MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN VIỆT SỬ

ENHANCING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS‟ ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH TASK-BASED LEARNING

MASTER‟S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghệ An, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN VIỆT SỬ

ENHANCING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS‟ ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH TASK-BASED LEARNING

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER‟S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR:
Lê Văn Canh, Assoc. Prof., Ph.D.

Nghệ An, 2017

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby acknowledge that this study entitled “Enhancing High School
students‟ English Speaking Skills through Task-Based Learning” is my own
work. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission,
and have not been published elsewhere.

Author

Nguyen Viet Su

i


ABSTRACT

The main objective of the study was to investigate how the use of tasks
changed Vinh Thanh high school students' attitudes towards speaking English in the
classroom and how that attitudinal change enhanced their participation in speaking
tasks based on students‟ new textbook (Tieng Anh 11 – Volume II) that is currently
in use with the tasks designed in light of current theories of communicative tasks.
To achieve the aims of the study, experimental class data were gathered
through questionnaires, oral tests, students‟ diaries and the researcher‟s teaching
journals. The speaking pre- and post-tests were administered to class 11A9
(academic year of 2016-2017) comprising 43 students. The students‟ diaries and the
teaching journals were written to reflect how the tasks were being implemented. In
addition, in order to see the attitudes of students about the speaking tasks, the
attitudinal questionnaires before and after the study were also used as instruments.
Data from the speaking pre- and post-tests and questionnaires were analyzed
quantitatively while qualitative data of the students‟ diaries and the teaching

journals were also discussed.
The study demonstrated that students‟ general perceptions of task-based
instruction were positive, and the questionnaire results demonstrated that students
had positive reactions to the treatment tasks and found these helpful in developing
their speaking skills. The results of the study showed that the use of tasks had
positively changed the students' attitudes towards speaking English in the
classroom. As a result, that attitudinal change enhanced their participation in
speaking tasks. It could be concluded that there were positive effects of Task-Based
Learning on high school students.
From the findings, some implications for teaching speaking skills were
proposed. Limitations of the study were pointed out and further research was
suggested.
Key words: Tasks, Task-Based Learning, Speaking
ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and for most, I would love to thank my Lord God for his priceless favors
in my life.
Moreover, I would like to extend my gratitude to my dear supervisor, Assoc.
Prof., Ph.D. Lê Văn Canh, who directly gave me precious advice and encouraged
me in this study. I am truly grateful to him for his professional advice, invaluable
support and guidance he offered to help me to carry out the study.
My personal thanks are also due to all administrators and colleagues in Vinh
Thanh high school for helping me to distribute the questionnaires and collecting
data for the completion of this study.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the students of class 11A9 at Vinh Thanh
high school for their kind cooperation in order to gather data for my study.
I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to my friends for their

friendship and proofreading in the preparation of my thesis.
Lastly, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my parents and my wife for
being around and helping me to carry on through all my difficulties.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .............................................................................. i
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF CHARTS ...................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION............................................................ 1

1.1. Rationale ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. The aims of the study .................................................................................................. 4
1.3. Research questions ...................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Scope of the study ....................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Design of the thesis ..................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................... 6

2.1. Speaking skills ............................................................................................................ 6

2.1.1. Aspects of speaking skills .................................................................................. 8
2.1.2. Speaking problems ........................................................................................... 10
2.2. Task-based language teaching .................................................................................. 11
2.2.1. Definition of TBLT .......................................................................................... 12
2.2.2. Definition of „Tasks‟ ........................................................................................ 12
2.2.3. Differences between “exercise” and “task” ...................................................... 14
2.2.4. Differences between “activity” and “task” ....................................................... 15
2.2.5. Characteristics of TBLT ................................................................................... 20
2.2.6. Benefits of TBLT ............................................................................................. 23

