Using task based approach to enhance english oral communication skills for efl students a case study at elite international english center, hochiminh city

The thesis was originally entitled: “Using Task-Based Approach to Enhance English Oral Communication Skills for EFL Students: A Case Study at Elite International English Center, Hochimin

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FALCUTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

USING TASK-BASED APPROACH TO ENHANCE ENGLISH ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR EFL

STUDENTS:

A CASE STUDY AT ELITE INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH

CENTER, HOCHIMINH CITY

Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics & Literature

In partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By

VO MINH NHA

Supervised by THAI CONG DAN, PHD

HO CHI MINH CITY, APRIL 2013

Using Task-Based Approach to Enhance English Oral Communication Skills for EFL

Students:

A Case Study at Elite International English Center, Hochiminh City

The thesis titled

“Using Task-Based Approach to Enhance English Oral Communication Skills for EFL Students: A Case Study at Elite International English Center, Hochiminh City”

By

Vo Minh Nha supervised by PhD Thai Cong Dan, has been approved by DELL Thesis Committee, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Art Degree in Teaching English to

Speakers of Other Languages

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

The thesis entitled: “Using Task-Based Approach to Enhance English Oral Communication Skills for EFL Students: A Case Study at Elite International

English Center, Hochiminh City”

is conducted under the supervision of PhD Thai Cong Dan, Dean of School of Social and Humanities, Can Tho University

The material in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a Degree in any University or any other purposes and to my best knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference or citation was made

Vo Minh Nha April, 2013

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Adjustment Page

Due to some unexpected problems happened along the process of making this thesis, there were some unintended changes against the original one, in terms of scope and research objects This page aims to declare and clarify those modifications and place a ground for further understandings in this research

The thesis was originally entitled:

“Using Task-Based Approach to Enhance English Oral Communication Skills for EFL Students:

A Case Study at Elite International English Center, Hochiminh City”

Changes are:

“Using Task-Based Approach in real-life situations to Enhance English Oral

Communications Skills for EFL learners:

A Case Study at a Group of 12 Volunteers from FPT Greenwich University,

Hochiminh City”

The modified subjects in bold could be addressed as below:

Firstly, according to the characteristics and the practical implementation in this paper, the researcher would like to limit the research scope to closely focus on the impact of “Using Task-Based Approach in real-life situations” to the enhancement of learners’ English Oral Communications Skills rather than “Using Task-Based Approach” in general This would truly reflect the nature of this study, to employ Task-Based Approach in a series of assignments in real-life context, distinguishing itself from other task-based research which happening in classroom setting

Secondly, the study first aimed to perform investigation on a group of volunteer students

at Elite International English Center where the researcher taught However, for some personal matters, the researcher stopped teaching there before the experiment was taken into plan and as a result, objects for this study then changed The experiment later settled with a group of 12 volunteers from FPT Greenwich University, from a class formerly in charged by one of her colleague

In short, this page serves as a reference for any concern about the topic scope and objects mentioned in any part of this study

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In my path of exploring knowledge and in the course of completing my thesis, many individuals have assisted me I would like to acknowledge their assistance, cooperation, and encouragement without which this study would not have been completed

First and foremost, I would like to express my whole-hearted appreciation to my supervisor, Mr Thai Cong Dan, PhD, Dean of School of Social and Humanities, Can Tho University, for his dedicated assistance and valuable advice without which this paper cannot come into life He also shed light on my topic with his wide knowledge, helping

me a lot in searching materials and designing the research instruments

Secondly, I also would like to send my deep gratitude to Mr Le Hoang Dung, lecturer of Second Language Research Methodology and Material Design, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hochiminh City, for equipping me essential insight into the field of Research Methodology His useful classes also helped revise the very first proposal of this thesis as well as sketching later steps

Many truthful thanks also extended to Dr Anne Lazaraton, University of Minnesota, the USA, for very helpful correspondences about RTE, the main research tool for rating used

in this paper, precious advices and kind encouragement that she gave

I especially wish to acknowledge the help of my friend Ms Trinh Thi Thanh Thuy, teacher of Cau Ngang A Highschool, Tra Vinh Province for her contributive ideas, devotion in time and effort to help me finish this study

In addition, this thesis cannot be completed without 12 volunteers from FPT Greenwich University and my colleague Ms Nguyen Thao Nguyen, who lent me her students to do the experiment She also did a very good job in the role of the second rater in the English Speaking Test I am sincerely thankful for what they have done in my experiment and their honest opinions in interviewing

Finally, my special thanks would like to go to my family and friends for their support and encouragement within my research doing time

2.2.1 Real world tasks vs classroom tasks or pedagogical tasks 12

2.3 Characteristic, principles and framework for implementation of TBA in EFL classroom 20

2.3.3 Task types, task sequences, adapting real-life tasks into classroom and the problem of

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The continuum from Focus on Form to Focus on Meaning (Littlewood, 2003) 11

Figure 2: Components of a “Task” (Nunan 2004, p 40) 16

Figure 3 An overview of the TBL framework (J.Willis, 1996) 24

Figure 4 The task generator: taxonomy of task types (Willis, 1996) 25

Figure 5: Conditions for Language Learning (Willis 1996:11) 27

Figure 6: The Environmental layers of Language learners (Eguchi & Eguichi, 2005) 29

Figure 7 Speaking proficiency and the components of communicative competence (Shumin, 2002) 32

Figure 8: Steps of collecting data 52

Figure 9: Mean score comparison between Pre and Posttest 54

Figure 10: Individual scores of participants before and after the course 54

Figure 11: Average score of 5 task sections before and after course 54

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Participants’ background details 39

Table 2: Baseline Survey Statistics (Part B &C) 41

Table 3: Distribution of classes and tasks in the experimental course 47

Table 4: Mean scores on pre and posttest 53

Table 5 Average score of Functional Ability and Linguistic Skills of 5 task sections before and after the course 55

Table 6 Frequencies of task evaluation form (goal) 57

Table 7 Frequencies of task evaluation form (Task performance) 59

Table 8 Learners’ responses to task evaluation form (Difficulties) 60

Table 9 Frequencies of task evaluation form (Interaction) 62

Table 10 Frequencies of task evaluation form (Language Focus) 63

Table 11 Frequencies of task evaluation form (In the future) 65

Table 12 Summary of learners’ expectations before the course 68

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ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

