4.1.2.1 The questionnaire on the students‟ speaking problems
The questionnaire at the beginning of the study was aimed at investigating the factors affecting their speaking performances, the problems that the VTHS students experiencing in speaking lessons and the task types they enjoyed studying most.
When the students were asked to choose the factors affecting their speaking performance among the factors listed, the majority of the student (83.7%) agreed that topical knowledge affected the students‟ speaking performance. 79.1% of the
59
students thought that both listening ability and time to perform a speaking task had impacts on the students‟ speaking performances. 74.4% of the students (32 out of 43) believed that listeners‟ supports could affect their speaking performance.
Twenty eight out of forty three students (65.1%) admitted that confidence was one of the most important factors affecting students‟ speaking performances. Time for preparation significantly affected their speaking abilities with 62.8%. Only a small number of the students (18.6%) thought that pressure to perform well and motivation to speak could affect their speaking skills. Only one student (2.3%) agreed that anxiety could have influences on his speaking skills. In general, the tasks that were not relevant to the students made them discouraged to express themselves in English. Moreover, the students needed to be given more time to prepare and discuss their tasks before giving their opinions. The chart below shows the facts affecting the students‟ speaking performance in Figure 4.1.
Figure 4.1. The factors affecting the students‟ speaking performances
62.8 18.6
74.4 18.6
65.1 2.3
83.7 79.1 79.1
Time for preparation Pressure to perform well Listeners‟ support Motivation to speak
Confidence Anxiety Topical knowledge Listening ability Time to perform a speaking
task
60
In addition, the results of the questionnaire before the experiment indicate that the students faced many problems in speaking English. The table below shows their speaking problems in the classroom.
Table 4.3. Problems the students encountered in learning speaking skills Which problems do you encounter in learning speaking
skill? (You can have more than one choice)
Number of students %
You use Vietnamese. 38 88.4
You cannot think of anything to say. 32 74.4
You are worried about making mistakes. 29 67.4
You are shy. 28 65.1
You speak very little or not at all. 27 62.8
You are fearful of criticism or losing face. 20 46.5 You have no motivation to express yourselves. 20 46.5
From Table 4.3., 88.4% of the students tended to use their mother tongue in English speaking lessons. 32 out of 43 students (74.4%) confessed that they might not think of anything to share their ideas and find it hard to translate into the target language. Furthermore, 67.4% of the students admitted that they were worried about making mistakes. Besides, 28 out of 43 participants (65.1%) in the experiment admitted that they were too shy to give their opinions, so they hardly spoke English in the English-speaking classrooms because of their lack of confidence. It seemed that twenty out of forty three students (46.5%) avoided being laughed at and sometimes they were fear of losing face. In addition, the same number of students was not motivated to express their feelings or opinions because the topics could not be interesting and motivating enough. Being encouraged to speak English helped the students to enjoy participate in speaking lessons.
The questionnaire before the experiment showed that not all tasks interested the participants. Furthermore, all of them had difficulties in distinguishing exercise,
61
activity and task. The chart below explained the reasons why the three most liked tasks of the students were chosen to design the seven lesson plans used in this research. All task types were explained carefully before the experiment so that the participants could understand them thoroughly and choose the task types they would like to experience most. For this reason, the participants found it strange to learn English speaking skills through TBL.
Figure 4.2. The extent to which the students were interested in task types
From Figure 4.2., we can see that the participants enjoyed learning English speaking lessons in three tasks, namely, problem-solving tasks (86%), sharing personal experiences tasks (83.7%) and listing tasks (81.4%). The next three tasks that followed were ordering (69.8), creative tasks (60.5%, and comparing tasks (58.1%). This explained why the researcher chose the three task types in this experiment. In fact, what tasks the participants enjoyed was very important as they would enjoy and participate actively in the speaking lesson. As a result, the findings from the questionnaire clearly revealed that it was very significant for teachers to
81.4 69.8 58.1
86 83.7 60.5
listing ordering comparing problem solving sharing personal
experiences creative
The students' interests in task types
62
choose the task types suitable for the levels and interests of the students, which encouraged students to participate in the speaking lessons better. The participants enjoyed what they felt like studying.