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2.2.7. Challenges of TBLT ......................................................................................... 26
2.3. Task-based Learning in the classroom ...................................................................... 29
2.3.1. Task-Based Learning Framework .................................................................... 29
2.3.2. Types of Tasks.................................................................................................. 34
2.3.3. Criteria Features of a Task and Process ........................................................... 38
2.4. Attitude and Language Learning .............................................................................. 41
2.4.1. Definition of Attitude and Language Attitude ................................................. 41
2.4.2. Aspects of Language Attitude .......................................................................... 43
2.4.3. Measuring (language) attitudes ........................................................................ 44
2.4.4. The importance of language attitude ................................................................ 45
CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY ........................................................ 49

3.1. Research questions .................................................................................................... 49
3.2. Participants................................................................................................................ 49
3.3. Materials ................................................................................................................... 50

3.4. Procedure .................................................................................................................. 51
CHAPTER 4

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................. 55

4.1. Results ....................................................................................................................... 55
4.1.1. The English speaking Pre- and Post-Test ......................................................... 55
4.1.2. The questionnaire on the students‟ speaking problems and students‟ attitudes
towards speaking skills through TBL ......................................................................... 58
4.1.3. Students‟ diaries and teaching journals ............................................................ 73
4.2. Discussions ............................................................................................................... 80
CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION ............................................................. 83

5.1. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 83
5.2. Pedagogical implications .......................................................................................... 84
5.3. Limitations ................................................................................................................ 85
5.4. Suggestions for further research ............................................................................... 85

v


REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 86
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 95
APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................. 95
APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................. 99
APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................ 103
APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................ 105
APPENDIX E ............................................................................................................ 108

APPENDIX F ............................................................................................................ 109
APPENDIX G............................................................................................................ 115
APPENDIX H............................................................................................................ 117
APPENDIX I ............................................................................................................. 120
APPENDIX J ............................................................................................................. 121
APPENDIX K............................................................................................................ 122
APPENDIX L ............................................................................................................ 124

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. EFL: English as Foreign Language
2. L2: Second Language
3. SLA: Second Language Acquisition
4. TBL: Task-based Learning
5. TBLT: Task-based Language Teaching
6. VTHS: Vinh Thanh High School

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. Distinguishing a Task from Exercise ...................................................... 15
Table 2.2. Tasks that did and did not meet criteria .................................................. 17
Table 2.3. Willis‟ (1996a) Task-Based Learning Framework ................................. 29
Table 2.4. Task types ................................................................................................ 35
Table 2.5. Willis‟ (1996a) Task Types and Their Outcomes .................................... 36
Table 2.6. Ellis‟ (2003) Task Types .......................................................................... 37
Table 2.7. Features of a Task .................................................................................... 39

Table 3.1. The speaking topics of five units and speaking sections ......................... 51
Table 3.2. The speaking task in the speaking pre-test and post-test ......................... 52
Table 4.1. The comparison between the speaking pre- and post-test scores ............ 56
Table 4.2. The comparison between speaking assessment criteria of the pre-test
and post-test scores .................................................................................................. 57
Table 4.3. Problems the students encountered in learning speaking skills ............... 60
Table 4.4. Students‟ highest perception of TBL ..................................................... 63
Table 4.5. Students‟ high perception of TBL ........................................................... 64
Table 4.6. Students‟ slightly more neutral perception of TBL ................................ 65
Table 4.7. Students‟ highly positive attitudes towards task-based speaking lessons 67
Table 4.8. Students‟ positive attitudes toward Task-based speaking lessons .......... 68
Table 4.9. Students‟ interests in 3 types of tasks before and after the treatment. ..... 76

viii


LIST OF CHARTS
Figure 4.1. The factors affecting the students‟ speaking performances. ............. 59
Figure 4.2. The extent to which the students were interested in task types. ........ 61

ix


CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents a general outline of the study, which includes the rationale,
the aims and objectives, research questions, scope and design of the study.
1.1. Rationale

