A study on the use of task-based approach in teaching speaking to the 2nd year English majored students : . M.A Thesis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - LƢƠNG THỊ MINH PHƢƠNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF TASK-BASED APPROACH IN TEACHING SPEAKING TO THE 2nd YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƢỜNG HƢỚNG 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 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -*** - LƢƠNG THỊ MINH PHƢƠNG A STUDY ON THE USE OF TASK-BASED APPROACH IN TEACHING SPEAKING TO THE 2nd YEAR ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƢỜNG HƢỚNG 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 i CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A study on the use of task-based approach in teaching speaking to the 2nd 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 ii 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 iii 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 quasiexperimental 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 iv 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 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Method of the study Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background 1.1.1Business English 1.1.2Speaking 1.2 Task-based language teaching 1.2.1Task-based language teaching 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 v 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 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BE: Business English ELT: English language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language ESP: English for Specific Purposes TB: Task-based TBI: Task-based Instruction TBLT: Task-based Language Teaching TBL: Task-based Learning TBT: Task-based Teaching VUC: Vietnam University of Commerce vii 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 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 lectureoriented, 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 2nd year English majored students at Vietnam University of Commerce 35 textbook or teachers‟ suggestions), they had to digging other sources of materials in order to enhance input language and knowledge for the incoming task sessions The reason for ineffective preparation for speaking task topics starts from the lack of Internet connection at students‟ places due to economic issues or the limited sources of Business English knowledge relating to their must-be-prepared topics Also, nearly half of the students (42.5%) found it challenging to fulfill the tasks within rather limited time allowance during the speaking sessions Some of the students said that they still did not get used to this learning method and needed more instructions to solve the tasks However, it was still optimistic number of students evaluate the tasks adequate to their ability (57.5%) Other reasons went as „having less time for the tasks preparation because of the restricted time-table with other subjects‟, ‘hard to use audio-visual devices such as projector when presenting before class’, or ‘having trouble with group assigning and working at first’ 3.4 Students’ expectation of the improvement of the Task-based project In the questionnaire administered after the intervention, students are invited to express their ideas on what changes would be made in order to increase the effectiveness of the TBA on speaking learning process Those expectations of the improvement in the TB project were derived from the problems arising in students‟ task performance Towards the problem of time taking preparing and performing for group work tasks with a large number of students (75%) found it time consuming, it would suggest that the teacher should revise the instructions make her expectations of the students‟ performance clearer at the beginning of the project as well as provide them sources of materials that they might employ Another challenge students experience is how to make group forming and group working more effective would pedagogically suggest the teacher of better time allocation to for students to get prepared to learn how to use social skills of cooperation and collaboration what are always of great importance 36 Students also express their hope of having better facilities to improve their learning such as getting acquaintance to the hi-tech audio-visual devices (projectors, for example) Besides, the lack of soft skills such as presentation skills, group working skill that many students showed also called for teacher‟s concerns to support them 37 PART C: CONCLUSION 4.1 Recapitulation The study was conducted as an attempt to evaluate how a task-based approach could affect the learning process, learning outcome and students‟ motivation at Vietnam University of Commerce, English Faculty Firstly, a one group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was applied to study the effects of integrating the TBL project on students‟ speaking achievement Research results show that there was a significant different in students‟ speaking performance on the oral tests It was supported by the result of the paired sample