the effects of task based instruction on the eleventh graders’ vocabulary acquisition and learning attitudes at binh an high school”

i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Task-Based Instruction on the Eleventh Graders’ Vocabulary Acquisition and Learning Attitudes at Binh An Hig

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effects of Task-Based Instruction on the Eleventh Graders’ Vocabulary Acquisition and Learning Attitudes at Binh An High School” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, TRAN THI NHU NGUYET, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

TRAN THI NHU NGUYET

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master of Art in TESOL thesis is the result of a fruitful collaboration of all the people whom have kindly contributed with an enormous commitment and enthusiasm in

my research Without the help of those who supported me at all times and in all possible ways, it would not have been feasible for me to complete my M.A thesis

I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Pham Vu Phi Ho, from Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, whose compassion, encouragement and guidance throughout the research have helped in the completion of this thesis I have truly learned from the excellence of his skills and from her wide experience in research; no words are adequate

to describe the extent of my gratitude

I would like to express my particular gratitude to my beloved husband and children for their unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, financial and spiritual support over time and distance

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the eleventh-grade students at Binh An High School who contributed data to this thesis

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ABSTRACT The teaching and learning of vocabulary at the high school context has recently received much attention to by teachers and learners Yet, many high school students still encounter with some troubles in their vocabulary acquisition Purposely, this study was carried out

to examine the effectiveness of the Task-Based Instruction method in enhancing vocabulary acquisition and learning attitudes of the eleventh graders at An Binh High School (Di An Town, Binh Duong Province)

Methodologically, the current study was a kind of quasi-experimental study, conducted

in the second semester of the academic year 2017-2018, with the involvement of 80 eleventh graders These students were divided into two groups, i.e one control group without the treatment and one experimental group within the treatment of the Task-Based Instruction method Data were extensively collected through a set of instruments, i.e the reading pre-test and post-test, the writing pre-test and post-test, the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview

The findings of the study revealed that the Task-Based Instruction method considerably improved vocabulary performances of the target students in terms of their vocabulary recognition level and vocabulary production ability Besides, this method also was positively correlated with their learning attitudes, that is, most of them felt motivated and interested in, they believed in the effectiveness of this method, and they actively participated into the activities of this method

Eventually, some implications for teachers and further research in applying this method were also made

Key words: Task-Based Instruction, Vocabulary Acquisition, Learning Attitudes, Binh

An High School

2.1.5 Principles of Applying Task-Based Instruction 14

2.1.6 Benefits of Applying Task-Based Instruction 15

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3.4.3 A Typical Lesson for the Experimental Group 32

3.4.3.1 Reading Lesson (Enclosed in Appendix A.1) 32

3.4.3.2 Writing Lesson (Enclosed in Appendix A.2) 33

3.4.4.1 Reading Lesson (Enclosed in Appendix B.1) 34

3.4.4.2 Writing Lesson (Enclosed in Appendix B.2) 34

3.5 Measurement Instruments: Description and Collection Procedure 35

4.1.1.1 Independent Samples T-test on the Reading Pre-test of the Control and Experimental Groups

4.2.1.1 Independent Samples T-test on the Writing Pre-test of the Control and Experimental Groups

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APPENDIX A.1: READING LESSON PLAN FOR THE CONTROL GROUP 86

APPENDIX A.2: READING LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL

GROUP

90

APPENDIX B.1: WRITING LESSON PLAN FOR THE CONTROL GROUP 93

APPENDIX B.2: WRITING LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL

GROUP

96

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 3.1: Research Design with Pre-test and Post-test 29

Table 3.5: The Relationship between Research questions and Research Instruments 43

Table 4.1: Group Statistics on the Pre-test Reading Scores of Both Groups 45

Table 4.2: Independent Samples T-test on Reading Pre-test Scores of Both Groups 46

Table 4.3: Group Statistics on the Reading Post-test Scores of Both Groups 48

Table 4.4: Independent Samples T-test on Reading Post-test Scores of Both

Groups

48

Table 4.5: Group Statistics on Writing Pre-Test Scores of Two Groups 52

Table 4.6: Independent Samples T-test on Writing Pre-Test Scores of Two Groups 53

Table 4.7: Group Statistics on Writing Post-Test Scores of Two Groups 54

Table 4.8: Independent Samples T-test on Writing Post-Test Scores of Two

Groups

55

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LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS

Page Figure 2.1: Willis’ (1996) Task-Based Instruction Framework 12

Chart 4.1: Reading Pre-test Score Dispersal of Both Groups 45

Chart 4.2: Reading Post-test Score Dispersal of Both Groups 47

THE EFFECTS OF TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION ON THE ELEVENTH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY PERFORMANCES AT BINH AN HIGH

to examine the effectiveness of the Task-Based Instruction method in enhancing vocabulary performances of the eleventh graders at An Binh High School (Di An Town, Binh Duong Province)

Theoretically, the study reviewed relevant literature, including vocabulary, Task-Based Instruction method, attitudes, previous studies and research gaps, which furnished vital foundations for this study

Methodologically, the current study was a kind of quasi-experimental study, conducted

in the second semester of the academic year 2017-2018, with the involvement of 80 eleventh graders These students were divided into two groups, i.e one control group without the treatment and one experimental group within the treatment of the Task-Based Instruction method Data were extensively collected through a set of instruments, i.e the reading pre-test and post-test, the writing pre-test and post-test, the questionnaire and the semi-structured interview

The findings of the study revealed that the Task-Based Instruction method considerably improved vocabulary performances of the target students in terms of their vocabulary recognition level and vocabulary production ability Besides, this method also was positively correlated with their learning attitudes, that is, most of them felt motivated and

interested in, they believed in the effectiveness of this method, and they actively participated into the activities of this method

Eventually, some implications for teachers and further research in applying this method were also made

HIỆU QUẢ CỦA PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC DỰA TRÊN NHIỆM VỤ ĐỐI VỚI VIÊC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 11 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT

BINH AN

TRẦN THỊ NHƯ NGUYỆT

TÓM TẮT Việc dạy và học từ vựng ở bối cảnh trung học gần đây đã nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm của giáo viên và người học Tuy nhiên, nhiều học sinh trung học vẫn gặp phải một số rắc rối trong việc tiếp thu từ vựng của họ Xét về mục đích, nghiên cứu này được thực hiện để kiểm tra tính hiệu quả của phương pháp dạy học ngôn ngữ dựa trên nhiệm vụ trong việc tăng cường hiệu suất từ vựng của học sinh lớp mười một tại trường trung học

An Bình (thị xã Dĩ An, tỉnh Bình Dương)

Về mặt lý thuyết, nghiên cứu đã xem xét các tài liệu liên quan, bao gồm từ vựng, phương pháp dạy học ngôn ngữ dựa trên nhiệm vụ, thái độ, nghiên cứu trước đây và khoảng trống nghiên cứu, cung cấp nền tảng quan trọng cho nghiên cứu này

Về phương pháp luận, nghiên cứu hiện tại là một loại nghiên cứu gần như thí nghiệm, được thực hiện trong học kỳ thứ hai của năm học 2017-2018, với sự tham gia của 80 học sinh lớp mười một Những sinh viên này được chia thành hai nhóm, tức là một nhóm đối chứng mà không cần phương pháp mới và một nhóm thử nghiệm trong phương pháp mới Dữ liệu được thu thập thông qua một bộ công cụ, ví dụ như bài kiểm tra đọc trước và sau thực nghiệm, bài kiểm tra viết trước và sau thực nghiệm, bảng câu hỏi và phỏng vấn bán cấu trúc

Những phát hiện của nghiên cứu cho thấy phương pháp dạy học ngôn ngữ dựa trên nhiệm vụ đã cải thiện đáng kể hiệu suất từ vựng của các sinh viên về mức độ nhận biết từ vựng và khả năng sản xuất từ vựng của họ Bên cạnh đó, phương pháp này cũng có mối tương quan tích cực với thái độ học tập của họ, nghĩa là, hầu hết họ cảm thấy có động lực

và hứng thú, họ tin vào hiệu quả của phương pháp này và họ tích cực tham gia vào các hoạt động của phương pháp này

Cuối cùng là một số đề xuất cho giáo viên và nghiên cứu tiếp theo trong việc áp dụng phương pháp này

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION There are six sections in Chapter 1 The first section is background to the study The second section specifies the problem statement of the study, followed by the third section which clarifies the research purposes Based on these purposes, the two research questions are presented in the fourth section Significance of the study is disclosed in the fifth section The last section is organization of the study which includes five consecutive chapters namely