Decision 1400/QĐ-TTg dated 30 September, 2008 of the Prime Minister on
the Approval of the Project entitled “Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in
the National Education System, Period 2008-2020” states that Vietnamese students
are expected to be capable of communicating with others in a foreign language in
the near future. The national English curriculum for Vietnamese students has been
renewed through a series of new textbooks officially approved and adopted in 2006
(Le & Barnard, 2009; MOET, 2010). The new textbooks, according to their authors,
focus on a communicative approach, learner-centeredness and task-based teaching
(Hoang et al., 2015).
Many problems which come from both teachers and learners are raised in
teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). The teaching
methods partly have impact on these problems. Lochana and Deb (2006) state that
most teachers focus mainly on grammatical rules instead of language use when
English is taught. Teaching a language from context and meaning is much more
effective (Ellis, 2003).
Furthermore, learners are believed not to be often provided enough
opportunities by teachers to practice English. In fact, most Vietnamese teachers and
learners frequently use Vietnamese language in English classrooms. Ruso (2007)
claims that English language learners do not like teachers spending most of class
time talking and lecturing. Teaching time causes learners to have limited input to
the learning process, which discourage them to learn English.
Speaking is one of the most important language skills including reading,
speaking, listening and writing in teaching and learning English. The main goal of
teaching and learning speaking skills is to enable English language learners to be
capable of communicating effectively. To do this, learners should be aware of

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avoiding ending wrong messages based on vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Furthermore, they should focus on the social issues and cultural rules when
interacting with others.
Prabhu (1987) noted that the objectives and the means adopted by
Communicative Language Teaching are so unsuitable for the Indian situation and he
proposed experiments with task-based language teaching (TBLT) in a new specific
context. Teachers and researchers has paid a lot of attention to TBLT because tasks
are meaning-focused activities where learners use whatever language resources,
they have to carry out the task to achieve its non-linguistic outcome (Ellis, 2003).
Task-based learning (TBL) is considered to be an effective approach that
fosters a learning environment in which learners are free to choose and use the
target language forms which they think are most likely to achieve the aim of
accomplishing defined communicative goals (Ellis, 2003; Willis, 1996a). Nunan
(1989) claims that tasks should encourage learners to feel the need and strive to
complete the activity communicatively. Through tasks, students are provided with a
„„purpose‟‟ to use the target language (Lee, 2000, p. 30).
Tasks are considered important tools in language teaching and are described
by many researchers as activities that will be completed since they use the target
language communicatively by focusing on meaning to reach an intended outcome
(Bygate, Skehan and Swain, 2002; Lee, 2000; Nunan, 1989; Prabhu, 1987; Richards
& Rodgers, 2001; Skehan, 1996).
Speaking tasks are helpful to fulfill the conditions to practice the target
language communicatively. Through design of communicative tasks in speaking
classes, fluency can be achieved, and accuracy can be promoted through these
pedagogic tasks (Brumfit, 1984). In particular, speaking classrooms are well suited
for TBL, which encourage learners to participate in and achieve their goals actively
and enthusiastically thanks to the cooperation between learners. Learning foreign
languages, especially English language through TBL is thought to have got positive
impacts on learners.

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However, most students at Vinh Thanh high school (VTHS) have admitted
that they do not speak English with confidence. Therefore, they are afraid of
communicating with others in English because when they have few opportunities to
practice speaking English in daily life. They also think that they do not know how
to improve their English speaking skills. Moreover, they seem to avoid participating
in speaking activities and tasks due to the fact that they find it difficult to convey
their ideas and have nothing to say. Their topical knowledge seems poor, and their
mother tongue is likely to be used very often. Dian (2010) points out that there are
some reasons why the students have such difficulties: (1) their lack of vocabulary,
(2) their lack of English grammar, (3) speaking which is not interesting enough to
draw their attention because of the ways the teachers use to teach the students.
TBL has been regarded as an alternative English teaching approach. Oxford
(2006) suggests that task-based teaching and learning offers great resources, i.e.,
language experience in the classroom if EFL teachers explore in their dual roles as
instructors and action researchers. According to Muller (2006), teachers applying
TBL to their classrooms are able to meet institutional requirements and assist the
improvement of communication skills among their students.TBL enables learners to
use the target language naturally in pairs or group work, making them share
opinion, which encourages them to be actively involved in the learning
process. TBL framework, together with tasks and texts, provides learners with rich
exposure to the target language and opportunities to use it themselves. The task
cycle emphasizes learners‟ understanding and expressing meaning to complete tasks
(Nunan, 2004, p. 12).
All the reasons mentioned above encourage the author to conduct the study
entitled “Enhancing high school students‟ English speaking skills through taskbased learning.” Expectantly, the result could serve as a useful source of reference
for those who concern about the subject matter.
This study will explore the effectiveness of certain kinds of tasks on the
development of learners‟ speaking skills.