ELT: English Language Teaching

TBLT: Task-Based Language Teaching

TBA: Task-Based Approach

TBI: Task-Based Instruction

SLA: Second Language Acquisition

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

RTE: Rhetorical Task Examinations

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ABSTRACT

Learner-Centered Approach has been proved to be an effective method in language teaching Task-based Approach has also been proved its positive effects in improving learners’ using language skills, especially communication skills Stemming from these strengths, this research aimed to investigate whether Task-Based Approach does the same

in the context of Vietnamese EFL learners Twelve participants from FPT Greenwich University took part in a 6-week communicative experimental course using a wide range

of Task-Based activities before setting out to perform tasks in real-life situations A pre and a post-test in form of English speaking test were administered before and after the course to measure the students’ progress Besides, a form of task evaluation was also delivered after each task to record any progress or problem that learners may be exposed

to during the process After the experiment was conducted, interviews with 4 learners were performed to assemble their opinions Data analysis showed the considerable effectiveness of using Task-Based in real-life situations on students’ oral communication skills In addition, results after the experiment also indicated a noticeable improvement in students’ motivation towards learning English through this natural approach However, problems arisen and suggestions for future courses were also recorded

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter offers an overview about (1) rationale of the research, (2) the hypothesis, (3) the research purposes, (4) research question and (5) the organization of the study

1.1 Rationale

Since 1985, the Open-Door Policy has brought with it innovative winds of world technologies, commerce and trends into Vietnam together with the adoption of free market-oriented economy which then transformed both country’s political and economic position on the world map This has attracted a considerable number of English-speaking visitors to Vietnam as tourists or business people Consequently, social demands have forged the emergence of English as both a vital means and requirement for broadening communication, cooperation and employment English became one of the first and compulsory foreign languages to be taught in schools at very early ages This has also put

a pressure on reforming and renovating in English Language Teaching and Learning to effectively meet this need For decades, with the rapid growth and expansion of English

in Vietnam, many new teaching methods have adapted or adopted to help enhance students’ English skills, preparing themselves for a better job, but more importantly, for what they are expected to encounter in real situations

Nowadays, in response to the highly change in English skill order which prefers Speaking-Listening rather than Reading or Writing, the fundamental shift from traditional Grammar-Translation to Communicative Approach; as well as many of its offshoots: Task-based Approach, Problem-based Approach, etc.; has put Speaking/Oral Communication skill on a high profile in EFL syllabus and curriculum By employing many communicative activities, this skill orientation in second language teaching which aims to increase speaking practice in classroom, to some extent, has harvested some of its initial achievements compared to the obsolete time of Translation method Yet, there seems to be some gap in what Speaking in classroom has prepared for learners and what they actually encounter in real world Not only recently that we read here and there in newspapers, articles that many graduates cannot effective communicate in English in work or with foreigners though they have learnt this subject for more than 10 years or may score very high in English exams Regarding this actual state in Vietnam context, Bui Thi Minh Hong (2006) stated: “The poor quality of teaching Speaking skill at a university in Vietnam results in a large number of graduates who have difficulty communicating English.” In addition, according to findings from recent research at the

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university, over three quarters of graduates cannot communicate verbally effectively in English because of shyness, inadequate vocabulary, or simply lack of necessary knowledge Most of them wish that they had been taught Speaking skills more properly at university (Bui, 2006, p33-34, translated)

Heavily influenced by the shadow of thousand years of Confucian belief, especial the notion of Face Validity, there are many Vietnamese students, especially adults are either too passive, shy or lack of confidence in communicate with other people They seldom talk with their classmates and have even less communication with foreigners in real situations outside classroom Meanwhile, opportunities to learn English are abundant with books, TV, internet, adverts, sign boards, etc ,and especially in the time that Vietnam is becoming so-called “The Destination for the new Millennium”, “ The Hidden Charm”, “ Timeless Charm”… with more than 6 millions of international tourists in 2012 only and expected to grow faster in the future As a result, as notes from Lecture by Dr Hassan (CEQET 2010, HCMC) recorded, their language use is inappropriate that often leads to misunderstanding or broken-down interaction Moreover, the traditional classroom of teacher being the center, has somewhat still dominated in many Vietnamese classrooms From rural high schools to even big universities, it is easy to find classes with rows of students sit quietly listening and jotting down everything on the board and

do not or being very reluctant to leave their seat until the bell rings This reality calls for more attention in teaching and learning English as a foreign language This urges out a question of how to bridge the gap between classroom and real life situations and how to expose students more to target language environment and contact with non-Vietnamese speakers

Day & Bamford, 1998; Jacobs, Davis & Renandya, 1997 supported that extensive exposure to comprehensible language is critical for language acquisition Some second language researchers (e.g., Krashen, 2004) have even gone so far as to suggest that comprehensible input is the only way in which people learn a second language Similarly,

in Oral Communication, Sanchez (2004) concluded that the need for communication among people of different cultures and languages, triggered by travelling and globalization, puts pressure on people to learn languages more quickly and efficiently

We have more need to communicate orally (not only in reading and writing) Sanchez, cited from Vygotsky (1962, 1978) to show his agreement to this author on seeing language as a social event, therefore needs a social basis And linguistic ability is built inside our mind to communicate with the outside world, allowing for the consolidation of the social dimension of the speakers as human beings This social perspective should

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never be absent in the learning process of languages The conclusion, then, is when we learn languages other than the native one; the social dimension can only be reached through interaction and interpersonal relations with others This is also recorded in cases

of Vietnamese children who grow up in English speaking countries and give a persuasive evident of how frequent exposing to life’s requirements can enhance one’s skills: Use it

or lose it

The idea of how to expose learners to English environment to help enhance their oral communication skills and simultaneously promote their motivation in learning English and the ability of self-learning originally comes from the reality TV show “Say it if you dare” on Today TV This show features a contest among non-Vietnamese speakers, two

at a same time in 2 rounds which require them to learn quickly some Vietnamese expressions or structures before dealing with specific tasks Firstly, they are asked to buy

an item (clothes, sport equipments…) in a Vietnamese shop They have to buy those with exact color, prices, types… as demanded from the competition Very often, they make it wrong which cause a humorous effect to the audience, however, above all is their effort

to express themselves, sometimes with aid from body language In the second round, they are taught and perform singing a short verse of Vietnamese song, usually traditional folk songs

To some extent, the show links to some principles in Communicative Approach in making use of the task assigning and meaningful communication, which Task-based Approach is dominated, to help learners get along with real language use, build confidence and experience and meanwhile apply what they have learnt in class