T-test with the significance value p = 000 < α = 05 Along with the experimental research, the study drew on qualitative data collected through administering a questionnaire to 40 second-year English majored students The data revealed that the TBL project had positive consequences of learner motivation and optimistic changes in students‟ attitudes towards learning speaking Student learning in the task-based project was enhanced and became more satisfying compared to their conventional learning Lastly, after the research, the author concluded that there were some advantages or benefits for students when integrating the task-based approach into the existing course at VUC:  The TBL project encourages the speaking learning amongst students as they have chance to engage themselves to purposeful speaking activities as well as to take initiative in preparing knowledge related to business issues It means that students tend to focus not only on the language itself but the tasks  The TBL project enhances learners‟ motivation and involvement as it is authentic and beneficial to their progress making in learning Business English Students then can not only master the language but also use their speaking skills in different situations relevant to their future jobs or real life 38  TBL fosters student independence and autonomy in learning Throughout the project, students have to work mainly on themselves under the instructions and supervision of the teacher The topics preparation as an requirement would also strengthen students‟ research skills and let it become a learning habit of students  Lastly, to some extent, TBL seems to promote cooperative learning and collaboration among students as they have to form groups and have to work together in order to solve tasks In general, the findings of the present research would have a significant contribution to the improvement in teaching and learning English speaking skill at VUC 4.2 Limitations of the study Due to various constrains and scope of the study, the present research displays certain limitations First of all, due to objective conditions, the time duration of the intervention was limited in just six weeks and the design was one group pre-test/ post-test design, not the true experiment which may bring a more distinctive comparison to the effectiveness of applying the task-based approach on the learning process Second, the small target population (40 second-year English major students at VUC) might have affected the results of the findings and implications of the study The results of the study would have been more persuasive if the research had involved more participants Last, due to the shortage of knowledge and experience in doing the research, the study cannot cover other factors affecting the speaking achievement of students such as the perception of difficulty level of the tasks employed Teachers generally depends on their intuition about how well the learner can deal with specific tasks It might lead to the fact that there may be better learning outcome associated with the suitability of the tasks 4.3 Suggestions for further study The limitation and the scope of the study leaves the gaps for other researches in the field of using TBA on teaching English skills to fill in First, the study was carried out with the second year Business English students whose ESP knowledge 39 and language competency were rather low; therefore, the approach can be applied to the third-year and senior students Second, other language skills such as writing/ listening/ reading can be investigated how effective the TBA can 40 REFERENCES Bowen, T (2000) Task-based Language Learning Retrieved from: http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teachingapproaches/teaching-approaches-task-based-learning/146502.article Brieger, N., (1997) Teaching Business English Handbook York Associates Publication British Council Task-based Speaking Retrieved at: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/task-based-speaking Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Brown, J.D & Rodgers, T.S (2002) Doing Second Language Research Oxford University Press Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Chaney, A.L., and T.L Burk (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Boston: Allyn & Bacon Cohen, L., Manion, L & Morrison, K (2007) Research Methods in Education Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Dinardo, J (2008) Natural experiments and quasi-natural experiments The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Pp 856–859 10 Donna, S (2000) Teach Business English Cambridge: CUP 11 Dudley-Evans, T and St John, M.J., (1998) Developments in English for Specific Purposes: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach Cambridge University Press 12 Dudley-Evans, T and St John, M.J., (1996) Report on Business English: A Review of Research and Published Teaching Materials University of Birmingham, UK 13 Ellis, M., Johnson, C (1994) Teaching Business English: An Introduction to Business English for Language Teachers Oxford University Press 41 14 Ellis, R (2006) Methodology of Task-based