ERIC ED523922: The Effectiveness of a Task-Based Instruction Program in Developing the English Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students

2006·0.83 MB·English

by  ERIC

Ain Shams University
Women’s college
Curricula and Methods of teaching
Department
The Effectiveness of a Task- Based Instruction program in
Developing the English Language Speaking Skills
of Secondary Stage Students
A thesis
Submitted for the Ph.D. degree in Education
(Curricula and Methods of Teaching English as a Foreign Langauge)
By
Shiamaa Abd EL Fattah Torky
Assistant Researcher at the Curricula Development Department
The National Center for Educational Research and Development
Supervised by
Prof. Dr. Aida Abd El Maksoud Zaher
Professor of Curricula and Methods of Teaching
English as a Foreign language
Women's College
Ain Shams University
2006

1
Names of supervisors
Name Position
Prof. Dr. Aida Abd El Maksoud Zaher Professor of Curricula and Methods
of Teaching English as a foreign
language, Women's college, Ain
Shams University
2
The Researcher Curriculum Vitae
(cid:3)(cid:3)
Name of the researcher: Shaimaa Abd El Fattah Torky
Title of the research The Effectiveness of a Task- Based
Instruction Program in Developing the
English Language Speaking Skills of
Secondary Stage Students.
Qualifications:
1- B.A. in English language and education, English Department, Faculty
of Education, Tanta University, 1995, very good.
2- Special Diploma in Education, Faculty of Education, Tanta University,
1997, very good.
3- Master's degree in EFL curricula and methods of teaching, Women's
College, Ain Shams University, 2002, excellent.
Position:
Assistant Researcher at the Curricula Development Department, the
National Center for Educational Research and Development since 2002
till now.
3
Acknowledgements
The researcher is deeply grateful to her supervisor Prof. Dr. Aida
Zaher for her great effort without which this work would have never been
completed.
The researcher has been working under her supervision since 1999
when she started her M.A. research. During these years, she has known
Prof. Aida as a principle-centered person. Her overly enthusiasm and
integral view on research and her mission for providing only high quality
work and not less, has made a deep impression on the researcher.
I owe her lot of gratitude for having shown me this way of research.
She could not even realize how much I have learned from her. I am glad I
have come to get to know her in my academic life. She always monitored
my work and took effort in reading and providing me with valuable
comments. She really has a sharp eye for minute details and possesses
super-analytical skills. I have to acknowledge her important inputs in all
chapters of the thesis.
The researcher would like to thank also her colleagues in the
National Center for Educational Research and Development especially Mr.
Rafik Abd El Moety and Ebtihal Abd El Aziz for the effort they exerted in
helping the researcher score the speaking test.
The researcher would also like to express her gratitude to the jury
members for their worthy comments with respect to the study tools
especially Prof. Zeinab El Naggar, Prof. Azza El Marsafy, Prof Salwa El
Desouky, Prof. Kawthar Abou Haggar, Prof. Mostafa Abd EL Atti and all
those who helped the researcher complete her research work in its final
form.
4
Table Of Contents
Chapter one : Introduction & problem. Page
(cid:120) Introduction …………………………………………………… 1-8
(cid:120) Context of the problem …………………………………………………… 8-12
(cid:120) Statement of the problem……………………………………………….. 12
(cid:120) Purpose of the study ……………………………………………………. 13
(cid:120) The study hypotheses…………………………………………………… 13
(cid:120) Variables of the study…………………………………………………… 14
(cid:120) Delimitations of the study………………………………………………… 14
(cid:120) Significance of the study………………………………………………… 15
(cid:120) Tools of the study …………………………………………………….. 16
(cid:120) Definitions of terms……………………………………….. 16-19
Chapter two : Theoretical Background
I. The speaking skill.
21-22
(cid:120) Defining Speaking……………………………………………
(cid:120) Aspects of speaking ………………………………………………….. 22
(cid:120) Spoken versus Written discourse. 23-24
(cid:120) Purpose of speaking ……………………………………. 25-26
(cid:120) Speaking genres …………………………………………………… 27
(cid:120) Speaking sub-skills. ……………………………………………… 27
(cid:120) Communicative competence taxonomies ……………………………………… 28-31
(cid:120) Conversational skills models ………………………………………………….. 31-33
(cid:120) Integrating communicative and conversational models…………………….. 33-38
II-Communicative Tasks and teaching speaking
(cid:120) Theoretical rational for tasks……………………………………………………... 40-41
(cid:120) . Definition of communicative tasks……………………………………………. 41-43
(cid:120) Task components…………………………………………… 43
5
(cid:120) Advantages of tasks in speaking instruction…………………… 44-45
(cid:120) Factors considered in designing tasks ……………………….. 46
(cid:120) Classifications of communicative tasks ………………………….. 47-51
(cid:120) Pedagogical proposals of tackling tasks …………………… 51-53
III-The cognitive approach to language teaching.
55
(cid:120) The cognitive approach and language learning………………………..
(cid:120) Concepts underlying the cognitive approach………………………………………… 55-56
(cid:120) The information processing model………………………………………… 56-60
(cid:120) The cognitive approach and speaking 60-63
instruction…………………………………………
(cid:120) Planning and oral production ……………………………………………………. 63-65
(cid:120) Explicitvs. implicit speaking instruction………………………………………… 65
(cid:120) Raising learners' Consciousness……………………………………………….. 65-69
(cid:120) Self/ peer monitoring …………………………………………………………… 69-70
(cid:120) Starting points for raising awareness ………………………………………….. 70-72
(cid:120) Teaching Lexical phrases ……………………….. 72
IV-Integrating communicative tasks and the cognitive approach
74
(cid:120) Rationale for the integration…………………………………………
(cid:120) A framework for task based instruction………………………………………… 74-76
(cid:120) Implementing tasks to manipulate attention focus………………………………………… 76-77
a. Pre-task stage………………………………………………………………………… 77-80
b. During task stage ……………………………………………………………………. 80-83
c. Post task stage ……………………………………………………………………….. 83-89
Chapter three: Review of related studies:
94-100
