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Acknowledges


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Table of Contents


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Presentation


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Proposal


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Problem

Throughout the multiple observations and practicum in different schools

(subsidized and public), based on we, as students, our English teacher trainingprogram (from 2010 to 2013), we have realized that many teachers in different

schools are still using a traditional and conventional methodology (Grammar

Translation Method1), in which the development of two basic skills (Reading and

Writing) are the target of this methodology and the other two basic skills (Listening

and Speaking) are missing. Due to the focus of the Grammar Translation Method is

not the oral production, students do not feel motivated by the teacher

performances and this provides the information to comprehend why students are

not able to understand some instructions in English, therefore, they are not capable

to achieve the task of speaking in class. Also the teacher cannot create an

appropriate environment to the real use of English in a real context. For that

reason, students cannot develop the necessary competences and cannot achieve

the standards that are established in the planes y programas de estudios2 given

by the Ministerio de Educacin; and those standards were measure in the

SIMCE3

test (2012).

For all the reasons mentioned before, we considered the application of an

alternative methodology called Task Based Language Learning instead of the

Classical methodology that is Grammar Translation Method. Having into

consideration that Grammar Translation method (GTM) does not take the four

basic skills (Speaking, reading, writing and listening instead just writing and

reading) as part of the learning process; in this project we pretend to improve the

speaking abilities of students throughout the application of Task-Based Language

Learning (TBLL), where the focus is the development of the four basic skills,

1For further Reading check chapter 2

2Planes y Programas, 2013, http://educrea.cl/planes-y-programas/

3Simce de Ingls: Mejoran resultados, pero 82% de estudiantes chilenos no sabe el idioma, 2013,

http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.html
http://educrea.cl/planes-y-programas/http://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.htmlhttp://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.htmlhttp://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.htmlhttp://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.htmlhttp://www.emol.com/noticias/nacional/2013/06/06/602395/simce-de-ingles-mejoran-resultado-pero-82-de-estudianteschilenos-no-sabe-el-idioma.htmlhttp://educrea.cl/planes-y-programas/


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Research Questions:

The following questions came to our mind with our investigation because

they are also related with what we want to answer with the whole project and how

we can solve the problem that arises during the process.

- According to the learning process, what elements could engage students

participation and compromise with the class?

- Are there any benefits and improvements in students in oral production

applying Task- Based Language Learning?


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newspaper, it was stated that from fifty Chilean people, just one speaks English

with fluency. Managing English skills encourage speakers to communicate with

foreigners comfortably, understand differences in culture and hold positive attitudes

towards English.

In general, we cannot deny the importance of English language as tool to

communicate each other with people all over the world. A proper management of

English language does not depend on the accent or how do we use it to express

emotions, feelings or just to follow instructions, but it depends on the importance of

the educational and cultural experienced that plays nowadays. But, even with the

efforts done by people we believe that the bases for learning English in schools are

weak and the methodologies developed by teachers do not cover students needs.

Also, the use of English in classes is missing due to; some methodologies do not

provide enough practice to improve their English level, as we could observed in our

practicum one of those methodologies is The Grammar Translation Method.

The Grammar Translation Method (GTM) of foreign language teaching is

one of the most traditional methods use in Chilean classrooms. It was originally

used to teach 'dead' languages (and literatures) such as Latin and Greek. 8 The

focus of the GTM is developed writing and reading skills and it excluded both oral

production and listening. Indeed, the emphasis of the methodology is in learning

grammatical structures in the target language, embracing a lack of communication

in the language being taught English. Also, this kind of methodology centered its

attention to reinforce reading and writing skills, so students have a lack of

participation in terms of a real English context.

GTM is a teacher centered methodology, That is to say, the focus of this

methodology is based on the instructor only and not in both class characters thatwould be instructor and learners. Also, GTM centered the attention on language

form and structures for instance, what the teacher knows about the language.

Sometimes students talk in a teacher centered class, but mostly they have to listen

8Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and

analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Grammar Translation Method. http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/
http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/http://myenglishpages.com/blog/grammar-translation-method/


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to what the teacher says and the teacher speaks the whole class, according to

that, there is not information sharing between teacher and students. Instead of that,

the teacher controls the whole class and the information that is shown to the

students. As a result of this, students are able to deal with the new language but

just in terms of translation, and not as a communicative tool. That is to say, they

are capable to translate and might know all the grammar rules, but they cannot

contextualize language.

Finally, a teacher centered class is the one that is wholly controlled by the

instructor, in this case, the teacher; even from the topic, passing through the

evaluations (no self-assessments or pair- assessments), class focus and students

work, up to the contents. GTM has effectiveness when students want to learn just

grammar and reading/writing skills, but if students need to develop speaking skill,

GTM is not the most suitable way to achieve it.

