VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ MINH QUÝ APPLICABILITY OF TASK – BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO THE TEACHING CONTEXT IN THAI HOA UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (KHẢ NĂNG ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC NGÔN NGỮ DỰA VÀO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG BỐI CẢNH TRƯỜNG THPT THÁI HÒA) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi, 2013 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ MINH QUÝ APPLICABILITY OF TASK – BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO THE TEACHING CONTEXT IN THAI HOA UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (KHẢ NĂNG ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC NGÔN NGỮ DỰA VÀO NHIỆM VỤ TRONG BỐI CẢNH TRƯỜNG THPT THÁI HÒA) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Nguyễn Việt Hùng, MA Hanoi , 2013 z i CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I certificate that the minor thesis entitled “Applicability of task-based language teaching to the teaching context in Thai Hoa secondary school” is submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own work. This minor thesis or any part of this one has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution.
Hanoi, 28th June, 2013 z ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I am most grateful to my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung. MA for his continual support, encouragement, guidance and ideas. Without his tireless support, this thesis could not have been completed.
Secondly, I would like to express my great gratitude to all the teachers and students at Thai Hoa secondary school for their participation and cooperation during the data collection process. Thirdly, it is my pleasure to acknowledge my friends, especially Bui Van Hau, , from whom I have received a lot of help, support and encouragement. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my family whose support has been of great significance to the success of my thesis. z iii ABSTRACT Recently task-based language teaching (TBLT) evolving from communicative language instruction has drawn the attention of many researchers towards itself.
To date, there have not had many studies on applicability of TBLT in a particular context. This study has intended to explore the attitudes of students‟ towards TBLT. It also seeks the understanding of teachers‟ of TBLT. A sample of five teachers and three hundred students participated in this study.
A questionnaire was used to examine students‟ attitudes towards the friendliness of theoretical issues of TBLT. Then, interviews and observations are employed to find out how teachers understand and implement task-based language learning in their classroom. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of the study showed that while students in general had positive attitudes towards TBLT, teachers lacked conceptualizations of TBLT and their teaching practice did not match TBLT model.
Therefore, these findings led to the conclusion that it is impossible to apply TBLT to the teaching context in THSS successfully. Finally, suggestions were made in order to solve those problems mentioned above: teachers should attend seminars on ELT; they should train themselves through books and articles; there should have had competitions for both teachers and students to enhance teaching and learning English. z iv LIST OF APPENDICES A. QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS B.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS C. QUANTITATIVE STATISTICAL DATA E. INTERVIEW DATA z v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table 1. Willis and Skehan‟s views of principles of TBLT Table 2.
Ellis and Nunan‟s views of principles of TBLT Table 3. Teachers‟ background information Table 4. Students‟ background information Table 5. Summary of Statistical Models Table 6.
Unreliable Items that need being left out the analysis Table 7. Correlation between domains in the whole questionnaire Table 8. Reliability of each domain in the questionnaire Table 9. Factor Analysis of domains in the Questionnaire Table 10.
Factor Analysis of Students‟ attitudes towards TBLT Table 11. Descriptive statistics of domains and the whole questionnaire Table 12. Frequency and Percentage of Students‟ Attitude towards domains and TBLT Table 13. Descriptive statistics of Items with unconfirmative answers Table 14.
Descriptive statistics of Items with highly confirmative answers Descriptive statistics of each item/question in Attitude towards Principles of Table 15. Teaching domain Table 16. Descriptive statistics of the items in Attitude towards Features of Teaching Table 17. Descriptive statistics of the items in Attitude towards Stages of Teaching Descriptive statistics of the items in Attitude towards Techniques of Table 18.
Summary of Mean difference of domains between groups according to age Summary of T-Test Values of Mean difference of domains between Table 20. groups according to age Table 21. Summary of Mean difference of domains between groups according to sex Summary of T-Test Values of Mean difference of domains between groups Table 22. according to sex Mean difference in Attitude towards Task-Based Language Teaching Table 23.
according to Economic condition Multi linear regression analysis of Attitude towards Task-Based Language Table 24. Coefficients of multi linear regression analysis of Attitude towards Task- z vi Based Language Teaching Model Summary of multi linear regression analysis of Attitude towards Table 26. Stages of Teaching ANOVA table of multivariable linear regression analysis of Attitude towards Table 27. Stages of Teaching Table 28.
Teachers‟ conceptualizations of TBLT Table 29. Pros and Cons of Task-based language teaching Table 30. Factors affecting the TBLT implementation Table 31. Summary of teachers‟ classroom practice Summary of the results in the questionnaire, semi-structured Table 32.
interview, and classroom observation. TBL Framework by Willis Figure 2. Attitude towards Task - Based Language Teaching z vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS THSS Thai Hoa Secondary School TBL Task-Based Learning TBLT Task-Based Language Teaching MOET Ministry of Education and Training CLT Communicative Language Teaching TEFL Teaching English as Foreign Language FL Foreign Language L2 Second Language DT Definition of Task ET Examples of Task TBLTM Task - Based Language Teaching Model TGTBLT Teaching Grammar in Task – Based Language Teaching TBLT vs Task – Based Language Teaching versus Other Teaching Methods OTM T Teachers S Students LC Local Culture F Facilities LE Local Economy z viii TABLE OF CONTENT CANDIDATE’S STATEMENTS……………………………………………. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………… iv LIST OF APPENDICES……………………………………………………… vii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………. viii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………… ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………… x PART A. Aim and objectives of the study…………………………………………… 1 1. Scope of the study………………………………………………………….