1.1 Background of the Study

Vocabulary acquisition undertakes an important function in foreign language learning (Cameron, 2001) According to Wilkins (1987), without vocabulary input students will not be incapable of producing language meaningfully Richards and Renandya (2002) spotlight the critical role of vocabulary knowledge in language education by connecting this source with the development of language skills There is no doubt that vocabulary acquisition is of great importance to language proficiency and academic achievement, but its teaching and learning is considered one of the major challenges that face ESL/EFL teachers and learners Indeed, understanding the word meaning, retaining the word forms and grasping the word use are quite difficult to the language learners (Tozcui & Coady, 2004).In addition, vocabulary is not acquired at the same time and spontaneously, but is gradually acquired throughout different exposures for a long period of time (Schmitt, 2008) It means that vocabulary needs to be incrementally acquired through different learning activities and tasks.In order to facilitate learners’ vocabulary acquisition, teachers should employ effective strategies and approaches which enhance their vocabulary achievement and retention (Al-Zahrani, 2011), and even motivation

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It is universally acknowledged that EFL learners are required to master a diversity

of linguistic forms and functions in order to be able to manage the complex process of message conveyance and interaction with other English speakers (Ziyaeemehr, 2013) In pursuit of such an effective discipline to fulfill the clamors of EFL pedagogy, Task-Based Instruction (TBI) came to an existence in the realm of second language acquisition (Ellis, 2003), and tasks have been recognized as useful vehicles for language teaching contexts over the last few decades (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018) In specific, TBI utilizes a set of tasks which help learners link what they have learnt to what the language is used in real situations (Ziyaeemehr, 2013) Placing considerable importance on learner’s vocabulary knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings and functions in order to be able to use the language appropriate to the given situation, TBI basically attracted attention and acceptance from various scholars of the arena by a wide range of research (Ellis, 2003) Expressly, the tenet of TBI is a pedagogical shift from teacher-oriented to more learner-oriented teaching (East, 2012), and vocabulary acquisition seems a very learner-centered activity (Mehring, 2005) In the literature, there are two fundamental approaches to vocabulary acquisition, that is, explicit learning and incidental learning (Schmitt, 2008) Accordingly, TBI is more associated with incidental vocabulary acquisition, “acquiring new lexical items as a by-product of focusing on understanding meaning rather than on the explicit goal of learning new words” (Touti, 2013, p 1739) Via TBI application in vocabulary lessons, students can considerably enhance their achievement on the quality and numbers of vocabulary

In reality, good vocabulary performance requires different factors such as the students’ motivation and engagement, the sufficiency of language exposures and the effective teaching ways (Stahl & Nagy, 2006) Ideally, motivation is a key factor engendering the language learners’ degree of completion of the given tasks (Richards & Schmidt, 2002; Brophy, 2005) Ellis (2003) suggests that the TBI may bring a multitude

of merits to learners, one of which is learning motivation By dint of accomplishing a language task, the learners will be intrinsically motivated (NamazianDost, Bohloulzadeh

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& Pazhakh, 2017) In brief, it is believed that maintaining suitable levels of motivation and positive attitudes can support the process of vocabulary acquisition and makes it much more productive (Badalyan, 2007) Conjecturally, TBI approach within various task types may be conducive to the learners’ vocabulary learning motivation

To recap, research on teaching and learning vocabulary has witnessed the vital role vocabulary acquisition plays in helping learners to become proficient in foreign language proficiency and use (Nation, 2001) Nevertheless, vocabulary acquisition is a really complex process which requires learners to master different aspects of vocabulary such as form, meaning, and functions, as well as to possess sufficient motivation With emergence of Communicative Language Teaching and its offspring Task-Based Instruction, learner motivation and vocabulary gain could be enhanced thanks to tasks infused into vocabulary lessons (Le & Nguyen, 2012)

1.2 Problem Statement

Traditionally, in the Vietnamese high school context, English vocabulary has not been a particular subject for students to learn, but has been integratively taught within lessons of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills According to Nguyen and Khuat (2003), during the lessons, students are introduced to new vocabulary directly provided

by the teachers and classmates to apply to language activities In addition, teachers tend

to give a long list of separate words and their meanings in the Vietnamese equivalents without any real context practice, and the students are required to learn all new words by heart, or to learn them passively through teachers’ explanation (Nguyen, 2012) Meanwhile, many students often require teachers to give out them with meanings of the unknown words, and they tend to copy down into their notebook At the same time, they are prone to complete all the exercises given by the teachers or taken from the textbook Nguyen and Khuat (2003) admit that such a passive way of vocabulary acquisition can kill the students’ interest and engagement in building up vocabulary knowledge One of the most basic reasons why the students’ vocabulary performance is low and

From these things above, it is necessary for high school teachers to apply different techniques or approaches to reinforce their students’ vocabulary achievement and motivation and positive learning attitudes

1.3 Objectives of the Study

Given the potential merits of the Task-Based Instruction approach as well as the current problems in vocabulary teaching and learning, the main purposes of this study are

to explore the impact of the Task-Based Instruction approach on the high school students’ vocabulary performances (e.g vocabulary recognition and vocabulary production) and learning attitudes

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1.4 Research Questions

In order to accomplish the earlier-mentioned objectives, the following research questions are made:

R.Q-1: To what extent does Task-Based Instruction impact the eleventh graders’

vocabulary recognition at Binh An High School?

