VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ KĂN The Implementation of Task-based Language Teaching: A Case Study of the Upper- Secondary School (Việc thực hiện phương pháp giảng dạy ngoại ngữ dựa vào các nhiệm vụ được giao: Một điển cứu ở trường Trung học phổ thông) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 M.A course: 18 HANOI, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ KĂN The Implementation of Task-based Language Teaching: A Case Study of the Upper- Secondary School (Việc thực hiện phương pháp giảng dạy ngoại ngữ dựa vào các nhiệm vụ được giao: Một điển cứu ở trường Trung học phổ thông) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Le Van Canh, Ph. D HANOI, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Lists of abbreviations ELT English Language Teaching CLT Communicative Language Teaching TBLT Task-Based Language Teaching TBI Task - Based Instruction PPP Presentation- Practice- Production EFL English as a Foreign Language MOET Ministry of Education and Training T Teacher Ss Students Vs versus iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Table of contents Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………. Rationale for the Study ………. Aims of the Study……………….
Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………………. Methodology of the Study…………. Significance of the Study …………………………………………………………. Organization of the Study………………………………………………………….4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1.
What is Task-Based Language Teaching?.1 Background to Task-Based Language Teaching……………………. Definitions of Task…………………………………………………………. Characteristics of TBLT……………………………………………………. Theoretical Framework of TBLT Implementation………………………….
Review of Issues in the Implementation of TBLT………………………………11 1. Factors Related to Grammar-based Examination…………………………. Socio-cultural Constraints………………………………………………….13 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Inadequately Trained Teachers……………………….
Difficulties Caused by TBLT…………………………………………………15 1. The Fitness of Case Study to the Research Purpose…………………………. Context of the Study…………………………………. New English Curriculum………………………………………………….
Data Collection Procedures………………. Data Analysis Procedure…………………. Summary of the Major Findings………………………………………………. Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………….
Suggestions for Further Studies……………………………………….41 Appendix vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 Part A: Introduction 1. Rationale for the Study With the advent of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in the early 1980s and much emphasis on learners‟ communicative abilities over the last two decades, the term Task-Based Language Teaching came into prevalent use in the field of second language acquisition in terms of developing process-oriented syllabi and designing communicative tasks to promote learners‟ actual language use. In many Asian countries, educational policies and national curricula devised for English Language Teaching (ELT) in the past ten years have adopted communicative and task-based language teaching. National curricula and ministry of education policies in countries including China (Hu, 2005; Zhang, 2007), Taiwan (Sung, 2005), and Hong Kong (Carless, 2007) specify that task-based approaches to teaching English should be used at all levels of the curricula.
In Vietnam, the newly documented English language curriculum was promulgated by Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and institutionalized in 2006. According to MOET, the curriculum adopts two currently popular teaching approaches, i. the learner - centred approach and the communicative approach with a focus on TBLT as the leading methodology. While educational policy in Asia heavily favours TBLT and other communicative, holistic approaches to language teaching, a large body of classroom-based research on current teaching in Asia indicates that these policies have not always been implemented thoroughly or consistently.
Research conducted across East Asian contexts has suggested that curricular policies have had limited overall impact on English language teaching, which remains traditional with an explicit grammar-teaching focus ( Hu, 2005; Carless, 2007; Zhang, 2007) Why is there a gap between government curricular innovations and the practice in actual classrooms? I believe teachers play a key role in the success or failure of a planned innovation, which is shared with Nunan (1989) and Carless (2001), because they are the executive decision makers in the actual setting in which the intended innovation is to be realized- the classroom. It is important that the knowledge and attitudes of teachers regarding the innovation (here TBLT) should be taken into account before, during and after the implementation phase. This LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 means that their opinions need to be reported and their voices heard. While there are some studies on teacher attitudes towards, and beliefs about TBLT (Carless, 2003; Jeon & Hahn, 2006), there has been little research into how teachers implement it in their actual classrooms.
Little research has come to light with regard to English language teachers in Vietnam, apart from a small-scale study carried out by Canh & Barnard (2009). For these reasons, I undertook a case study of an upper-secondary school English teachers‟ understandings of, attitudes towards and implementation of TBLT in Vietnam. Aims of the Study Teachers are frequently required to implement pedagogic innovations developed by external agents who may or may not be familiar with the teachers‟ viewpoints or the specific classroom context in which the innovation is to be implemented. If teachers‟ views are not sufficiently taken account of, the already challenging nature of implementing something new may be exacerbated (Carless, 2003).
Thus, the aim of the paper is to provide an investigation of the beliefs and the understandings of a small number of language teachers and a picture of how the three teachers tried to come to terms with the implementation of a task-based pedagogic innovation and what factors had an impact on the process. Research Questions The paper seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What are teachers‟ understandings of, and attitudes towards TBLT? 2. To what extent do the teachers implement TBLT in their actual classrooms? 3.