4.1.2.2 The questionnaire on the students‟ attitudes towards speaking skills through TBL
Another set of instruments for collecting quantitative data comprised perception and attitudinal questionnaires. The purpose was to how the use of tasks changed the students' attitudes towards speaking English in the classroom and how that attitudinal change enhanced their participation in speaking tasks.
The data for this study was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The questionnaires translated into Vietnamese were delivered to the students at the end of the study. The perception questionnaire consisted of 23 statement items while he attitudinal questionnaire had 22 items. These items were designed on a five-point Likert scale and were assessed with values ranging from 1 to 5. The mean scores and standard deviations of the participants on each item were then calculated. The score was Strongly Disagree = 1 point, Disagree = 2 point, Neutral = 3 point, Agree = 4 point and Strongly Agree = 5 point. A mean score of above 3 was interpreted as a positive attitude for the purpose of the perception questionnaire analysis, a mean score of 3 as a neutral attitude and a mean score of below 3 as a negative attitude. The answers to the two open-ended questions were transcribed by the researcher.
In order to investigate the individual attitudes towards the seven tasks, mean values were calculated. The table below shows the high distribution of students‟
responses towards the seven tasks.
The participants seemed to enjoy TBL as they admitted that TBL had helped them to take part in the tasks comfortably. Table 4.4. shows that when examining questionnaire responses to all the three tasks, the participants had a slightly positive mean value, being over 3.07. The table above indicates that most of the participants (88.2%) agreed or strong agreed that the tasks have helped you to improve my
63
pronunciation with the highest mean score (M = 4.4, SD = 0.8). Most of them also agreed that TBL helped them to enjoy learning English, so they liked and wanted to learn by using TBL. Furthermore, the students had a positive attitude toward the idea that they could learn English faster when using TBL more regularly. The second highest mean score is 4.3 with over 70% of the participants believed that TBL materials are meaningful and purposeful based on the real-world context (SD
= 0.8) and pursues the development of integrated skills in the classroom (SD = 0.9) when the tasks have helped them to improve your fluency (SD = 0.7) and have helped them to improve my ability to structure your discourse (SD = 0.6).
Table 4.4. Students‟ highest perception of TBL
Q. Statements MEA
N SD
2 (%
) 3 (%)
4 (%
) 5 (%)
21 The tasks had helped me to improve my
pronunciation. 4.4 0.8 2.3 9.3 37 51.2
1 TBL helped me to enjoy learning English. I liked and wanted to learn by using TBL.
4.3 0.8 0 18.6 35 46.5
2 I believed that I could learn English
faster when I used it more often. 4.3 0.9 0 27.9 19 53.5 10 TBL materials were meaningful and
purposeful based on the real-world context.
4.3 0.7 0 9.3 47 44.2
11 TBL pursued the development of
integrated skills in the classroom. 4.3 0.8 0 18.6 35 46.5 16 The tasks had helped me to improve my
fluency. 4.3 0.7 2.3 9.3 44 44.2
20 The tasks had helped me to improve my
ability to structure my discourse. 4.3 0.6 0 9.3 53 37.2
As can be seen from Table 4.4., only one student (2.3%) had a negative attitude towards the statements 21 and 16. A few students had a neutral attitude towards the statements above.
64
From the table 4.5., we can see that statements 14, 19 and 23 had the same average scores of 4.2 through which the participants thought the tasks have helped them to learn about your strengths as a speaker of English and to improve their self- confidence speaking English when TBL helps them to learn English better.
However, one student (2.3%) disagreed with that the tasks had helped them to learn about my strengths as a speaker of English. Having a little lower scores, statements 4 and 18 show the students‟ belief of that TBL primarily focus on meaning and the tasks have helped them to improve vocabulary with the mean score of 4.1. The two statements also received the disagreement from the student (2.3%).