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1.2. The aims of the study
The study investigates the effects of TBL on high school students‟ speaking
skills and their attitudes in order to enhance their speaking skills inside the
classroom.
To be more specific, the aims of the study are to observe the EFL students‟
abilities in speaking skills; to explore the reality of applying TBL in helping
students to improve speaking skills at the high school; to find out the students‟
attitudes towards practicing TBL in speaking lessons; to evaluate the effectiveness
of the application of TBL in enhancing students‟ English speaking skills, and to
investigate whether TBL stimulates students‟ participation in speaking tasks or not.
1.3. Research questions
The present study strove to answer the following questions:
1. How does the use of tasks affect the students' attitudes towards speaking
English in the classroom?
2. How does that attitudinal change enhance their speaking skills and their
participation in speaking tasks?
1.4. Scope of the study
With the aim of determining the effects of TBL on English speaking skills for
EFL learners, surveys from two questionnaires, speaking tests, students‟ diaries and
the researcher‟s teaching journals were used as the main methods to collect the
needed data from the learners. 43 students of VTHS - a remote school in Vinh
Thanh district, Can Tho City were involved in this study.
1.5. Design of the thesis
This research comprises five chapters as follow.
Chapter 1: Introduction – In this chapter, the rationale of the problem dealing
with the topic, the aims of the study, the research questions and the scope of the

study have been discussed.

4


Chapter 2: Literature review – The relevant literature on speaking pedagogy,
task-based language teaching and learning, tasks and some previous studies related
to the thesis and are reviewed in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Methodology – The third chapter introduces research methodology
of the study. It explains the materials, participants, instruments for data collection,
research procedures and data analysis procedures.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions – This chapter presents the results and
discussions developed after the impacts analyzed.
Chapter 5: Conclusion – This fifth chapter covers the conclusion, pedagogical
implications, limitations of the study and some suggestions for further researches.
Following these chapters are the references and appendices.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This study examines the effectiveness of TBL on the improvement of high
school students‟ speaking skills. An experimental study was conducted to
investigate whether the implementation of TBL in one speaking classroom at Vinh
Thanh high school, Vinh Thanh district, Can Tho city in the academic year of 20162017 improved students‟ speaking competence.
This chapter presents background information on teaching and learning
speaking skills in historical perspective to its current place in TBL. This is followed

by a more detailed discussion of TBL, its goals, tasks and features of tasks, and the
instructional components of TBL. The tasks used for the purpose of this study will
be examined in the context of task descriptions in the literature. The advantages and
drawbacks of TBL will be pointed out. Attitude and language attitude will also be
discussed together with the importance of attitude towards language learning.
2.1. Speaking skills
According to Brown (1994) and Burns & Joyce (1997), speaking is an
interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and
processing information. The form and meaning of speaking depends on the context
in which it takes place. It involves learners in knowing how to build specific points
of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence),
and cognizing when, why and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic
competence) (Cunningham, 1999). Additionally, Nunan (2003) believes that
speaking consists of systematic verbal utterances that are produced and covey
meaning. Moreover, Bygate (1987) mentions that speaking in a second language
(L2) involves the mastery of a specific type of communicative skill.
Speaking is a real communication and a productive skill. Speaking enables
humans to be good at sending and receiving information or messages. Speaking is
one of the four important language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).
One of the most important aspects of everyday communication is that it always
takes place in cultural and social contexts. It is clear that, if students are to develop

