UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES-VNU, HANOI
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT
NGUYỄN THANH DUNG
CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TASK-BASED
APPROACH TO TEACHING SPEAKING TO NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF
ENGLISH AT NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA VIỆC ÁP DỤNG ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG DỰA TRÊN NHIỆM
VỤ VÀO DẠY NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM NGHỆ THUẬT TRUNG ƯƠNG)
M.A. Minor thesis
Field: Methodology
Code: 601410

HANOI-2009

iv

CONTENTS
Page
Declaration
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of contents
iv
List of abbreviation
v
List of tables
viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1

1.8. The strengths of Task-based language teaching
13
1.9. Previous studies related to applying Task-based language teaching
14
1.9.1. In Hongkong
14
1.9.2. In Vietnam
14
Chapter 2: Current situation of English teaching and learning at NUAE
17
2.1. Description of students
17

v

2.2. Description of teachers
17
2.3. Description of the teaching facilities and the teaching materials
18
2.4. Description of the objective and the time allocation of the English
course
18
2.5. Description of the current method of teaching English
19
Chapter 3: Challenges in the implementation of the Task-based approach to
teaching speaking to students at NUAE
21
3.1. The challenges perceived from contrasting the literature of the Task-based
approach with the current English teaching and learning at NUAE
21

3.2.6.1. Inappropriate teaching condition
33
3.2.6.2. Inappropriate teaching material
33
3.2.6.3. Students’ low English proficiency
34
3.2.6.4. Students’ resistance in engaging in tasks
34
3.2.6.5. Students’ overuse of mother tongue during tasks
35
3.3. Recommendations for the application of the Task-based approach to
teaching speaking at NUAE

35

vi

PART C: CONCLUSION
39
1. Summary of the study
39
2. Limitations of the study
40
3. Suggestions for further study
40
References
41
Appendix I
I
Appendix II
vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

M.A: Master of Arts
NUAE: National University of Art Education
TBA: Task-based approach
TBLT: Task-based language teaching
LIST OF TABLES
Page

Table 1: Willis’ model for Task-based instruction
10
Table 2: Students’ reasons for not involving in speaking tasks
26
Table 3: Students’ difficulty in working in multi-level groups during speaking tasks
26
Table 4: Students’ difficulty in understanding teacher ’s instruction in English
27
Table 5: Students’ difficulty in using the target language to complete speaking tasks
28
Table 6: Students’ reasons for using mother tongue during speaking tasks
28 1
PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part will present the rationale of the study, the aims and the research questions
of the study, the method of the study, the scope of the study, the significance of the study
and the design of the study.
1. Rationale of the study
Task-based language teaching (TBLT), which was first developed in India by N.S
Prabhu in the 1980s, has been a keen contemporary interest in English language teaching
field. The emphasis of TBLT is on communicative learning and teaching of language.

speaking skill to students at NUAE?
What are the recommendations for applying TBLT to teaching speaking skill?
3. Methods of the study
To attain the aim of the study, the researcher employed both quantitative and
qualitative methods combining with the aid of the following research instruments:
- Questionnaire
- Interview
- Classroom observation
Quantitative method was employed to analyze the information collected from the
questionnaire. Qualitative method was used to analyze the interview and the observation.
4. Scope of the study
The study involves 103 first-year students from two classes including one class of
Music Department and one class of Fine-Art Department and two teachers of English at
NUAE. In the scope of a minor thesis, the researcher only focuses on investigating the
challenges in the implementation of TBLT to teaching speaking skill to the first-year
students at NUAE.
5. Significance of the study
The result of the study will provide useful theory of TBLT as one of the innovative
methods for the choices of English teachers at NUAE. The investigation of the difficulties
of the application of TBLT to teaching speaking skill to students at NUAE helps to give
recommendations for the adoption of TBLT to oral lessons. In addition, the identified
challenges in the implementation of TBLT in this study will be a reference for teachers in
similar teaching contexts to consider the applicability of this approach.
3
6. Design of the study
Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the study consists of three chapters.
The introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale of the study, the