Taking into consideration that speaking is the first attempt to communicate

over the other skills (writing, reading and listening) as long as human beings

express sounds over three months of age and it is the wise to make contact to

other people to express ideas, thoughts, feelings and needs. According to Hymes

(1972):

Speaking refers to the capacity to communicate effectively within a particular

speech community that wants to accomplish its purposes

That is to say, human beings learn through the period of their life a particular

speech inside of a specific culture (countries and also communities) hence the

capacity to develop it, must be considered it according to the space where they

live. Nevertheless, the continuous practice of this skill, which is speaking, will be

improved with the attempt to perfect it in order to complete the purposes of a

specific group. Yorkey stated:

Speaking skill is a skill and like other skill, it must be practiced continuously


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According to Yorkey, speaking like other skills must be regularly put it in

practice to improve it and cultivate it, in order to communicate to other people.

It is important to mention that speaking like a productive skill9

has the

connection with all the skills but more with listening. Due to, if a person has a goodmanagement of listening skill, the production of speaking will be more suitable.

In this project our research will be focused on speaking, which is oral

production in students development in classes. All the experiences (like practicum

and observations previously mentioned) , have shown us, that students behaviour

in oral production in front of the class are primarily expression of fear, insecurity

and lack of confidence.

Despite of the importance of the four skills in our English Trainer Program

inside of classes, our point of convergence it is oral production and how to improve

it leaving behind all feelings which impede the students improvement in this area.

In addition to the students performance, the Planes y Programas of Ministerio

de Educacin of Chile (MINEDUC) presents a general standards for third levels of

high school (which is our focus on this research) to reach a higher challenge in the

future in oral production. According to Planes y Programas MINEDUC 2012:

Students at this level should be able to ask questions, participate in oral

interchanges, and have participation in a conversation.

Moreover, sometimes it is a little difficult for students to learn a second

language (L2) due to they always are thinking in their native language (L1)10.

Furthermore, if we are exposed in our childhood to English language and we

acquire that language, we become English native speakers. L1 can be acquired up

to the end of the childhood process but during the puberty is more difficult, not

impossible but harder than in childhood to acquired another language.

9The productive skills are speaking and writing, because learners doing these need to produce language.

They are also known as active skills. Teaching Englishhttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skills10

L1 one's native language; the language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next. The free

dictionary, 2013, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/first+language
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skillshttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skillshttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skillshttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skillshttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/first+languagehttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/first+languagehttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/first+languagehttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skillshttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/productive-skills


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Every student has a different way to learn language and some are better

than others, (Harmer, J, 1998) for that reason we have to describe them and

explain the way they learn. First of all the age of the students is the most important

factor to determine about how and what we are going to teach them, because

depending on that, we are going to create the activities based on students n eeds.

Adolescents in this stage are looking for their own identity and they are also

looking for their classmates approval, friends and sometimes that is more

important than paying attentionto the teacher or in the class itself. In this stage is

more difficult to engage students into the learning process, because the teacher

has to identify what students want and what do they need to learn, so the teacher

has to encourage students to integrate their experiences, feelings and thoughts in

order to engage them into the learning process.

As Penny UR stated (1996):

Teenager students are overall the best language learners.

That is to say, as younger a person is, it is going to be easier to learn a

language. The way students learn is an important factor too. Wright, Tony,1987 ,

establishes four different learner styles: the first one is the enthusiast referring to

the teacher and the goals in the learning students; the oracular is focusing on the

teacher but also to achieve personal goals, the participator that is concentrated in

the group goals and finally the rebel is focused on satisfaction or his goals.

Keith Willing also proposed four styles of learners: converges are students

who work independently and they believed in their own abilities; the conformists

are students who learn the language by themselves but not the use of it; concrete

learners they prefer to use the language to communicate instead of the language

as a system; communicative learners are students who use the language, they

take risks even though they made mistakes, they prefer the social interaction and

they like the guidance of the teacher.


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using language appropriately carries more importance than the mere production of

grammatically correct language forms (Willis, J. 1996).

One of the most important parts from TBLL is task. Task is defined by

Nunan (2004) 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 on form.

Task has four stages which are: Pre-task, Task Preparation, Task

Realization and Post- Task.

Pre-task: Teacher introduces the topic to prepare students to perform the

final task. In this stage vocabulary, useful expressions and material to

develop the task are presented. Also, students present a brainstorming13

about the task.

Task Preparation: Taking in consideration the brainstorming, in this stage

students deal with their attitude to face the task, involve students ideas to

prepare it and also connected the previous ideas to complete it.

Task Realization: In this stage students perform the task in pairs or in

groups.

Post-Task: While the students are developing the task, the teacher should

take notes about the students performance, for instance: vocabulary that is

to say, students facing problems in any task. Students finish the task and

receive feedback or evaluation from the teacher.

13Brainstorming: intensive discussion to solve problems or generate ideas Based on the Random House

Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2013. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brainstorming )
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brainstorminghttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brainstorming


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There are some advantages that we should take into consideration before

applying this methodology. First, the approach of this methodology is student-

centered; the students are free to create what they want considering the class

objective (pre-task); secondly the focus of TBLL is to develop, through the use of

the four skills (mainly speaking), a real context or a real situation for each task i.e.

the environment where students develop their daily life e.g. to buy in a

supermarket, to ask for directions, to order food in a restaurant and so on.

One of the most predominant theories behind TBLL is the Sociocultural

theory originated by Lev Vygotsky14(1978). Inside Sociocultural theory there are

two concepts that are really important for this work: Scaffolding and the Zone of

Proximal Development (ZPD).