Research about task-based approach in ELT is abundant and is favored for its clear advantages; however, the use of such outside the frame of language classroom is still not received adequate attention in Vietnamese context due to some constraints and limitations and bounds as extra-curricular activities under teachers’ control Moreover, while this trend is popular and feasible in international classrooms where the use of student’s mother tongue is extremely limited or in ESL environment where English is use officially as second language, it seems hard to apply in the context of Vietnamese monolingual classrooms Here students might lack of motivation to find to real reason to use their English outside classroom

The balance of form and meaning and the tension involved in bringing real-tasks into classroom pedagogical use is still a challenge and a gap in Task-based Approach, especially in Vietnamese traditional classroom and foreign language centers In order to

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be successful communicators, there is more than the ability to produce well-structured utterances but the ability to engage in the conversation, manage meaning and successfully handle the situation with tact And that is also a rationale for this experimental study to

be carried out with a group of volunteer EFL learners, using Task-based Approach outside the classroom to enhance students’ English oral communication skills

1.2 Hypothesis Formulating

Based on the practical problem addressed above, this study endeavors to draw on concepts from Task-Based Approach to shed light on what might be the underlying reason as well as proposing some possible solutions to this issue With the hypothesis that students’ inability to communicate effective outside the classroom partly dues to their low motivation and confidence in learning English and the improper, artificial classroom settings; seemingly, they only speak when forced and only in a safe environment with much help from teachers and aid of mother tongue language; this study then would like to discuss a new perspective in applying Task-based Approach outside the classroom by exposing learners in real life situations following Willis’ framework of Priming- Target tasks- Form Focus and Evaluation Students after attending English course using task-based approach are hypothesized to enhance considerably their oral communication as well as be more confident in using English to deal with real-life situations and communications with both native and non-native speakers

1.3 Research purposes

To find out the effectiveness of task-based approach in teaching oral communications outside language classroom while exposing students to real-life situations

1.4 Research question

This study endeavors to answer the following questions:

1 Does applying Task-based Approach in real-life situations enhance EFL students’ oral communication skills?

2 To what extent that applying Task-based Approach in real-life situations helps enhance students’ Oral Skills and Motivation in English Speaking?

3 Is there any difference between using Task-based Approach in classroom and

in real-life situations?

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1.5 The organization of the study

This thesis consists of five chapters Chapter 1 presents the Rationale of the study, the research hypotheses, purposes and research questions Chapter 2 provides some theoretical background on task-Based Approach, the notion of Oral Communication skills, Communicative Competence and some principles in applying the framework in teaching English in empirical studies as well as in Vietnam Chapter 3 describes in details design of the study, methodology employed, research instruments, participants, procedure and data analysis Chapter 4 reports the results of this experimental study to see whether Task-Based Approach affects learners’ oral communication skills The final Chapter devotes for the discussion regarding related issues, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to explain (1) the theoretical background of Task-Based Approach and its implication in teaching English, (2) framework, principles and some problems in applying TBA

in EFL classroom, (3)TBA in real-life contexts, (4) the notion of oral communication skills and communicative competence and (5) how to assess this skill

2.1 The rationale of Task-based Approach (TBA)- Focus on meaning

First popularized by N Prabhu in his project in Bangalore, India, initiated from 1979 and finished in 1984, Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) also known as Task-based Approach (TBA) or Task-Based Instruction (TBI) focuses on the use of authentic language and on asking students to do meaningful tasks using the target language This might be considered as an overthrow over the reign of Structural Approach in which focus was given to form and the content “what” over meaning or the process of “how” in the teaching practice of that decade

a strongly felt pedagogic intuition, arising from experience generally but made concrete

in the course of professional debate in India This was that the development of competence in second language requires no systematization of language inputs or maximization of planned practice, but rather the creation of conditions in which learners engage in an effort to cope with communication

Prabhu (1987:1)

This five-year project, which illustrates the importance of grounding practice in theory, though implemented on small number of elementary and secondary English classes in India ,is considered relevant for adults ESL and EFL programs because of its transition from direct instruction to communicative competence through ‘meaning making’ in real context The rationale for Task-based Syllabuses hence has been advanced widely by teachers and SLA researchers in spite of some arguments against it for the obvious advantages it shows in comparison with the traditional Presentation-Practice-Production Pica et al (1993) valued TBA because it directs language teaching by giving opportunities for learners to interact between themselves and their teacher

Nunan (2004) advocates TBA for it encourages learner-centered learning, helps learners develop individual different and supports learning autonomy, whereas J Willis (2005) pointed out that the initial aim of TBA is to provide plenty of opportunities to encourage

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learners to engage in meaning with the language resources they already have, although limited, therefore promotes learners’ confidence in using language in and outside classroom This also makes learners to aware of what they need to learn which then will

be supplemented by form-focused activities that followed to help them develop that language and consolidate for cases they might cope with in the future Indeed, with the focus on meaning, Task-based activities give learners the opportunities to interact with the target language directly and use it genuinely to solve problems in real conditions thus helps shorten the distance between theory and real life demands This brings out an important implementation in Vietnam context in which many English learners are trained

to be ‘rote’ learners, who have been learning English for years but fail to use to it in real life situations While TBA is exactly designed with that, it reaches its ultimate goal of language teaching of training learners into masters of their English use to meet life’s challenges In addition, as stated, TBA also pays considerable attention the learning process which requires learners’ interaction and cooperation therefore helps build their sociability as Haliday (1978) put it, communication is more than merely an exchange of words between parties; it is a ‘sociological encounter’ and through exchange of meanings

in the communication process, social reality is ‘created, maintained and modified’ Or, as Norris et al (1998)’s words: “The best way to learn and teach a language is through social interactions”

Not only praised by Western educators, many other researches on the implication of TBA

in the context of Asian countries have also proved the same reliable results In Japan, a study by Tanasarnsanee (2002) has showed the overwhelming of teaching Japanese language using task-based learning approaches versus 3Ps (Presentation-Practice-Production) The result shows that learners who learned Japanese language through task-based learning demonstrated a higher competence in Japanese language for communication than those who studied using the 3Ps approach Other studies from India (Lochana and Deb, 2006), Thailand (Rattanawong,2004; Wichitpisan,2005; Yooyong,2008) also supported the findings with similar evidences revealing that students’ English speaking ability before and after the task-based experiment was significantly higher, and also their attitudes towards learning English

In short, the review of literature on the implication of TBA in teaching and learning English has consistently showed its favor towards this approach due to obvious achievements recorded, especially in enhancing learners’ Speaking and Communication Competence

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However, in spite of the prestige it has gained in foreign language teaching and learning history, the theory and practice around TBA are far from being uniform and clear for various governing principles shared by everyone The TBA; therefore; has been applied

in different ways in language teaching, both in and outside the classroom

The following parts of this paper endeavor to bring out a comprehensive insight about TBA and how it is implemented in English classroom to improve students’ oral communication skills