R.Q-2: How Task-Based Instruction enhance the eleventh graders’ vocabulary

production at Binh An High School?

R.Q-3: What are the eleventh graders’ attitudes towards the use of Task-Based

Instruction in their vocabulary acquisition?

1.5 Significance of the Study

In the case that the study is successfully done, it will add one more way that can help high school students overcome their difficulties in vocabulary acquisition, and then improve their vocabulary achievement Moreover, the students might be interested and motivated in vocabulary learning Besides, inferring from the students’ constructive comments, the researcher will have more experience to design and practice the lessons with the application of Task-Based Instruction and share with other colleagues In overall, it is hoped that the results will widen high school teachers’ understanding of the use of tasks in their vocabulary instruction and encourage other teachers to become more innovative in their teaching

1.6 Structure of the Study

The thesis includes five succeeding chapters as follows

The first chapter entitled Introduction is made to introduce the general interest of the study, the problem statement, the research aims and research questions and the value

of this study

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The second chapter with its name, Literature Review, is appointed to review some

re levant theories for this study such as Tasked- Based Instruction, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing performance, attitudes, and a summary of the main empirical studies as well as research gaps of the study

The third chapter is used to clarify the methodological information of this study in terms of research site and participants, research approach, research instruments, the collection and analysis procedures, and some discussed issues such as reliability and validity

The fourth chapter takes responsibility to present the results of the data collection tools and then to give out the discussion of the interpreted results based on the three research questions

The last chapter is assigned the mission of summating some key findings of this study, presenting some implications and recommendations regarding the use of Task-Based Instruction on vocabulary lessons

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Notion of Task-based Instruction

2.1.1 Definitions of Task

As one of the earlier initiators of the idea, Prabhu (1987) defines the task as “an activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome” (p 24) That is to say, Prabhu views task as a meaning-based activity Likewise, Skehan (1996) defines a task as an activity in which meaning is primary, there is some sort of relationship to the real world, and task completion has some priority According to Willis (1996), tasks are “activities where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome” (p.23) It is inferred that tasks can support the students to use language meaningfully and contextually

Besides, tasks can be viewed as a piece of classroom work that involves learners

in comprehending and producing in the target language (Nunan, 1989) In other words, they are an effective instructional tool for language education in which the classroom atmosphere shifts from teacher-centered to learner-centered

In most common, Ellis (2003) presents the detailed definition of a task which has some resemblance to above-mentioned ones It is an activity in teaching and learning a language, requiring learners to use the target language to achieve a particular purpose of acquiring language meaning or forms, offering learners opportunities to take part in meaningful interactions to complete a specific assignment

2.1.2 Components of Task

When formulating a language task, six its components should be taken into consideration, including goals, input, setting, activities, roles, and feedback (Nunan, 1989) In other words, tasks can be effectively designed and implemented until teachers

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may identify goals, materials, working arrangements among learners, activity sorts, roles

of teachers and learners, as well as the way to assess task performance

Setting

Setting refers to a certain environment in which every task is performed within the classroom physical setting like table and chair arrangement (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018) Besides, setting is related to learner configurations such as pairs, triads, small groups or whole class (Le, 2011)

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Activities

Activities refer to behaviors that learners do with the input which forms the point

of departure for the learning task (Le, 2011) There are three ways to characterize activities such as rehearsal for real world, language skill use, and fluency and accuracy From a psycholinguistic perspective, tasks are means to guide learners to process information for successful language use and vocabulary learning (Ellis, 2003)

Roles

A task itself does not ensure its successful implementation unless the teacher understands and manages how tasks are implemented in different classroom contexts Therefore, the roles of the teacher and learners need to be considered as complementary

to promote active and positive learning environment leading to task performance (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018) Considering the role of learners, they can perform many different roles during task completion including a group participant, a monitor, or even an innovator Regarding teachers’ role, Cook (2001) points out that teachers set up the task and then let their students get on with it (i.e organizer), providing help (i.e facilitator) but not control (i.e director)

Feedback

Feedback refers to task assessment This kind of assessment is believed to encourage learners to use communication skills when working in groups (Johnson & Johnson, 1994, cited in Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018)

