the effect of task based language teaching on efl learners’ writing performance at tien giang university

iii ABSTRACT The present research is aimed at investigating the effect of Task-Based Language Teaching TBLT on EFL learners’ writing performance and learner writing motivation considere

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

-

THE EFFECT OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

ON EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

AT TIEN GIANG UNIVERSITY

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

OF MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL)

Submitted by NGUYEN THI MY HANH Supervisor: Dr LUU TRONG TUAN

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2017

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have secured a lot of assistance and advice from many people in order to complete

my thesis I am very grateful for this help

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Luu Trong Tuan for his considerate assistance and invaluable advice Without his help, the study couldn’t have been completed

Secondly, I want to express my deep gratitude to the Management of Tien Giang University and the Leaders of Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities for their permission and support

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank my colleagues for their support as well as the students in two classes 0728201 and 0728202 for their cooperation

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ABSTRACT

The present research is aimed at investigating the effect of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) on EFL learners’ writing performance and learner writing motivation considered as a mediating variable in enhancing writing performance of EFL learners at Tien Giang University The quasi-experimental design was employed with the participation of 40 freshmen (20 in CG and 20 in EG) The analysis of the data collected from the participants’ pretests and posttests, pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires indicated that TBLT had a positive influence

on EFL learners’ writing performance and their writing motivation EFL learners made significant progress in all five components of a writing (vocabulary, content, grammar, organization and mechanics) and two factors in learner writing motivation (perceived value of writing and writing self-concept) In addition, there was a positive correlation between learner writing motivation and writing performance Learner writing motivation contributed 37% to the improvement of writing performance

Key words: Task-based language teaching (TBLT), writing performance, learner writing motivation

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CG Control Group

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

EFL English as Foreign Language

EG Experimental Group

ESL English as Second Language

L2 Second Language

SCT Social-Cultural Theory

TBLT Task-Based Language Teaching

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages ZPD Zone of Proximal Development

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.3 Items of pre-questionnaire on learner writing motivation 43 Table 3.4 Items of post-questionnaire on learner writing motivation 44 Table 3.5 Structures of pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire of CG and EG 45 Table 3.6 Summary of traditional lesson plans for fifteen weeks 46 Table 3.7 Summary of TBLT lesson plans for fifteen weeks 50 Table 4.1 Correlation of two raters’ pretest scores of CG 65 Table 4.2 Correlation of two raters’ pretest scores of EG 65 Table 4.3 Descriptive statistics of the pretest scores 66 Table 4.4 Independent samples t-test results of the pretests 67 Table 4.5 Correlation of two raters’ posttest scores of CG 68 Table 4.6 Correlation of two raters’ posttest scores of EG 68 Table 4.7 Descriptive statistics of the posttest scores 69 Table 4.8 Independent samples t-test results of the posttests 69 Table 4.9 Descriptive statistics of the pretest scores and posttest scores 70 Table 4.10 Pair sample t-test results of the writing tests 72 Table 4.11 Descriptive statistics of each component of the writing tests 73 Table 4.12 Independent samples t-test results of each component of writing tests 74 Table 4.13 Descriptive statistics of each component before and after the treatment 75 Table 4.14 Pair sample t-test results of the components of writing tests 76 Table 4.15 Item-total statistics of the pre-questionnaire of CG 78 Table 4.16 Item-total statistics of the pre-questionnaire of EG 79 Table 4.17 Rotated components matrix of the pre-questionnaire of CG 80 Table 4.18 Rotated components matrix of the pre-questionnaire of EG 81

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Table 4.19 Descriptive statistics of the pre-questionnaires of CG and EG 82 Table 4.20 Independent samples t-test of the pre-questionnaires 83 Table 4.21 Item-total statistics of the post-questionnaires of CG 84 Table 4.22 Item-total statistics of the post-questionnaires of EG 85 Table 4.23 Rotated component matrix of the post-questionnaire of CG 85 Table 4.24 Rotated component matrix of the post-questionnaires of EG 86 Table 4.25 Descriptive statistics of the post-questionnaires 87 Table 4.26 Independent samples t-test results of the post-questionnaires 88 Table 4.27 Descriptive statistics of the scores of the pre-questionnaires and

Table 4.28 Pair sample t-test results of the pre-questionnaires and post-

questionnaires of learning writing motivation 90 Table 4.29 Descriptive statistics of the two factors of the questionnaires 91 Table 4.30 Independent samples t-test results of the each factor

Table 4.31 Descriptive statistics of the each factor of the questionnaires 93 Table 4.32 Pair sample t-test results of the each factor of the questionnaires 94 Table 4.33 Correlation between learner writing motivation

and writing performance in EG 96 Table 4.34 Regression between learner writing motivation

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Task-Based Language Teaching Framework 16

Figure 4.1 Mean score of the pretests and the posttests 71 Figure 4.2 Mean score of the pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaires 89

2.1.2.1 What is Task-Based Language Teaching 12 2.1.2.2 Underlying theories for Task-Based Language Teaching 13 2.1.2.3 Principles of Task-Based Language Teaching 15 2.1.2.4 Task-Based Language Teaching Framework 16 2.1.2.5 Benefits of Task-Based Language Teaching 19

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3.3.3.2 Pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire of learner writing motivation 42