What factors impact on the implementation of TBLT? 4. Scope of the Study The study was conducted in a micro setting in Vietnam, focusing on only three teachers at Yen Phong Upper-Secondary School No 1. It is within this minor thesis space that the study is located with exploration of the attitudes, the understandings and the practices of TBLT of a small number of language teachers. Although the data focuses on a small sample of teachers, it seems likely that the findings can still illuminate some issues of the implementation of TBLT that other teachers working in similar contexts may encounter.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methodology of the Study Given the complexity of understanding the ongoing process of realized innovation, the adoption of a qualitative case study approach seemed particularly suitable. Since this approach „enable the development of an understanding of the phenomenon from the teacher‟s view‟ (Carless, 2001, p. 266) This study employed qualitative data collection instruments which included semi-structured interview, class observation (field notes) and post-observation interviews.
The semi-structured interview was conducted with some guided questions. The interviewees were given the guided questions beforehand in the form of a handout for better preparation of ideas and thoughts. The class observation enabled me to investigate what the teachers actually did in the classroom. Field notes were made use of to observe all skills and language focus lessons.
Post-observation interviews were employed to provide triangulated data. They focused on critical issues arising from the observed lessons. Significance of the Study The results of this study are important in the following aspects: First, they partly indicate that curricular policies promoting the use of TBLT at the national level do not automatically translate into the use of TBLT in actual English language classrooms. Second, they highlight the need to bridge the gap between what is intended by teaching innovation designers and what is actually implemented by classroom teachers.
Third, they suggest that teachers in Vietnam need to make further efforts to develop and generate, within task-based approach, classroom techniques appropriate to their conditions. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Organization of the Study The study is organized in three parts. Part A Part A is the introduction which provides a brief overview of the study with more details of the rationale, the aims, the scope, the research methodology, the research questions, the significance of the study as well as the organization of the study.
Part B Part B, the Development, consists of four chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the literature in TBLT. This chapter presents the theoretical background of the thesis which contains four main points: background to TBLT, definitions of Tasks and TBLT, characteristics of TBLT and theoretical frameworks of TBLT implementation Chapter 2 namely methodology, focuses on the fitness of case study to the research purpose, research questions, context of the study (New English curriculum, the case, participants) instruments, data collection procedures, data analysis procedure. Chapter 3 Findings, presents and illustrates my findings from interview and observation data Chapter 4 Discussion, provides an interpretation of the results Part C Part C, the Conclusion, is devoted to summarize major findings and discussion, present pedagogical implications and limitations of the study and provide suggestions for further studies.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 5 Chapter 1: Literature Review There is a wide literature on Task-Based Language Teaching, but as Candlin (2001) observes, there is a lack of empirical research on TBLT in school foreign language contexts. Particularly, how teachers implement the innovation in pedagogy is an important area which does not receive sufficient attention. In this part, I will review the literature on TBLT implementation. Specifically, definitions of tasks and TBLT, characteristics of TBLT and theoretical frameworks of TBLT implementation will be reviewed.
Additionally, the studies carried out to date will be revised to identify issues emerging in the implementation of TBLT which might occur in our own teaching and learning contexts. Due to the limit of a minor thesis paper, only some studies associated with implementing TBLT in Asian contexts are analysed. What is Task-Based Language Teaching? In this section, the background to TBLT, definitions of task and TBLT, the distinction between tasks and exercises and the characteristics of TBLT are presented. Background to Task-Based Language Teaching Task-Based Language Teaching , also called Task-Based Instruction (TBI) which has attracted the attention of second language acquisition researchers, curriculum developers, educationalists, teachers trainers, and language teachers worldwide can be seen as both a refinement of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as well as a reaction to the use of form-focused models such as Presentation- Practice- Production (PPP).
Critics of PPP claim that it fails to meet an essential requirement of CLT, which is to treat language „primarily as a tool for communicating rather than as an object for study or manipulation‟ (Ellis, 2003, p. Thus, TBLT has the substantial implication that language learning is a developmental process promoting communication and social interaction rather than a product acquired by practicing language items, and that learners learn the target language more effectively when they are naturally exposed to meaningful task-based activities. Such a view of language learning led to the development of various task-based approaches in the 1980s (Breen, 1987; Candlin & Murphy, 1987; Nunan, 1989; Prabhu, 1987), and during the 1990s, has developed into a detailed practical framework for the communicative classroom in which LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 learners perform task-based activities through cycles of pre-task preparation, task performance, and post-task feedback through language focus (Skehan, 1996; Willis, 1996). Specifically, Ellis (2003) indicates that TBLT has been re-examined in recent years from different perspectives including oral performance, writing performance, and performance assessment.
Despite the prevalent use of tasks in language pedagogy, some significant challenges behind designing proper task-based syllabi and constructing authentic task-based materials, both of which have been considered crucial factors in determining the effectiveness of TBLT in communicative classrooms, still remain unresolved. In response to these challenges, many second language acquisition researchers are currently moving their attention from conceptualizing tasks to sequencing and implementing tasks based on observation of the practical utilities of TBLT methodology in classroom practice. Defining TBLT TBLT is not a monolithic teaching method, but an adaptable approach to language teaching.