2.1.3 Typology of Task

Due to the complexity of task characteristics, there are diversified modes of classifying tasks Task classification is vital for many reasons (Ellis, 2003) First, it allows syllabus designers a starting point for task design Second, it can be used to identify task types that match learners’ needs and interest Third, it enables teachers to experiment different task types to find out the suitable tasks to students

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Nunan (1989), based on task functions, divides it into the two groups:

1 Real-world tasks: This type is related to the future needs of learners that rehearsed beforehand in the classrooms so that they can function in the real situation In other words, this type usually makes up the ultimate goal of a lesson

or a unit (Le, 2011)

2 Pedagogical tasks: This type takes place inside the classroom, and may involve

an activity that is carried out as a result of understanding the language Such tasks act as a bridge between the classroom and the real world in which they are dedicated to preparing students for real-life language use (Long, 1985) Pedagogical tasks are comprised of different skills planned to reach the target task performance Once the learners master pedagogical tasks, they would have developed necessary skills to accomplish the target task Ultimately, these new developed skills outside the classroom In this study, the researcher focuses on the latter task type, that is, pedagogical tasks

In literature, pedagogical tasks are categorized into different types as presented in the table below:

Table 2.1: Common Types of Pedagogical Tasks

Richards (2001)

Information-gap task Trying to find the missing part (Two learners or

groups have one part that the other does not have) Problem-solving task Solving the given problem

Decision-making task Choosing an option to respond the problem Opinion exchange task Discussing ideas on the given topic

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Problem solving Solving the given problem or puzzle Sharing personal

2.1.4 Framework for Applying Task-based Instruction

Scholars of TBI as Willis (1996), determine what should be done before, during and after the tasks Willis and Willis (2001) suggest that a task-based lesson does not involve only a single task, but a chronological and hierarchical sequence of tasks Thus, they propose a series of tasks according to three phases, including the Pre-Task phase, Task Cycle phase, and Language Focus phase Willis’ (1996) TBI framework is presented as follows:

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matching phrases to pictures, mind mapping, classifying (Willis, 1996) The first phase of

a TBI lesson may be the shortest stage, varying from five to ten minutes apropos of the learners’ level of familiarity with topic and task type (Ellis, 2003) In short, in this phase, learners are provided with comprehensible input and necessary language support so that they can carry out the task successfully

2.1.4.2 Task Cycle

The Task Cycle phase emerges to be a favorable circumstance for learners to use whatever language they can convoke in pairs and in small groups to achieve the task goals The Task Cycle phase is divided into three sub-stages inclusive of Task, Planning, and Report In the Task stage, students do the task by participating in a discussion in pairs and in small groups and are given an opportunity to express their intended meaning making use of whatever linguistic resources they have The focal point of this stage is on spontaneous, exploratory talk and confidence building in small groups In the Planning stage, learners prepare to report the completed task in front of the class and rehearse whatever they are going to read or write Meanwhile, teachers are predominantly advisers and tutors shaping their meanings The learning process continues with the Report stage

in which the learners would perform their final products The center of this stage is on clarity, organization, accuracy of the end product (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, cited in Le, 2011) In general, the Task Cycle phase is deemed to maximize learners’ learning opportunities

2.1.4.3 Language Focus

A Task-Based Instruction lesson under Willis’ (1996) framework ends with the Language Focus phase which is comprised of two stages: Analysis and Practice In the Analysis stage, teachers set language focused tasks based on the texts students have read

or listened to In particular, form-focused activities are used to help learners identify the specific linguistic items used During the Practice stage, learners do further practice of

2.1.5 Principles of Applying Task-Based Instruction

Task-Based Instruction mainly emphasizes the employment of a variety of tasks that involve language learners in the process of active communication so that they can pick up the language by doing and performing To implement a Task-Based Instruction lesson successfully, teachers need to follows certain principles For instance, Nunan (2004) outlines some pedagogic principles and practices of task-based language teaching

as follows The first principle is that the teachers should use authentic materials into class The second principle is that the teachers provide much more tasks or activities for the students to practice the language The third principle is that the teachers should encourage the students to use their prior knowledge to internalize the used language items The last principle is that the teachers should set up interactional patterns among learners

Based upon Nunan’s (2004) principles, it is assumed that authenticity, centeredness, and intentional and interactive use of the language play a central role in the Task-Based Instruction implementation and performance

learner-In this study, when design lessons under this approach, the researcher pays attention to learner interactional types in the classroom, to the balance between meaning

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construction and form notice, and especially to authenticity of language input and task types, and to appropriateness of task difficulty level

2.1.6 Benefits of Applying Task-Based Instruction

Task-Based Instruction comes with various benefits to both learners and teachers

as follows:

Firstly, Task-Based Instruction is believed that it suites learners of different backgrounds and all ages (Robertson, 2006) When performing the goal-oriented tasks in the class, the learners may feel more excited and motivated

Secondly, in a Task-Based Instruction lesson, the learners are exposed to a wider range of lexical phrases and language forms They have chances to learn, review, recycle and internalize the new language forms (Robertson, 2006)

Thirdly, with the Task-Based Instruction approach, the students have many opportunities to work collectively with their friends; at the same time, they also are assisted from their teachers who play the role of facilitator and organizer (Ellis, 2003) 2.2 Background of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the three essential components that constitute language knowledge beside phonetics and grammar, and vocabulary teaching is a vital part in English language teaching (Pan & Xu, 2011) In this section, definitions, aspects of vocabulary and its teaching principles are critically discussed

2.2.1 Definitions of Vocabulary

For years, there have been numerous studies endeavoring to explicate the sense of vocabulary in language learning and teaching According to Nash and Snowling (2006), vocabulary is expounded as “the knowledge of words and their meanings” (p 336) It can

be elicited that vocabulary not only includes single items but also compounded items

2.2.2 Constructs of Vocabulary

Wood (2001) suggests that to have good vocabulary knowledge, the students not only focus on forms, but they also understand the meanings and grasp how it is used in the meaningful context Most commonly, Gower, Philips and Walters (1995) and Nation (2001) focuses on three important aspects of vocabulary: Word form; Word meaning and Word use

 The form: Which part of speech does the word belong to? How is it spelled-is it regular or irregular? Does it belong to a “family” of words? How does the word collocate with surrounding words?

 The meaning: Many words have more than one meaning What exact meaning in which context do you want to focus on? Could the vocabulary item have different meanings for different people?

 The use: How is the vocabulary item used? Does it belong to a particular style or register?

It can be conjectured that vocabulary is a collection of words as a basic component

of language learning which is composed of three aspects, they are meaning, use of word, and form (e.g., pronunciation and spelling) Thus, in vocabulary instruction, teachers should focus on all these aspects

2.2.3 Types of Vocabulary

Nation (2001) indicates two kinds of vocabulary, namely receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary

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Receptive vocabulary knowledge is known and understood its meaning by learners when reading text or listening to the text Learners recognize the form and meaning of words to understand the reading text but not to speak and write (Webb, 2007) Learning the receptive vocabulary usually in the form in which the teacher will usually give the meaning of the word, using the word in a sentence, but just ask the learners to spell and pronounce only (Maskor & Baharudin, 2016) In this study, the researcher focused on the eleventh-grade students’ receptive vocabulary knowledge or vocabulary recognition

Productive vocabulary knowledge is understood and produced by the learners In fact, learners can use these words to speak or write Thus, productive vocabulary can be used to express their thoughts and feelings which understood by others (Webb, 2007) Productive vocabulary knowledge is deemed as the ability to recover the structure and meaning (Webb, 2007) Laufer (1998) divides this type into two sub-categories including controlled and free vocabulary Controlled productive vocabulary indicates the capacity

to construct words when the cue is given; while, free productive vocabulary is the ability

to use words freely, such as writing independently In this study, the researcher focused

on the eleventh-grade students’ productive vocabulary knowledge or vocabulary production ability

Webb (2007) reveals that a larger receptive vocabulary indicates more productive vocabulary size It is assumed that the first level of English vocabulary learning (receptive) becomes a foundation for the next higher level (productive) in the process of vocabulary acquisition Additionally, if learning vocabulary in productive way, the learners can enhance their vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention can be longer kept Thus, in this study, the researcher places an emphasis on both ways of vocabulary acquisition through two skills of reading (receptive) and writing (productive)

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2.2.3 Principles to Teach Vocabulary

To get better outcomes in the teaching of vocabulary, the teacher must consider certain principles of vocabulary development In specific, some principles should be put into consideration for their vocabulary instruction as follows:

First, the teacher has to be clear about the aims The teacher should decide how many of the things listed are expected to do by the learner to help the teachers manage what to teach (Wallace, 1982)

Secondly, after deciding on what is involved in vocabulary learning, the teacher should decide on the quantity of vocabulary to be learnt If there are too many words, the learner may be confused, discouraged and frustrated On the other hand, the teacher also has the responsibility of choosing the vocabulary to be taught to the students This is necessary, because the vocabulary selection should suit the aims of the course and the objectives of the lesson (Decarrico, 2001)

