VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DESIGNING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ASSOCIATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH AT USSH A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERETURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Submitted by TRẦN THỊ THANH TRÚC Supervised by NGUYỄN TIẾN HÙNG, Ph.D Hochiminh City, May 2011 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “DESIGNING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF ASSOCIATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH AT USSH” is my own work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any degree or diploma in any other institutions. Hochiminh City, 5th May, 2011 Tran Thi Thanh Truc i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that, Tran Thi Thanh Truc, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library. By submitting this thesis for purposes of study and research I agree that my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for care and loan. Hochiminh City, 5th May, 2011 Tran Thi Thanh Truc ii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to convey my warmest appreciation and deep gratitude to the following: My thesis supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Tien Hung for his valuable assistance over the period of carrying out the research and writing this thesis. Without his constant guidance, I could not have completed my thesis. All the teaching staff of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City for enabling me to do this in-depth study d u r in g th e gra du a te ye a rs and for the grounding they gave me during my undergraduate years respectively. All teaching staff and students of the Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City who all have enthusiastically helped me accomplish this thesis.
My family and my friends for their moral support and encouragement that gave me the strength to pursue nothing but success. They have made a great contribution to the completion of my thesis. iii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the features of designing communicative tasks to teach speakin g s kills fo r u nive rsity students. The focus of my thesis is to work out underlying principles in task-based language teaching and learning for modifying communicative speaking activities as well as ways of teaching English speaking skill in a communicative way effectively.
This is a case study on first-year students of Associate Program of English in the Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City. The study is motivated by the need that outside Vietnam many researches on task-based learning have been done and the achievements are great. However, few Vietnamese researchers have done the job of designing communicative tasks for college English classes up to now. This thesis discusses the main aspects of designing communicative tasks to foster the college students’ communicative competence.
The analysis of communication tasks in th is thes is is of crucial significance for syllabus design, course design and pedagogic task design for task-based language teaching. Survey questionnaires for both teachers and students were designed. The questionnaire for teachers was delivered to Vietnamese teachers of English at USSH to investigate their current ways of teaching English speaking skill and how much they apply task-based language to teach speaking skills in a communicative way. The questionnaire for students was delivered to the two groups, controlled and experimental, to probe their different perceptions of and reactions to the two ways of teaching speaking skill during the experimental time.
iv In the experiment, 75 students were divided into two groups of equal ability. They were trained for 9 weeks in the first semester of the school year 2009-2010. In the controlled group, students were instructed to practise ready-designed speaking activities in the coursebook. In the experimental group, students were asked to conduct newly-modified communicative tasks in which communicative need was created and a number of principles for making an activity communicative and tips for a communicative speaking class were applied.
At the end of the experimental time, a speaking test was carried out to test each student’s speaking skill of the two groups of student subjects to see whether the experimental group was more successful in communication than the other group. The findings showed that students in the experimental group had more positive attitudes toward speaking classes during the experimental time than the other. More students in the second group were successful in making themselves understood than the first one. They talked more and used the target language in a more fluent and natural way than the other.
The results proved that the principles suggested were actually effective in making a speaking task communicative itself, which is a prerequisite for the success of a speaking class. Besides the principles, a number of techniques for teaching the speaking skill communicatively were also proposed. In the last chapter, some conclusions and recommendations for the teachers were also made in order to implement successfully this teaching designing in college English classroom. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship.
i Retention and use of the thesis. iv Tables of content. vi List of tables. ix List of figures.
xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study. The aims of the study. Significance of the research.
The overview of the research. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Defining of ‘task’. Communicative language teaching and task-based teaching.
Syllabus design and task design. Task types and the components of the task-based learning framework.2 The components of the task-based learning framework. Teacher and learner roles. Principles for task-based language teaching, interaction and output.1 Principles for task-based language teaching……………….2 Interaction and output……………………………………….
Research in pedagogic tasks ………………………………………. Tasks, production and second language acquisition/learning……….1Implicit and explicit knowledge ……………………………….2 Language production and implicit and explicit knowledge………………………………………………………. Focused tasks and second language learning …………………….1The purposes of focused tasks …………………………….2 The design of focused tasks …………….3 Implementing focused tasks ….38 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3. Characteristics of subjects.
