VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HCM CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES MASTER THESIS ENHANCING LEARNERS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE THROUGH TASK – BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Supervisor: Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn - Ph. Candidate: Nguyễn Thị Mai Hương - 2010 - i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “Enhancing learners’ communicative competence” is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, May 30, 2010 Nguyen Thi Mai Huong ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan, for his explicit guidance and valuable support to the completion of my thesis.
Without his whole-hearted guidance, I could not have finished the thesis. I am also grateful to all of my teachers for valuable and helpful instructions during the three-year Tesol course (2005-2008) I also would like to express my special thanks to the library staff of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities who help me with my research for reference materials. Thanks also sent to my colleagues and my students for their cooperation in giving truly responses to the questionnaire. Finally, my special thanks to my husband and my family for their unfailing support.
iii ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that hinder the effective implementation of TBLT in teaching Business English at VHU context. Due to the limited scope of this paper, the study only focuses on investigating some factors related to three key elements of TBLT implementational process, namely students’ learning needs, learning motivation and attitude toward TBLT, teachers’ perception and attitude toward TBLT and the tasks themselves. To this end, two questionnaires were developed for VHU Business English teachers and students. Also through observation, the researcher tried to describe the features of the communicative tasks in VHU class.
The results of the study revealed a number of problems affecting TBTL practice at VHU. Relating to students’ learning needs, the preferences in learning activities, learning style and strategies, roles in class and the pattern of learners’ interaction of a big number of the respondents have been proven to impact task based instruction in VHU class. Besides, the current teaching practice did not satisfy the learning purpose of a group of the learners that lead to their low motivation. This was further added by their problems with task performance which resulted in negative attitude to TBLT in a number of them.
As for the teachers, the study has found out that a considerable number of teachers still did not have sufficient understanding of it and were skeptical to its merits in enhancing their students’ communicative ability. Finally, certain features of the tasks in VHU class such as: uneven frequency of task types, degree of difficulty, type of input, lack of skill integration also affect students’ task performance significantly. These factors, undeniably, have hindered the effective implementation of TBLT. A number of recommendations were made with the hope to improve the effectiveness of TBLT which, in turn, would enhance VHU learners’ communicative competence.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION .1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .2 THE AIMS OF THE STUDY .5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .6 ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS. 5 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. TASK BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING .1 Theoretical background of TBLT .1 The cognitive theory .2 Input and Interactionist hypothesis .3 Communicative Language Teaching .4 Task based lesson procedures.2 The task cycle .1 Definition of communicative competence .2 Components of Communicative Competence. THE ROLE OF TBLT IN IMPROVING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE.
SOME FACTORS AFFECT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TBLT. 1 Students’ learning needs .2 Students’ learning motivation and attitude toward TBLT .1 Teachers’ perception of TBLT. SOME PREVIOUS STUDIES IN TBLT IMPLEMENTATION .2 Characteristics of the subjects .1 The student subjects .2 The teacher subjects. 44 Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSES AND FINDINGS.
RESPONSES TO STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE. Students’ reasons for learning Business English. Students’ perception of the role of English in their future profession .3 Students’ learning preference in language area .4 Students’ priority in learning language skills .5 Students’ role preferences in the class. Students’ preference of teaching and learning activities.
Students’ preference of learner interaction pattern. Students’ preferred learning styles & strategies. Students’ perception of the usefulness of tasks in improving their communicative ability. Students’ perception of the tasks in their class.
Students’ problems with task performance. RESPONSES TO TEACHERS’ SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE. VHU teachers’ perception of TBLT. VHU teachers’ belief of Business English teaching practice.
VHU teachers’ view of the value of TBLT in Business English classroom. Current implementation of TBLT at VHU. VHU teachers’ problems with the implementation of TBTL in their Business English class.3 THE OBSERVATION RESULTS. Students’ learning needs.
Students’ motivation and attitude. Teachers’ perception of TBLT. Teachers’ attitude toward TBLT. The features of the currently employed tasks.
75 Chapter 5 RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION. Using suitable textbook. Changing assessment method .Training of Teachers. Training of Learners.
