Application of task based language teaching in teaching speaking to the 1st year non english major students an action research at hanoi university of business and technology

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Application of task-based language teaching in teaching speaking to the 1 st year non-English major students: An action

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

BÙI THỊ THUỲ DƯƠNG

APPLICATION OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING IN

STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESARCH AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG VIỆC DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG KINH DOANH VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HA NOI, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

BÙI THỊ THUỲ DƯƠNG

APPLICATION OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING IN

STUDENTS: AN ACTION RESARCH AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG VIỆC DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG KINH DOANH VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ

HA NOI, 2015

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Application of task-based language

teaching in teaching speaking to the 1 st year non-English major students: An action research at Hanoi University of Business and Technology” is submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result

of my own work and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree to any other university or tertiary institute

Signature:

Date: November 30th, 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof

Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ, who helped, supported and encouraged me while I conducted this study Without his helpful comments, value advice and considerable assistance, this study could not have been completed

I want to thank all lecturers of the Department of Post Graduate, University

of language and international studies, Vietnam national University for providing me best conditions to fulfill my study

I also want to express my appreciation to my colleagues and my students at

Ha Noi University of Business and Technology for their excellent assistance and cooperation in collecting data for the study

Last but not least, I would especially thank my family, my close friends and

my classmates who supported and encouraged me to conduct this study

ABSTRACT

It is the fact that speaking is one of the most important skills However, the teaching and learning English speaking at Ha Noi University of Business and Technology are still far from satisfactory, which has urged the researcher to carry

out the present study

By describing and analyzing the survey questionnaire, pre-test and post-test collected, the researcher managed to find out the reasons for the students‟ weak speaking skill and justify the effectiveness of using task-based language teaching to improve the students' speaking skill Although the research has revealed some limitations, its findings prove that task-based language teaching improves students‟ speaking skill Besides, this study has provided some implications for the teaching

of English speaking skill for Vietnamese students

With detailed investigations and valid findings, the researcher believes that this study is a reliable and useful source of reference for language classes in general and for any learners and teachers who share the same concern

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND GRAPHS

Chart 1: Students‟ attitude towards speaking skill

Chart 2: Students‟ interest towards speaking skill

Table 1: Students‟ motivations

Table 2: Students‟ learning styles

Table 3: Students‟ problems in learning speaking skill

Table 4: Students‟ comments on their previous teachers‟ teaching

methods

Table 5: The comparison of the percentage of students who passed the

passing grade

Graph 1: Students‟ opinions on speaking activities in the textbook

Graph 2: The score of students‟ speaking competence

Graph 3: Improvement of the students‟ speaking competence

TABLE OF CONTENT

CANDIDATE‟S STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES AND GRAPHS v

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Significance of the Study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Speaking in foreign language learning 4

1.1.1 Definition of speaking 4

1.1.2 Teaching speaking 4

1.1.3 Components of Speaking 5

1.1.4 Testing speaking 5

1.2 Task-Based Language Teaching 7

1.2.1 Definition of TBLT and characteristics of TBLT 7

1.2.2 Definition of a task 7

1.2.3 Components of the task-based teaching Framework 9

1.2.4 Advantages of using task based language teaching 11

1.3 Previous studies relating to applying TBLT in teaching speaking skill 12

1.3.1 In Taiwan 12

1.3.2 In Viet Nam 13

1.4 Summary 13

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 Action research 14

2.1.1 An overview of action research 14

2.1.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 15

2.2 Description of the context of the research 15

2.2.1 The current situation of teaching and learning English at HUBT 15

2.2.2 The teaching program and material 17

2.3 Description of the research 17

2.3.1 Subject of the research 17

2.3.2 Data collection instruments 17

2.3.2.1 Questionnaire 17

2.3.2.2 Interviews 18

2.3.2.3 Tests 18

2.3.3 The action procedures 19

2.3.4 Data analysis procedures 21

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 22

3.1 Analysis of questionnaire 22

3.1.1 Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill 22

3.1.2 Students‟ motivations and learning styles 23

3.1.3 Students‟ difficulties in learning speaking skill 25

3.1.4 Students‟ opinions on speaking activities in the textbook 26

3.1.5 Teachers‟ teaching methods in speaking class 26

3.2 Analysis of test 28

3.3 Analysis of interview 30

3.4 Discussion about the research questions 31

3.4.1 What are the possible reasons that lead to students‟ weak speaking skill?31 3.4.2 To what extent does task-based language teaching improve students‟ speaking skill? 32