I-Communicative tasks and developing speaking ……………..
II-The cognitive approach and developing speaking skills …….. 101-109
III-Communicative tasks and the cognitive approach 110-133
(Attempts of integration)………………………………………………….
General Conclusions 134-137
Chapter Four: Method
138
I. Design of the study…………………………………………………………
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II. Subjects of the study…………………………………………………… 138-139
IIII. Tools of the study…………………………………………………………… 140-180
a-The speaking skills checklist. ……………………………………………………… 140-143
b-the pre-post speaking test……………………………………………………… 143-160
c-the suggested program……………………………………………………… 160-168
d-The proposed teaching strategy……………………………………………………… 168-180
e. Evaluation.……………………………………………………………………….. 182
Chapter Five: Statistical analysis and Results
3- Results related to the study hypotheses …………………. 184-205
a. Hypotheses concerned with the comparison between the experimental 185-195
and control groups on the post- test……………………………………………….
b. Hypotheses focusing on the comparison between the pre/ post speaking 195-205
performance of the experimental group…………………………………
Chapter Six: Discussion of results, Conclusions and Recommendations
206-227
-Discussion of the results ………………………………………………….
(cid:120) Overall speaking performance………………………………………….. 207-210
(cid:120) Factors enhancing specific speaking skills …………………………………. 210-221
(cid:120) Conclusions …………………………………………………………………… 222-225
(cid:120) Recommendations …………………………………………………………….. 225-226
(cid:120) Suggestions for further Research ……………………………………………... 227
(cid:120) Bibliography …………………………………………………………………. 228-242
Appendices:
Appendix A. 1.Teachers/ supervisors questionnaire…………………….. 243-244
Appendix B 2. The first/ final form of the speaking skills checklist…………... 245-247
3. Names of the jury……………………………………………
248
Appendix C 1-The speaking test in its final form ……………………………… 251-256
257
2-Names of the jury who validated the test ……………………….
258
3-Criteria for judging the test validity……………………………..
258
4-Time allotted for test sections ……………………………..
7
Appendix D 1-The raters' training checklist ………………………………………. 259-268
2-Samples of students' performance on the pre/post test ……………. 269-283
283
3-Names of the raters who scored the test …………………………
Appendix E 1-Activities used to develop speaking skills in each lesson …………… 284
2-Approximate time allotted for class activities …………………. 285
286
3- The Names of the jury members who approved the program
4-Criteria for judging the suitability of the program…………….
287
-
Appendix F 1- The suggested program lessons………………………………….. 288-531
2-Names of the teachers who approved the listening texts……………. 532
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List of tables
Page
Table (1) Functions/ micro function measured throughout the test tasks….. 147
Table (2) Summary of the correlation coefficients among individual raters 152
………………………………………...
Table (3) Pre/post-test specification indicating test sections and scores 156
assinged to each section / skill.…………………………..
Table (4) The rating scale (Rubrics) for correcting students' speaking 157-159
performance.…………………………..
Table (5) Program Units/ lessons, type of tasks, supplementary listening texts, 165-166
and speaking skills developed in all lessons…………
Table (6) The self –evaluation checklist ………………………………. 176
Table (7) T- test results of the pre- test comparing the control and 183
experimental groups in overall speaking ………………….
Table (8) T-tests results of the pre- test comparing the control and
experimental groups in speaking skills competencies and in each
speaking sub-skill ……………………………………………… 184
Table (9) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 185
experimental groups in overall speaking
………………………………………………….
Table (10) The referential framework for identifying the effect size of t- 186
values……………………………………………………………
Table (11) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 187
experimental groups in overall speaking in different
genres………………………………………………….
Table (12) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 188
experimental groups in overall grammatical competence and its
subskills……………………………………………………..
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Table (13) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 189
experimental groups in overall linguistic competence and its
subskills in different genres/functions
…………………………………………………. …………
Table (14) T- Test results of the post- test comparing the control and 190
experimental groups mean scores in discourse competence and its
subskills ………………………………………………..
Table (15) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 192
experimental groups in overall discourse competence and its
subskills in speaking genres
…………………………………………………..
Table (16) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 193
experimental groups in pragmatic competence …………………
Table (17) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 193
experimental groups in fluency …………………………
Table (18) T- test results of the post- test comparing the control and 194
experimental groups in pragmatic competence and fluency in
different genres…………………………………………………
Table (19) T- test results comparing the pre- test vs. post- test means for 195
the experimental group in overall speaking ……………
Table (20) T- test results of the post- test comparing the experimental 196
group on the pre-test & post test in overall speaking in different
genres……………………………………………
Table (21) T- test results comparing the pre- test vs. post- test means for 197
the experimental group in overall grammatical competence and
its sub-skills……………………………………………………...
Table (22) T- test results comparing the pre- test vs. the post- test mean scores 199
for the experimental group in overall grammatical competence and
its subskills in different genres………………………………...
Table (23) T- test results comparing the pre- test vs. post- test mean scores for 200
the experimental group in overall discourse competence and its
subskills…………………………….
Table (24) T- test results comparing the experimental group on the pretest and 201
posttest in overall discourse competence and its subskills in different
genres/functions…………………………………
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