3.3.4.1 Teaching procedures for control and experimental groups 45

3.4.2 Validity and reliability of instruments 60

3.4.2.2 Questionnaire for learner writing motivation 61

4.1 Research question 1: To what extent does TBLT influence EFL learners’

writing performance at Tien Giang University? 65

4.2 Research question 2: To what extent does TBLT influence learner writing

4.3 Research question 3: To what extent does learner writing motivation

influence EFL learners’ writing performance at Tien Giang University? 95

4.3.1 Correlation between learner writing motivation and writing performance 95

4.3.2 Regression between learner writing motivation and writing performance 96

5.1 Research question 1: To what extent does TBLT influence EFL learners’

writing performance at Tien Giang University? 98

5.2 Research question 2: To what extent does TBLT infuence learner writing

5.3 Research question 3: To what extent does learner writing motivation

influence EFL learners’ writing performance at Tien Giang University? 102

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND

Appendix D: Pre-questionnaire of learner writing motivation for CG and EG 128 Appendix E: Pre-questionnaire of learner writing motivation for CG and EG

Appendix J: A sample traditional lesson plan 137

Appendix L: Samples of the students’ paragraphs 143

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

There are five sections in chapter 1 The first section is statement of the problem The second section mentions three purposes of the study Based on the three purposes, three research questions are presented in the third section Significance of the study is mentioned in the fourth section The last section is organization of the study which consists of six chapters namely introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussions and conclusions, implications, limitations and

recommendations for further research

1.1 Statement of the problem

For English language learners, writing is a very important skill (Al-Shourafa, 2012) Wolff (2000) states that “writing is not only a means of communicating, but also a tool of learning a language” (p 111) According to Mohamed (2003), writing helps non-English native students to learn because it enhances the grammar, structure idioms and vocabulary, gives them chances to experience the language, to go beyond what they have just to say and to take risks and become involved with the new language Abdali and Fatemipour (2014) indicate that “EFL learners should write reports, thesis, essays, and compositions so as to meet the demands of their authorities” (p 730) In addition, writing is necessary for students’ learning, career and their daily communication (Al-Shourafa, 2012)

In spite of its important roles, it is difficult to acquire this skill (Tribble, 1997) Zhaochun (2015) argues that writing is the most difficult skill to master According

to Byrne (1979), writing is the transformation of thoughts into language This means that writing requires writers’ both mental and physical activities to

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communicate with readers or enable them to understand writers’ feeling and thought Unlike speaking skill, there is no feedback between writers and readers in writing skill, which makes writing skill more difficult than speaking skill According to Al-Shourafa (2012), it requires L2 writers “to use a second language writing system and simultaneously perform a range of complex cognitive tasks such

as making a decision on content relevant to a topic, selecting proper vocabulary and grammar to form sentences, organizing sentences into a paragraph and consider the writing purpose and intended audience” (pp 1-2) Furthermore, learning a foreign language in the context where learners’ exposure to language is just for few hours each week makes writing become a demanding activity (Kim & Kim, 2005)

Because writing is a very difficult skill to master, learners need to be provided a lot

of opportunities to improve their writing skills However, Trinh and Nguyen (2014) stated that “in most academic writing classes in the Mekong Delta, the teacher provides learners with a topic and a related model text The teacher picks out sentences from the model texts for learners to study grammatical structures; how and what to write are seldom discussed The communicative purpose and audience

of the texts seem to be ignored The teacher does not focus much on the content of the model texts, but focuses more on form.” (p 64) Teaching writing in such a way does not give learners many opportunities to interact with one another and express their ideas Willis (1996a) emphasizes that through meaning-focused activity, interaction and a removal of teacher dominance, tasks can help enhance fluency and natural acquisition Moreover, teachers dominate the class and learners become passive in their study Teacher-dominated class is boring and it kills the students’ interests (Kundo & Tutto, 1989) Similarly, at Tien Giang University, teaching writing has also focused on form rather than meaning Students have to spend most

of the time doing grammatical exercises rather than interacting and negotiating with one another In reality, the average score of writing tests of EFL students at Tien Giang University in the academic year 2014-2015 was quite low, at 6.1 (Center of

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educational testing and quality assessment of Tien Giang University) In addition, English writing teachers said that in general EFL students at Tien Giang University were not interested in their writing class This indicates that it is very necessary to have an effective method for teaching writing to enhance EFL learners’ writing performance and to improve their writing motivation which contributes to EFL learners’ writing performance

Many methods for teaching writing have been introduced to foster learners’ writing skills Among them is Process Approach which focuses on “the steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece of work” (Nunan, 2001, p 272) Nevertheless, this approach has some limitations First, it ignores the accuracy in favor of fluency (Reid, 2001) Paying less attention to grammar and structure negatively affects the quality of writing Furthermore, Process Approach emphasizes the process of producing a writing product regardless of the time it takes (Sadeghi, Hassani & Hemmati, 2013) With the emphasis on the relationship between text-genres and their contexts, Genre-based Approach has also been proposed as an approach in teaching writing (Hyon, 1996) Nevertheless, Badger and White (2000) argue that

“the negative side of genre approaches is that they undervalue the skills needed to produce a text and see learners as largely passive” (p 157) Moreover, Bawarshi (2000) indicates that while the strength of genre-based approach is that it helps learners to identify and interpret literary texts, its weakness is that it interferes with the learners’ creativity