3.5 Summary 33

PART III: CONCLUSION 34

1 Conclusions 34

2 Recommendations 35

2.1 The teachers 35

2.2 The students 36

2.3 The other researchers 36

3 Limitation of the study 36

4 Suggestions for further research 37

REFERENCES 38

APPENDIX 1 I STUDENTS‟ QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2 IV INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IV APPENDIX 3 V SPEAKING TEST (Pre-test) V APPENDIX 4 VII SPEAKING TEST (Post-test) VII APPENDIX 5 IX THE ACTION PROCEDURES IX APPENDIX 6 X ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY EVALUATION X APPENDIX 7 XI DESCRIPTION OF A SAMPLE TASK-BASED SPEAKING LESSON XI APPENDIX 8 XIV TRANSCRIPT OF STUDENTS‟ ANSWERS IN THE INTERVIEW XIV APPENDIX 9 XV

AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS XV APPENDIX 10 XVIII TRANSCRIPT OF TASK SAMPLE XVIII

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

In recent years, English has been considered one of the most important and compulsory subjects for Vietnamese students "Better English, better careers" was the answer given by many of them when they told about their purpose of learning this language In addition, due to our country's recent regional and global participation, it is essential for people to communicate by English to keep

up with the development of the world Therefore, speaking plays an important role because without it, communication cannot take place directly among people According to Nunan (1991), speaking skill is an essential process for learning English Performances through speaking are an indicator of success in careers and finally in life

When the researcher works as an English teacher at Ha Noi University of Business and Technology, she has faced two striking problems First and foremost, students are very weak at English, especially speaking skill They always sit quietly and passively in the speaking lesson Besides, they cannot implement speaking tasks well when teachers require, which makes them fear of English classes Another issue she has met here is the teaching method Most of English teachers apply the traditional approaches such as teacher-centered or lecture-oriented in teaching speaking skill Therefore, it is one of the main causes leading to students‟ non-involvement and passiveness in the classroom To deal with this trouble, the researcher has tried to find out a suitable way or an interesting teaching method to improve students‟ speaking skill

In fact, many educators and researchers have made an effort to give effective ways In addition, through reading the teaching document as well as listening to lectures about English language teaching methods, the researcher is interested in task-based language teaching and supposes that it is an effective approach to solve with this problem Nunan (1992) stated that “task learning increases student talks,

makes the classroom atmosphere input” He also pointed out that task-based

language approach may play a crucial role in the communicative language

classroom: a variety of tasks could be employed depending on students‟ needs, interests, and language proficiency levels

The above mentioned situation has urged the researcher to conduct an action research at Ha Noi University of Business and Technology “Application of task-based language teaching in teaching speaking to the 1st year non-English major students”

2 Aims and objectives of the study

This research aims at applying task-based language teaching to improve the students‟ speaking skill To be more specific, the objectives of this study are to:

- find out possible explanations for the weak speaking skill of the students

- find out the effect of task-based language teaching on students‟ speaking skill

3 Research questions

With the above purposes, the research questions are:

1 What are the possible reasons that lead to the students‟ weak speaking skill?

2 To what extent does task-based language teaching improve students‟ speaking skill?

4 Scope of the study

The research was conducted on the 1st year non-English major students at Ha

Noi University of Business and Technology Regarding its scope, the research was

only aimed at investigating the causes of students‟ weak speaking skill and measuring the effect of task-based language teaching on the students‟ speaking skill Besides, she also focuses on communicative tasks in the speaking lesson

5 Method of the study

The method employed in this study is an action research, with the use of a number of instruments, namely tests, questionnaires, and interviews

Action research has been proved to be the best choice for this study because the study was aimed at improving the students‟ speaking skill within a certain context The combination of different instruments used in this research would help the researcher to gain reliable data and have a close investigation into the problems that the students were having

6 Significance of the Study

The study is hoped to raise teachers‟ awareness, especially the teachers at Ha Noi University of Business and Technology about the application of task-based language teaching as a useful method in their teaching process; inform all teachers

of the benefits of task-based language teaching and suggest some effective ways of applying them in teaching English to make the lessons more interesting

7 Design of the study

The study is intended to consist of three parts:

1 Part I: Introduction shows rationale, purposes, research questions, scope, methods, significance, and design of the study