Teaching The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly September 2006, Volume 8, Issue Special Conference Proceedings Volume: Task-based Learning in the Asian Context, p.19 – 45 15 Frost, R (2004) A Task-based Approach Retrieved from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/a-task-based-approach 16 Haws & Thomas (1994) Teaching Spoken English for Informative Purposes Vol 32 No 2, April - June 1994 Page 22 Retrieved from 23/09/2013 at: http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/usia/E-USIA/forum/vols/vol32/no2/p22.htm 17 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of Language Teaching (3rd Ed.) Longman University Press 18 Homes, D (2004) Speaking Activities for Classroom 19 Hutchinson, T & Walter, A (1987) English for Specific Purposes Cambridge University Press 20 Larsen-Freeman, D (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford University Press 21 Le, Hung Tien, (2008) Nghiên cứu thực nghiê ̣m và nghiên cứu dân tộc học : Hai phương pháp bản ngôn ngữ học ứng dụng Tạp chí Khoa ho ̣c ĐHQGHN Ngoại ngữ 24, p.12 – 21 22 Long, M.H (1985) A Role for Instruction in Second Language Acquisition: task-based language teaching In Hyltenstam, K, & Pienemann, M (Eds.), Modeling and Assessing Second Language Development, pp 77-99 Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Master 23 Long, M.H (1989) Task, Group, and Task-group Interaction University of Hawaii Working papers in English as a Second Language 24 McMillan, H.J., and Schumacher, S (2001) Research in Education Addison, Wesley Longman: New York 25 Markey, A & Gass, S.M (2005) Second Language Research Methodology and design Mahwa, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate Publishers 26 Moreno, R.M (Ed.) (2010) Words for working Professional and Academic English for International Business and Economics Valencia: University of Valencia 42 27 Nunan, D (2005) Important Tasks of English Education: Asia-wide and Beyond The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, September 2005, Volume Issue 3, p – 28 Orr, T (Ed.) (2002) English for Specific Purpose Alexandria, VA: TESOL 29 Picket, D., (1986) Business English: Falling between two schools Comlon 26: 16-21 30 Pre-test Post-test Design Retrieved from 23/07/2013 at: http://explorable.com/pretest-posttest-designs 31 Richards, J.C & Rodgers, S (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching 2nd edition: Cambridge University Press 32 Ritchie, G (2003) Presentation – Practice – Production and Task-based Learning in the Light of Second Language Theory The English Teachers, 6, 2, 112 – 124 33 Rooney, K Redesigning Non-Task-Based Materials to Fit a Task-Based Framework Retrieved from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Rooney-Task-Based.html 34 Richards, J.C & Rodgers, T.S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching New York: CUP 35 Richards, J.C & Schmidt, R (2002) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (3rd Ed.) Harlow: Longman 36 Skehan, P (1996b) Second Language Acquisition Research and Task-based Instruction, in Willis, J & Willis, D (Eds.), Challenge and Change in Language Teaching Oxford: Heinmann 37 Solares, M E (2006) TBLT: Challenges and Problems in an Online Course Design for Teacher Development Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico 38 Strevens, P., (1988) ESP after twenty years: A re-appraisal In M Tickoo (Ed.), ESP: State of the art (1-13) SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 39 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory Cambridge Teacher Training and Development Cambridge University Press I APPENDIX I MARKING SCALES FOR SPEAKING TESTS (Adapted from Donna, 2000, p.300) Appropriacy of Language Language and vocabulary are appropriate Some slightly inappropriate uses of vocabulary Some slightly inappropriate uses of vocabulary and students seem to lack sufficient vocabulary to perform the task Several inappropriate uses of vocabulary and the students seems seriously in need more vocabulary to perform the task Inappropriate uses of vocabulary and insufficient vocabulary for the task Accuracy Almost no grammar errors Grammar appropriate to the task A few grammatical errors and/or several grammatical uses which are inappropriate to the task Several grammatical errors and/or several grammatical uses which are inappropriate to the task Several grammatical errors which affect the student‟s ability to express himself or herself Many grammatical errors which seriously inhibit student‟s ability to perform the tasks II Fluency/ Style Almost no hesitation; appropriate style; excellent pronunciation (in term of sound, words and sentence stress information) Some hesitation; mostly inappropriate styles, but non serious; many pronunciation errors Quite a lot of hesitation; clumsy styles, but non serious; many pronunciation errors Extremely hesitant; clumsy style which makes listening difficult, pronunciation errors which affect comprehensibility So hesitant that listening becomes difficult; almost unintelligible Dealing with questions Excellent response which is both appropriate