In the process of searching for a better way to promote learners’ writing performance, a number of researchers have also indicated that it is beneficial to apply Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) which is based on communicative and interactive tasks, requiring meaningful communication and interaction among learners (Bygate, Skehan, & Swain, 2001; Nunan, 2004b) It is a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) (Richards and Rodgers,

as Korea (Finch, 2006), Indonesia (Yhardi and Restu, 2015), Malaysia (Ahmed and Bidin, 2016), Iran (Marashi and Dadari, 2012), China (Cao, 2012 and Miao, 2014) and Vietnam (Dao, 2011 and Hoang, 2014) Besides, the results of many studies by researchers such as Pietri (2015), Huang (2016) and Le and Nguyen (2012) indicated that TBLT helped foster learner motivation

Many previous studies, which indicated the positive influence of TBLT, were carried out in many countries around the world Nevertheless, few studies were conducted in Vietnam and especially no studies of applying TBLT on enhancing EFL learner writing performance at Tien Giang University were carried out Moreover, there were few studies examining the effect of TBLT on enhancing learner writing motivation and considering it as a mediating variable on enhancing writing performance Therefore, the researcher conducted the current which entitled

The Effect of Task-Based Language Teaching on EFL Learners’ Writing Performance at Tien Giang University with the aims of investigating the influence

of TBLT on EFL learners’ writing performance and the influence of TBLT on

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learner writing motivation which is considered as a mediating variable positively affecting their writing performance

1.2 Purposes of the study

The study is aimed at investigating to what extent:

1) Task-Based Language Teaching influences EFL learners’ writing

performance at Tien Giang University

2) Task-Based Language Teaching influences learner writing motivation at Tien Giang University

3) learner writing motivation influences EFL learners’ writing performance at Tien Giang University

1.3 Research questions

The study is guided by three research questions as follows:

1) To what extent does TBLT influence EFL learners’ writing performance

at Tien Giang University?

2) To what extent does TBLT influence learner writing motivation

at Tien Giang University?

3) To what extent does learner writing motivation influence EFL learners’ writing performance at Tien Giang University?

1.4 Significance of the study

The study is of significance as follows First, the finding that TBLT was an effective writing teaching method would help teachers of English enhance EFL learners’ writing performance at Tien Giang University Second, the positive influence of TBLT on learners’ motivation in writing would help the teachers of English solve the issue of how to motivate EFL learners in English language

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learning, particularly in learning writing skill Third, the positive correlation between learner writing motivation and writing performance revealed that enhancing motivation in English language learning should be paid more attention in writing instruction When learners were more motivated in their learning, they performed better in their writing products Last but not least, based on all the findings of the present study, it is concluded that applying a new teaching approach through which learner motivation is significantly improved means that L2 writing instruction is significantly successful in enhancing learners’ writing performance because there is a positive correlation between learner motivation in learning writing and writing performance

1.5 Organization of the study

There are six chapters in this study Chapter 1 is introduction with five sections comprising statement of the problem, purposes of the study, research questions, significance of the study and organization of the study Chapter 2 is literature review which consists of two main sections namely concepts and hypothesis development The section of concepts presents tasks, Task-Based Language Teaching, learner motivation and writing performance while the section of hypothesis development consists of three parts including TBLT and writing performance, TBLT and learner writing motivation, learner writing motivation and writing performance Chapter 3 is about methodology with four main sections The first one is research setting The second section presents quasi-experimental design The third section is data collection procedure which describes participants, materials, instruments and experimental procedure The last section mentions data analysis approach in which validity and reliability of the instruments, T-test, correlation and regression analysis are discussed Chapter 4 presents the results of the study with three sections – research question 1, research question 2 and research question 3 Based on the findings, discussion is mentioned in chapter 5 Lastly, conclusions, implications, limitations and recommendations for further research are

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mentioned in chapter 6 with three main conclusions, implications for teachers and

students, five limitations and five recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 consists of two main sections The first section is concepts including tasks, task-based language teaching, learner writing motivation and writing performance The second section is hypothesis development

Long (1985a) point out the definition of task as follows:

“A piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others freely or for some reward 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, taking a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping someone across a road In other words, by task

‟ is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between” (p 89)

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The definition of task given by Long (1985a) is considered as the definition in a broad sense because it mentions all the things people undertake including both tasks without using language such as painting a fence and tasks with using language such

as making a hotel reservation

Different from Long’s (1985a) definition, many others are related to pedagogical activity in class One typical example is Prabhu’s (1987) definition He defines task

as “an activity which requires learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process” (p 24) In this definition, it mentions teachers’ role in controlling the tasks and emphasizes the outcome as well

Besides indicating the use of task for pedagogical purposes and the emphasis on outcome, Skehan (1998) places an emphasis on conveying meaning in his definition

of task as an activity in which meaning is primary; learners are not given other people’s meaning to regurgitate; there is some sort of relationship to the real world; task completion has some priority; and the assessment of task performance is in terms of outcome

Ellis’s (2003) also defined task which consists of the features of a task mentioned in the definitions that are discussed above According to Ellis (2003), task is defined as follows:

“A workplan that requires learners to process language pragmatically in order

to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has been conveyed To this end, it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may predispose them to choose particular forms A task is intended to result in language use that bears

