NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA VIỆC ÁP DỤNG ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG DỰA TRÊN NHIỆM VỤ VÀO DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ THUẬT TRUNG ƯƠNG = challenges in the implementation of the task-based approach to teaching speaking to non-major st

The challenges perceived from contrasting the literature of the Task-based approach with the current English teaching and learning at NUAE .... LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Willis’ mode

NGUYỄN THANH DUNG

CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TASK-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING SPEAKING TO NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA VIỆC ÁP DỤNG ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG DỰA TRÊN NHIỆM

VỤ VÀO DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ THUẬT TRUNG ƯƠNG)

M.A Minor thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI-2009

NGUYỄN THANH DUNG

CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TASK-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING SPEAKING TO NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA VIỆC ÁP DỤNG ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG DỰA TRÊN NHIỆM

VỤ VÀO DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ THUẬT TRUNG ƯƠNG)

M.A Minor thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

HANOI-2009

CONTENTS

Page

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviation v

List of tables viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and research questions of the study 2

3 Methods of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature review 4

1.1 Definition of Task-based language teaching 4

1.2 Definition of task within Task-based language teaching 5

1.3 Criterial features of task within Task-based language teaching 6

1.4 Types of tasks within Task-based language teaching 7

1.5 The principles of Task-based language teaching 8

1.6 The framework for Task-based instruction 9

1.7 The role of teacher and learner in Task-based language teaching 12

1.8 The strengths of Task-based language teaching 13

1.9 Previous studies related to applying Task-based language teaching 14

1.9.1 In Hongkong 14

1.9.2 In Vietnam 14

Chapter 2: Current situation of English teaching and learning at NUAE 17

2.1 Description of students 17

2.2 Description of teachers 17

2.3 Description of the teaching facilities and the teaching materials 18

2.4 Description of the objective and the time allocation of the English course

18 2.5 Description of the current method of teaching English 19

Chapter 3: Challenges in the implementation of the Task-based approach to teaching speaking to students at NUAE

21 3.1 The challenges perceived from contrasting the literature of the Task-based approach with the current English teaching and learning at NUAE

21 3.1.1 Lack of appropriate teaching conditions 21

3.1.2 Lack of Task-based teaching materials 22

3.1.3 Students’ lack of active role 22

3.1.4 Teacher’s lack of high level of creativity 22

3.2 The challenges perceived by teachers and students after trial task-based speaking lessons 23

3.2.1 The subjects 23

3.2.2 Instruments for data collection 24

3.2.3 Statistical procedures 24

3.2.4 Procedures 25

3.2.5 Data analysis 25

3.2.5.1 Analysis of questionnaire 25

3.2.5.2 Analysis of the classroom observation 29

3.2.5.3 Analysis of the interview 30

3.2.6 Fidings and discussions 33

3.2.6.1 Inappropriate teaching condition 33

3.2.6.2 Inappropriate teaching material 33

3.2.6.3 Students’ low English proficiency 34

3.2.6.4 Students’ resistance in engaging in tasks 34

3.2.6.5 Students’ overuse of mother tongue during tasks 35

3.3 Recommendations for the application of the Task-based approach to teaching speaking at NUAE 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Summary of the study 39

2 Limitations of the study 40

3 Suggestions for further study 40

References 41

Appendix I I

Appendix II VIII

Appendix III X

Appendix IV XII

Appendix V XIII

Appendix VI XV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

M.A: Master of Arts

NUAE: National University of Art Education

TBA: Task-based approach

TBLT: Task-based language teaching

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1: Willis’ model for Task-based instruction 10

Table 2: Students’ reasons for not involving in speaking tasks 26

Table 3: Students’ difficulty in working in multi-level groups during speaking tasks 26

Table 4: Students’ difficulty in understanding teacher ’s instruction in English 27

Table 5: Students’ difficulty in using the target language to complete speaking tasks 28

Table 6: Students’ reasons for using mother tongue during speaking tasks 28

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part will present the rationale of the study, the aims and the research questions

of the study, the method of the study, the scope of the study, the significance of the study and the design of the study

1 Rationale of the study

Task-based language teaching (TBLT), which was first developed in India by N.S Prabhu in the 1980s, has been a keen contemporary interest in English language teaching field The emphasis of TBLT is on communicative learning and teaching of language According to Swain (1995), tasks provide input to learners and opportunities for meaningful language use, both of which are generally considered valuable in promoting language acquisition Students can become fully in fufiling tasks, which can reduce tedium and make class work more challenging and relevant to their interests Richards and

Rodgers (2001:228) suggest that “Tasks are believed to foster processes of negotiation, modification, rephrasing, and experiment that are heart of second language learning”

According to them, practical and relevant tasks can draw the interest of learners and challenge them sufficiently to get them to use the English they already knew and incorporate new language items provided by input and the teacher