Changing the syllabus .6 Analyzing students’ target needs .7 Designing good tasks. 81 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students’ reasons for learning Business English .2 Students’ perception of the role of English in their future job .3 The language areas the students want to improve most .4 Students’ preferences of the teachers’ role in the class .5 Students’ preference of learner interaction pattern .6 Students’ preferences of learning method .7 Students’ preferred learning styles .8 Students’ perception of the usefulness of communicative tasks in their class .9 Students’ perception of the relevance of the tasks in their class for their needs in future job.10 Teachers’ belief of the focus of Business English teaching on language use .11 Teachers’ belief of the relevance of Business English teaching with students’ practical needs .12 Teachers’ belief of the role of real contexts in the classroom .13 Teachers’ views of the value of TBLT in Business English classroom. 66 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The students’ perception of the important language skill .2 Students’ perception of the current tasks in their class .3 Students’ opinion of problems with task performance .4 Teachers’ understanding of TBLT concepts .5 Frequency of using TBLT in the class .6 Frequency of subtasks using in the class .7 The source of tasks teachers use in their teaching .8 Language skills taught through tasks .9 Teachers’ problems with the implementation TBTL. 70 x ABBREVEATIONS EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESP : English for Specific Purpose FLT : Foreign Language Teaching SLA : Second Language acquisition TBLT : Task – Based Language Teaching VHU : Van Hien University CLT : Communicative Language Teaching 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION The study reported in this thesis investigates the factors that prevent TBLT from working well at Van Hien University (hereafter abbreviated as VHU).
It is expected that the outcome of this study will help to improve the effective use of TBLT at VHU which, in turn, will contribute to enhance the students’ communicative competence more successfully.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY In this age of integration and development, the importance of English is gaining more and more momentum in our national life. English communicative competence is now a vital requirement for employment and promotion. At work, people need to handle variety of tasks which require them to use English, such as making a presentation, meeting customers, etc. Hence the lack of communicative competence will affect their efficiency in carrying out their duties.
As for job seekers, to become competitive in the job market, they have to demonstrate possession of adequate communication skills in English to function effectively in their future job. The increasing important role of English in Vietnam has strong implications for Vietnamese students to learn English as an actual means of communication. Hence, to furnish students this international communication medium has become the major goal of many English courses at Vietnamese universities. However, teaching students to become competent communicators in English is still a burning issue in Vietnam.
The reason account for it is that Vietnamese students are limited in their accessibility to use English on daily basis. As a result, providing them with real opportunities to be exposed to language use in classroom is essential. Task Based Language 2 Teaching (hereafter abbreviated as TBLT) is assumed to be the approach which can deal most satisfactorily with this requirement. Being an offshoot of Communicative Language Teaching, TBLT has gained popularity worldwide for its merits in promoting learners’ communicative competence.
Taking the idea that people need to use language to perform different tasks in both their social life and professional life, communicative tasks are employed as the basis unit of this approach. According to Nunan (1999: 24), TBLT cultivates learners’ communicative competence by providing them opportunities to experiment with and explore both spoken and written language through learning activities which are designed to engage them in the authentic, practical and functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Unequivocally, by applying their language skills and knowledge to carry out different tasks in the classroom, students are able to acquire English naturally. Because of its obvious advantages, TBLT has been introduced into Business English classes at VHU with an aim to promote the students’ communicative skills.
It is undeniable that with the adoption of TBLT, the teaching and learning at VHU have achieved some encouraging progress. However, just like in many other contexts, this innovation in pedagogy at VHU is not without problems. Many teachers and students complained that they have experienced a lot of difficulty with TBLT. Consequently, the goal of developing the learners’ communicative skills has not been satisfactorily achieved.
How to make most of TBLT in order to better facilitate learners’ communicative competence? I think it is necessary to examine major problems affecting the application of this approach in VHU Business English classes. The results will help to find out ways to promote the effectiveness of TBLT in developing VHU Business English learners’ communicative competence. Although the research is done at VHU, the author of this paper believe that its results will benefit 3 many researchers and teachers who are involved in the implementation of TBLT in a variety of contexts.2 THE AIMS OF THE STUDY The aims of this study are: 1. To identify factors affecting the implementation of TBLT in VHU Business English classes.
To give recommendations to promote the effective implementation of TBLT in order to enhance students’ communicative competence accordingly. For the purposes of the study, the investigation will be based on (1) the researchers’ practical experiences in teaching Business English at VHU; (2) the review of documents relating to TBLT and Communicative Competence; (3) two questionnaires administered to Business English teachers and Business English students to find out the students’ learning needs, students’ learning motivation and attitude toward TBLT, teachers’ perception and attitude to TBLT; (4) the observation of the practice of TBLT in different Business English classes at VHU.3 LIMITATIONS Through investigating the factors impacting the implementation of TBLT in VHU Business English classes, the present study is expected to look for ways to foster the effectiveness of TBLT in the targeted context in order to develop the learners’ communicative competence more successfully. Although there are a great variety of factors that affect the implementation of TBLT in English classes, due to the limited time, this study mainly focuses on discussing 5 main issues: students’ learning needs, students’ learning motivation and attitude toward TBLT, teachers’ perception of TBLT, teachers’ attitude toward TBLT 4 and the features of the communicative tasks conducted in VHU Business English classes. What is more, the scope of this paper also hinders the author’s effort to go further into examining how to implement TBLT at VHU to enhance different components of communicative competence.