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a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive, and oral or written skills and also various cognitive processes” (p 16)

Moreover, Willis’s (1996a) emphasizes the communication purpose among learners when participating in a task From Willis’s (1996a) viewpoint, tasks are defined as

“activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome” (p 23)

To sum up, task is defined from a broad sense with Long’s (1985a) definition to a more specific one in pedagogical viewpoint such as the definition of task by Prabhu’s (1989), Skehan (1998), Ellis (2003) and Willis (1996a) With a brief definition of task and focus on communicative purpose, Willis’s (1996a) definition was chosen as the operational definition of task in the present study

2.1.1.2 Task types

There have been different ways to categorize tasks by many researchers Four common ways of classification of tasks from Nunan (2004b), Prabhu (1987), Pattison (1987) and Willis (1996a) are presented in Table 2.1 as follows:

Table 2 Task types

Nunan (2004b) Pedagogical task

Real world task Prabhu (1987) Information-gap

Opinion-gap

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Reasoning-gap Patison (1987) Questions and answers

Dialogues and role plays Matching activities Communication strategies Pictures and picture stories Puzzles and problems Discussions and decisions Willis (1996a) Listing

Ordering and sorting Comparing

Problem solving Sharing personal experiences Creative tasks

In Nunan’s (2004a) viewpoint, task is categorized into two types namely pedagogical task and real life task The pedagogical task is defined as the communicative activity which is carried out in the classroom context in order to achieve an outcome with the purpose of rehearsal of the real world In terms of real-world task, it refers to the real life interactive communication outside the classroom Typical examples for this type of task are job interview, making a hotel reservation and making new friends

According to Prabhu (1987), there are three task types including information-gap, opinion-gap and reasoning-gap Information-gap is information exchange among participants in order to accomplish a task For instance, in pairs, one student describes the picture of a garden and the other draws or two students share with each other about what they usually do every week so that they can complete timetables Opinion-gap requires students to share their personal preferences,

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feelings or attitudes in response to a given situation For example, students are asked to give their opinions to help reduce school violence or write a letter to suggest a place to visit during a summer vacation to their close friend Reasoning-gap involves deriving some new information from given information For example, students might be given a list of five tourist attractions in Vietnam and required to rank them as well as explain the reasons

Pattison (1987) identifies seven task types including questions and answers, dialogues and role plays, matching activities, communication strategies, pictures and picture stories, puzzles and problems, and discussions and decisions Questions and answers relies on the idea of designing an information gap and asks students to use a language item list to make secret choices, “which all fit into a given frame” (Nunan, 1989) Dialogues and role-plays ask students to perform a scenario For example, students are asked to work in pairs to book a hotel Matching activities requires students to match items to complete pairs or sets such as match words with their definitions Communication strategies are defined as communication activities

in which students asked to practice some strategies of communication such as paraphrasing and simplifying Pictures and picture stories encourage students to describe a picture, to find the differences, or to reorganize a group of pictures to create a logical story Puzzles and problems are activities in which students have to reason, imagine, guess, and draw on their personal experience and prior knowledge Discussions and decisions activities require students to express their ideas and make

a decision

In Willis’s (1996a) point of view, tasks are categorized into six types namely listing, ordering and sorting, comparing, problem solving, sharing personal experiences and creative tasks Listing is a task which enhances learners' comprehension and induction because it requires learners to brainstorm to get a good list It helps learners to assemble related words on the given topics Ordering and sorting

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improves comprehension, logic and reasoning ability including sequencing, ranking and categorizing items Comparing requires students to identify the similarities or differences This strongly fosters learners’ ability of differentiation which facilitates them to develop their productive skills Problem solving provides learners with opportunities to enhance their reasoning and decision making abilities Sharing experience helps them to talk more freely about themselves and share their experience with each other by narrating, describing or exploring Creative tasks consist of brainstorming, fact finding, ordering and sorting, comparing and many other activities These tasks promote their comprehensive problem-solving abilities and their reasoning and analyzing abilities as well

Among the classifications of tasks, Willis’s (1996a) classification is more specific than Nunan’s (2004a) Moreover, Willis’s (1996a) task types increase in terms of the level of difficulty For instance, a simple task for students is listing while problem solving or creative tasks are more difficult for them Because the participants of the current study were EFL freshmen, the use of the task types of different levels of difficulties was suitable for their level of English competence Thus, the classification of task types by Willis (1996a) was employed in the current research to enhance learners’ writing performance

2.1.2 Task-Based Language Teaching

2.1.2.1 What is Task-Based Language Teaching

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a methodology that has drawn an increasing interest of many theorists, researchers and teachers from many institutions since its emergence in 1980s as the development of CLT and “a logical development of it” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) Thus, there have been a variety of definitions of TBLT proposed According to Nunan (2004b), TBLT is “a realization

of communicative language teaching philosophy at the level of syllabus design and

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methodology” (p 10) TBLT is defined as “an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) It is also defined as a method of language teaching in which meaning is primary and there are real world problems to solve, and priority is placed on the completion of the tasks, which are assessed in terms of the outcome (Brown, 2007; Willis & Willis, 2007) Moreover, focus on a set of communicative tasks and the use of target language are emphasized in Cook’s (2008) and Willis and Willis’s (2001) view point of TBLT In the words of Nunan (1989), TBLT is a way of designing teaching syllabuses which consist of a set of communicative tasks and a way to involve learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language In summary, with the emphasis on sets of communicative tasks as the core of language teaching and the use of target language

to achieve an outcome involving learners’ active participation, Nunan’s (1989) definition of TBLT was employed in the present study