2 Part II: Development: will be divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review deals with some theoretical background relevant to the study: overview of speaking skill, theories about task-based language teaching and review of previous studies

Chapter 2: Methodology presents action research and also describes the current situation of teaching and learning at HUBT, subjects of the study, data collection instruments and data collection and analysis procedure

Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion presents the findings and answers for two research questions

3 Part III: Conclusion summarizes the study, conclusion of the study, recommendations, limitations of the study and suggestion for further study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speaking in foreign language learning

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

According to (Brown, 1994) and (Burns and Joyce, 1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which

it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking Cunningham (1999) states that speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also they understand when, why and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence)

Nunan (1998; 2001) points that speaking is the natural state of language, as all human beings are born to speak their native languages It is thus the most distinguishing feature of human beings This verbal communication involves not only producing meaningful utterances but also receiving others‟ oral productions Speaking is thus regarded as a critical skill in learning a second or foreign language

by most language learners, and their success in learning a language is measured in terms of their accomplishment in oral communication

1.1.2 Teaching speaking

Nunan (2003: 3) defines the meaning of “teaching speaking” as teaching ESL learners to (1) produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns; (2) use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language; (3) select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter; (4) organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence; (5) use language as a means of expressing values and judgments; (6) use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency

On the other way around, many times ago, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers teach speaking just in the forms of a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues It should be now extended that the goal of teaching speaking is not merely to force them to speak the English utterances but it should cover the mastery of students‟ communicative skills due to the fact that only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance

To do so, learners should be given an opportunity to work in interactive mode

to talk about themselves in personally relevant ways This demands such new dimension to the language learning process

1.1.3 Components of Speaking

Bartz (1979) described 5 kinds of speaking components that enhance fluency,

understanding, and quality of communication content, quantity of communication content and the exertion in communication Fluency is smooth, constantly and naturally speaking Understanding refers to supply of content or data to make the audience understand Quality of communication refers to the language accuracy to speak

Quantity of communication content refers to capacity of content The exertion

in communication refer to the speakers try to understand by verbal and non-verbal

in communication Parrot (1993) stated that the speaking components which influence speaking ability were previous knowledge and experience of the listeners, language knowledge, and listeners‟ attitude and expectation

The important components of speaking are language knowledge, fluency and accuracy The speakers have a lot of language knowledge: pronunciation, vocabulary and structure, they communicate fluently, accurately and appropriately

in the different situations

1.1.4 Testing speaking

Testing or assessing speaking in a significant task performance-based assessment can be difficult to set up and control Kitao and Kitao (1996) mentioned

that there are not yet good answers to questions about the criteria for testing these skills and the weighing of these factors For example, it is hard to find people who can pronounce a foreign language perfectly Some lack the ability to communicate their ideas correctly This is a difficult task that teachers confront when testing the oral production of learners The opposite situation could occur as well; some people

do have the ability of expressing their ideas clearly, but at the same time they cannot pronounce all the sounds correctly

Generally, assessing speaking assessment includes grammar, pronunciation, fluency, contents, organization and vocabulary (Kitao and Kitao, 1996) Testing speaking skills could be a very interesting experience, and teachers have an opportunity in selecting assessment tools Moreover, learners have a great impact on making the test successful Tools for assessing this skill need to be suitable to students‟ age and levels of knowledge Whatever it is, measuring students‟ English speaking abilities is necessary and the teacher should have criteria as a framework

Speak fluently and can communicate effectively

Use proper vocabulary to communicate effectively

Use language structure and vocabulary in the right context

and unclear

Use pronunciation correctly and clear despite some errors

Use pronunciation correctly and clear

communicate

Be able to gesture

to communicate

Gesture to communicate rightly

1 = Need improvement 2 = Fair 3 = Good

1.2 Task-Based Language Teaching

1.2.1 Definition of TBLT and characteristics of TBLT

Brown (1994: 83) claimed that “TBLT is a perspective that can be taken within a CLT framework” He stated that what various understanding of TBLT emphasizes is the centrality of task itself in a language course and, for TBLT as an overall approach, the importance of organizing a course around communicative tasks that learners need to engage in outside the classroom According to Littlewood (2004: 324), TBLT is a development within communicative approach In addition, Foster (1999) points out that there are different task-based approaches which share a common idea: providing an environment which best promotes the natural language learning process, giving learners tasks to transact, rather than items to learn Candlin (1987: 3) said that “Task-based learning continues with and develops recent attention to learner-centered approaches and in particular the idea of differentiation and learner interdependence”