Table 4.5. Students‟ high perception of TBL
Q. Statements MEAN SD 2
(%) 3 (%)
4 (%)
5 (%)
14 The tasks had helped me to learn about
my strengths as a speaker of English. 4.2 0.7 2.3 9.3 51 37.2 19 The tasks had helped me to improve my
self-confidence in speaking English. 4.2 0.9 0 27.9 26 46.5 23 TBL helped me to learn English better. 4.2 0.6 0 7 63 30.2
4 TBL involved a primary focus on
meaning. 4.1 0.8 2.3 18.6 47 32.6
18 The tasks had helped me to improve my
vocabulary. 4.1 0.9 2.3 25.6 28 44.2
3 The tasks gave me more chances to
practice English. 4 0.6 0 16.3 65 18.6
6 A task was any activity in which English
is used by the learner. 4 0.6 0 18.6 60 20.9
8 TBL activated learners' needs and
interests. 4 0.8 0 25.6 44 30.2
9 TBL provided a relaxed atmosphere to
promote target language use. 4 0.7 0 25.6 49 25.6 13 The tasks had improved my
understanding of the aspects involved in speaking English as a foreign language.
4 0.8 4.7 18.6 51 25.6
65
The five statements 3, 6, 8, 9, 13 (M = 4) had positive results that over 70%
of the participants highly acknowledged that tasks gave them more chances to practice English and helped learners to use English (SD = 0.6) when TBL activates learners' needs and interests (SD = 0.8) and provides a relaxed atmosphere to promote target language use (SD = 0.7). Moreover, they perceived that the tasks had improved their understanding of the aspects involved in speaking English as a foreign language (SD = 0.8). However, 7% of the students did not agree that the tasks had improved their understanding of the aspects involved in speaking English as a foreign language.
Table 4.6. Students‟ slightly more neutral perception of TBL
Q. Statements MEAN SD 2
(%) 3 (%)
4 (%)
5 (%)
5 A task had a clearly defined outcome. 3.9 0.7 0 27.9 53 18.6
12
TBL did not put much psychological
burden on the teacher as a facilitator. 3.9 0.9 2.3 37.2 33 27.9 15
The tasks helped me to learn about my
weaknesses as a speaker of English. 3.9 0.7 0 27.9 53 18.6 17 The tasks had helped me to improve my
grammatical accuracy. 3.9 0.5 0 16.3 74 9.3
22 TBL encouraged me to speak. 3.8 0.6 0 27.9 63 9.3
7
TBL was based on the student-centered
instructional approach. 3.7 0.6 2.3 27.9 63 7
From Table 4.6., we can see that statements 5, 12, 15 and 17 had the average scores of 3.9, which indicates that the participants had positive perceptions about TBL in which most of them agreed or strongly agreed that a task had a clearly defined outcome (SD = 0.7) and TBL did not put much psychological burden on the teacher as a facilitator (SD = 0.9). Furthermore, they showed that the tasks had helped them to learn about their weaknesses as a speaker of English (SD = 0.7) and improve their grammatical accuracy (SD = 0.5) while TBL based on the student- centered instructional approach (M = 3.8, SD = 0.6) encouraged them to speak (M =
66
3.7, SD = 0.6), which were the two lowest mean scores. 2.3% of the students disagreed that TBL did not put much psychological burden on the teacher as a facilitator and TBL was based on the student-centered instructional approach.
16.3%-37.2 % had neutral attitudes towards these 6 statements.
In general, students responded to the three tasks positively. These tasks were viewed as the most interesting and appealing task for the students based on their questionnaires. Through TBL, students responded in a positive way. The problem- solving tasks, listing ones and giving personal experience tasks were believed to help learners create their own reports. The results of the perception questionnaire were also analyzed in terms of some of the discrete item responses in the questionnaire.
The participants had changed their attitudes towards English speaking skills in the classroom. Instead of avoiding them, the students were eager to participate in the speaking lessons and use English more and more.