2.2 On defining “task”

“Task” is at the core of TBLT but; however; still surrounded with it many debates and has been defined in different ways because in various studies, description of tasks has been approached from different perspectives and for different purposes Ali Shehadeh (2005) pointed out that Second language acquisition researchers often describe tasks in term of their usefulness for collecting data and eliciting samples of learners’ language for research purposes, such as: Bialystok (1983), Pica (1989)… Meanwhile, others look at task from purely classroom interaction perspective

Prabhu (1987) proposes the following definition:

An activity which required learners to arrive at an outcome from given information through some process of thought, and which allowed teachers to control and regulate that process, was regarded as a ‘task’

Prabhu (1987:24)

While value two important features of task: the ‘outcome’ and the process while doing that activity, the author has somehow lowered the creativity and learners’ autonomy by saying that ‘task’ should be controlled and regulated by teachers

Nunan (1989) offers a definition focused more on the language classroom while defining task as “ a piece of classroom work which involve learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language, while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form” Similarly, for J Willis (1996), a task is

an “activity where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve a real outcome” Willis (1996) also suggests that language use

in tasks is likely to reflect language use in the outside world and in her works, explaining ways to bring out more relationship about the real world outside into task assignments to engage learners’ interest and motivation, which inspires this paper a lot

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In general, definitions above all converge at highlighting ‘outcome’ and the focus on

‘meaning’ as essential traits of a communicative task in classroom context This does not mean to deny the role of grammar but this should be subordinated to encouraging students to use the language freely, without worrying too much about formal accuracy

Of course, seeking a balance between form and meaning is always a priority but also a challenge to any approach to language teaching and learning TBA also concurrently values the importance of form and grammar Instead of providing learners lots of form to master right from the beginning, TBA makes it the last stage of the lesson, so as chances for learners to self-correct and improve it for the next uses

Let’s sum up with a complete definition by Skehan (1998) reflecting a broad consensus among researchers and educators, suggesting following defining criteria of a ‘task’ in TBA:

3 There is some sort of relationship to comparable real world activities

4 Task completion has some sort of priority

5 The assessment of the task is in terms of outcome

The broad consensus definition then can be crucially understood in terms of two dimensions within task illustrated in the diagram below, cited in Littlewood (2003): The first one is the continuum from Focus on form vs focus on meaning and second is the degree of learner-involvement that task elicits, with reference relates to different goals of language teaching, namely, communication, from non-communicative learning to its ultimate goal at the extreme right: authentic communication

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Figure 1: The continuum from Focus on Form to Focus on Meaning (Littlewood, 2003)

However, distinguishing a task from a normal classroom activity or task in some other approaches is always easier said than done Jane Willis (1996), in great agreement with Skehan’s definition, suggests a set of basic questions about task’ characteristics for teachers to ask themselves to determine how task-like a given activity:

1 Does the activity engage learners’ interest?

2 Is there a primary focus on meaning?

3 Is there an outcome?

4 Is success judged in terms of outcome?

5 Is completion a priority?

6 Does the activity relate to real world activities?

The more ‘yes’ to the list above, the more confident teachers will be about the task-like activity can be used in task-based practice The only note here is in J Willis’ list is highlighting the notion of ‘engagement’ She explained that this should be of great importance as without engagement or motivation, without genuine interest, nothing is gained Learners are not simply acquired all what they are taught This is very much in line with Krashen’s Affective-Filter hypothesis and in much other imperial research on second language acquisition as well TBA also takes learners’ motivation with great consideration as the prerequisite for all success through which triggers learners’ autonomy and real engagement in pursuit any tasks

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In short, those criteria above though not provide us with a watertight definition of what constitutes a task, do help us with the guidelines for designing activities in a task-based classroom Skehan (1998) concludes “…some of the time it may be difficult to decide whether an activity merits the label ‘task’ since the two underlying characteristics of tasks, avoidance of specific structures and engagement in worthwhile meanings, are matters of degree, rather than being categorical (p.96)”

2.2.1 Real world tasks vs classroom tasks or pedagogical tasks

Nunan (2004) draws a basic distinction between real-world or target tasks, and pedagogical tasks Target tasks, as the name implies, refer to uses of language in the world beyond the classroom whereas the latter are those that occur in the classroom

2.2.1.1 Real-world tasks or target tasks

Long (1985) depicts task as what people usually do in their daily life “…a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward Thus examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, talking a hotel reservation, writing a cheque, finding a street destination and helping someone across a road In other words, by 'task' is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between.”

With this definition, Long’s tasks are rooted in real life activities and noted by its technical and non-linguistic features Clearly, one may successfully perform a task without saying a word, for example painting a fence, dressing a child or without any knowledge about modal verbs or subjunctive, agreement to buy a pair of shoes or make hotel reservation but very much with the aid of body language Regarding target task, Sanchez suggests the following set of features:

non-i) They are goal-oriented or goal-guided activities Performance is evaluated depending on the achievement or not of the goal

ii) They consist most of the time of a sequence of steps, well differentiated but tightly connected among themselves, mutually conditioned by the logical sequence

of the actions preceding and following each one of the steps Failure to fulfill one

of the steps can invalidate the outcome of the task

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iii) The process and procedures applied in the fulfillment of the task condition the effective and efficient achievement of the final goal, which is what really matters when we engage in a task But procedures per se do not necessarily invalidate the attainment of the final goal

iv)Tools needed and procedures applied vary depending on the goals we aim at v) The goal to be reached might be a problem to solve, but not necessarily

vi) While performing the task, efficiency is closely connected to the level of attention devoted to it Human beings, however, work with limited processing systems, so that if we concentrate on a specific area or topic, another one will probably be totally or partially abandoned

vii) Tasks in real life are fully holistic: in their realization the whole person is involved: mind and body, thought and action must be coordinated and work together When coordination and cooperation is deficient, the efficiency in task performance declines

As discussed in previous parts, TBA takes real world as source for its ultimate rationale is

to successfully enable learners to accomplish those activities in real life using the target language However, not all target tasks are eligible for pedagogical purposes So, the question should be posed here is: to what extent can real-life tasks enter classroom and be adapted to it?