4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will deal with the relevant theoretical background for the study
including the definition of TBLT, the definitions of task in TBLT, the features of a task,
the types of tasks, the principles of TBLT, the framework for Task-based instruction, the
roles of the teacher and the learner in TBLT, the strengths of TBLT and the previous
studies on TBLT.
1.1. Definition of Task-based language teaching
TBLT has been advocated by many researchers and teachers around the world, but
“What is TBLT?” still needs clarification. Richards and Rogers (2001), for example, give a
clear and simple definition of TBLT. According to them, TBLT is “an approach based on
the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching”. Larsen-
Freeman (2000), on the other hand, sees TBLT as an approach seeking to provide learners
with a natural context to language use. As learners work to complete a task, they have
abundant opportunity to interact. Such interaction is thought to facilitate language
acquisition as learners have to work to understand each other and to express their own
meaning. In their definitions Richards and Rogers and Larsen-Freeman mention the term
“task”. This term is not new to teachers as well as practioners around the world, since tasks
have been used in classes for hundreds of years. For instance, asking students to do a
grammar exercise is also called a task. So what is the difference here? The difference
between TBLT and other traditional approaches lies in the way in which the goal is
achieved. In TBLT, tasks are always activities where the target language is used for a
communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome in which the emphasis is on
exchanging meaning not producing language forms. Therefore, the characteristic of all the
tasks in the new approach is that rather than concentrating on one particular structure,
function, or vocabulary group, these tasks cover a wide range of language. In TBLT, the
tasks are central to the learning and teaching activity. It is based on the belief that students

tasks.
In Jane Willis’ definition (1996), “Task is an activity in which the target language
is used by learners for a communicative purpose in order to achieve an outcome”. Jane
Willis’ point in her definition is that the communicative purpose is given to the priority and
that learners learn a language through undertaking the task. That is, learners are given
opportunities to explore new language through doing tasks.

6
Skehan (1996b) sees tasks as “activities which have meaning as their primary focus.
Success in tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks generally
bear some resemblance to real life language use. So Task-based instruction takes a fairly
strong view of communicative language teaching” (p.20).
Nunan (1989) defines a task as follows: “The communicative task [is] 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 should have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone
as a communicative act in its own right”. Nunan’s (1989) definition emphasizes the
pedagogical tasks’ involvement in communicative language use. Nunan views tasks as
being different from grammatical exercises, because a task involves achieving an outcome.
Bygate (2001) claims that task should be defined more clearly and can be applied to
different contexts. Stemming from this idea, he defined “A task is an activity which
requires learners to use language with emphasis on meaning to attain an objective, and
which is chosen so that it is most likely to provide information for learners which help
them evaluate their own learning” (p.11).
Although the above mentioned definitions of tasks are defined differently, they
share the common feature that a task involves a focus on meaning rather than form.
Another common characteristic underlying these definitions is the purposefulness of the
task. That is, a task must have clear aims which are set to help learners to manipulate to
achieve an outcome. Besides, the common slogan in these definitions is using tasks for
communicative purposes. So the tasks used in Task-based classes must be carefully

have to piece the story together).
Information-gap tasks: One student or group of students has one set of information
and another student or group has a complementary set of information. They must negotiate
and find out what the other party’s information is in order to complete an activity.
Problem-solving task: Students are given a problem and a set of information. They
must arrive at a solution to the problem.
Decision-making tasks: Students are given a problem for which there are a number
of outcomes and they must choose one through negotion and discussion.
Opinion exchange tasks: Students engage in discussion and exchange of ideas.
They do not need to reach an agreement.
According to Willis (1996), there are six types of tasks: listing, ordering and sorting,
comparing, problem solving, sharing personal experiences and creative tasks.