Frequent exposure and repetition is also an important factor in learning vocabulary (Nation, 2001) There has to be a certain amount of repetition until the learner has learned the target word (Schmitt, 2008) Thus, the teachers should provide the students with a lot

of exposures and chances to review and recycle the words (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2006)

The fourth principle is that the word should be presented in a meaningful way (Katwibun, 2011) Meaningful presentation requires a way that, its denotation or reference is perfectly clear and unambiguous It is also necessary for the students to learn the words in the situations in which they are appropriate and sensitive

The last principle emphasizes that the students should be active in vocabulary acquisition It means that they have to link their vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge into constant use (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2006)

is a relationship between vocabulary recognition level and reading comprehension of language learners Since the focus of this study was vocabulary acquisition at recognition level, the reading comprehension tests would be used and these tests had two degrees, sentences and paragraphs.

2.3.2 Writing Performance

Hedge (2005) describes that writing is a complex process, a powerful tool of thinking involving encoding a message through a process of planning, drafting, editing and final draft According to Fernández and Gunashekar (2009), writing performance is the students’ ability to write a piece of writing effectively and transform thoughts and ideas connected to their vocabulary production level It can be inferred that vocabulary production ability entails the writing performance to some extent since the writers have to enough vocabulary knowledge of forms, meanings and use to construct the written paper

of the given topics Given the focus of this study, the researcher only marked the students’ ability to produce required word number, correct word spellings, appropriate meanings and grammatical correctness of words That is the reason why the researcher would not concentrate on marking ideas In fact, the ideas would be provided as prompts 2.4 Attitudes

Learning attitudes are deemed to impact the language outcomes aside language knowledge and skills (Padwick, 2010) Therefore, the learning attitudes should be expounded in any cases like this study

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2.4.1 Definitions of Attitudes

A holistic definition of attitude is made by Eagly and Chaiken (1993) This term is

as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor and disfavor (p 1) In other words, attitudes are psychological indications help the teachers understand what their students tend to behave in future

2.4.2 Components of Attitudes

In simplest, Wenden (1991) that attitudes are constituted from three components and those are classified as cognitive, evaluative and behavioral components They entails how the learners feel, think and behave towards an object; for example, the eleventh-grade students’ attitudes towards learning vocabulary with TBI

To the first component, i.e affective attitudes, the learners can express their emotions, feelings or moods to what they have experienced They can like or dislike it They can turn out to be fear or demotivated to something (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993)

Thoughts, beliefs or perceptions formulate cognitive attitudes taken by the learners; these responses can vary from extremely positive (e.g useful, effective) to extremely negative (e.g useless, ineffective) (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993)

The last component, i.e behavioral attitudes, refers to tendency of behaviors that people perform in relation to the attitude object They want to continue or stop with something (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993)

In this study, the researcher would seek the students’ attitudes towards the implementation of Task-Based Instruction method on their vocabulary acquisition in terms of three facets, including emotions/feelings, perceptions/beliefs and tendency of behaviors

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2.5 Previous Studies

Sarani and Sahebi conducted their 2012 experimental study investigating the teaching of vocabulary in ESP courses within the paradigm of Task-based Language Teaching at Birjand University in Iran A sample of 60 BA students was divided into the two groups, namely a control group and an experimental group The study only used tests

to collect data The findings showed that Task-based Language Teaching helped the students do the test better In the experimental group, the male learners showed more interest and their participation was more than the females’ participation in learning vocabulary by doing task

Ziyaeemehr’s (2013) study investigated the effectiveness of using different task types in promotion of vocabulary learning among students in Iranian secondary schools

122 students of third-grade in secondary school participated in the study The experimental group received instruction through three task types namely “listen and do”,

“classification of related items” and “practice through dialog” for four weeks, two sessions a week The control group received their traditional, form-based language instruction However, the findings of tests showed that there was no statistical difference

in vocabulary performance among elementary and lower intermediate students It is implied that successful task performance and completion requires a threshold level of language proficiency

In 2016, Khoshsima and Saed investigated Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ vocabulary learning within the paradigm of Task-based Instruction through jigsaw and information-gap tasks The participants of this experimental study were 60 intermediate EFL learners The instruments were composed of pre-test, post-test, and post-questionnaire According to the results, it can be concluded that the experimental groups outperformed control group due to the Task-based Instruction utilized for them as the treatment Besides, the findings indicated that the degree of learners’ involvement was considerably improved by the tasks of jigsaw and information gap

