THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES THAN THU THAO THE EFFECT OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING ON WRITING SKILL OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS IN A HIGH SCHOOL M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2021 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES THAN THU THAO THE EFFECT OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING ON WRITING SKILL OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS IN A HIGH SCHOOL M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dang Thi Thanh Huong, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN – 2021 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ THÂN THU THẢO HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC DẠY HỌC GIAO NHIỆM VỤ ĐỐI VỚI KĨ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ (Định hướng ứng dụng) Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Cán bộ hướng dẫn: TS. Đặng Thị Thanh Hương THÁI NGUYÊN – 2021 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this dissertation entitled “The effect of task-based language teaching on writing skill of grade 10 students in a high school” is my own work to the best of my knowledge and it contains no materials written by other people or published in any university or institutions. Other contributions used in this research are acknowledged by mentioning the required references. This is my final thesis and it was approved by my instructor Thai Nguyen, December, 2021 Approved by SUPERVISOR Author‟s signature Dang Thi Thanh Huong, PhD Than Thu Thao i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to my supervisor Dr.
Dang Thi Thanh Huong for her excellent supervision and enthusiastic guidance to help me finalize this thesis. She provided me with valuable experience and suggestions and I really appreciate it. Without her tremendous support through the periods of doing research, I could not accomplish my submission as well as I expected. I would also acknowledge the principals of Binh Yen high school who permitted the research and I am also thankful for all participants who have contributed to my dissertation.
Last but not least, I would like to thank for my family for their inspiration and encouragement in my study. ii ABSTRACT The current study is aimed at investigating effectiveness of using task-based language instructions in teaching writing at a high school in Thai Nguyen province. The study employs a mix method research design (MMR) as the plan for the research with the participation of 92 grade 10 students from Binh Yen high school, Dinh Hoa district. The participants were equally splitted into the control group and experimental group.
The analysis of the data collected from the participants‘ pretests and posttests indicated that TBLT positively influenced learners‘ writing achievement. In addition, it revealed that there was a positive influence of TBLT on learners and teachers‘ attitude towards this method. Key words: Task-based language instruction, effects, traditional writing instruction, cognitive, social constructions iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Willis's (1996:26) model for task-based instruction .17 Table 2: Frequency Table for Nominal Variables .22 Table 3: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the difference between Pre-test and Post-test EG1 .28 Table 4: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the difference between Pre-test and Post-test CG1 .29 Table 5: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the Difference between Post-test EG2 and Post-test CG2 .31 Table 6: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the difference between Post-test EG3 and Post-test CG3 .32 Table 7: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the difference between Pre-test and Post-test EG3 .34 Table 8: Two-Tailed Paired Samples t-Test for the difference between Pre-test and Post-test CG3 .35 Table 9: Students‘ feedback from the Experimental group about TBLT (n = 92) .38 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The means of Pre-test and Post-test EG1 .28 Figure 2: The means of Pre-test and Post-test CG1 .30 Figure 3: The means of Post-test EG2 and Post-test CG2 .31 Figure 4: The means of Post-test EG3 and Post-test CG3 .33 Figure 5: The means of Pre-test and Post-test EG3 .34 Figure 6: The means of Pre-test and Post-test CG3 .36 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation Meaning Ph.D Doctor of Philosophy. TBLT Task-Based Language Teaching MMR Mix method research CG Control Group EG Experimental Group L1 First language L2 Second language FL Foreign language TL Target language vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .ii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vii LIST OF TABLES. iv LIST OF FIGURES.v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background to the study.
Significance of the study. Purposes of the study. Organization of the study.3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. The teaching of writing at schools.
An overview of task-based language teaching. Task-based language teaching versus traditional teaching method. Traditional writing techniques versus TBLT instructions. Task-based language instruction as socio-cognitive approach.
Pedagogical principles for writing teachers in TBLT. The ‗task‘ in the TBLT. Teaching and learning context at Binh Yen high school .20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data collection instruments.
Data analysis procedures .26 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.27 vii CHAPTER 5:CONCLUSIONS. Summary of findings. Limitations of the study. I APPENDIX 1: TBLT LESSON PLANS.
VIII APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONS TO GUIDE THE TEACHER INTERVIEWS. XI APPENDIX 3: ATTITUDINAL QUESTIONNAIRES. XII viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides background information for the study, including information about the current curriculum for teaching English at high schools in Vietnam It also addresses the statement of the problem, the significance and purpose of the study. The last two parts of the chapter articulate research questions and present the organization of the study.