8
Richards (2001) distinguishes tasks into two types – pedagogical tasks and real
world tasks. “ Pedagogical tasks are based on second language acquisition theory and are
designed to trigger second language learning process and strategies” (p.162). Examples of
pedagogical tasks are jigsaw tasks, information-gap tasks, problem solving tasks, decision -
making tasks and opinion exchange tasks. According to Richards (2001), real world tasks
“are designed to practice or rehearse those activities that are found to be important in a
needs analysis and that turn out to be important and useful in the real world” (p.162).
1.5. The principles of TBLT
Researchers have tried to establish the principles of TBLT (Willis, 1996; Skehan,
1998; Nunan, 1989). Ellis (2003) synthesizes eight principles of TBLT as follows:
First, setting an appropriate level of task difficulty. To do this, teachers can adjust
the difficulty of a task methodologically, for example, by incorporating a pre-task phase
into the lesson, by appropriate use of talk, or by choosing to perform the task with students
in the form of an instructional conversation.
Second, establishing clear goals for each task-based lesson. This means
methodological options can be selected to help prioritize different language aspects of

guide to the teaching of task-based lessons, which are useful for teachers to design
effective task-based lessons.
1.6. The framework for Task-based instruction
The design of a task-based lesson involves consideration of the stages or
components of a lesson that has a task as its principal component. Various designs have
been proposed (for example, Prabhu 1987; Estaire and Zanon 1994; Skehan 1996; Willis
1996; Lee 2000). However, they all have in common three principal phases: pre-task phase;
during-task phase and post-task phase. Among these suggestions, the framework for Task-
based instruction suggested by Willis (1996), which is presented in table 1 is much more
detailed and has been proved effective. 10
Pre-task
Introduction to topic and tasks
Task cycle
Task
Planning
Report
Language focus
Analysis
Practice

Table 1: Willis’ model for task-based instruction (Willis 1996: 52)

public presentation.
Report:
In this stage, the teacher asks some pairs or groups to report briefly to the whole
class so everyone can compare findings, or begins a survey (there must be a purpose for
others to listen). Sometimes only one or two groups report in full, others comment and add
extra points. The class may take notes. The role of the teacher is to chair, comment on the
content of their reports, rephrase perhaps, but give no overt public correction.
Post-task listening
Students listen to a recording of fluent speakers doing the same task, and compare
the ways in which they did the task themselves.
The langage focus stage
The language focus stage consists of two sub-stages: Analysis stage and Practice
stage.
Analysis:
In this stage, the teacher sets some language-focused tasks, based on the texts
students have read or on the transcripts of the recordings they have heard. For example,
asking students to find words and phrases related to the title of the topic or text or read the
transcript to find words ending in “s” and say what the “s” means.
Practice:
In this stage, the teacher conducts practice activities as needed, based on the
language analysis work already on the board, or using examples from the text or transcript.
The practice activities can include choral repetition of the phases identified and classified,
sentence completion or matching the past-tense verbs (jumbled) with the subjects or
objects they had in the text.

12
1.7. The role of teacher and learner in TBLT
The role of the teacher and the learner are interactive and inseparable in language
teaching and learning process. Richards and Rodgers (2001) pointed out the roles of the
teacher in TBLT as follows:

1.8. The strengths of TBLT
Ritchie (2003) suggested that TBLT is better than traditional approaches because
learners are exposed to richer language, namely the comprehensible input. It is believed
that “language acquisition is more creative and dynamic than simple imprinting of target
language utterances” (p.117). The Task-based lesson, with its richer input and
opportunities for analysis of texts, allows learners to notice what they want, need or are
ready to learn – features of discourse and lexis as well as aspects of grammar (p.120).
Ritchie also pointed out that such rich input enhances incidental learning and that input
could become intake in Task-based lesson when students are given the chances to notice
the form, to form hypotheses about the use of this particular form and to conduct an
interpretation activity. The communicative task allows learners to use the languge to
negotiate for meanings, and the value of this type of tasks is to let learners attempt to make
production in which “they have to form hypotheses and make grammatical choices that
encourages ‘noticing gap’” (p.121).
Skehan (1996b) indicated that the strength of TBLT is that it provides learners the
opportunities to make use of lexical resources they have either from previous knowledge or
the pre-task input. Then through interactions or negotiations of meanings, students can
eventually develop greater fluency (p.22).
Conspicuously, researchers of TBLT and those whose support it have tried to give
sound background of TBLT. However, the implementation of TBLT to language
classroom settings is still of great challenges for many teachers. In fact, there has been very
little impirical evidence of the effectiveness of TBLT.
Basing on what has been presented in the literature of TBLT, I think that TBLT
may only be suitable with second language environment where students are exposed to real
English outside the classes, with high proficency language learners who can use their
language repertoire to complete the tasks, and with favourable teaching settings with
appropriate teaching conditions for TBLT. “Does TBLT work in foreign language
environment, with language beginners and in not favourable conditions?” is still a question
that needs to be investigated. That is the reason I did this research to find out whether or
not teachers and students in my teaching context met any challenge when applying TBLT.