In theory, TBLT may bring in certain advantages to English classrooms, and this has been proved by studies on the application of TBLT in classrooms in Western countries, where students have greater exposure to real English outside the classrooms In non-English speaking countries such as in Vietnam, English language teachers have been introduced this approach to teaching in teacher in-service workshops or other professional events However, it is not sure how many teachers have ever tried out this approach and how effective it is, because very few impirical researches on TBLT with Vietnamese students have been done Up to now, there have not any researches on the application of TBLT with the students in my teaching context - National University of Art Education (NUAE) The above gaps concerned me much and inspired me to conduct this study aiming at investigating the difficulties of the application of TBLT to teaching oral skill in

my university, which helps create bases for providing appropriate recommendations for making TBLT applicable to students at NUAE

2 Aims and research questions of the study

The aim of the study is to identify the challenges in the implementation of TBLT to teaching speaking to students at NUAE and provide recommendations for applying TBLT

to teaching oral skill

The study seeks to answer these questions:

What are the challenges in the implementation of TBLT to teaching

speaking skill to students at NUAE?

What are the recommendations for applying TBLT to teaching speaking skill?

3 Methods of the study

To attain the aim of the study, the researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative methods combining with the aid of the following research instruments:

4 Scope of the study

The study involves 103 first-year students from two classes including one class of Music Department and one class of Fine-Art Department and two teachers of English at NUAE In the scope of a minor thesis, the researcher only focuses on investigating the challenges in the implementation of TBLT to teaching speaking skill to the first-year students at NUAE

5 Significance of the study

The result of the study will provide useful theory of TBLT as one of the innovative methods for the choices of English teachers at NUAE The investigation of the difficulties

of the application of TBLT to teaching speaking skill to students at NUAE helps to give recommendations for the adoption of TBLT to oral lessons In addition, the identified challenges in the implementation of TBLT in this study will be a reference for teachers in similar teaching contexts to consider the applicability of this approach

6 Design of the study

Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the study consists of three chapters The introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale of the study, the aim of the study, the scope of the study, the research method, the significance of the study and the design of the study

Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background for the study and identifies the

“gaps” in the research to date, which the researcher hopes to at least partially fill

Chapter 2 describes the current situation of English teaching and learning at NUAE

Chapter 3 identifies the perceived challenges in the implementation of TBLT to

English speaking lessons at NUAE This was done by contrasting the literature of TBLT and the current English teaching situation at NUAE and by conducting questionnaires with students and interviews with teachers after trial period combining with classroom observation Then some recommendations for applying TBLT to teaching speaking skill are also given in this chapter

The conclusion summarizes the main points of the study, presents the limitations of the study, and gives suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will deal with the relevant theoretical background for the study including the definition of TBLT, the definitions of task in TBLT, the features of a task, the types of tasks, the principles of TBLT, the framework for Task-based instruction, the roles of the teacher and the learner in TBLT, the strengths of TBLT and the previous studies on TBLT

1.1 Definition of Task-based language teaching

TBLT has been advocated by many researchers and teachers around the world, but

“What is TBLT?” still needs clarification Richards and Rogers (2001), for example, give a

clear and simple definition of TBLT According to them, TBLT is “an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching” Larsen-

Freeman (2000), on the other hand, sees TBLT as an approach seeking to provide learners with a natural context to language use As learners work to complete a task, they have abundant opportunity to interact Such interaction is thought to facilitate language acquisition as learners have to work to understand each other and to express their own meaning In their definitions Richards and Rogers and Larsen-Freeman mention the term

“task” This term is not new to teachers as well as practioners around the world, since tasks have been used in classes for hundreds of years For instance, asking students to do a grammar exercise is also called a task So what is the difference here? The difference between TBLT and other traditional approaches lies in the way in which the goal is achieved In TBLT, tasks are always activities where the target language is used for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome in which the emphasis is on exchanging meaning not producing language forms Therefore, the characteristic of all the tasks in the new approach is that rather than concentrating on one particular structure, function, or vocabulary group, these tasks cover a wide range of language In TBLT, the tasks are central to the learning and teaching activity It is based on the belief that students can learn more effectively when their minds are focused on the task, rather than on the language they are using Learning to speak and to understand a language automatically in a

vast variety of situations requires intensive exposure to language and unlimited interaction with language users Because tasks are basic units of a TBLT framework, it is crucial to clarify explicitly the concepts of task

1.2 Definition of task within Task-based language teaching

Tasks are defined differently by different second language researchers and linguits depending on the scope and perspectives

Long (1985) defined a task as “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some award Thus, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, making a hotel reservation, writing a check, finding a street destination and helping someone cross the road” (p.89) Pedagogically, Long ’s above definition of a task does not

involve much in language teaching and learning, since tasks which are used in language classrooms need to make a contribution to developing communicative abilities Task in Long ’s definition can be related to tasks that both use and do not use language Some researchers were not satisfied with Long ’s definition and they tried to relate a task to the language pedagogy Nunan (2005) argues that Long ’s definition of task does not necesarrily involve language use As a result, a variety of definitions of tasks were introduced by researchers and linguists

Breen (1987) defines task from the pedagogical perspective: “ any structure language learning endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the task

‘Task’ is therefore assumed to refer to a range of workplans which have the overall purposes of facilitating language learning - from the simple and brief exercise, to more complex and lengthy activities such as problem solving and decision making” (p.23)