2.2.1.2 Classroom tasks

When brought into the classroom, real life tasks become pedagogical in nature and serve for pedagogical purposes only as Richards, Platt and Weber (1986) defined “…an activity

or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e

as a response)” Inevitably, for its roots and rational in social dimension, tasks in classroom require or favor some certain kinds of communication through language, either oral or written Therefore, it is clear to see that tasks in real life and what demanded in classroom practice is not always fully equated Although taken as roots for use in classroom language learning and teaching, target tasks or real life tasks are not necessarily transferable into teaching situation due to reason that noted above For example, tasks such as painting a fence or sweeping are hardly accepted and in classroom teaching and learning whereas buying a ticket or making hotel reservation still find it

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useful for it requires learners at least communicate in some way to achieve assigned tasks while the formers are not

Consequently, as suggested by Sanchez and other authors, Long’s real-world tasks must

be filtered and selected depending on what the classroom situation admits, adding to it an ingredient that must be carefully administered : formal communicative elements necessary for task completion (basically linguistic forms)

However, the matter how to balance or ensure the authenticity of real- life tasks when transformed into pedagogical use and how to best exploit real-life task for classroom use

in TBA is still on debate

As noted in Sanchez’s literature and recorded in many other research and practice in TBA, some important changes did take place when applying real-life tasks in classroom practice While classroom tasks plays are intended to act as bridge between classroom and real world in that they serve to prepare students for real life language use, they are quite different from real life situation in both nature and context In other words, they are artificial In real life, the primary goal of any task is to complete it whereas this in pedagogical tasks in classroom must be added a new requirement: language use For example, ‘buying a ticket’ in real life focuses on its only purpose is to buy the ticket, not anything else and much affected by time constraint as one is conducting spontaneous and direct communication All skills and strategies are oriented to this goal and any interferes may end up with failure On the contrary, when brought into classroom, still the goal is to

‘buy a ticket’ (surely not a real ticket), some issues arisen Students may devote some time or very long time on finding some unknown words (stuffs they want to say but do not know) in the dictionary, asking other students or just switching to mother tongue or ease, especially in monolingual classroom, most seen in Asian countries in which Vietnam is a big example In fact, nobody on the classroom context is really worried about the positive outcome of the task-buying a ticket- but about something else: building correct discourse or just end up with chatting The linguistic dimension of the task is what really matters in the classroom The primary goal of the task has therefore shifted from its original real world value to another one centered on language (not on tickets) The pedagogical task takes a real world task as a pretext for achieving different goals There

is a close relationship between those two types of tasks, however, their primary goals are different

Classroom is maybe good place to prepare learners with language before it is used in real life situations However, with all its matters raised above, there should be a great more

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consideration in establishing the relationship between pedagogical tasks and real world in order to help learners become the real masters of their language

2.2.2 Components of a Communicative task in TBA

In TBLT, syllabus content and instructional processes are selected with reference to the communicative tasks which learners will either actually or potentially need to respond real situations outside the classroom TBLT is based on communicative and interactive tasks which require meaningful communication and interaction among learners (Ellis,

2003, Nunan, 2004) This section in the current study emphasizes this kind of tasks, which have evolved as an important component within curriculum planning, implementation, and evaluation, as a means to promote oral performance of learners What is a communicative task?

Generally, every linguist has his own perception on the kind of tasks The current study would like to mention the definition which Nunan (1989) at last draws his own after reviewing crucial concepts from the TBLT literature:

A communicative task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right (p 18)

The definition refers to the implementation of grammatical knowledge to express meaning, focusing on the fact that meaning and form are closely interrelated, and that grammar exists to enable the language user to express different communicative meanings Nunan (2004) together with Willis and Willis (2001) agrees the difference between tasks and grammatical exercises is that learners are free to use a range of language structures to achieve task outcomes, which means the forms are not specified in advance in terms of tasks Nunan’s view about communicative tasks is concise but conveys a philosophical message in language learning and teaching Phyak (2008, p.93) found out the perspective

of Bialystok (1983), “a communicative task must (a) stimulate real communicative exchange, (b) provide incentive for the L2 speaker/ learner to convey information, (c) provide control for the information items required for the investigate and (d) fulfill the needs to be used for the goals of experiment,” cited in Edwards and Willis’ (2005) paper This perspective seems to consolidate Phyak’ judgment about communicative task which

“can be taken as a tool to elicit data related to the various aspects of language” (p.93)

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With communicative tasks in language teaching and learning, it is undoubted to recognize that there is an assistance of form in meaning Nevertheless, grammatical knowledge becomes a means to help learners interact together in the classroom activities, which is rather difficult to implement in most Asian contexts This is because traditional approaches focusing on grammar deeply affected language teachers in these areas They spend a lot of time teaching grammar points and structures instead of paying attention to meaningful communications In spite of the difficulty, linguists and researchers all emphasize the fact that pedagogical tasks involve communicative language use in which the user’s attention is focused on meaning rather than grammatical form

Nunan (2004) points out course designers should take the following elements into consideration when designing a communicative task: goals, input, procedures, teacher role, learner role and setting (Figure 2.1)

Figure 2: Components of a “Task” (Nunan 2004, p 40)

2.2.1.1 Goals

Goals refer to the general intentions behind any learning task Goals usually relate to general outcomes or may directly describe the teacher or learners’ behavior Clark (1987), cited in Nunan (2004), notes that communicative goals in a curriculum suggest that language is used for establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships and for the exchange of information, ideas, opinions, attitudes and feelings to get things done This includes listening to, reading and responding to imaginative use of target language such as stories, poems, songs, dramas or learners’ own creations, ect In terms of TBLT, task goals are a bridge of the program planner and materials writer to lead in a consistence between the task and the curriculum Nunan (1991) affirms that there is a risk that Task-based Teaching programs will lack coherence unless goal statements are set clearly Nunan (1991), in advance, suggests five typical goal statements:

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1 To develop the skills necessary to take part in academic study

2 To obtain sufficient oral and written skills to obtain a promotion from unskilled worker to site supervisor

3 To communicate socially in the target language

4 To develop the survival skills necessary to obtain goods and services

5 To be able to read the literature of the target culture

It is acceptable that programs in which the goals are set explicitly will get more successful than those in which the goals are inexplicit However, these goal statements are individual suggestions because there was no direct evidence that programs with explicit, relevant goals resulted in more effective learning outcomes On the contrary, Nunan (2004) reveals that goals may not always be explicitly stated but may relate to a range of general outcomes or may directly involve teacher’s or learner’s behavior

Three general outcomes mentioned by Skehan (1996) are accuracy, complexity, and fluency The first goal, accuracy, relates to learner’s performance to handle language rules in communication The second one, complexity or restructuring, “is concerned with the process by which the interlanguage system becomes more complex, elaborate, and structured (McLaughlin 1990), maybe more efficient and less circumlocutions in communication (Cheng 1985), more consistent with input data, and more native-like (Cook 1994)” (Skehan, 1996, p 47) Finally, fluency refers to learner’s capacity to