Huong (2007) conducts an experimental research on the benefits of implementing a
task-based approach in teaching speaking to the third-year students of Business
Administration Department, Trade Union University. Her study was done with two groups
of students. One group is the control group and the other is the experimental group.
Conventional method of teaching was used with the control group in the speaking lesson.

15
TBLT was employed in the experimental group. To evaluate the effectiveness of TBLT on
speaking skill of students, Huong conducted a pre-speaking test and a post-speaking test
with both groups. Then she compared the students’ scores in the pre-test and the ones in
the post-test. In her study, Huong pointed out that there was a significant difference in
students’ achievement on the oral tests and that students of the experimental group showed
a much better result after the experimental semester. Besides, Huong also conducted a
semi-structured interview with students at the end of the course to investigate their
attitudes towards TBLT. She indicated that most of the students interviewed had positive
points of view about TBLT.
The two mentioned previous studies on the implementation of TBLT raised
questions for the author of this research. The problems of the implementation of TBLT
faced by primary teachers in Hong Kong made the author refer to Vietnamese context.
Because Hongkong and Vietnam are both located in Asia, so they have some general
characteristics in culture and in educational system. Besides, Hongkong and Vietnam are
non-English speaking countries, where mother tongue has a dominant role, and students do
not have many opportunities of being exposed to English. So one question raised is “Are
there any obstacles of the application of TBLT to English classrooms in Vietnamese
teaching context?”. With the second case, Huong (2007) only investigated one side of
TBLT – the benefits. Her study did not mention the other side of TBLT – the problems of
the implementation encountered by Vietnamese teachers and students. In addition, her
experimental study was conducted with the third-year students whose English proficiency
was at intermediate level and they were much motivated in learning English for using it in
their future jobs. It is wondered whether or not TBLT is feasible with students with low
17
CHAPTER 2

CURRENT SITUATION OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART EDUCATION

This chapter provides information on the teaching context including the students,
the teachers, the teaching materials, the physical setting and the teaching and learning
activities at NUAE. The information, which is collected from the existing data files and
from classroom observations, is very useful for the researcher to contrast it with the
literature of TBLT in order to identify the mismatches between the theory and practice.

2.1. Description of students
This session discusses the characteristics of students at NUAE, who have great
influence on the process of teaching and learning. They all have passed a challenging
University Entrance Examination with other subjects except for English. They are both

in each.
The teaching aids: No English classroom is equipped with an overhead projector.
So it is impossible for teachers to bring the advantages of information technology to
language teaching. The English Division has only one television and three cassette players.
This number is not enough for use on the day when many teachers have English lessons at
the same time.
The materials: The current English teaching textbooks are Lifeline Elementary and
Lifeline Pre-intermediate. The English materials for reference and for self-study are not
available in the library at NUAE. The researcher of this study at times go to explore the
university library and find that there are only few old English textbooks. Almost all the
materials are about music and fine-arts.
2.4. Description of the objective and the time allocation of the English course
The objective of the course:
The requirements in English for graduate students at NUAE as stated in the
syllabus are as follows:
Students are equipped with a basic English knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
After finishing the course, students are able to use the target language to
communicate with foreigners in everyday situations.