According to Breen, all kinds of activities involving language learning are regarded as tasks

In Jane Willis’ definition (1996), “Task is an activity in which the target language

is used by learners for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome” Jane

Willis’ point in her definition is that the communicative purpose is given to the priority and that learners learn a language through undertaking the task That is, learners are given opportunities to explore new language through doing tasks

Skehan (1996b) sees tasks as “activities which have meaning as their primary focus Success in tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks generally bear some resemblance to real life language use So Task-based instruction takes a fairly strong view of communicative language teaching” (p.20)

Nunan (1989) defines a task as follows: “The communicative task [is] a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form The task should have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone

as a communicative act in its own right” Nunan’s (1989) definition emphasizes the

pedagogical tasks’ involvement in communicative language use Nunan views tasks as being different from grammatical exercises, because a task involves achieving an outcome

Bygate (2001) claims that task should be defined more clearly and can be applied to

different contexts Stemming from this idea, he defined “A task is an activity which requires learners to use language with emphasis on meaning to attain an objective, and which is chosen so that it is most likely to provide information for learners which help them evaluate their own learning” (p.11)

Although the above mentioned definitions of tasks are defined differently, they share the common feature that a task involves a focus on meaning rather than form Another common characteristic underlying these definitions is the purposefulness of the task That is, a task must have clear aims which are set to help learners to manipulate to achieve an outcome Besides, the common slogan in these definitions is using tasks for communicative purposes So the tasks used in Task-based classes must be carefully selected to meet that slogan

I define tasks as classroom activities designed for learners to experience the information exchange and meaning negotiation processes using the target language to achieve an outcome In my opinion, tasks are a central component of TBLT in language

classrooms, since tasks create a context that activates learning processes and helps to promote second language learning

1.3 Criterial features of tasks within Task-based language teaching

Defining the features of a task in TBLT is of great importance, because this helps to distinguish tasks in TBLT from other tasks In her definition of a task in TBLT, Jane Willis

(1996) defines a task as “an activity”, and she gave the criterial features of a task by

raising questions as follows:

Does the activity engage learners’ interest?

Is there a primary focus on meaning?

Is there an outcome?

Is success judged in terms of outcome? Is completion a priority?

Does the activity relate to real world activities?

Jane Willis’ criterial features of a task help to provide teachers with guidelines for the design of activities which are task-like in that they involve real language These defined criterion make it easier for teachers to follow and it is clear that the more confidently teachers can answer “yes” to each of the above questions the more task-like the activity is

1.4 Types of tasks within Task-based language teaching

The classification of tasks are different due to the different perspectives of researchers and linguists Following are different types of tasks according to the literature

Pica, Kanagy and Falodun (1993) classify tasks according to the types of interactions in the product Their task classification is presented as follows:

Jigsaw tasks: These involves learners combining different pieces of information to

form a whole (e.g, three individuals or groups may have three different parts of a story and have to piece the story together)

Information-gap tasks: One student or group of students has one set of information

and another student or group has a complementary set of information They must negotiate and find out what the other party’s information is in order to complete an activity

Problem-solving task: Students are given a problem and a set of information They

must arrive at a solution to the problem

Decision-making tasks: Students are given a problem for which there are a number

of outcomes and they must choose one through negotion and discussion

Opinion exchange tasks: Students engage in discussion and exchange of ideas

They do not need to reach an agreement

According to Willis (1996), there are six types of tasks: listing, ordering and sorting, comparing, problem solving, sharing personal experiences and creative tasks

Richards (2001) distinguishes tasks into two types – pedagogical tasks and real

world tasks “ Pedagogical tasks are based on second language acquisition theory and are designed to trigger second language learning process and strategies” (p.162) Examples of

pedagogical tasks are jigsaw tasks, informationgap tasks, problem solving tasks, decision making tasks and opinion exchange tasks According to Richards (2001), real world tasks

-“are designed to practice or rehearse those activities that are found to be important in a needs analysis and that turn out to be important and useful in the real world” (p.162)

in the form of an instructional conversation

Second, establishing clear goals for each task-based lesson This means methodological options can be selected to help prioritize different language aspects of language use, for example, fluencey vs accuracy

Third, developing an appropriate orientation to performing the task in students That is, students need to be aware of why they are being asked to perform tasks They need

to treat them seriously, not just as “fun”

Fourth, ensuring that students adopt an active role in task-based lessons One of the major goals of TBLT is to provide learners with an opportunity to participate fully by playing an initiating as well as a responding role in classroom discourse So a key element

of being “active” is negotiating meaning when communicative problem arise One of the principal ways of ensuring this is through group or pair work

Fifth, encouraging students to take risks When students perform tasks they need to

“stretch” their interlanguage resources This requires students to be prepared to experiment with language According to Ellis (2001), methodological choices that encourage the use of private speech when performing a task, that create opportunities for “pushed output”, and that help to create an appropriate level of challenge in an affective climate that is supporting risk-taking will assist this