‘mobilize an interlanguage system to communicate meanings in real life’ In other words, three task goals developed by Oxford (2006) are focus on meaning in which negotiation meaning is encouraged without paying much attention to grammar rules; focus on form requires learners to use grammar or vocabulary accurately within a communicative, meaningful context, focus on forms refers learner’s synthetic ability in using language In brief, setting appropriate goals for Task-based is a necessary step to draw on what and how teachers should do to help students achieve the desire outcomes

2.2.1.2 Input

Input refers to the spoken, written, and visual data that learners work with in the course of completing a task Data can be provided by a teacher, a textbook, or some other source Alternatively, it can be generated by the learners themselves Being a language teacher, Femandez (2004) believes that it is essential to provide learners with the necessary input

to help them develop their cognitive abilities to their best At a talking shop “second

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language acquisition research: how does it help teachers?” in 1993, Rod Ellis explained the input teachers bring to class would be processed by learners not teachers Thus, it is easy to understand that teachers should find out their students’ needs and levels before they choose materials or a method For instance, teachers can use simple vocabulary and structures, slower speech rate with the aim to make their speeches easier to be understood and provide comprehensible input for students Another thing which the teacher should

do to make the input comprehensible is using the multimedia technology in teaching It has potential to bring the whole world into the classroom It not only provides students much information, but arouses their interest in English owing to the effect of colors, flashes, sounds, and pictures, (Oura (n.d.)) In fact, it will properly be hard for teachers to create students opportunities to open and close conversations, or to interact naturally if students have not already known the linguistic conventions for opening and closing conversations Hence, the statement “one cannot teach by eliciting what is not there” (Swan, 2005, p.390) is reasonable

2.2.1.3 Procedures

Procedures specify what learners actually do with the input Regarding criteria for the task, teachers consider the authority of the learning procedures and input For instance, a teacher using a task could decide to give students time to plan the questions they would need to ask Therefore, procedures concerning the methodological options available to researchers and teachers for implementing tasks are always independent of both the input and the condition of the task (Ellis, 2003) Another point of criteria for task selection involves activation rather than a rehearsal rationale In addition, analyzing procedures should be based on the focus or skills required to achieve the goal Learners integrate phonological, lexical and grammatical forms through memorization and manipulation Eventually, they apply these skills in communicative interaction

in pairs or groups Another role for learners is the one of risk takers for they constantly face challenges that involve the use of the target language (Bonces and Bonces, 2010) Evidence showed by Nunan (1991, p.291) such as learners are capable of correcting each other successfully; learners produce more talk with other learners than with native-speaking partners, and learners do not learner each other’s errors; and there were advantages, when conducting group-work, to paring learners of different proficiency levels as well as from different language backgrounds seems to consolidate the important role of learners in Task-based classrooms In advance, learners are believed to be not only

an individual unit but also a social being that takes up the task and interact with other members in order to obtain communicative purposes

2.2.1.6 Settings

Setting refers to the classroom arrangement specified or implied in the task It requires consideration of whether a task is to be carried out wholly or partly outside of the classroom Ellis (2007b) confirms ‘the language classroom’ as “a setting where the target language is taught as a subject only and is not commonly used as a medium of communication outside the classroom,” (p 13) However, it is useful to distinguish between mode and environment when setting tasks in language classroom Mode refers to whether the learner is operating on an individual, pair or group basis Environment refers

to where the learning actually takes place It might be in a conventional classroom in a school, a language center, a community class, a workplace setting, a self-access center or

a multi-media language center Yang (2010) recognizes the necessity to maintain natural conservations in real context which is a fundamental purpose in oral English training Thus, he suggests performing ways to optimize the classroom setting and classroom instruction such as classroom organization, group activities, scenario, low-structure teaching, creative language use, authentic material, and so on

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In conclusion, goals, inputs, procedures, teacher’s role, student’s role, and settings are six components of a task These elements play important constructs within Task-based Learning, including the relationship between real-world and pedagogic tasks, text and task authenticity and the place of learning strategies within the Task-based classroom

2.3 Characteristic, principles and framework for implementation of TBA in EFL

classroom

2.3.1 TBA characteristic and principles

Task-based is considered as a logical development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) (e.g., Richards and Rodgers, 2001; Murad, 2009; Richards, 2006; Skehan, 1996) since it has several principles similar to the CLT, such as: activities that involve real communication are essential for language learning; activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning; and language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process It is properly the reason why Murad (2009) defines that TBLT is not a new concept Evidence for his claim is that American Government Language institutions switched to task-based instruction (TBI) for foreign language for adults in the early 1980s American government language institutions found that learners made far more rapid progress and were able to use their new foreign language in real-world circumstances with a reasonable level of efficiency after quite short courses thanks to task-based instruction and authentic materials Similarly, Richards (2006) describes TBI as extensions of CLT but which allows a variety of methods to achieve the goal of communicative language teaching in order to develop learners’ communicative competence TBLT here is also referred to as a process-based methodology for it pays much attention to creating classroom processes which are believed to best facilitate language learning

The current study overestimates Richards and Rodgers’ (2001) definition, “TBLT refers

to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching” (p.223) The definition seems concise but converges most factors stimulating learning process_ due to tasks Richards (2006) supports that “language learning will result from creating the right kinds of interactional processes in the classroom, and the best way to create these is to use specially designed instructional tasks” (p 30) However, Swan (2005) argues that many teachers and learners feel unwilling to adopt TBLT because of mismatch implementation of TBLT from theory to practice (Phyak, 2008) and changing real world tasks into classroom tasks as well (Nunan, 2004)

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Thus, it is reasonable to accept Breen’s (1987a) conclusion about TBLT cited in Sanchez (2004, p.45): “Task-based Approach is a result of (1) new views on language; (2) new views on teaching methodology; (3) new views on the contribution of the learners to the learning process; (4) new views on how to plan teaching and learning.” The point of view

is clearly different from traditional concept on language teaching and learning The view points (3) and (4) obviously emphasize learners and learning process while traditional approaches pay much attention to teachers and product of teaching In fact, in Task-based classes, learners are able to acquire new linguistic knowledge and to proceduralize their existing knowledge by engaging a series of authentic tasks (Ellis, 2007a)

With the ever-growing trend in teaching and learning methodologies, TBLT has entered the language field and become one of the most appreciated approaches with prominent

characteristics Nunan (1991) proposes five characteristics of a Task-based Approach to

language learning:

1 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

2 The introduction of authentic texts (teaching materials) into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on language, but also

on the learning process itself

4 An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

5 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside

the classroom (p 279)

Due to these features, it could be imagined that a foreign/ second language classroom is active with purposeful activities and tasks that emphasize communication With specific purposes, meaning can be either what learners might need to achieve in real life, or what can help learners in the classroom (Feez, 1998 cited in Lightbown and Spada, 1999) Learners here are provided learning opportunities in order that they are able to attain the desired outcome In other words, learners in TBLT environment “are free to choose whatever language forms they wish to convey what they mean in order to fulfill, as well

as they can, the task goals,” (Willis 1996, p.24) It is also strongly believed that topics and teaching materials should be selected relevant to learners’ desires According to Lightbown and Spada (1999), the topics which are discussed in communicative and Task-

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based instructional environments are often topics of general interest to the learner They center on modified input and consider it as a defining feature of the approach to instruction It is necessary that the teacher speak so simple and clear that their students can understand Moreover, students’ success in these classes is often measured in terms

of their ability to get things done in the second language, rather than on their accuracy in using certain grammatical features

In line with those characteristics above, Willis (1996) suggested a set of principles that teachers/ educators should keep in mind when designing TBA lessons in order to reach its ultimate goal to create opportunities for language learning and skill development through collaborative knowledge building:

Principle 1: Ensure an appropriate level of task difficulty

This can be adjusted by teacher methodologically by explaining or modeling to make sure that students understand the task clearly and are able to accomplish it

Principle 2: Establish clear goals for each task-based lesson

It is not sufficient to engage learners with tasks to develop their inter-languages simple as

a result of using L2, setting clear goals at the end of each lessons not only help both teacher and his/her students prioritize different aspects of language use but also other important life skills, such as: planning, outlining…and so on

Principle 3: Develop an appropriate orientation to performing the task in the students

“Students need to be made to aware of why they are made to perform the task”, as Willis’ words, so as they can treat them seriously but not just fun In this respect, the post-task phase plays a crucial role as they demonstrate to the students that those tasks have role in developing their L2 proficiency and they also have opportunities to monitor and self-evaluate their own progress

Principle 4: Ensure that students adopt an active role in task-based lessons

This makes distinction between TBA and the traditional teaching method by handing learners opportunities to raise their voice and firm their stand in classroom context A key element of being “active” is to negotiating meaning when communicative problems arise and one the principal ways is through pair/group work

Principle 5: Encourage students to take risks

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When negotiating meaning on performing a task, sometimes students need to take a further step out of their “safe zone” by stretching their language resources by using alternatives for a strange or difficult words/stuffs or calling help from gesture and body language That helps to create an appropriate level of challenge in an affective climate that is supporting of risk-taking will assist this

Principle 6: Ensure that students are primarily focused on meaning when they perform a task

The main purpose of a task is to provide a context for processing language communicatively Thus it should be primarily concerned with achieving the outcome, not with displaying the language itself Real interest and motivation can help facilitate students to do the tasks

Principle 7: Provide opportunities for focusing on form

Language form is equally important in TBA Both Willis and Skehan (1998) emphasize the need to attend to form in a task-based lesson and the post-task phase is place to mainly handle such, even though it can be anywhere along the lesson Here, language form is served as tool to achieve the outcome set in the task but not as goal alone, so as it needs to be treated carefully not to conflict with Principle 6

2.3.2 TBA Framework

Among various models for implementation of TBA in classroom practice, Willis’ model

is highly appreciated for its practical and straightforward It is widely used and employed

by classroom teachers and researchers all over the world for years This paper aims not to re-examine into details what constitutes a task-based lesson or how to conduct a successful lesson which already carefully instructed in many reference books about TBA but rather show out stages and core principles for this paper to take into consideration for the experiment to employ TBA in teaching English oral communication skills

Willis’ framework as shown below falls into 3 main phases: the pre-task, the task cycle and language focus

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Figure 3 An overview of the TBL framework (J.Willis, 1996)

The pre-task phase, or priming and preparation stage, usually the shortest stage aims to provide the necessary background, introduce the topic This phase also helps with activating learners’ schema knowledge as well their repertoire that will be useful both during the task and outside the classroom Some vital related vocabulary and useful expressions might also be needed to introduce at this stage but it does not involve a teacher-led focus on form

In the task cycle phase, students carry out meaning-focused activity after some time of preparation in which fluency and any forms of language production that come readily to them are placed over the target of accuracy and complexity in achieving the task goal The priming repertoire now may be of some help but not necessary to be obligatorily used during the task Students may be free to expose their own skills and strategies In the report stage, on the other hand, learners are required to present their results in front of the class with some careful preparation and language polishing as their final production to show off Therefore, Willis argues that in this public performance learners are motivated

PRE-TASK

Introduction to topic and task

Teacher explores the topic with the class, highlight useful words and phrases, helps students understand task instructions and prepare Students may hear a recording of others doing a similar task

Task

Students do the task

in pairs or small groups Teacher monitors from a distance

Planning

Students prepare to report to the whole class (orally or in writing how they did the task, what they decided or discovered

Report

Some groups present their reports to the class, or exchange written reports and compare results

or transcript of the recording

Practice

Teacher conducts practice of new words, phrases or patterns occurring in the data, either during or after the analysis

LANGUAGE FOCUS

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to produce not only fluency but also accuracy language Thus, this stage ensures the

“smooth transition from private to more public interaction” (Willis, J., 1996)

In the last phase, the language focus, the evaluation and reflection or post-task phase, there are opportunities for both teacher and learners look back what they actually did and improve it for further use There is a distinction between language focus and form focus Focus on form is teacher led and load is placed on specific forms, for example usage of verb phrases expressing obligation, compound Nouns…and so on whereas language focus are focusing on the language in the context of the meaning they want to express, for example how a certain expression is used in a particular situation This is mainly learner led At this stage, teachers may collect examples from learners to make note of useful expressions learners have used, useful to learners or consistent errors they have make along the way However, it is important not to focus solely on error correction but to comment on, build on and extend useful patterns, ending the task cycle on a positive note,

as Willis suggests for her framework Another useful activity in this phase is to let learners analyzing task recordings of their own in comparison with what native speakers actually use in real life while doing similar task Surprisingly, reports from many teachers

in Willis’ book show that learners are quite able to recognize their mistakes during the transcription phase and want to improve it by themselves

2.3.3 Task types, task sequences, adapting real-life tasks into classroom and the problem of implementation of TBA in EFL classroom

Figure 4 The task generator: taxonomy of task types (Willis, 1996)

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Following the framework, J Willis also points out a taxonomy of task types and ideas that can be used in generating task in a task-based lesson both for written and spoken texts and can be used flexibly inside and outside classroom on topics of your choice One of the advantages of TBA in comparison with other traditional approaches is learners are escaped from the teacher-dominated discourse in the language classroom With a well-balanced of tasks, they have opportunities to experience a wide range of discourse types that they might cope with in real-life, involving in a relatively informal spontaneous interaction However, as discussed above, classroom is still restricted in some way in terms of infinite variety of social relationships and working roles We are back for the solution of the question posed before: to what extent can real-life tasks enter classroom and be adapted to it?