2.1.2.2 Underlying theories for Task-Based Language Teaching

In spite of some differences in point of views, researchers have agreed that TBLT is mainly based on Sociocultural Theory Theories, Input Hypothesis, Interaction Hypothesis and Output Hypothesis (Ellis, 2003; Nunan, 2004b)

Sociocultural Theory (SCT) was proposed by Vygotsky’s (1978) SCT defines that learning happens in social interactions (Vygotsky, 1978) As mentioned above, TBLT is a communication-oriented pedagogy that promotes interactions in L2 among learners (Nunan, 2004b) Vygotsky (1978) also mentions Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which is “the distance between the actual developmental level

as determined by the independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p 86) This refers to what the learner can

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do alone and what the learner can do with the help of others Based on the ZPD, L2 learners are given the tasks slightly above their level so that they can achieve the goal The help from more knowledgeable peers or the teacher in the role of facilitator in task-based class is really essential to help learners complete the assigned tasks

Besides Vygotsky’s (1978) SCT, Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis is another underlying theory of TBLT In order to make progress in L2 acquisition, Krashen (1985) states that learners need to be exposed to “comprehensible input” which is

slightly above the learners’ current level of competence For instance, if “i” is the learners’ current level of competence in the target language, “i + 1” is the next level

of competence that comprehensible input aims to provide the learners (Krashen 1985) According to Nunan (2004b), TBLT is influenced by Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis Based on Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis, it is essential to expose learners to meaning in an early stage of learning This means it is contrasted with the focus on providing learners with decontextualized linguistic items in an early stage of the lesson in structural approach (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) Moreover,

the model “i + 1” in Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis implies that tasks should be

graded and sequenced in terms of the level of difficulty

Moreover, TBLT draws on Long’s (1985a) Interaction Hypothesis Long (1985a) points out that face-to-face interaction in the target language greatly enhances learners’ language proficiency Long (1996) states that it is essential to foster interaction for the language progress of second language learners because “it provides learners with the input they need” (Mackey, 1999, p 558) He indicates that learners acquire L2 when they obtain comprehensible input as a result of the opportunity to negotiate meaning when communication breakdown occurs (cited in Ellis, 2003) Negotiating meaning with their interlocutors to achieve comprehension also draws learners’ attention to linguistic forms which Schmidt (1990) claims

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essential for L2 acquisition to occur Thus, it is beneficial to learners in task-based class since they have chances to interact with each other through a number of task types “Negotiation of meaning” is the main point in Interaction Hypothesis Moreover, Long (1985b) adds that negotiating meaning affects choosing which task types to employ in a task-based lessons

Lastly, TBLT draws on Swain’s (cited in Gass & Salinker, 2008) Output Hypothesis which indicates that language acquisition takes place when a learner encounters a gap in his/her linguistic knowledge of the target language By noticing the gap, the learner becomes aware of it and is able to modify his/her output which results in acquiring new knowledge about the target language According to Swain and Lapkin (1995), comprehensible output is a mechanism that makes learners aware of the linguistic gaps in their knowledge through noticing Swain (1985) states that by noticing, learners will be able to enhance self-expression and move from “semantic processing to syntactic processing” in the acquisition of the target language (p 249) Thus, based on Swain’s Output Hypothesis, tasks should not only provide comprehensible input for learners but also “push” them to produce language

in a comprehensible way in task-based classroom Moreover, the idea of noticing in Swain’s (cited in Gass & Salinker, 2008) Output Hypothesis helps researchers develop focus-on-form techniques in task-based instruction (Schmidt, 1990; Lynch, 2001)

2.1.2.3 Principles of Task-Based Language Teaching

According to Nunan (2005), the underlying principles for task-based language teaching are summarized as follows:

 Scaffolding: Lessons and materials should provide supporting frameworks within which the learning occurs

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 Task chains: One task in a task-based lesson should be built on the ones that have been presented before

 Recycling: Recycling language maximizes the opportunities for learning

 Organic learning: Language ability “grows” gradually

 Active learning: Learners learn best by actively using the language they are learning (i.e., experiential learning)

 Integration: Learners should be taught in the combination of linguistic form, communicative function and semantic meaning

 Reflection: Learners should be given proper opportunities to reflect on what they have learned and how well they are doing the task

 Reproduction to creation: Learners should move from reproductive to creative language use

2.1.2.4 Task-Based Language Teaching Framework

Willis’s (1996b) framework was adopted in the present study Willis’s summary framework of TBLT was presented in Figure 2.1 as follows:

Figure 2.1 Task-Based Language Teaching Framework

(Willis, 1996b, p 53)

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According to Willis (1996b), there are three phrases namely pre-task, task cycle and post task in a task-based model In the pre-task, the teacher introduces the topic to the students Then, activities to help students recall topic-related words and phrases which are useful for the main task are conducted, thus enhancing students’ confidence in performing the main task There are various interesting pre-task activities (Willis, 1996a)

 Classifying words and phrases connected with certain topics and tasks

 Odd one out (The teacher writes sets of related words and phrases on the board, inserting one item in each set that does not fit and asks students which odd one out is and why.)