Sixth, ensuring that students are primarily focused on meaning when they perform

a task The main purpose of a task is to provide a context for processing language, i.e by treating language as a tool not as an object Thus, when students perform a task they must

be primarily concerned with achieving an outcome, not with displaying language This can only be achieved if learners are motivated to do the task

Like Willis (1996) and Skehan (1998b), in his seventh principle of TBLT, Ellis suggested that a task provide opportunities for focusing on form This can be done at various options such as at the pre-task, during-task, and post-task phases of a task-based lesson

The last principle of TBLT is to require students to evaluate their performance and progress A task-based lesson needs to engage and help to foster metacognitive awareness

in students

To summarize, the obove mentioned principles of TBLT are intended as a general guide to the teaching of task-based lessons, which are useful for teachers to design effective task-based lessons

1.6 The framework for Task-based instruction

The design of a task-based lesson involves consideration of the stages or components of a lesson that has a task as its principal component Various designs have been proposed (for example, Prabhu 1987; Estaire and Zanon 1994; Skehan 1996; Willis 1996; Lee 2000) However, they all have in common three principal phases: pre-task phase; during-task phase and post-task phase Among these suggestions, the framework for Task-based instruction suggested by Willis (1996), which is presented in table 1 is much more detailed and has been proved effective

Pre-task

Introduction to topic and tasks

Task cycle

Task Planning Report

Language focus

Analysis Practice

Table 1: Willis’ model for task-based instruction (Willis 1996: 52)

As it can be seen in Willis’ model, it is important to consider three stages in the implementation of the Task-based approach

The Pre-task stage

In this stage, the teacher helps students to understand the theme and objectives of the task, for example, brainstorming ideas with the class, using pictures, mime, or personal experience to introduce the topic Students may be introduced to the topic through one of the following ways: (1) supporting learners in performing a task similar to the task they will perform in the during-task phase of the lesson; (2) asking students to observe a model

of how to perform the task and (3) engaging learners in non-task activities designed to

perform the task In a task-based lesson, the pre-task activities are of great importance, which serve as a preparation for performing the main task individually

The task cycle

In the second stage of task-based instruction, there are sub-phases

Task:

In this sub-phase, the task is done by students (in pairs or groups), and students are given a chance to use whatever language they already have to express themselves and say whatever they want to say The role of the teacher is to walk round, monitor and encourage

in a supportive way everyone ’s attempts at communication in the target language Besides, the teacher helps students to formulate what they want to say, but will not intervene to

correct errors of form The emphasis is on spontaneous, exploratory talk and confidence building, within the small group

Planning:

This sub-stage prepares for the next stage, when students are asked to report briefly

to the whole class how they did the task and what the outcome was In this phase, students have to draft and rehearse what they want to say or write The teacher goes round and advises students on language, suggesting phases and helping students to polish their language The emphasis is on clarity, organization, and accuracy, as appropriate for a public presentation

Report:

In this stage, the teacher asks some pairs or groups to report briefly to the whole class so everyone can compare findings, or begins a survey (there must be a purpose for others to listen) Sometimes only one or two groups report in full, others comment and add extra points The class may take notes The role of the teacher is to chair, comment on the content of their reports, rephrase perhaps, but give no overt public correction

Post-task listening

Students listen to a recording of fluent speakers doing the same task, and compare the ways in which they did the task themselves

The langage focus stage

The language focus stage consists of two sub-stages: Analysis stage and Practice stage

Analysis:

In this stage, the teacher sets some language-focused tasks, based on the texts students have read or on the transcripts of the recordings they have heard For example, asking students to find words and phrases related to the title of the topic or text or read the

transcript to find words ending in “s” and say what the “s” means

Practice:

In this stage, the teacher conducts practice activities as needed, based on the language analysis work already on the board, or using examples from the text or transcript The practice activities can include choral repetition of the phases identified and classified, sentence completion or matching the past-tense verbs (jumbled) with the subjects or objects they had in the text

1.7 The role of teacher and learner in TBLT

The role of the teacher and the learner are interactive and inseparable in language teaching and learning process Richards and Rodgers (2001) pointed out the roles of the teacher in TBLT as follows:

Firstly, the teacher plays as the selector and sequencer of tasks That is, the central

role of the teacher is in selecting, adapting, and creating the tasks themselves and then forming these into an instructional sequence in keeping with the learner needs, interests and language skill level

In addition, the teacher has to prepare learners for tasks It is essential that learners

do some sort of pre-task preparation Such activities might include topic introduction, clarifying task instruction, helping students learn or recall useful words and phrases to facilitate task accomplishment, and providing partial demonstration of task procedures

Lastly, the teacher plays an important role in consciousness-raising This is referred

to as “Focus on Form” by employing a variety of form-focusing techniques, including attention-focusing pre-task activities, and use of highlighted material

As mentioned above, the roles of the teacher and the learner are inseparable According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), the learner plays the following roles in TBLT