TBLT refers to teaching a second/foreign language that seeks to engage learners in interactively authentic language use by having them perform a series of tasks It aims to both enable learners to acquire new linguistic knowledge and to consolidate their existing knowledge

Ellis (2003: 149) pointed out some main characteristics of TBLT:

- 'Natural' or 'naturalistic' use of language

- Learners- centered rather than teacher controlled learning

- Focus on form (attention to form occurs within the context of performing the task; intervention while retaining 'naturalness')

- Tasks serve as the means for achieving natural use of language

- Traditional approaches are ineffective

1.2.2 Definition of a task

Numerous linguists around the world have attempted to define the term “task”

as it relates to TBLT since the 1980s If we look in the literature, we can find that task is variously defined Long (1985: 89) gives the definition in a broad sense:

A task is 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, etc In other words, “task” is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play and in between

This is a non-pedagogical definition in that it describes the sorts of things individuals do outside the classroom, and some of these tasks do not necessarily involve the use of language

Richards, Platt & Weber (1986: 289) offered a more pedagogically oriented definition: “task is an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding the language” For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, listening to an instruction and performing a command, may be referred to as tasks

This definition implies that tasks involve communicative language use in which the user‟s attention is focused on meaning rather than linguistics structure David Nunan‟s definition of task reflects the characteristic Nunan (1989:10) stressed meaning for the first time: “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 on form”

Richards (1986) claimed that a task refers to a language learning effort that requires learners to comprehend, manipulate and produce target language as they perform the set task, involving real-world language According to Willis (1996: 23), tasks are activities in which the target language is used for a communicative purpose to achieve an outcome On the other hand; Nunan (2004:9) used the word

„task‟ instead of „activity.‟ Ellis (2003:16) defined “tasks” as activities that are primarily focused on meaning whereas exercises are activities that are primarily

focused on form The definition of the task has been simplified to as follows:

 meaning is primary

 there is a problem to solve

 the performance is outcome evaluated

 there is a real world relationship

1.2.3 Components of the task-based teaching Framework

According to Willis (1996:35), the TBT framework consists of three main phrases, provides 3 basic conditions for language learning

1 Pre-task (including topic and task) prepares learners to perform tasks in ways

that promote acquisition In the pre-task, the teacher will present what will be expected of the students in the task phase Additionally, the teacher may prime the students with key vocabulary or grammatical constructs, although, in “pure” task-based learning lessons, these will be presented as suggestions and the students would be encouraged to use what they are comfortable with in order to complete the task The instructor may also present a model of the task by either doing it themselves or by presenting picture, audio, or video demonstrating the task

2 Task cycle offers learners the chance to use whatever language they already

know in order to carry out the task and then to improve their language under the teacher‟s guidance while planning their reports on the task During the task phase, the students perform the task, typically in small groups, although this is dependent

on the type of activity And unless the teacher plays a particular role in the task, then the teacher‟s role is typically limited to one of an observer or counselor-thus the reason for it being a more student-centered methodology

There are three components of a task cycle:

• Task: Learners use whatever language they can master, working simultaneously,

in pairs or small groups to achieve goals of the task

• Planning: Learners plan their reports effectively and maximize their learning

opportunities Having completed the task, the students prepare either a written or oral report to present to the class The instructor takes questions and otherwise simply monitors the students

• Report: is the natural condition of the task cycle In this stage learners tell the class

about their findings The students then present this information to the rest of the

class Here the teacher may provide written or oral feedback, as appropriate, and the students observing may do the same

3 Post-task stage provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their task and

encourages attention to form, in particular to problematic forms which demonstrate when learners have accomplished the task In focusing the language produced by students, the teachers will create two stages here, they are:

a Analysis

Here the focus returns to the teacher who reviews what happened in the task,

in regards to language It may include language forms that the students were using, problems that students had, and perhaps forms that need to be covered more or were not used enough

b Practice

The practice stage may be used to cover material mentioned by the teacher in the analysis stage It is an opportunity for the teacher to emphasize key language Before implementing this approach, teachers should be acquainted with the types of task to be presented to the students Willis has categorized them into six types of tasks which are:

Willis (1996: 149) listed the following types of tasks of TBLT

• LISTING: Including a brainstorming and fact-finding, the outcome is a completed list or draft mind map This type of task can help train students' comprehension and induction ability