6


the competence, they need to use a foreign language easily and effectively in
situations they encounter outside the classroom and have to experience how
language is used as a tool for communication inside the class.
On the matter of importance of speaking, Ur, P. (1991) points out that “of all
four language skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who

know a language are referred as to „speakers‟ of that language, as if speaking
included all other kinds of knowing and many if not most foreign language learners
are primarily interested in learning to speak” (p. 120). Correspondingly, Lazaraton
(2001) adds that most people believe that to be able to converse a language is
parallel with knowing that language because speech is the most primary means of
interpersonal interactions. Levelt (1989) acknowledged three separate processing
stages in speech production: (1) conceptualizing the message, (2) formulating the
language representation, and (3) articulating the message. Skehan (1998a) proposed
three aspects of speaking production: (1) fluency; (2) accuracy and (3) complexity.
Listening and speaking should be paid a lot of attention to because of the fact
that humans know how to communicate with others by listening and speaking
before having the ability of reading and writing. Traditional classroom speaking
practice often takes the form of drills in which one person asks a question and
another gives an answer, while the question and the answer in real situations are
unstructured and unpredictable. Therefore, the purpose of real communication is to
accomplish a task, such as conveying a telephone message, obtaining information,
or expressing an opinion. In real communication, participants must manage
uncertainty about what the other person will say. Authentic communicative tasks
involve an information gap; each participant has information that the other does not
have. In addition, to achieve their purpose, participants may have to clarify their
meaning or ask for confirmation of their own understanding.
Nunan (1992) mentioned another basic distinction when considering the
development of speaking skills: distinguishing between dialogue and monologue.
Giving an uninterrupted oral presentation is quite different from communicating

7


with other speakers for specific purposes. According to Brown (2000), most
language teaching is concerned with developing skills in short, interactional

exchanges in which the learner is only required to make one or two utterances at a
time. Nunan (1998) added that one can apply the bottom-up/top- down distinction to
speaking. The bottom up approach to speaking suggests that speakers start with the
smallest unit of language, namely, individual sounds, and move through mastery of
words and sentences to discourse. The top-down view, on the other hand, suggests
that speakers start with the larger chunks of language, which are embedded in
meaningful contexts, and use their knowledge of these contexts to comprehend and
use correctly the smaller elements of language.
In general, speaking is regarded as one of the prime skills to be mastered. With
the increasing attention on the acquisition of language skills, especially speaking, it
seems important to find and implement techniques and methods which significantly
can help teachers and learners to master this skill. Speaking is likely to be the skill
that displays the language proficiency and competency of the learners. The mastery
of speaking skills is a priority for many second and foreign language learners.
Learners often evaluate their success in language learning of English on the basis
how well their improvement on speaking the language. In genuine communication,
speaking is purpose-driven or it can say that to communicate is to achieve a
particular end.
2.1.1. Aspects of speaking skills
2.1.1.1. Conversational discourse
Brown (2001) asserts that the goals and the procedures for teaching
conversation are extremely diverse, depending on the student, teacher, and overall
context of the class. Recent pedagogical research on teaching conversation has
provided some parameters developing objectives and techniques.
2.1.1.2. Pronunciation
The majority of learners will never acquire an accent-free command of a
foreign language. Therefore, the language programs should emphasize whole

8



language, meaningful contexts, and automaticity of production should focus on
these phonological details of language (Nguyen and Tran, 2015).
2.1.1.3. Accuracy and fluency
Accuracy and fluency are terms characteristic for a successful and effective
conversation. Scrivener (2005, p. 160-162) declares that accuracy is the ability to
speak correctly without making serious mistakes and therefore a greater use of
instant teacher's correction within a speaking activity is appropriate. In contrast,
fluency is the ability to speak confidently without irrelevant pauses or hesitation,
however, often with making major mistakes. In this case, instant correction may be
inappropriate and could interfere with the aims of the speaking activity.
Teachers should be aware of whether their main goal in a speaking activity is
accuracy or fluency and adapt their role in class eligibly. If the main aim is to get
students to speak, then one way to achieve that would be reducing teacher´s
contribution. It is supposed that the less he or she speaks, the more time and space it
will allow the students to. If the main aim is accuracy, the teacher should
concentrate on students´ mistakes and devote time to their correction.
However important speaking without mistakes is a promoted trend at present
seems to be to lead students to a fluent conversation in everyday situations. Taking
this into consideration, this approach best fits the needs of today´s society which is
based on fast exchanges of information. Nevertheless, it would be unwise to qualify
accuracy as less important in communication and underestimate its importance. It is
also essential for the ability to speak a foreign language well. While fluency may be
an initial goal in many communicative language courses, accuracy is achieved to
some extent by allowing students to focus on elements of phonology, grammar, and
discourse in their spoken output.
2.1.1.4. Affective factors
One of the major obstacles learners have to overcome in learning to speak is
the anxiety generated by the risk of blurting things out that are wrong, or
incomprehensible. Because of the language ego that informs people that "you are