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In Vietnam, Le and Nguyen (2012) explored the impact of Task-based Language Learning on motivating non-English majors and enhancing vocabulary acquisition at Vinh Long Community College in Vietnam with the participants of 76 freshmen The study used the tools of questionnaire and vocabulary tests Based on the findings of the study, the students improved their vocabulary significantly In addition, the students’ positive attitudes towards the implementation of TBI in their vocabulary lessons were found

Nguyen and Nguyen (2018) conducted their experimental study using a methods design to explore students’ vocabulary acquisition through tasks and their perceptions of this Task-based Vocabulary Instruction within a high school context at a Mekong Delta region Seventy tenth-grade students were divided into two groups in which male and female portions in two groups were quite similar in terms of level of English proficiency The data collected in the study included vocabulary tests and motivation questionnaire The findings from this study presented the effect of Task-based Vocabulary Instruction on tenth graders’ vocabulary achievement Also, the findings reveal that most of participants preferred task-based vocabulary instruction as their strategy to learn English vocabulary for its interactional features

mixed-Since the Task-Based Instruction method will be applied in reading and writing lessons; therefore, some previous studies regarding the relationships between this method and vocabulary recognition through reading comprehension and between this method and vocabulary production through writing performance

The effect of task-based instruction on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners was examined by Chalak (2015) The participants of the study were 135 Iranian female students in Isfahan, Iran, through a quasi-experimental design The participants were divided into four groups, two control groups (CGs) and two experimental groups (EGs) The results of this study indicated that the students coming from the experimental

in terms of comprehension Experimental group was more successful in post-test Moreover, results of recall test showed that task-based instruction has a positive effect on vocabulary learning, as well

Yuhardi and Restu (2015) implemented their study in order to see the effectiveness of TBI on learner’s writing The participants of the study were 144 students

at grade 8 in 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 post-test 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 TBI positively influenced learners’ writing skill

Marashi and Dadari (2012) conducted the study of the influence of TBI on learners’ writing performance The number of the research participants was 56 female intermediate Iranian EFL learners The experiment lasted 18 sessions of 90 minutes Data collection instruments to measure learners’ writing performance were pre-test and post-test 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

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Ahmed and Bidin (2016) carried out the study of the effect of TBI on writing skills of EFL learners in Malaysia 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 The data collection instruments of the research were pre-test, post-test and questionnaire 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

2.6 Research Gaps

The reviewed literature shed on light that most of the previous studies proved positive effects of Task-Based Instruction activities on developing the quality of EFL learners’ vocabulary performances and increasing their motivation in English vocabulary acquisition, and an additional part of the correlation between IBI and reading comprehension as well as that between TBI and writing ability However, some gaps were eventually spotted

It is noteworthy that the relationship between Task-Based Instruction and vocabulary performances was testified recently (e.g 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2018) at different research contexts (e.g Iranian secondary school, Ziyaeemehr, 2013; Iranian university, Sarani & Sahebi, 2013; Iranian intermediate level, Khoshsima & Saed, 2016), and inside Vietnam (Vinh Long Community College, Nguyen & Le, 2012; Mekong Delta high school, Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018) However, there has been no study at An Binh high school (Binh Duong province, Vietnam) so far Thus, it is necessary to conduct an exploratory study at this context with the purpose of improving its students’ vocabulary achievement Since vocabulary was taught thank to reading and writing lessons, it is necessary for the researcher to supplement an extra constituent for the study It helps the readers to get a deeper view on the relationship between TBI and vocabulary production through reading tests and vocabulary production through writing tests

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It is universally acknowledged that learning attitudes and motivation levels exert a huge impact on learning achievement However, the effect of Task-Based Instruction on vocabulary learning attitudes was only found in a few studies (e.g Khoshsima & Saed, 2016; Nguyen & Le, 2012; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2018) Therefore, the current study is deliberately dedicated to elucidate this effect

Apropos of research design, a mixed-methods design was the most commonly used in these studies Given the favorable choice of mixed-methods design among numerous researchers, this study employed a mixed-methods design to clarify the relationship between applying Task-Based Instruction and high school students’ vocabulary acquisition

Considering research instruments, only a few studies combined questionnaire and interview to address the participants’ learning attitudes under the intervention of Task-Based Instruction (e.g Nguyen & Le, 2012) The researcher decided to employ both questionnaire and semi-structured interview to expound the learners’ attitudes and motivation to their language learning with the aid of TBI To clarify the relationship between TBI and language performances, including word recognition and word production, the reading tests and writing tests are used

2.7 Chapter Summary

This chapter has discussed the relevant literature including the background of vocabulary, the concept of Task-Based Instruction, the notion of attitudes, and previous studies, which shed light on the content of the next chapters The research methodology will be presented in the next chapter