• ORDERING AND SORTING: Including sequencing, ranking and classifying, the outcome is a set of information ordered and sorted according to specific criteria These types might foster comprehension, logic and reasoning ability

• COMPARING: This type of task includes matching, finding similarities, or differences The outcome can be appropriately matched or assembled items This type of task enhances students' ability of differentiation

• PROBLEM SOLVING: This type of task includes analyzing real situations, reasoning, and decision-making The outcome involves solutions to the

problem, which can then be evaluated These tasks help promote students' reasoning and decision

• SHARING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES: These types of tasks include narrating, describing, exploring and explaining attitudes, opinions, and reactions The outcome is usually social These tasks help students to share and exchange their knowledge and experience

• CREATIVE TASKS: These include brainstorming, fact finding, ordering and sorting, comparing and many other activities The outcome is an end product that can be appreciated by a wider audience Students cultivate their comprehensive problem-solving abilities as well as their reasoning and analyzing abilities

These tasks are listed from easy to difficult, and all of them reveal the recognition process of students The tasks in TBLT should be applicable to real life to help students accomplish the tasks and show their communicative competence in classroom teaching and real life situations

1.2.4 Advantages of using task based language teaching

TBLT benefits the students because it is more students-centered, allows for

more meaningful communication, and often provides for practical extra-linguistic skill building TBLT provides a natural opportunity for revision and acquisition of words expressions sentence patterns and styles of writing It promotes opportunities

to assess learners‟ progress in communicative skills through activities and provides clear objectives in terms of what participants will gain In addition it gives the idea

of lasting learning According to Krashen (1985), students learn how to learn and it

is suitable to all ages and backgrounds and is closer to real- life communicative situations, making it a way of bringing the real world into the classroom

As the tasks are familiar to the students in real life situations (such as going to school), students are more likely to be engaged TBLT provides the students with an active role in participating and motivates the students in their learning and often provides for practical extra-linguistic skill building It offers the students more opportunities to display their thinking through action The tasks allow the students

to use all the language they know and are learning, rather than just the target language of the lesson The students are ultimately free to use what grammar they need and vocabulary they want The task can provide the students to work together The different participants, peer students and the groups can project different views

on the same situation The students can present their product and evaluate others

1.3 Previous studies relating to applying TBLT in teaching speaking skill

From the previously mentioned survey of the studies dealt with task-based learning (TBL), it has become evident that TBL is a different way to teach English

It can help the student by placing him/her in a situation like in the real world where oral communication is essential for doing a specific task Task based learning has the advantage of getting the student to use her/his skills at her current level TBL is concerned with learner and not teacher activity and it lies on the teacher to produce and supply different tasks which will give the learner the opportunity to experiment spontaneously, individually and originally with the foreign language

1.3.1 In Taiwan

Some previous studies regarding task-based application in the EFL classroom were summarized in this section to give an overview of what researchers had done so far in this new field Fan –Jiang‟s (2005) study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of implementing TBLT in a Taiwanese primary school, and her finding revealed that TBLT could enhance students‟ motivation and attitudes toward learning English

Guo (2006) examined the characteristics of task-based interactions in senior high school students, their communicative competence throughout the process, and their opinions about collaborative activities Her results revealed that there were longer turns in spontaneous speech and increasing use of interactional adjustments toward the end of the treatment period, and using supplementary cooperative materials involved students in comprehending and producing the target language more willingly and more effectively

Additionally, Hien (2010) presented that “TBLT could increase the students‟ participation in speaking lesson in terms of quantity and quality and help the good and average students improve their oral ability more.” However, with the achievement of the previous researches, the researcher expects that TBLT can improve the students‟ current speaking ability in speaking lesson at her teaching context

1.4 Summary

This chapter clarified some theoretical issues of speaking skill, namely definition of speaking, teaching speaking, components of speaking and testing speaking Besides, the literature review of TBLT was also emphasized such as definition some terms and characteristics of TBLT, components of the task-based teaching framework and advantages of using task-based language teaching Finally, some previous studies relating to applying TBLT in teaching speaking skill were

mentioned

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides background information about action research, the current situation of teaching and learning English of non English-majored students with the course book “Market Leader Elementary 3rd” and a description of the methodology employed to collect data for the study