Data collection procedure. 45 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4. Teachers’ responses to the questionnaires. Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skills.
Teachers’ ways to enhance students’speaking skills. Teachers’ frequency of designing tasks for students to accomplish. The task types that teachers use. Teachers’ ideas on criteria for a good task.
Teachers’ evaluation on students’ performance in language classroom. Teachers’ difficulties in using tasks to teach speaking skills. Students’ responses to the questionnaire and scores of the speaking test.1 Students’ responses to the questionnaire. Students’ perceptions of and reactions to learning speaking skills.
Students’ ideas on doing pair and group work. Students’ activeness in speaking activities. Students’ self-evaluation on their speaking competence. Students’ average talking time in class.
Learners’ difficulties in speaking classes ………. Students’ scores of the speaking test. 65 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. 76 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Information on teachers’ age and gender .2: Information on teachers’ background .3: Students’ background information.1: Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching speaking skills……………….2: Teachers’ ways to enhance students’speaking skills……………….3: Teachers’ frequency of designing tasks for students to accomplish.4: The task types that teachers use…………………………………….5: Teachers’ ideas on criteria for a good task……………………….6: Teachers’ evaluation on students’ performance………………….7: Teachers’ difficulties in using tasks to teach speaking skills……….8: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills……………………61 Table 4.10: Task completion scores.
64 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to learning speaking skills .2: Students’ ideas on doing pair and group work …………………….3: Students’ activeness in speaking activities ……………………….4: Group A’s and group B’s self-evaluation on their speaking competence …………………………………………………………………….5: Students’ average talking time in class .6: Students’ having more time on speaking .A Bachelor of Arts EFL English as a Foreign Language M.A Master of Arts TBL Task-based Learning TBLL&T Task-based Language Learning and Teaching TBT Task-based Teaching TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages USSH University of Social Sciences and Humanities xi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents background to the study, the aims of the research, significance of the thesis as well as the overview of the research. Background to the study The development of communicative language teaching and task-based learning become increasingly problematic to the teachers and learners of English. It should be obvious that the current interest in tasks stems largely from what has been termed “the communicative approach” to language teaching. It has been accepted that language is more than simply a system of rules.
Language is now generally seen as a dynamic resource for the creation of the meaning. In terms of learning, it is generally accepted that we need to distinguish between “learning that” and “knowing how”. In other words, we need to distinguish between knowing various grammatical rules and being able to use the rules effectively and appropriately when communicating. Nowadays English is an important tool for today’s international communication.
One of the most vital objectives of college English teaching, that is, to develop students’ ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking, so that in their future work and social interactions they will be able to exchange information effectively through both spoken and written channels, and at the same time they will be able to enhance their ability to study independently and improve their cultural quality so as to meet the needs of Vietnam’s social development and international exchanges. To meet the significant demand of students and society, cultivating students’ ability to use English in communication is a major goal of English teaching in the Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature of University of Social Sciences and Humanities HCM 1 City. After graduation, most students of our Department will not find a job in which they can use Russian as communicative tool but English. That is why their proficient capacity of English is vital for their success in job.
At Department of Russian Linguistics and Literature students learn English in Associate program within 5 years. In first year, the English coursebook chosen is Lifelines Pre-intermediate by Tom Hutchinson. This coursebook includes 14 Units and students will be used in the first and second semesters within 180 class contact hour (1 class contact hour lasts 50 minutes). All units are begun with grammar from which students learn a grammar point in a short reading task and then practise some exercises.
Next part is vocabulary used in the reading which is extracted for language focus. For speaking and listening , those two skills are designed in one section and activities are intended to promote students’ use of English in different communicative situations. Besides, the language input for practice is carefully prepared so that students could feel more confident in communication. The topics include telling time, making arrangement, telling you life story, telephoning and messages, conversations in clothes shop, restaurant, hotel, etc.
in order to make it easy for students to talk about. However, from the methodological view, communicative need is failed to be created and used in teaching English speaking skill. The possible reason might be that Vietnamese students of English have some common difficulties in acquiring speaking skill because of linguistic deficiencies, shyness and anxiety, worries of making mistakes and losing face, passive learning styles, mother-tongue use, no exposure to English environment, frequent tongue-tied embarrassment. Another difficulty is that Vietnamese teachers of English often have problems in time allocation, class size and so forth.