes, I did M: Did you travel by train? G No, I didn‟t M: Did you travel by car? G: No, I didn‟t M: Did you travel by motorbike? G: No It‟s on water M: Did you travel by boat? G: Yes Right Teacher: Oh, great! You did very well Pair 2: Yen and Hung, please? Y: Are you travel by bus? H: No Y: Are you travel by plane? H: No Y: Are you travel by this? H: Helicopter Y: By helicopter? H: Yes Teacher: All right Thank you XIV APPENDIX THE ACTION PROCEDURES Week Steps & Method Instruments Step1: Problem Identification Step 2: Preliminary Investigation Questionnaire & Observation sheet NTBL1 NTBL2 TBL1 TBL2 Step 3: Intervention Observation sheet &Interview TBL3 TBL4 TBL5 Step 4: Evaluation XV 10 11 12 13 14 15 ... the research ? ?Using task-based language teaching to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research at Đức Thiện Vocational School? ?? was conducted in the hope of solving... ? ?Using task-based language teaching to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research at Duc Thien Vocational School? ?? I am grateful for your goodwill and cooperation in. .. of speaking skill, students‟ participation, task-based language teaching, and previous studies relating to applying TBLT in teaching speaking skill 1.1 Speaking skill 1.1.1 What is speaking? Linguists