2.1 Action research

2.1.1 An overview of action research

The different conceptions of action research can be revealed in some typical definitions of action research, for example Hopkins (1985:32) and Ebbutt (1985:156) suggest that the combination of action and research renders that action a form of disciplined inquiry, in which a personal attempt is made to understand, improve and reform practice

Cohen and Manion (1994:186) defined it as „a small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such an intervention‟ Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988:6) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are “carried out by practitioners”, “collaborative” and

“aimed at changing things”

Tsui (1993) suggested 5 steps in conducting action research: Identifying problems; Finding causes of the problem; Designing strategies for improvement ( plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research; Trying out the strategies ( action) and keeping a diary of what happened in the class; and Evaluating the try out Whereas Nunan (1992), defines the framework of an action research including seven steps:

Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)

Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means) Step 3: Hypothesis (Develop research questions)

Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented) Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)

Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper) Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem) Different from Tsui, Nunan (1992) suggested that teachers should observe and make notes on what their learners said and did in class, and then, based on these observations, identified positive ways to bring about this change Besides, observing the class and making notes are feasible for a teacher to implement his/her action research where cassette recorders or camcorders are not available in the researcher‟s teaching context Therefore, this study will make use of Nunan‟s steps

in action procedure

2.1.2 Rationale for the use of an action research

Mills (2003: 4) defines that action research is “any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn The information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational

practices in generals, and improving student outcomes.”

Cohen and Manion (2007) state that the aim of action research is improve the current state of affairs within educational context in which the research is carried out Teachers in general and teachers of English in particular actually carry out action research for most of their time Whenever s/he identifies a problem which is happening in the class, it is his/her task to find ways to solve that problem Therefore, action research is inevitably a very common practice

2.2 Description of the context of the research

2.2.1 The current situation of teaching and learning English at HUBT

Ha Noi University of Business and Technology established in 1996 has trained variety of different fields such as business administration, tourism business, finance, banking, accounting and information technology, and so on Especially, the students at every field must learn English and pass the examination to achieve Toeic certificate because it is one of the main condition for them to graduate from school

Therefore, English that is cared about the quality of teaching and the training of English teachers is a very important subject at HUBT

First of all, the current common English teaching approach applied in HUBT is Presentation-Practice- Production which is lecture- oriented and teacher- centered Not only in writing, listening, reading lessons but also in speaking ones the English teachers talks most of time while the students sit quietly In speaking classes, the teachers always introduce and give some suggestions of tasks for their students and ask them to work individual or in pairs to carry out them After some time, they call several students to give their talks or perform their conversation Besides, the students‟ mistakes are corrected while they are speaking As a result, this method does not encourage the students to practice speaking because the teachers act most

of time in the class

Secondly, the students at HUBT come from many provinces of the country, from rural villages to developed cities Therefore, the number of years of learning English is very different Moreover, the levels of English proficiency of the students, especially speaking skill are generally various and quite low In addition, these students have lack of vigor, interest and motivation in the speaking class They are always keeping silent in the class, and feel reluctant to speak Moreover, they also cannot answer the teacher‟s questions Most of them are short of relevant vocabularies, and feel hesitate to pronounce the words They cannot fluently communicate with their classmates The last problem, as I believe, is that the teacher-center approach has been applied for a very long time at HUBT and gradually creates a teacher-dependent learning style for them

Having found those problems, the educational administrators in HUBT in general and English group in particular are interested in the current situation Firstly, for the teaching method, it is essential to change PPP approach into a communicative teaching method Secondly, for the students English teachers need

to investigate the main causes leading to their students‟ weakness in speaking lessons as well as applying a new approach to improve their speaking ability

2.2.2 The teaching program and material

The Business English course book “Market Leader Elementary” by three authors: David Falvey, David Cotton and Simon Kent-one of the leading sources of business information in the world It consists of 12 units based on the topics of great interest to everyone involved in international business Each unit includes 5 main parts: discussion (Starting up), texts (Listening and reading), and language work (Grammar), skills and case study After three units, there are working across cultures and revision After that, the students have a speaking test and listening and writing test As for the syllabus, the term lasts 16 weeks of studying Each unit is taught in 4 periods per week and divided equally for each skill However, it is worth noting that there is no a clear time distribution among skills in a lesson However, the main aim of the course focuses on students‟ speaking

2.3.1 Subject of the research

The participants selected are the students the researcher was teaching at that

time The researcher, who is also a teacher, was in charge of teaching 32 first-year students (25 girls and 7 boys) majoring in Accounting from group AC18.12 in the academic year of 2014- 2015 at HUBT The majority of students will be within the