In the first place, because many tasks will be done in pairs or small groups So the

learner will be the group participant The learner, therefore, needs to be active and

enthusiastic in taking part in the tasks

Besides, the learner plays the role as a monitor In TBLT, tasks are not employed

for their own sake but as a means of facilitating learning Class activities have to be designed so that students have the opportunity to notice how language is used in communication Learners themselves need to “attend” not only the message in task work, but also to the form in which such messages typically come packed

Another role of the learner in TBLT is the risk-taker and innovator Many tasks

will require learners to create and interpret messages for which they lack full linguistic resources and prior experience Practice in restating, paraphrasing, using paralinguistic signals, and so on, will often be needed The skills of guessing from linguistic and contexual clues, asking for clarification, and consulting with other learners may also be needed to be developed

production in which “they have to form hypotheses and make grammatical choices that encourages ‘noticing gap’” (p.121)

Skehan (1996b) indicated that the strength of TBLT is that it provides learners the opportunities 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)

Conspicuously, researchers of TBLT and those whose support it have tried to give sound background of TBLT However, the implementation of TBLT to language classroom settings is still of great challenges for many teachers In fact, there has been very little impirical evidence of the effectiveness of TBLT

Basing on what has been presented in the literature of TBLT, I think that TBLT may only be suitable with second language environment where students are exposed to real English outside the classes, with high proficency language learners who can use their language repertoire to complete the tasks, and with favourable teaching settings with appropriate teaching conditions for TBLT “Does TBLT work in foreign language environment, with language beginners and in not favourable conditions?” is still a question that needs to be investigated That is the reason I did this research to find out whether or not teachers and students in my teaching context met any challenge when applying TBLT

1.9 Previous studies related to applying TBLT

“practical discussion of how tasks are actually implemented in school settings, particularly where conditions may be less than ideal” (p.389)

In his study, Carless (2002) also pointed out that Task-based language teaching has

many unfavourable factors in Hongkong school “Task-based teaching has not yet fully established itself and is generally considered – except by younger or more recently trained teachers – to be innovative Conditions for Task-based learning are not particularly favourable” (p.390)

His study indicated that different teachers focused on different aspects in their teaching His study identified problems faced by teachers at the primary school in Hong- kong when implementing TBLT The first problem is maintaining noise level and well-disciplined classroom environment The second problem is the use of mother tongue of students, which affected language learning process The third problem is student involvement Classroom observations in Task-based lessons showed that during the lessons many students only sat passively They kept quiet from the beginning of the lesson to the end, and they were not interested in the tasks The last problem is the wide range of ability among students As a result, it is difficult to design the tasks that suit the different ability levels of students in a class

1.9.2 In Vietnam

Huong (2007) conducts an experimental research on the benefits of implementing a task-based approach in teaching speaking to the third-year students of Business Administration Department, Trade Union University Her study was done with two groups

of students One group is the control group and the other is the experimental group Conventional method of teaching was used with the control group in the speaking lesson

TBLT was employed in the experimental group To evaluate the effectiveness of TBLT on speaking skill of students, Huong conducted a pre-speaking test and a post-speaking test with both groups Then she compared the students’ scores in the pre-test and the ones in the post-test In her study, Huong pointed out that there was a significant difference in students’ achievement on the oral tests and that students of the experimental group showed

a much better result after the experimental semester Besides, Huong also conducted a semi-structured interview with students at the end of the course to investigate their attitudes towards TBLT She indicated that most of the students interviewed had positive points of view about TBLT

The two mentioned previous studies on the implementation of TBLT raised questions for the author of this research The problems of the implementation of TBLT faced by primary teachers in Hong Kong made the author refer to Vietnamese context Because Hongkong and Vietnam are both located in Asia, so they have some general characteristics in culture and in educational system Besides, Hongkong and Vietnam are non-English speaking countries, where mother tongue has a dominant role, and students do not have many opportunities of being exposed to English So one question raised is “Are there any obstacles of the application of TBLT to English classrooms in Vietnamese teaching context?” With the second case, Huong (2007) only investigated one side of TBLT – the benefits Her study did not mention the other side of TBLT – the problems of the implementation encountered by Vietnamese teachers and students In addition, her experimental study was conducted with the third-year students whose English proficiency was at intermediate level and they were much motivated in learning English for using it in their future jobs It is wondered whether or not TBLT is feasible with students with low English proficency like the ones in my own teaching context For those reasons, I did this study with the hope of partially filling the above gaps

understading of TBLT, which helps her to constrast the literature of TBLT with her current teaching context to identify the mismatches The identified mismatches between the theory

of TBLT and the practice of teaching context are the challenges for both teachers and students when working with TBLT

CHAPTER 2

CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

This chapter provides information on the teaching context including the students, the teachers, the teaching materials, the physical setting and the teaching and learning activities at NUAE The information, which is collected from the existing data files and from classroom observations, is very useful for the researcher to contrast it with the literature of TBLT in order to identify the mismatches between the theory and practice

2.1 Description of students

This session discusses the characteristics of students at NUAE, who have great influence on the process of teaching and learning They all have passed a challenging University Entrance Examination with other subjects except for English They are both male and female coming from different parts - from big cities to rural and mountainous areas of Vietnam Some of them have learned English for 7 years at high school Some have never learned English before, since at high school they learned other foreign languages such as French or Russian But the majority of them have 3 years of learning English