 Matching phrases to pictures

 Memory challenge (This is the same as the matching activity, only the teacher takes the pictures down after one or two minutes, and students must match the phrases or captions to the pictures from memory.)

 Brainstorming and mind-maps (The teacher writes the main topic words in the center of the board and encourages students to call out other words and phrases, and asks where on the board to write them.)

 Students thinking of questions to a certain topic to ask

 Teacher recounting a similar experience

Then, the teacher has to make sure to give the students clear instructions to the main task, so that they can accomplish the task in an effective way In this stage, the teacher may play a recording of others doing the same or a similar task

In task cycle, there are three parts beginning with task, planning and ending with report In task stage, while the students are doing the task in pairs or in small groups, the teacher monitors and encourages the students The students are free in using whatever language they have known to complete the given task It is

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important that the teacher should avoid correcting any mistakes or errors of form at this stage Then, in the planning stage, the students are asked to prepare for their report in oral or written form how they did the task, what they discovered or decided At this stage, the role of the teacher is a language advisor when necessary and helps the students to rehearse their oral report or organizing the written notes The teacher also acts as a chairman and arranges the order of the presenters or makes sure that all the students in class read most of the written reports After that, the teacher gives brief feedback on content and form The teacher may also play a recording of the same or a similar task

In the last phase called language focus, it is divided into two stages The first one is analysis in which the teacher highlights the language from the report stage and helps the students to have a deeper understanding of the target language Then, in the practice stage, the teacher asks the students to complete practice activities of words, phrases and patterns after analysis to consolidate students’ insight of the language and increase their confidence in using it as well

Although Willis does not describe in details how Task-Based Language Teaching Framework is employed in writing instruction, some mentioned clues are that “this end product will first be introduced orally or through reading in the pre-task phase, then discussed as an integral part of the task stage, drafted collaboratively at the planning stage and finalized for the report stage” (Willis, 1996, p 62) Based on such clues, in pre-task phase, the teacher should introduce the topic, then help students recall topic-related words and phrases and make sure to give clear instruction to the main task In task stage, the students are asked to discuss the task orally in pairs or groups In planning stage, students are firstly required to make outlines and then are asked to finish the first draft in pairs or groups in required time After that, the students exchange the drafts for some comments The planning stage ends with asking the students to redraft their first drafts In report stage, some

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pairs or groups of students are chosen to present their reports to the rest of the class

at random, sharing with other groups what they have found and learnt from their collaboration After that, the teacher gives brief comments to the students In language focus phase which consists of analysis stage and practice stage, accuracy

is paid more attention In analysis stage, the teacher highlights the language in planning and report stages to help them have deeper understanding of the target language In practice stage, the teacher gives students exercises to practice

2.1.2.5 Benefits of Task-Based Language Teaching

Task-Based language Teaching, which is considered as a logical development of CLT (Richards and Rodgers, 2001) provides a number of advantages for English language learning Willis (1996a) lists eight typical benefits of TBLT as follows:

 This approach fosters learners’ confidence because upon task completion, they can achieve communicative goals and also because it offers many chances for learners to express their ideas in pairs or small groups without the fear of being wrong or being corrected in front of the class

 It promotes learners to enhance skills for expressing different communicative meanings through interactive tasks

 It gives learners experience of spontaneous interaction, which involves composing what they want to say in real time, formulating phrases and units

of meaning while listening to what is being said

 It gives all learners chances to practice negotiating turns to speak, initiating

as well as responding to questions and makes learners participate in a completed interaction, not just one-off sentences

 It gives learners a chance to benefit from noticing how others express similar meanings (corrective feedback)

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 Tasked-based teaching focuses not only on communication through interaction in the target language, but also on grammatical accuracy and forms

In favor of TBLT for its benefits, besides the good points mentioned above, Ellis (2009) states that it offers learners the chance of “natural” learning within classroom context and makes learners intrinsically motivated TBLT is intrinsically motivating because it provides learners a number of opportunities to use the language that they know without penalizing them for inevitable failures in accuracy (Willis & Willis, 2007) Thanks to meaning-focused activity, interaction and a removal of teacher dominance, tasks can help learners to increase fluency and natural acquisition (Willis, 1996a) Thornbury (2005) indicates that “a target language is best learned through using it, rather than learned and then used it” (p 119) Moreover, Curriculum Development Council (CDC) in Hong Kong Ministry

of Education indicates that TBLT offer learners chances to experiment and explore both spoken and written language through learning activities that are designed to engage them in the authentic, practical and functional use of language for meaningful purposes (cited in Nunan, 2004b)

2.1.3 Learner writing motivation

2.1.3.1 What is learner motivation

Keller (2007) defines motivation as “a person’s desire to pursue a goal or perform a task, which is manifested by choice of goals and effort (persistence plus vigor) in pursuing the goal.” (p 4) Accordingly, learner motivation referred to students’ desire to take part in the language process (Lumsden, 1994) In the same vein, Ellis (1994) states that motivation is “the effort which learners put into learning an L2 as

a result of their need or desire to learn it.” (p 715) Williams and Burden (1997) add that motivation to learn is “a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, which leads