18 – 20 age range The reason for choosing this class as the subject, it is because that the students‟ speaking ability in this class is still low and unsatisfying They said that they were not brave enough to speak English, they were afraid of making mistakes, so they sometimes spoke Vietnamese instead of English in the speaking class Therefore, these students became ideal samples for the research

2.3.2 Data collection instruments

The results of the study were developed on the basis of empirical data collected through three instruments: a survey questionnaire, interview and tests

2.3.2.1 Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire conducted at the second week of the research for students at group AC18.12 This aimed at investigating the possible reasons for

students‟ poor speaking skill The questionnaire consisted two main parts The first part was required to give information about their name, gender and their mastery of English The second one included seven questions: question 1 and 2 found out students‟ attitude towards speaking skill, question 3 and 4 clarified their motivation and learning styles, question 5 aimed at finding students‟ difficulties in learning speaking, question 6 worked out students‟ opinions on speaking activities in the textbook and question 7 explored the previous teacher‟ teaching methods (See Appendix 1)

2.3.2.2 Interviews

The researcher carried out formal interviews (see Appendix 2) with 3 individual students who were chosen randomly after each task-based lesson It consists of 5 questions with the aims to find out the students‟ attitudes toward the lesson and their remaining problems so that the teacher can make some necessary changes for the next task-based lesson plan The researcher was fully aware that there might be differences between the speaking performances of different participants even though they all participated in the same research program Therefore, an interview was necessary to justify those differences, which was much advantageous to work out a more effective teaching program to apply to other lessons

2.3.2.3 Tests

The students‟ ability is often score-oriented Thus, the pretest and posttest will

be given to the students to know the condition of the students‟ speaking ability before and after the implementation of the task-based program The objective of the test is to know if there is any significant improvement on the students‟ speaking ability or not through task-based language teaching

A test is an instrument used to collect data on subject‟s ability or knowledge of certain disciplines In a second language acquisition study, tests are used to collect data about the subjects‟ ability and knowledge of the second language such as speaking, vocabulary, grammar, and reading (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989: 176)

In this research, two speaking tests which taken from the real speaking test‟s model at school were given for the students in class AC18.12 The tests were ten minutes in length and were delivered to students at week 1 as pre-test and post-test

in week 9

The pre-test included two parts In the part 1 the teacher asked the students to answer some background information in three minutes Part 2 was an activity for pair-work, which required the students to role play to make a conversation in seven minutes (see Appendix 3) During this stage, the researcher rated the participants‟ ability, based on the rubric

The teacher applied the same assessment procedures as the pre-test but took another test with equivalent level (see Appendix 4) The result of post-test was analyzed and compared with the pre-test to see the difference as well as the students‟ improvement through each test

2.3.3 The action procedures

The action was conducted during ten weeks of the second semester of academic year 2014 – 2015 (see Appendix 5) The researcher adapted steps in Nunan‟s action research cycle (1992: 17) and developed this action in four steps

as follows:

Step 1: Problem identification

During the teaching process in the first semester of 2014- 2015, the researcher observed and realized that her students were weak at speaking skills They always kept silent instead of participating in speaking activities though they were motivated and encouraged by the teacher Eventually, they seemed to be scared and stressful when the teacher called them to give their ideas In fact, according to the researcher‟s colleagues, their students also had the same problems Moreover, the researcher asked the students to do a pre-test at the first week

so that she wanted to affirm the students‟ speaking ability clearly Actually, it was

undeniable that most of them did not have high results in the pre-test The topics chosen for the pre-test were what they had been taught before the implementation of the research The result of the pre-test showed that the students had low speaking ability, which could be seen from the low achievement of the speaking test The pre-test results would be useful for later analysis to see the changes in the students‟ speaking ability before and after the action Therefore, this urged the researcher to find a better way to improve in the speaking class

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

After analyzing the results from the pre-test, it showed that in general the students‟ speaking ability in this class was quite low Thus, the researcher raised a point “What are the possible reasons that lead to students‟ weak speaking lesson?” After that, a survey questionnaire was used to answer this question in the second week The collected data was analyzed to point out some possible reasons for the students‟ weak speaking, which the researcher as well as her colleague believed that task-based language teaching could deal with That was the reason why the researcher decided to apply the task-based approach to teach her students