Background to the study In Vietnamese educational settings, English has become the most important foreign language in schools when the Vietnamese national policy was introduced. English as a foreign language (EFL) primary curriculum in which English is taught as a compulsory subject from Grade 3 (Nguyen H.M, 2011) and used as a medium of instruction in higher education (Ly, T. Additionally, English is considered not only a major foreign language, but also an international language by which people can pursue their dreams of material success and privilege outside their home country (Doan, 2014, Bui & Nguyen, 2015). Although English plays dominant role in primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions as well as foreign language centres throughout Vietnam, English competence used by Vietnamese learners still remains a problem, in which writing skill is a concerning issue.
Among the language skills, writing has been considered the most challenge for teachers to teach, as well as to master for language learners. The ability to express one's ideas in writing in a second or foreign language and to do so with reasonable coherence and accuracy is a major achievement; many native speakers of English never truly master this skill. It is common for students in today's educational system to dislike and/or avoid the writing tasks. Many students feel that writing takes too long.
For some, writing is a very laborious task because there are so many sub-components which need to be pulled together. For others, the reason lies in some processing difficulties, such as dyslexia or dysgraphia. Some educators wonder if students no longer enjoy the slower, more refined process of written communication because 1 they spend so much time watching the faster-paced visual modality of television. There are many reasons students avoid writing.
Firstly, students have a hard time getting started and feel overwhelmed by the task, and they need to concentrate to form letters. Some students struggle to organize and use mechanics of writing. Besides, they are slow and inefficient in retrieving the right word(s) to express an idea. They struggle to develop their ideas fluently (poor ideation) and they struggle to keep track of their thoughts while also getting them down on paper.
In addition, some students might feel that the process of writing on paper is slow and tedious. They feel that the paper never turns out the way they want. Some realize that the paper is still sloppy even though substantial time and effort were spent. Some are dyslexic, which causes very poor spelling and interferes with automatic use of writing mechanics.
Almost of the above-mentioned reasons refer to learners themselves. Few of them deal with the roles of teachers or teaching methods that they have been offering by teachers at secondary schools. This study looks at the issue from the perspectives of teaching methods. As a teacher of English at a high school in a remote school in Thai Nguyen province, we notice that the teaching methods need some changes to benefit learners in some ways.
That is the primary reason for me to conduct the present study “The effect of task-based language teaching on writing skill of grade 10 students in a high school”. This research attempts to determine the effectiveness of task-based instructions over the old fashioned teaching methods. Significance of the study The study was significant for several important reasons. Firstly, this research would shed light on the implementation of TBLT in teaching writing to investigate the effectiveness of applying this method for secondary students at Binh Yen high school.
Secondly, it could be an approach for both teachers and students in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning writing which set a better start off for university education. Lastly, this study contribute to the innovation in teaching methods that have been out-of-fashion. Purposes of the study The primary purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness (if any) of the task-based language teaching (TBLT) on the achievement of writing skill compared with traditional teaching instructions such as grammar-translation, the controlled composition approach, the process-approach that have been in use at Binh Yen high school for years. The independent variable was defined as task-based instructions during one school term of teaching writing.
The dependent variable was defined as writing achievement of the controlled group of students. The secondary purpose of the study was to find out some attitudes towards the uses of TBLT instructions from other teachers and students. Research questions From the above-mentioned purpose, the study attempted to answer the following research questions: 1. Is there a statistically significant difference on writing achievement between task-based instructions and traditional teaching instructions? 1.
What are teachers and students’ attitudes towards TBLT instructions? 1. Organization of the study This paper comprises of five chapters: Chapter 1, Introduction, would mention the background, the significance of the study, the purpose statement and the research questions. Chapter 2, Literature review, provides the theoretical background of the TBLT, particularly in teaching writing. The researcher would review previous studies domestically as well as internationally about TBLT.
Chapter 3, Methodology, would present the research design, participants, data collection and analysis which have been used for the current study. Chapter 4, Results and Discussions would be devoted to present the findings of the study, plus some brief discussions of the key findings. Chapter 5, Conclusion and pedagogical application, concludes the study and suggests some application for teaching writing at high schools. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter discusses the literature that relates to the study.
It consists of ten major sections. The first section outlines the reality of teaching writing at schools in Vietnam. The overview of TBLT will be presented in the second part. In the next two sections, the comparison of TBLT and traditional teaching approach will be mentioned in teaching language skills in general and teaching writing in particularly.
The following three sections of the chapter are devoted to definitions of task in TBLT. Some studies related to the applications of TBLT in Vietnam and in the world will be presented. Finally, the context of teaching writing at Binh Yen high school will be displayed. The teaching of writing at schools Research shows that student writing poses specific challenges both for English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a foreign language.