From the experience of teaching, I find the fact that some fresh students appear to

be better ones in class, but they are only good at grammar They can do written grammar exercises accurately, but they are unable to speak English in everyday conversations

2.2 Description of teacher

In the teaching and learning renovation, the teacher always plays a very important role It is the teacher who makes a great contribution to a high quality education It is, therefore, crucial that teachers be well-qualified At NUAE, there are 6 teachers of English (four of them are full-time teachers, one is a part-time teacher) Two of the English teachers were trained in the English in-service training courses These two teachers used to

be teachers of Russian Since Russian is no longer taught at NUAE, they have to teach English Among 5 teachers, only one has completed an MA programme, two are doing an

MA programme The majority of them have bachelor degrees All English teachers at NUAE are non-native speakers and they have never been to any English speaking countries and their opportunities of speaking and working with native speakers are rare Moreover, teachers are rarely given opportunities of joining professional development events such as seminars or conferences on language teaching

2.3 Description of the teaching facilities and the teaching materials

Classroom arrangement: At NUAE all of the classrooms are designed for lecture lessons It means that the seating is arranged orderly in front of teachers, students and the blackboard Most of the English lessons are conducted in such a fixed condition, which prevents teachers from making a change in adopting new ideas in language teaching In addition, the classes are too small for the number of students in each

The class size: The size of almost English classes is big with around 50 and even 57

in each

The teaching aids: No English classroom is equipped with an overhead projector

So it is impossible for teachers to bring the advantages of information technology to language teaching The English Division has only one television and three cassette players This number is not enough for use on the day when many teachers have English lessons at the same time

The materials: The current English teaching textbooks are Lifeline Elementary and Lifeline Pre-intermediate The English materials for reference and for self-study are not

available in the library at NUAE The researcher of this study at times go to explore the university library and find that there are only few old English textbooks Almost all the materials are about music and fine-arts

2.4 Description of the objective and the time allocation of the English course

The objective of the course:

The requirements in English for graduate students at NUAE as stated in the syllabus are as follows:

Students are equipped with a basic English knowledge of grammar and vocabulary After finishing the course, students are able to use the target language to communicate with foreigners in everyday situations

The time allocation of the course:

The time allocation for the whole English course (according to the regulation of the Ministry of Education and Training) is 150 periods (45 minutes for each) Students at NUAE have to learn English in three semesters The first semester consists of 60 periods, the other two semesters consist of 45 periods for each Students have 4 English periods per week for all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

2.5 Description of the current method of teaching English at NUAE

To have a clear picture of how English in general and speaking skill in particular are taught at NUAE, the researcher observerd lessons of colleagues during the first semester The information of the observations was noted down in the observation sheets which were added in the appendix Following is the description of how English is taught at NUAE

It is clear from the observations that almost all the teachers employ the traditional way of teaching – grammar translation method, in which the teacher uses Vietnamese as the medium of instruction in stead of using the target language In the lessons the role of the teacher dominates the role of students That is, the teacher often spends too much time presenting new language items (in grammar lessons) or new words Less time is spent on students’ practice or interaction As a result, the overall atmosphere of the class is often

“quiet”, and students receive the knowledge passively In other words, they are not really interested in English lessons Besides, students are rarely given opportunities of working collaboratively This can be illustrated by the fact that group work and pair work are rarely employed in English lessons, which limits the interactions among students Students have less chances of exchanging or negotiating ideas which are very important skills needed for them in their future work

It is common for all teachers that they completely depend on text books Series of

Lifelines are designed for students and teachers around the world So teachers are strongly

advised to use these textbooks as a guideline in their teaching However, teachers at NUAE

do not completely make any adaptation to make the tasks in the books suitable for the need

as well as the interest of students

In terms of teaching speaking skill, according to the information observed, speaking skill is integrated with listening skill as the instruction of the textbook Though in the textbook speaking tasks are designed after the listening part, teachers often ignore them

As a result, students are given a very little time to speak No cooperative activities are

employed in the speaking lessons This explains why students failed to speak English to

others, especially to foreigners It should be noted that though tasks are used in English

lessons, they are not tasks which are defined in TBLT as discussed in the literature

In terms of evaluating the English progression of students at NUAE (testing

system), students have to do two written tests: one mid-term written test and one final

written test The aim of these tests is mainly to test the students’ grammatical and lexical

knowledge and their reading comprehension skill There has not been an oral test for

assessing their speaking skill

Summary

In this chapter, a “general picture” of how English language teaching and learning

is carried out at NUAE was described, the teachers’ and students’ characteristics, what

course books are used, and the condition for teaching English were presented as well The

objective of the English and the time allocation for the English course were also taken into

consideration The challenges in the implementation of TBLT to speaking lessons will be

discussed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3

THE CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TASK-BASED

APPROACH TO TEACHING SPEAKING TO STUDENTS

AT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

3.1 The challenges perceived from contrasting the literature of TBLT with the current English teaching and learning situation at NUAE