J Willis (1996) in her book “Doing Task-based Learning” established the three levels of how classroom tasks can mirror the real world The first is the level of meaning in which learners try to produce meanings which will be useful in real world Second is the level of discourse which consists of different kinds of discourse acts reflecting the real world, such as: agreeing, disagreeing, guessing, convincing….Finally, at the level of activity, which means learners actually engage in communicative activity which very much resemble what they do in daily life, such as buying things, arguing, telling stories, explaining and so on In this paper, we mainly focus at oral communication and general

or everyday English for learners of pre-intermediated to intermediate level of proficiency and therefore could possibly ignore some special instruction for task-based lessons for English for Academy Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and either the purpose of improving students writing and reading, though those can be very common

in daily life, such as use of electronic communication like Internet, website, e-mails, reading newspapers…Willis emphasizes the importance of exposing learners to the features of spontaneous speech in real-life for she said “ we are suddenly confronted with people who speak rapidly, who use language vague which never covered in our classroom experience, who make false starts and ask abbreviated questions This is the real world and we need to prepare learners for it.”

Willis defines four conditions that have to be met in order to ensure effective learning

Three of them are essential (exposure, use and motivation) and one of them (instruction)

is desirable:

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Figure 5: Conditions for Language Learning (Willis 1996:11)

Exposure to the target language might involve both listening and reading also; it might be

conscious or largely subconscious and essentially to the point of quality more than quantity And quality here means that students should be “exposed" to a variety of pronunciation, a variety of types of language use (e.g formal and informal speech) and a

range of different types of writing Use of the target language is considered essential for

language development Learners need opportunities to communicate what they want to say and express what they feel or think, using the language they have already mastered The classroom context is also important – a positive, supportive, low stress atmosphere encourages creativity and risk-taking As a result, learners are likely to acquire the target language faster and more efficiently Success and satisfaction are key factors in

sustaining motivation to process the exposure and to use the target language The feeling

of achievement can boost students’ confidence and encourage their best efforts to learn the foreign language These three essential conditions for language learning can be met

outside the classroom Instruction, the fourth condition for effective learning, prevents

students from fossilizing at the language level they have already reached, by helping them to notice specific features of the target language, to process grammatical and lexical patterns, to improve more rapidly and to continue improving in the future (Willis 1996) She then gives account of many examples on how tasks can do it with a close link to real-life tasks at all three levels, by native speaker recordings, inviting native ‘experts’ or

‘informants’ to classroom or bring students out to the real world on tasks are evidential supported by many teachers based on their teaching experience The author also has paid

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considerable attention on how tasks can be carried out outside classroom to help improve learners’ cognitive ability in real life missions beside classroom activities such as discussion, presentation…

- Fact-finding: E.g find out what 3 people outside this class think about cats as pets Do they like cats or not? List the reasons they give

-Survey/interviews: e.g which local places visitor or tourists like to visit?

- Projects or creative tasks: e.g newspaper, radio program, field trip and so on Whether in mother tongue or in English, those outdoor activities do their best in attaching learners with real life experience, help building their confidence and offer them with opportunities to see how language is really used in real life

However, while those tasks are easy to carry out with international students, multilingual

or ESL classroom, TBA are still far from being successful implemented in EFL classrooms, especially in Asian context and Vietnam in particular where both teachers and learners are restrained by time, curriculum, facilities and other factor like dominance

of traditional methods, learners’ attitude, teachers’ inability, etc… Cases were recorded

in Shimane University, Japan by Mariko Eguchi & Keiichi Eguchi (2005) with 44 sophomores reflected the limited effects of this Communicative Approach which mainly due to the priority of task over tool in the same L1 classroom and lack of natural contact with L2 speakers outside of the classroom Accounting for this issue, curiously enough is one of the reasons that contribute to the rational of communicative approach: the priority

to meaning over form, as highly praised in most parts of this paper and in many other research

While TBA values achieving a task over language form to encourage learners to use target language without worrying about making mistakes and more focus on the meaning

of communication rather than accuracy, this leads to the view that language is a mere tool

to achieve a task Therefore, in the goal-oriented tasks, language becomes somewhat less important than the goal of communication and creates a serious problem in this experimental EFL classroom The authors addressed that “…when a class consists of homogeneous learners who share the same L1, the L2 becomes a very inefficient tool of communication Speaking English is like using an old computer when a new one is available” and hence, “Why use English when they can finish the job in their native language in a snap?” as the researchers posed out their problem

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Another issue belongs to the teachers In ESL or International classes, English is compulsory and only means to communicate when your students are from different countries and when it is not, that is the problem Many teachers of English fall into temptation to use L1 to their learners because it is convenient, time-saving and effort- saving The researchers give out an example of explaining "government." A teacher may explain that it is a group of people who controls policies of a state However, his or her learners must understand beforehand those words used in the teacher's explanation Otherwise, the teacher must explain the words used for the definition to clarify the meaning of "government." Since a language is a closed system, the definition of a word is circular If the concept the teacher is trying to explain is a key word or the target of the lesson, he or she may continue to elaborate it If it is not crucial to achieve the goal of the lesson, he or she should stop dealing with the subject halfway The teacher may be able to carry on explaining in English until her student understands it, but it is nearly impossible

in a situation where there are many students waiting for her instructions

The tendency to use L1 is especially apparent when the students' English level is low Since both of them are not good at English and share the same L1, they lapse into using their L1 in their pair work to satisfy their communicative needs

The other limited effect reported is the lack of natural contact with L2 speakers outside the classroom Accordingly, the two researchers all agree with each other that environment, together with learners’ shyness and cultural barrier is the most significant problem to EFL learners, interestingly illustrated as below in which turtle is EFL learner and rabbit represents for ESL learner

Figure 6: The Environmental layers of Language learners (Eguchi & Eguichi, 2005)