As can be seen from Table 4.7. below, statements 38, 43, and 45 were responded positively as 88.5% or higher of the participants believed that TBL helped them to learn how to study in a group, which encouraged them to be willing to exchange ideas with their classmates in the group discussion. That resulted in improving their communication skills through group discussion and result presentation thanks to TBL. The three questions had the highest average scores, namely, 4.7 (SD = 0.6), 4.6 (SD = 0.7) and 4.5 (SD = 0.8) respectively. A few students (2.3-9.3%) had a neutral attitude while only 2.3% of the participant had a negative one.
From Table 4.7., statements 24, 25, 31, 33, 36, 37, 40, 41 indicate that over 80% of the participants had positive attitudes towards learning speaking skills through TBL (M = 4.4, SD = 0.6-0.8). They believed that the tasks excited their curiosity and were interesting themselves, which aroused their imagination.
Although the task-based speaking lessons were quite challenging, the participants enjoyed them as they were more motivated by the tasks which connected to real life
67
situation than the activities in the book. Therefore, they were eager to speak English in the classroom.
Table 4.7. Students‟ highly positive attitudes towards task-based speaking lessons
Q. Statements MEAN SD 2
(%) 3 (%)
4 (%)
5 (%)
38 TBL helped me learn how to study in a
group. 4.7 0.6 2.3 2.3 19 76.7
43 I was willing to exchange ideas with
my classmates in the group discussion. 4.6 0.7 2.3 4.7 21 72.1 45 I had improved my communication
skills through group discussion and result presentation.
4.5 0.8 2.3 9.3 28 60.5
24 The tasks excited my curiosity. 4.4 0.6 2.3 0 56 41.9
25 The tasks were interesting in
themselves. 4.4 0.7 0 9.3 44 46.5
31 This task aroused my imagination. 4.4 0.7 2.3 4.7 42 51.2
33 I prefer TBL to normal lectures. 4.4 0.8 2.3 9.3 35 53.5
36 TBL challenged me to give my best. 4.4 0.7 2.3 2.3 51 44.2
37 TBL had a positive impact on my
learning. 4.4 0.8 2.3 14 26 58.1
40 I was more motivated by the tasks which connected to real life situation than the activities in the book.
4.4 0.7 2.3 2.3 47 48.8
41 I was more willing to speak English. 4.4 0.7 0 9.3 37 53.5
Additionally, they prefer TBL to normal lectures because TBL challenged them to do their best and had a positive impact on their learning. The statements 25 and 41 had no negative responses. Moreover, the other statements had few negative responses (2.3%). The statements had the most neutral responses with 14%.
The participants in the study also had high positive attitudes towards what had happened in the task-based lessons. From Table 4.8 below, statements 26, 29 and 44 have the average score of 4.3 (SD = 0.6-0.8) while question 30 has the mean score of 4.2. The four questions were responded positively as most of the participants felt
68
that they had no control over what was happening during the task. When doing this task, they were totally absorbed in what they were doing. Moreover, they could learn things while trying to finish tasks and make a decision about how to study to complete the task.
Table 4.8. Students‟ positive attitudes toward task-based speaking lessons
Q. Statements MEAN SD 2
(%) 3 (%)
4 (%)
5 (%)
26 I felt that I had no control over what
was happening during the tasks. 4.3 0.7 4.7 0 53 41.9 29 When doing the tasks, I was totally
absorbed in what I was doing. 4.3 0.8 4.7 4.7 44 46.5 44 I could learn things while trying to