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to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to attain a previously set goal/ goals” (p 120) Motivation plays an important role in learning (Brewer & Burgess, 2005) It enhances an individual's energy and activity level (Pintrich, Marx & Boyle, 1993), directing an individual toward certain goals (Eccles & Wigfield, 1985), fostering initiation of certain activities and persistence in those activities (Stipek, 1998) Thus, students who are in some way motivated do significantly better than their peers (Harmer, 1991) and better apply what they have learned to new situations (Mayer, 2003)

2.1.3.2 Types of learner motivation

There have been different types of motivation from different theorists and researchers However, for many researchers, two main types of motivation are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation by Deci and Ryan (1985)

According to Deci and Ryan (1985), extrinsic motivation is defined as “actions carried out to achieve some instrumental ends such as earning a reward or avoiding

a punishment” (p 39) Similarly, Harmer (1991) indicates that extrinsic motivation

is the result of any number of outside factors That means extrinsic motivation for learning come from outside such as good grades, rewards, better jobs, scholarships, expectations of parents, teachers and friends as well as punishment Thus, in this type, learners try their best to learn because of some pressure or reward from the social environment (Luu, 2012)

On the contrary, as viewed by Deci and Ryan (1985), intrinsic motivation is

“motivation to engage in an activity because that activity is enjoyable and satisfying

to do” (p 39) Harmer (2002) adds that intrinsic motivation is from within the individual and especially important for learners’ L2 acquisition For intrinsically

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motivated learners, they “do activities for their own sake and out of interest in the activity” (Wigfield, Guthrie, Tonk, & Perencevich, 2004, p 301) Harmer (1991) indicates that learners’ intrinsic motivation derives from from physical conditions, teachers and their teaching methods Moreover, learners with intrinsic motivation tend to make efforts to deal with complex issues and achieve knowledge from their slips and mistakes (Walker, Greene, & Mansell, 2006)

2.1.3.3 Learner motivation in writing

Wood (1998) emphasizes that motivation has an influence on a learner’s second language acquisition In addition, motivation is “usually mentioned in explaining any L2 learning success or failure” (Dornyei, 1997, p 261) Thus, it is really necessary to maintain strong motivation while learning writing - the most difficult skill among the four skills (Richards & Renandya, 2002) when learning a foreign language

Writing becomes more complicated when it involves linguistic features Widdowson (2001) stated that "writing is the use of visual medium to manifest the graphological and grammatical system of the language That is to say, writing in one sense is the production of sentences as instances of usages"(p 62)

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In addition, Ransdell and Levy (1996) denoted that writing is “a process of transforming ideas into written script and revision, and it makes regulation and intentional control inevitable” (p 93) Thus, writing not only makes ideas concrete, but it is also affected by regulation and control In addition, Hedge (2000) proposes that:

Writing is the result of employing strategies to manage the composing process it involves a number of activities: setting goals, generating information, selecting appropriate language, making a draft, reading and reviewing it, then revising and editing It is a complex process

To sum up, writing is a complex process, a powerful tool of thinking involving encoding a message through a process of planning, drafting, editing and final draft

2.1.4.2 Writing performance

According to Forteza Fernández and Gunashekar (cited in Sharadgah, 2013), writing performance is the students’ ability to write a piece of writing effectively and transform thoughts and ideas into written words More specifically, writing performance refers to “the production of a writer's ideas on a certain topic in a written form with clear organization of ideas, adequate and relevant content taking the audience into consideration and demonstrating appropriate mechanics” (Mohammed, 2010, p 2)

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2.2 Hypothesis development

2.2.1 Task-Based Language Teaching and writing performance

In task-based language teaching, the core unit is the use of tasks (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) in which meaning is given the priority (Skehan, 1998) Language can be considered as a means for communication (Nunan, 2004b) In order to accomplish the given tasks, learners have to interact with one another According to Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996), offering learners with lots of opportunities of interaction is very essential for progress in second language use since “it provides learners with the input they need” (Mackey, 1999, p 558) In Ellis’s (2003) viewpoint, tasks enables learners to be exposed in a wide range of language and can offer more chances to do functional things with the language at students’ proficiency levels, which helps students accomplish their writing tasks successfully Moreover, in task-based language teaching, learners are given opportunities to “deploy whatever language they already have, and look for ways of building on that, of improving and expanding on their current language capabilities” (Willis, 2005, p 15) Thus, creating chances for learners to actively work and make use of their prior knowledge with the help of their peers to complete the given tasks greatly contributes to learners’ development of language use In addition, as stated

by Nunan (2004b), tasked-based teaching focuses not only on communicating through interaction in the target language but also on grammatical accuracy and forms According to Willis (1996a), language focus is the third stage after pre-task and task cycle stages Willis (1996a) adds that analysis practices in language focus phase “aim to promote observation through identification, and critical investigation

of linguistic features.” (p 103)

The effectiveness of TBLT in EFL classroom in Korea was indicated in the study

by Finch (2006) The study was conducted in the context of a high school in Korea with the participation of 316 male students from 11 classes and it lasted three

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semesters The data collection instruments of the study were questionnaires, teacher journals, interviews and videos of sample lessons The results of the study revealed that the implementation of TBLT was an effective way to enhance EFL learners’ performance in Korea Although the positive influence of TBLT in EFL classroom

in Korea was proven, the data collection instruments of the study were just questionnaires, teacher journals, interviews and videos of sample lessons This means that other data collection instruments such as pretest and posttest should be employed in further research