Significance of the study…………………………………………………… 2 1. Method of the study………………………………………………………. Design of the study…………………………………………………………. Theoretical background of TBLT………………………………………… 4 1.
The learning theory………………………………………………… 4 1. Input and learning interactionist theory…………………………… 5 1. Communicative language teaching………………………………… 7 1. Research on communicative tasks………………………………….
Task-based language teaching……………………………………………… 9 1.1 Definition of a task…………………………………………………. Teacher‟s roles in TBLT…………………………………………… 12 1. Some problems in implementing TBLT in Asian context…………. Principles of TBLT………………………………………………… 17 1.
Features of TBLT…………………………………………………. Stages of TBLT……………………………………………………. Techniques of TBLT………………………………………………. The fitness of research method…………………………………………….
Context of the study………………………………………………………… 23 2. The setting of the study……………………………………………. Data collection instruments………………………………………………… 25 2. Data collection procedure…………………………………………………… 26 2.
Reliability and validity of the research……………………………………. DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS……………………………….1 Students’ attitudes towards theoretical issues of TBLT…………………… 31 3. Students‟ attitudes towards TBLT…………………………………. Students‟ attitudes towards each domain of TBLT………………….
Difference of Students‟ attitudes towards theoretical issues of TBLT in 39 groups 3. Main factors which affect students‟ attitudes towards TBLT………. Findings from semi-structured interviews and classroom observations 46 z x 3. Teachers‟ conceptualizations of task-based language teaching 48 3.
Advantages and disadvantages of TBLT……………………………. Factors affecting the TBLT implementation………………………. Teachers‟ practice in language classrooms…………………….3 Matches and Mismatches……………………………………………………. Summary of the major points of the study ………………………………… 54 1.
Limitations and suggestions for further research…………………………. I z xi z 1 Part A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Task-based teaching is an Anglo-American invention (Ellis, 2003) designed mainly for adult intermediate learners. It opens new potential orientations and hopes to the EFL learners and teachers in some aspects of learning and teaching.
The task-based language syllabus, unlike other linguistic and structural syllabuses, takes learners‟ needs into account. Bygate (1999) indicates how one can use tasks systematically as a context to develop learners‟ knowledge about language, their ability to use it, and the teachers‟ ability to teach it. He asserts that tasks are needed to improve learners‟ fluency, accuracy, and complexity in communication. Due to many benefits of TBLT, the set of textbooks for secondary schools was passed by MOET in 2006 in which communicative learner-centred approaches and task-based language teaching are adopted.
Students can participate in activities through individual, pair, and group work, and they can interact with each other „actively, creatively and cooperatively‟ (Van et al, 2006, p. Along the line with the innovative trend, departments of education and training in provinces and cities have declared that lower and upper secondary schools need follow the communicative approach and TBLT suggested by authors of textbooks and MOET. In order to put this policy into pratice, it is necessary to have many researches about the applicability of TBLT in different contexts. Thus, the question “Is Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) applicable the teaching context in Thai Hoa secondary school?” is worth being investigated before any decisions of TBLT implementation.
The applicability of a teaching method into a specific teaching context is feasible in case three major factors are met: (1) There exist the textbooks or teaching materials friendly to that teaching method; (2) students have positive attitudes towards features of that method; and (3) teachers are aware of that teaching method. The first factor is met because the textbooks of English for secondary schools are declared to adopt TBLT (Van, 2011, pp. Therefore, in order to decide whether the two other factors are met or not, the research has to investigate students‟ attitudes towards theoretical issues of TBLT and the teachers‟ perception of TBLT in Thai Hoa Secondary school. Aim and Objectives of the study The main aim of the study is to find out how applicable task-based language learning (TBLL) is in the teaching context of Thai Hoa Secondary School (THSS); this aim is subdivided into following objectives to be easier to manage: z 2 To get investigate students‟ attitudes towards the friendliness of theoretical issues of TBLT by a survey questionnaire.
To find out how teachers understand and implement task-based language learning in their classroom by case studies in which interviews and observations are employed. Research questions In order to meet the objective of the study, the following research questions are raised: 1. What are students‟ attitudes towards theoretical issues of task-based language learning? 2. What are teachers‟ perceptions of task-based language learning? 1.
Scope of the study In order to find out the applicability of TBLT in the teaching context of Thai Hoa secondary school, the study is only focused the attitudes of students‟ towards TBLT and the understanding of teachers‟ of TBLT. In addition, the study is only carried out in THSS. Significance of the study The findings of the research will help teachers have a more comprehensible understanding of students‟ attitudes and teacher‟s perceptions towards TBLT. Also, they will know benefits of TBLT but challenges facing them and their students when implementing TBLT.
Finally, some suggestions will be made in order to help them apply TBLT at THSS successfully. Method of the study To achieve the aims of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed and the following steps are involved: Collecting data by survey questionnaires for students Conducting an interview and a class observation with teachers for further information of the study All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the data analysis. This data hoped to confirm and support the results obtained from other sources. Design of the study This study is organized into three main parts as follows: Part A: Introduction This part presents the rationale, the aims and objectives, research questions, scope, significance, method, and design of the study.
Part B: Development This part is divided into 3 chapters.