9


what you speak," learners are reluctant to be judged by listeners. Krashen (1985)
states that a variety of affective variables has been confirmed to be related to the
success in second language acquisition in research over the last decade but most of
those studies examined the three categories: motivation, self-confidence and
anxiety.
2.1.1.5. The interaction effect
As Nunan (1998) notes, conversations are collaborative, which presents a
further complication in interactive discourse. He calls this the interlocutor effect or
the difficulty of a speaking task as measured by the skills of one's interlocutor. In
other words, one learners‟ performance is always colored by that person he or she is
talking to. In fact, every speaker plays the role of both a listener and a speaker.
Therefore, one is certainly unable to respond if he/ she cannot understand what is
said.
2.1.1.6. Performance conditions
According to Nation & Newton (2009) in Nguyen and Tran (2015),
performance conditions can have affected speaking performance and they suggest
that there are the four types of performance conditions including time pressure,
planning, the standard of performance and the amount of support.
2.1.1.7. Topical knowledge
According to Nguyen and Tran (2015), topical knowledge is the speakers‟
knowledge of relevant topical information. They add that the information that
topical knowledge provides enables learners to use a language with reference to the
world in which they live. According to Bachman & Palmer (1996, cited in Nguyen
and Tran), topical knowledge is defined as knowledge structures in long-term
memory and it affects speaking skills.
2.1.2. Speaking problems

According to Ur (1996) in Nguyen and Tran (2015), teacher may have
difficulties in getting students to talk in speaking classes. The first problem is
students‟ inhibition. Students who have to talk about something in a target language

10


are often inhibited. They are afraid of making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing
face. They are too shy to say something. Littlewood (2007, cited in Nguyen and
Tran) claims that a foreign language classroom can create inhibitions and anxiety
easily. Moreover, students‟ participation is low or uneven. There is a tendency of
some learners to dominate while others speak very little or not at all. Students have
no opportunities to express themselves. Furthermore, Baker & Westrup (2003, cited
in Nguyen and Tran) point out that it is difficult for many students to respond when
the teachers ask them to say something in a foreign language because they might
have little ideas about what to say, which vocabulary to use, or how to use the
grammar correctly.
Park & Lee (2005, cited in Nguyen and Tran) claim that learners‟ anxiety level
was negatively related to their oral performance. Tanveer (2007) in Nguyen and
Tran (2015) believes that students‟ feeling of stress, anxiety or nervousness may
impede their language learning and performance abilities. He cites that “the higher
the anxiety, the lower the performance.” Bozorgian (2012), in Nguyen and Tran
(2015), shows that there is a close correlation between listening comprehension and
language proficiency. He claims that the higher the listening score, the better the
speaking score.
2.2. Task-based language teaching
Since the 1980s, TBLT has been paid a lot of attention to by researchers of
second language acquisition (SLA), which gives experimental evidences to support
how and to what extent this approach can promote language learning. TBLT
promotes learning by doing. Long (2007, p. 129) states that the aim of TBLT is to

help learners to meet their present or future real-world communicative needs
through a task-based learner needs analysis. It is recognized as a development
within the Communicative Language Teaching movement (Littlewood, 2014), and
defined as the „strong version‟ of this approach (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson,
2011). It proposes that students will acquire language through the process of
completing tasks that require meaningful communication. According to Willis &