Yuhardi and Restu (2015) implemented their study in order to see the effectiveness

of task-based approach on learner’s writing.The participants of the study were 144 students at grade 8 of Junior High School 2 Pasaman, West Sumatra, Indonesia It was a true experimental research The participants in EG and CG had 6 meetings with teaching through task-based learning approach and teaching without task-based learning approach respectively After that, they had to do posttest and the results of the writing tests were evaluated using the ESL criterion written by Jacob (1981) As

a result, there was a significant difference in learners’ writing tests in favor of learners in EG Thus, the study showed that TBLT positively influenced learners’ writing skill In the study, pretest and posttest were used to measure the improvement of learners’ writing performance, but the participants were students at

a junior high school This suggests further studies with the participation of students

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minutes Data collection instruments to measure learners’ writing performance were pretest and posttest The findings of the research indicated that EFL learners greatly benefited in task-based writing class in terms of writing performance This helped strengthen the positive influence of task based writing on learners’ L2 acquisition However, this study only examined the improvement of learners’ writing performance, but not each criterion

Because of the great benefits of TBLT on learners’ English acquisition, this approach continued to draw the interest of Malaysian researchers Ahmed and Bidin (2016) carried out the study of the effect of TBLT on writing skills of EFL learners

in Malaysia with the result that TBLT had positive influence on learners’ writing performance The design of the research was a quasi-experimental design The participants of the research were international students from different countries who belonged to expanding circle of the Kachru’s (1990) three concentric circles In total, there were 30 participants who were divided into two groups namely EG and

CG with the number of 14 and 16 participants respectively They were first-year students from various majors at a tertiary level institution The data collection instruments of the research were pretest, posttest and questionnaire Before the experiment was implemented, the participants in both two groups were asked to do pretest After the treatment, all of them had to do posttest Their writings were rated based on three criteria including complexity, accuracy and fluency The data collected from those instruments were analyzed, which led to the results that all the three criteria were significantly improved In general, TBLT helped the learners improve their English writing skills In this study, three criteria namely complexity, accuracy and fluency were examined Thus, measuring the improvement of learners’ writing performance based on other dimensions might be conducted by using other writing rubrics

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The effectiveness of TBLT in writing class not only attracted the attention of Iranian researchers but also a number of Chinese researchers One typical study of this issue was Cao’s (2012) study The researcher employed quasi-experimental design with 80 first year graduate students from various majors who were taking English writing at Shaanxi Normal University The experiment lasted in 6 weeks In order to collect data for analysis, data collection instruments namely pre-experiment questionnaire and post-experimental questionnaire, pretest and posttest Analyzing the data collected from those data collection instruments helped find out the result that the application of TBLT in writing class enabled graduate EFL learners to better understand a good piece of English writing and solve some problems related

to composing In particular, it helped enhance their writing competence including the increase of average sentence length, number of academic words and lexical diversity The positive effect of TBLT on writing performance was proved in Cao’s (2012) study However, the study was conducted in just 6 weeks, which could be carried out in longer time in further research to see more meaningful results

In China, besides Cao’s (2012) study, Miao (2014) also conducted the research of task-based teaching of writing Unlike the studies mentioned above, this study was carried out in big classes with 176 participants from 4 classes in total The number

of students in each class ranged from 50 to 70 They were Chinese college freshmen who had spent 10 years learning English They participated in the study in one semester under the task-based instruction to writing After one semester, the questionnaires including two types of questions namely multiple choice and rating were distributed to the participants They were required to complete the questionnaires in 15 minutes in order to see their theoretical knowledge about writing and TBLT, the effectiveness of TBLT and the aspect of writing abilities had been enhanced through TBLT The result of the study revealed that it helped EFL learners to deepen their understanding of TBLT and improve a number of writing aspects, positively influenced their writing in big classes Nevertheless, pretest and

of the application of TBLT in teaching writing The participants of the study were

100 non-English majored sophomores from two classes CD52KT1 and CD52KT4 and 10 teachers of English of Nam Dinh Industrial College In order to collect data for analysis, the researcher employed three types of data collection instruments including questionnaire, interview and observation They were used to investigate the benefits and difficulties of using TBLT in writing class The participants including teachers and students were first asked to complete the questionnaires about their perceptions of the application of TBLT Then, 10 teachers and 15 students had to answer 3 interview questions drawn out from the questionnaires After that, the researcher observed three periods of writing lesson with task-based approach Analyzing the data collected from the instruments indicated that the participants had positive attitudes towards TBLT and it helped enhance learners’ writing performance Like Miao’s (2014) study, pretest and posttest were not also employed for data collection

Hoang (2014) carried out the study of the impact of PPP and TBLT on Vietnamese students’ writing performance as her doctoral thesis In the study, there were 138 first year students who were studying English Language Program at Can Tho University They were randomly selected to EG and CG with 69 students in each group The experiment was implemented in 10 weeks with 3 periods each week In this study, pretest, immediate posttest, delayed posttest were employed in order to measure learners’ writing performance The participants had to do pretests before the experiment and immediate posttests right after the writing course Then, they were required to do delayed posttests 10 weeks after they had finished the writing