finish the tasks. 4.3 0.7 2.3 4.7 58 34.9
30 During the tasks, I could make a decision about how to study to complete the tasks.
4.2 0.6 0 9.3 65 25.6
27 When doing the tasks, I was aware of
distractions. 4.1 0.8 4.7 9.3 56 30.2
28 The tasks allowed me to control what I
was doing. 4.1 0.8 7 4.7 63 25.6
34 TBL strategy motivated me to study
hard. 4.1 0.6 0 9.3 67 23.3
35 I look forward to learn again in a TBL
course. 4.1 0.8 4.7 9.3 53 32.6
39 I would prefer to be in a mixed gender
TBL team. 4.1 0.9 4.7 18.6 37 39.5
42 I always participated actively in the in-
class tasks. 4.1 0.7 2.3 11.6 60 25.6
32
The tasks helped me to extend myself. 4 0.7 2.3 18.6 58 20.9
Only 2.3-4.7% of the students responded negatively to these statements. A few of them gave neutral responses to the statements 29, 44, 30. The statement had no neutral ones. Table 4.8. shows that statements 27, 28, 34, 35, 39 and 42 got the same
69
mean score of 4.1 with the standard deviation varieties of 0.6-0.9 while the items 32 got the lowest average score of 4. That means that these questions were positively responded in terms of particular questionnaire items. As can be seen from the table above, it should be also noted that there were a few negative responses (2.3-7%) for the questionnaire items. When doing this task, the students were aware of distractions, and the tasks allowed them to control what they were doing. Moreover, over 85% of the students agreed or strongly agreed that TBL motivated them to study hard, so they look forward to learn again in a TBL course. Learning English speaking skills, they would prefer to be in a mixed gender TBL team as they always participated actively in the in-class tasks. The participants realized that the tasks helped extend themselves in terms of language use. 18% or below of the students had neutral responses to the items. Only one or two students did not agree with these items except from item 34 as 90.3% of the participant had positive or highly positive responses to this item.
In general, most of the participants expressed highly positive attitudes as the average mean scores for all the twenty-two statements were really high (from 4.0 to 4.7). Few of the students have negative responses to some statement. The mean score of the negative responses were from 0.6 to 0.9 (accounting for 2.3-4.7%).
Open-ended questions
Letters from A to H were given to identify the sample students chosen by the researcher in order not to reveal their identities. In this type of study, it could be embarrassing if the researcher indicated the names of the participants. The open- ended questions were answered in Vietnamese, so the researcher had to translate them into English. All of the participants gave the answers to the two questions openly and truly as they knew that what they expressed in the questionnaire would be useful for them to learn English later. They did their best to share opinions with the hope that they would learn language skills with the most suitable methods.
Item 46. Do you prefer the traditional language teaching method or the Task-Based Learning which emphasizes meaning and interaction? Why?
70
The results from the students‟ open-ended questionnaires show that 35 out of 43 students preferred TBL to the traditional language teaching and learning methods since the students found the process of learning English through tasks was fun and interesting. They admitted that the task-based speaking lessons positively affected their motivation and attitudes in English learning. The following transcripts are extracted as examples:
Student A: I prefer TBL to the traditional language teaching method because the task-based speaking lesson especially encouraged us to speak English. As a result, I found that my English speaking skills were enhanced. I had a lot of knowledge related to the tasks. Additionally, my vocabulary increased more than before as I learned from others in my groups as well as the representative of the other groups.
Student B: I felt relaxed in English learning in this way and share my opinions freely without any worries when I learned English speaking skills through TBL. I used English to speak to my classmates more regularly than before and I found that TBL made me more confident in learning English. I found the tasks were very interesting and relevant to my daily life. I could say that the tasks motivated me a lot in my English learning.
Student C: I prefer to learn English speaking lessons through TBL because the speaking lessons through TBL were very interesting and practical. I particularly like learning something practical. Therefore, after the task-based speaking periods, I felt entirely happy and comfortable. We had been given many opportunities to use our imagination and develop our own potentials.
Student D: To be honest, this is the first time I knew that English could be learnt in this way by various tasks. Through TBL, I had more opportunities to practise my oral ability than before. I was required to cooperate in groups and report in front of the class in the TBL lessons. As a result, my speaking skills have been developed dramatically. I have found that tasks can stimulate my enthusiasm for learning more than other methods.