11


Willis (2007), its proponents hold that the most practical method to teach a
language is by involving learners in real life language use through designing tasks,
discussions, games, activities and so on which require learners to use the language
in real life situations.
2.2.1. Definition of TBLT
Nunan (2003, p. 216) defines TBLT as “an approach to language teaching
organized around tasks rather than language structures.” Tasks are also used for
syllabus design as Nunan (2003, p. 113) states that it is more than a methodological
tool used in the speaking classroom – “it is a central curriculum planning tool.”
2.2.2. Definition of „Tasks‟
A task is like a language problem to solve in relation to real-world situations
(Willis, 1996a).
Long (1985) defines “task” as “a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for
others, freely or some reward” (p. 89) and “tasks are things people will tell you they
do if you ask them and they are not applied linguists” (p. 89). Richards & Rodgers
(1986) believes that task is an activity in which students use their available language
resources and complete a real outcome, or a piece of work or an activity, usually
with a specified aim, under-taken as part of an educational course at work, or used
to elicit data for research. Prabhu (1987) defines a task as "an activity which
requires learners to arrive to an outcome from given information through some

processes of thought and which allow teachers to control and regulate that process
was regarded as a task.”
What is more, Nunan (1989) briefly summarizes “task” as a piece of
classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating,
producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally
focused on meaning rather than form. The task which is able to stand alone as a
communicative act in its own right should also have a sense of completeness (p.
10). Skehan (1996) concludes that there are four key features of a task: the task‟s
meaning; there are some links between the real world and the task; the priority is to

12


complete the task; the assessment of the task is based on the outcome. Furthermore,
the researcher defines language learning tasks as activities that focus primarily on
meaning. The achievement of tasks is evaluated in terms of an outcome and they
have real-life language use.
Willis (1996a) defines task as an activity where the target language is used by
the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.
Here, the notion of meaning is subsumed in „outcome.‟ Skehan (1998b) says that
task is "an activity in which: meaning is primary; there is some communication
problem to solve; there is some sort of relationship to comparable real world
activities; task completion has some priority; and the assessment of task
performance is in terms of task outcome."
According to Ellis (2000), a task “is a device that guides learners to engage in
certain types of information-processing that are believed to be important for
effective language use and/or for language acquisition from some theoretical
standpoint” (p. 197). It assumes that while performing the tasks, learners engage in
certain types of language use and mental processing that are useful for acquisition.
A pedagogical task, according to Willis & Willis (2001, p. 173), is a classroom

undertaking “where the target language is used by the learner for a communicative
purpose (goal) in order to achieve an outcome.”
Furthermore, Bygate, Skehan, and Swain (2002) define a task as “an activity
which requires learners to use language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an
objective” (p. 11).
Ellis (2003) gives the definition of a task:
“A task is a work-plan that requires learners to process language pragmatically
in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the
correct or appropriate propositional content has been conveyed. To this end,
it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of
their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may
predispose them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in

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language use that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language
is used in the real world. Like other language activities, a task can engage
productive or receptive, and oral or written skills, and also various cognitive
processes” (p. 16).
As a result, tasks are composed of different parts and can come in different
variations. There are goals, input, procedures, roles of the participants and the
setting. An instructor should plan the various task components in order to follow a
successful and productive TBL environment. According to Nunan (2004, p. 41),
there are five elements of TBL which are goals, input, procedures, roles and
settings. Goals are the general intentions behind a learning task. They are the
connections between the task and the larger curriculum. To develop students‟
confidence in speaking and to improve their writing skills are among the examples
of goals. The learners must achieve any teaching task or course goals. When
completing a task, learners study spoken, written, visual, and auditory data as an

input. The data mentioned here can be provided by an instructor, a textbook, or
other supplementary materials.
2.2.3. Differences between “exercise” and “task”
Features of tasks as discussed represent an important dimension in task design
and use. The other major dimension in TBL is the selection of task type for specific
teaching objectives. Such a definition has the virtue of recognizing that there
are many different routes to classroom language learning, from stimulations to
choral repetition, while at the same time excluding work that is not directly related
to language learning for example, copying a chart as a preparation for a listening
comprehension exercise. In practical terms, however, it is not always easy to
determine the aim of a proposed classroom action and it is for this reason that we
should use our ability for inference. Exercise pays a lot of attention to linguistic
practice while task focuses on the ways students use a language to solve some
certain problems.

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