In recent years, TBLT has been a fashionable method of teaching, which has been discussed by many people working in language teaching field Although TBLT sounds very interesting, and TBLT is believed to be an effective language teaching method, there

is a lack of discussion on the practical issues of the implementation of this approach to classrooms The applicability of TBLT depends on the specific teaching context That is, the application of TBLT may be possible in one context providing that the context meets the criterion of TBLT, and vice versa Therefore, to investigate the challenges in the implementation of TBLT to my teaching context, I contrasted the theoretical issues of TBLT, which were presented in chapter one and the real English teaching context of NUAE described in chapter two Following are some challenges of the adoption of TBLT

to teaching speaking skill at NUAE drawn from the considerations of the theory of TBLT and my current teaching context

3.1.1 Lack of appropriate teaching conditions

In TBLT, many tasks are required to be done in groups However, the current fixed seating arrangement at NUAE is not appropriate Teachers and students may rearrange the seats, but it will take a lot of time It is because one classroom is not specially used for English teaching only It is used for many other subjects Besides, with the current too big class size, it will be difficult for teachers to conduct collaborative activities With the class size of 50 students in each, there will be too many groups in a class, which makes it difficult for teachers to control and facilitate students while they are performing tasks

3.1.2 Lack of Task-based teaching materials

As described in chapter 2, the current teaching materials used at NUAE are not designed for task-based intruction So if teachers wish to implement TBLT to teaching English in general, to teaching speaking skill in particular, they will have to redesign the materials to make it proper for the framework of TBLT This is a very challenging task for teachers, because the material adaptation requires the teacher ‘s co-operation, energy, devotion and fully understanding of TBLT Teachers may be willing to apply a new method to their classrooms, if the appropriate teaching materials are availabe If not, they may avoid to do it The fact shows that not only in Vietnam but aslo in many Asian countries Task-based teaching resources are not available on the market Many authors claim that their materials are designed basing on the Task-based approach, but in fact they are not truly task-based So, redesigning teaching materials to make them appropriate for Task-based instruction may be a big problem for teachers at NUAE

3.1.3 Student’s lack of active role

Task-based instruction is not teacher-centred In deed, it requires individual and group responsibility and comment from the part of students In order to complete a given task, each student has to play a very active role For example, they have to exchange ideas, negotiate meanings and so on If students are notably lacking in these qualities, task-based instruction may in deed be difficult to implement As described in chapter two, students at NUAE are used to traditonal methods of teaching in which the teacher talks, the student listens and writes down What is more, many students were taught in this way in primary and high schools As a result, during English lessons students often keep silent They are afraid of expressing their own ideas in front of the public In speaking lessons, students are not given many chances of engaging in speaking activities These students’ characteristics may be an obstacle for the implementation of TBLT at NUAE

3.1.4 Teacher ’s lack of high level of creativity

TBLT requires a high level of creativity and initiative on the part of teachers As presented about the role of the teacher in TBLT, the teacher plays the role of the selector and the sequencer of tasks It means that the teacher has to redesign, adapt or make tasks themselves and then sequence the tasks so as they meet the needs and interests of students

If the teacher is limited to more traditional roles or do not have time or resources to implement TBLT, this type of teaching and learning may be impossible The information

collected from the observations about how English is taught at NUAE shows that teachers are accustomed to traditional ways of teaching They are not used to making material adaptation to make it suitable for their students They completely depend on textbooks Thus, changing their traditional roles may aslo be a great challenge for them

3.2 The challenges perceived by teachers and students after trial task-based speaking lessons

In the previous part (3.1), the researcher identified the challenges drawn from contrasting the theory of TBLT with her own teaching context These challenges help to predict the problems facing teachers and students when applying TBLT to oral lessons at NUAE It will be more reliable if the challenges are drawn from the students’ and teachers’ points of view, who experienced Task-based teaching and learning Their feedback on the practice of TBLT is really very useful for giving proper pedagogical recommendations for implementing TBLT to classrooms at NUAE Therefore, in this study the researcher tried

to find out the teachers’ and students’ perceived challenges of TBLT from an impirical research The process of collecting data and the results are presented as follows

Besides, the subjects of the study include 103 first-year students from two classes (one class is of Music Department and the other is of Fine Arts Department at NUAE) They are from 18 to 20 years of age They studied in large, mixed-ability classes They are from different parts of Northern provinces of Vietnam Although all of them had at least 3 years of learning English at high schools, their English proficiency is at elementary level

3.2.2 Instruments for data collection

Three main instruments were used to obtain the data for the study as follows

Survey questionnaire

A survey questionnaire was administered to 103 students All of the questions were written in Vietnamese to make sure that the participants could fully understand the questions The questionnaire was designed in two parts The first part was to gain personal data of students including their class and their gender The second part was to know the students’ perceptions of the challenges they encountered in task-based speaking lessons It consists of 10 questions which were organized in the following categories:

- Students’ reasons for not involving in speaking tasks

- Students’ difficulty in working in multi-level groups during speaking tasks

- Students’ difficulty in comprehending the instruction of speaking tasks in

the target language

- Students’ difficulty in using the target language during

Classroom observation

An observation sheet constructed basing on the literature of TBLT was used to observe the task-based speaking lessons during the trial period in order to investigate how TBLT was applied and to find out whether or not teachers and students at NUAE met any challenge with the implementation of TBLT

3.2.3 Statistical procedures

The analyses of data included not only the analyses of the respondents’ answers to the survey questionnaires but also the analyses of the interview data and observation data for which I performed separate analyses Quantitative data were analyzed using Excel

Software Analyses included the caculation of frequencies and the percentage of students’ responses to the questionnaires

Qualitative data gathered from the interview with teachers and the classroom observations were analyzed by summarising and classifying the information

3.2.4 Procedures

The data collection and analysis were carried out in the following procedures

In the first stage, I made an appointment with two English teachers at NUAE and told them about the aims of my research and asked them for cooperation They were all willing to help me I then asked them whether or not they were trained in TBLT and they said that they were introduced about this approach in MA programmes However, I gave them some materials relating to TBLT to read at home to make sure that they knew the principles and the procedures of TBLT

In the second stage, I cooperated with them in designing speaking tasks basing on the principles of TBLT and features of a task for the second semester These tasks were

designed basing on the topics of speaking from unit 10 to unit 13 in the Lifelines Elementary Student ‘s book, and they would be conducted in the framework of TBLT (see

the speaking tasks in the appendix)

In the third stage, after designing the tasks, the two teachers were asked to implement them in speaking lessons during the second semester

After the trial task-based speaking lessons, the survey questionnaires were administered with 103 students from two classes Then an interview was conducted with the two teachers During the trial period, task-based lessons were observed by the researcher, and the information observed was noted down in the observation sheets

Finally, the collected data were analyzed descriptively and interpretively From the data analysis, the research results were analyzed and discussed to give recommendations for how to make TBLT applicable to oral lessons at NUAE

3.2.5 Data analysis

3.2.5.1 Analysis of questionnaire

Students’ reasons for not involving in speaking tasks

It can be seen from table 1 that a considerable number of students agreed that they did not want to take part in the speaking tasks for lack of confidence (51,50%) A small number of the students are neutral (10,70%), and 38,80 % of the respondents disagreed

with the statement That is, they did not feel shy to join the tasks 51,38% of the respondenst refused tasks’ involment, since they were not accustomed to Task-based learning

Table 2: Students’ reasons for not involving in speaking tasks

Questionnaire items Strongly

agree

Agree Neutral Strongly

disagree

Disagree

1 I do not want to take part in

the speaking tasks, because I do

not feel confident

24,30 % 27,20% 10,70% 20,40% 18,40%

2 I do not want to join the

speaking tasks, since I am not

used to this way of teaching

31,0% 20,38% 15,53% 17,57% 15,52%

Students’ difficulty in working in multi-level groups during speaking tasks

In response to item 3 and 4, which asked for whether or not students had difficulty

in working in mixed-level groups during the trial period, the majority of them agreed that they found it diffucult to cooperate with the students who had better command of English (59,30%) 30 % of the respondents had no problems when working in multi-level groups This percentage may belong to the higher ability students 10,70 % of them are neutral 49,40% of the respondents agreed that the speaking tasks were finished earlier than time limit by more able students As a result, they did not have opportunities of joining the tasks

Table 3: Students’ difficulty in working with multi - level groups

Questionnaire items Strongly

agree

Agree Neutral Strongly

disagree

Disagree

3 I have difficulty in cooperating

with students who have better

command of English, because they

often dominate the group

36,00% 23,30% 10,70% 12,63% 17,37%

4 I do not have many opportunities

of raising my voice when joining

speaking tasks, since students with

higher English ability often finish

the tasks earlier than time limit

22,30% 27,10% 12,60% 18,40% 19,60%

Students’ difficulty in comprehending the instruction of speaking tasks in the target language

Table 3 presents the students’ opinions about their difficulty in understanding the instruction of speaking tasks First, in response to item 5, the vast majority of the respondents did not understand the teacher ’s instruction about the tasks in English (70,90%) 29,10% of the respondents did not have any problems with task instruction This can be explained that students are used to traditional way of learning in which they listen to English lectures in Vietnamese, or their English proficiency was not good enough to understand the teacher’s instruction in English

Table 4: Students’ difficulty in understanding teacher s’ instruction in English

Questionnaire items Strongly

agree

Agree Neutral Strongly

disagree

Disagree

5 I do not understand teacher ‘s

intruction of the tasks in the target

language, because my English

proficiency is still low

36,90% 34,00%

6 I want the teacher to instruct the

tasks in English then translate into

Vietnamese

22,30% 46,70% 7,80% 13,60% 10,60%

Students’ difficluty in using the target language during speaking tasks

In response to whether or not the respondents encountered difficulty in using English during the speaking tasks Almost all the students agreed that they were not able to use the target language all the time while they were doing the tasks, for their English proficiency was low (74,76%) A quite large percentage of the respondents replied that they would not be able to finish the speaking tasks if they were banned using Vietnamese (68,90%)