Step 3: Intervention

 Task-based introduction and training

Firstly, the teacher started to introduce her students to TBLT and presented its advantages (for example, it helps them to develop their communicative skills) in the third week When they were in favor of the proposal, the teacher explained that this new approach would involve in a change in the teaching framework Especially, during speaking lessons, the students had the freedom of giving their speeches and ideas Besides, their mistakes would not be corrected at that time while conducting activities However, they would be solved at a later stage

After that, the teacher prepared an interesting task such as role-play for the students to perform In the training lesson, the teacher created comfortable atmosphere so that the students could express their ideas Moreover, the teacher also praised them when they succeeded in reporting their task outcomes

 Implementing task-based speaking lessons

Basing on the speaking activities in the course book, the teacher made a suitable and interesting lesson plan that motivated their students to speak (see Appendix 7) Moreover, this course book has a lot of speaking activities, so it is useful for the teacher to carry out A common goal and the criteria for assessment were informed so that the students tried their best to work Besides, the teacher also introduced the instructions of task thoroughly to ensure that their students understood what and how to do

Step 4: Evaluation

In order to measure the effect of TBLT on the students‟ speaking ability, pretest and posttest were conducted to gather data which were analyzed quantitatively The data analysis results were then used to discuss the research questions

2.3.4 Data analysis procedures

As mentioned above, these data from the survey questionnaire that were used for the qualitative analysis are one of the most useful way to find out the students‟ main reasons for their weak speaking skill Besides, the data from pretests and posttests would be compared and calculated All the features and numbers were then presented in table and charts Then the students‟ reflections on task-based lessons that based on interviews were categorized carefully to focus on the issues related to the improvement of their speaking ability

2.4 Summary

In this part, the research method and data instrument were introduced The reasons from the method selection were also discussed The data procedure and the implementation of the intervention were conducted in a strict way The result of survey questionnaire and tests would be analyzed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the researcher focuses on analyzing the data collected from three instruments such as survey questionnaires, pretest, posttest and interviews and then discusses about two research questions

3.1 Analysis of questionnaire

3.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

Basing on the answers of question 1 and 2, the researcher will know the students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill

From the chart 1 above, the question 1‟s responses can be seen that the majority of the students recognized the importance of speaking skill While 53 % and 28% of the students supposed that speaking skill was important or rather important, only 7% of them answered that speaking skill was not important Besides, 12% of the students thought that it was little important

For the responses of question 2, the chart shows that there were a small number of the students (9 %) who were very interested in learning speaking skill Moreover, 41 % of them were rather fond of speaking skill In contrast, there was a similar figure between the students (28%) who were little interested in speaking skill and the ones (22%) who did not like it at all

3.1.2 Students’ motivations and learning styles

The question 3 and 4 were asked to find out students‟ motivations and learning styles, as well as some reasons for their weak speaking skill The answers

to the questions were presented as follows

Table 1: Students’ motivations

response

Percentage

e Other(s) (please specify):

- It helps me talk to my relatives living abroad

- My dream is to travel all over the world, so I want

to master speaking

As for question 3, most of the students (84%) said that they learned speaking skill because it was helpful for their future jobs In addition, it was understandable that there was a quite big of the students (72 %) learning speaking skill as it was one

of the compulsory skills in the textbook Besides, 31 % students said that to communicate with foreigners stimulated them to learn this skill Only a small number of students (16 %) who enjoyed English songs and stories wanted to learn And the rest of the students (6 %) gave some different reasons for their learning

speaking One of them said that learning speaking English would help them talk to her/his relatives living abroad Another one said that his dream was to travel all over the world, so he wanted to master speaking English fluently

Table 2: Students’ learning styles

a learning by observing and listening to native

speakers; talking to my friends in English and learn

English wherever possible

b learning English words by reading and writing

them again and again and listen to teacher explain

everything in the textbook and writing down

everything in my notebook

c learning grammatical rules and doing grammar

exercises and learning through reading newspapers,

magazines…

d learning by games, pictures, films, videos;

listening to cassettes and talking in pairs or in

to my friends in English and learn English wherever possible while 41 % of the authority-oriented learners had the habit of learning English by reading and writing them again and again and listen to teacher explain everything in the textbook and writing down everything in their notebook Moreover, 31 % concrete learners said that they liked to learn by games, pictures, films, videos; listening to cassettes and talking in pairs or in groups It means that this type of learners might feel bored and