and clear Generally good, although a little hesitant and/or unclear Copes but rather hesitant and/or unclear and/or very short answer Barely copes, hesitant and/or has insufficient language to answer questions Cannot understand the questions and/or answer them Cultural factors Excellent non-verbal language Generally good, non-verbal language Acceptable non-verbal language Non-verbal language rather strange Strange non-verbal language; many misunderstanding or create a bad impression of which would cause III APPENDIX II SAMPLE OF TASK-BASED SPEAKING LESSON Topic: Holding a meeting of work culture/ work placements Time: 50 – 55 minutes * Preparation and Materials; - Get students the reading about work culture in the Textbook - Prepare a record of which two people are talking about the problems with work placements A PRE-TASK (10 minutes) * Aim: to introduce the topic of work culture and work placements (internship) and give the class exposure to language and knowledge relating to it and to highlight useful words and phrases - Show student a short video of meeting in company Get students raise ideas about what are happening - Brainstorm words and phrases related to the topic and write them on board (e.g.: intern/ internship, work placement, office etiquette, etc.) - Introduce the recording of a conversation about work placement problems and play a few times for students to listen Give some questions or alternatives to choose while they are listening for the first time From the second time, ask students to note down key/useful words and phrases IV - Tell students they are going to work in small groups and hold a brainstorming meeting to decide how companies help interns to adapt to work culture Give students some minutes to think it over B TASK CYCLE (30 – 35 minutes) Tasks (10 minutes) - Students work in small groups of three or four to hold a brainstorming meeting Planning (10 minutes) - Each group rehearse presenting their ideas on how companies help interns to adapt to work culture - Teacher walk around and provide help when needed and jot down language points to be highlighted later Report (10 – 15 minutes) - Class listen to some groups presenting their ideas - Teacher makes some comments on students‟ presentation C LANGUAGE FOCUS (10 minutes) - Write on board good words and phrases used by students during the task Also write some wrong words/ phrases or sentences by students on board and get them to correct - Provide students with the tape script they listened in the pre-task phase and ask them to underline useful words and phrases related to the topic - Highlight some words/phrases that the teacher think students need to remember V APPENDIX III QUESTIONNAIRE Phiếu điều tra nhằm khảo tác động phương pháp giảng dạy cho kĩ Nói khóa học Sự tham gia em kết khảo sát đóng góp quan trọng vào nghiên cứu Kết khảo sát góp phần vào việc giúp nâng cao chương trình giảng dạy tiếng Anh trường Mọi thông tin em cung cấp khảo sát bảo mật không ảnh hưởng đến kết đánh giá học phần em Chúng mong em trả lời trung thực câu hỏi Khảo sát Phiế u điề u tra này gồ m 02 trang A NHẬN XÉT CHUNG: Em hãy khoanh tròn vào một các đáp án sau Em hãy cho biế t mƣ́c đô ̣ hƣ́ng thú của bản thân tham gia thảo luâ ̣n Nói theo că ̣p/nhóm để giải quyết các nhiệm vụ Nói ho ̣c phầ n này: a Rấ t thích, rấ t hào hƣ́ng b Thích c Bình thƣờng d Không thích cách ho ̣c này lắ m nhƣng vẫn làm vì cô giáo yêu cầ u e Ghét hoạt động này, không muố n tham gia Em hãy cho biế t nhâ ̣n xét của ̀ h về hiêụ quả hoa ̣t đô ̣ng nhóm giải quyế t các nhiêm ̣ vu ̣ Nói viêc̣ giúp em cải thiêṇ ky ̃ Nói tiế ng Anh: a Rấ t hiê ̣u quả b Cũng có hiệu quả c Bình thƣờng, không có cải thiê ̣n đáng kể d Không hiê ̣u quả, vô ích e Không nhƣ̃ng không hiê ̣u quả mà còn mấ t thời gian để làm các hoa ̣t đô ̣ng khác hƣ̃u ić h Em có muốn tiếp tục cách học mới này các học kì sau không? VI a Có b.Làm tiếp cũng đƣợc, không làm tiế p cũng đƣơ ̣c c Không B CÁC ĐÁNH GIÁ KHÁC Em hãy đánh dấ u vào cô ̣t thể hiêṇ ý kiế n của bản thân về các nhâ ̣n xét liên quan đế n phƣơng pháp ho ̣c Nói mới ho ̣c phầ n vƣ̀a qua dƣới đây: Nhâ ̣n đinh ̣ Giờ ho ̣c Nói kì này có nhiề u tình huố ng thảo luận và làm việc theo nhóm Chủ đề nói đa dạng , phong phú và đƣơ ̣c chuẩn bị trƣớc ở nhà Khố i lƣơ ̣ng ngôn ngƣ̃ sƣ̉ du ̣ng nhiề u giúp em diễn đạt, trao đổ i ý kiế n tố t Vố n tƣ̀ vƣ̣ng , kiế n thƣ́c tiế ng Anh thƣơng mại đƣợc nâng cao tham gia chuẩn bị và trình bày theo nhóm Làm viê ̣c theo că ̣p/ nhóm giúp em chủ động và tự tin nói trƣớc cả lớp Khả phản ứng nhanh hoạt động nói Thời gian chuẩ n bi ̣cho các nhiê ̣m vu ̣ Nói mấ t khá nhiề u thời gian Khố i lƣơ ̣ng nhiê ̣m vu ̣ phải thực hiện nhiề u thời gian ̣n chế khiế n khó thƣ̣c hiê ̣n các nhiê ̣m vu ̣ Nói Agree Neutral Disagree VII Theo em, hình thức dạy học Nói mới này có điểm gì chƣa phù hợp (gây khó khăn cho quá trình học Nói)? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………… Theo em, hình thức dạy học mới này cần có những cải tiến gì? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………… Cảm ơn em đã có những đóng góp để có thể điều chỉnh phương pháp dạy nói cho phù hợp hơn! Chúc em học tốt!