Scaffolding, as a teaching strategy, can be defined as:

Role of teachers and others in supporting the learners development and

providing support structures to get to that next stage or level(Raymond, 2000).

Rod Ellis in his book Task-based Language Learning and Teaching quotes

Wood, Brunner and Ross (1976) whose identify six features of scaffolding:

Captured the attention to do the task

Explain the task and make it easy to understand

Keeping students on track by reminding them of the goal

Pointing out key things to do and/or showing students other ways of doing

parts of the task

Controlling frustration during problem solving

Demonstrating an idealized way of doing the task

141896-1934, Russian psychologist. His most productive years were at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow (1924-34),

where he expanded his ideas on cognitive development, particularly the relationship between language and thinking.

Biography,2013,http://www.answers.com/topic/lev-vygotsky
http://www.answers.com/topic/lev-vygotskyhttp://www.answers.com/topic/lev-vygotskyhttp://www.answers.com/topic/lev-vygotskyhttp://www.answers.com/topic/lev-vygotsky


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Chapter III

In the following lines we are going to present the design strategy which

gathers all the instruments that we are going to use to evaluate students speaking

abilities and the sampling obtained of this research.

In this research we are going to use some instruments to collect the data we

need for this project in order to have an evidence of the process in classes and the

development of the test that we will use to know the students level of the spoken

English. First, we are going to use a diagnostic test to see the level that students

have. Then we are going to apply four tasks, focused in the use of the grammar

tense (present simple) to prepare students for the final test. And finally we are

going to apply a final test to see if there are improvements in students speaking

level. The students will be evaluated with speaking rubric which has scores, from 0

to 8 points the students will be classify as poor; from 9 up to 12 point will be

classify as fair; from 13 up to 16 the students will be good and finally from 17 up to

20 the students will be classify in excellent.

On the other hand, we are developing the classes using Task Based

Language Learning to present four tasks that will be performance in order to

improve their spoken language level.

Finally, to collect to whole knowledge of students, we are going to give a

final test, in order to evaluate if students improve their English or not.


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Design Strategy

To start, we are going to apply a diagnostic test where is going to be

developed to ten pairs for each school that give us a total of thirty students and the

diagnostic test will contain three different parts. The first part includes four

questions that belong to the ice breaker in order to give a sort of confidence

between teacher and students, the second part consists in looking at eight pictures

(each student) and describe the routine of the person who is developing the activity

and finally, the third part of the test the student has to tell something about her/his

daily routine, in order to gain information and realize if they are able to speak in

English based on, if they use the simple present, vocabulary related to daily

routines like wake up, usually, etc, accuracy and fluency.

Apart from that, we are going to record all the diagnostics tests which are

going to be developed in each school (ten pairs for each school) in order to back

up all the information and give us the detail of each performance in the test. In

addition, we are going to use a speaking rubric to evaluate the performance of the

students through different criteria and level of their spoken English.

Concerning the selection of the sample, we are going to choose ten

students from three different schools at random. We are going to put some piece of

papers with a number written in a bag. The number of papers will be according the

number of students in each school and course. After that, we are going to take a

piece of paper out from the inside of the bag, there will be a number written in the

paper, so we check the number in the list and the name of the student will be the

chosen for the diagnostic.

We will focus on a group of students chosen at random in the following schools:

-IDOP

-Juanita Fernandez Solar

-Kings School


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IDOP: is a school located in the districted of La Cisterna. It is a subsidized

school; it has scientific/humanistic studies. The social environment is very good;

there exist a good relationship between students and teacher and vice versa, the

school in general has a good education and the resources that it has can allow to

do the classes in other ways.

Juanita Fernandez Solar is a school located in the district of Recoleta. It is a

public technical school that just receives women, supports young pregnancy and

triggers students motivation to finish school and get a job. They have a critical

social environment, due to the students come from difficult districts like; La

Pincoya, El Salto, La Chimba, and La Quinta Bella. It is has been observed

that sometimes it is difficult to make classes because the students are not quite

interest in classes themselves.

Kings School is a school located in the district of San Miguel. It is a

subsidized school, it has scientific/humanistic studies and imparts protestant

believes. The social environment is quite good. There is a good relationship

between students students and students teacher. There are instances in which

students, parents and teachers can talk about their worries and problems that they

have inside the school.

Sampling

We choose ten students at random per school from the three schools

previously mentioned that give us a total of 30 students. These students are all in

the third level of high school, they are between 15 to 17 years old. Particularly, in

the Juanita Fernandez Solar school, the course that we are going to focus is

composed by 26 women. In Kings school are 29 students; specifically 16 women

and 13 men. Finally, IDOPs course it is composed by 44 students, where 19 are

women and 25 men.

Instruments


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The activities are:

Activity N1: Students government has decided to issue a set of stamps of

famous people. Students will be in the committee which decides who to put on the

stamps and why. Students must work in groups of three or four and take thedecision for which characters must be in the stamps and tell why. This activity is for

making students express their opinion and give reasons. (see Annex 4)

Activity N2: Students must work in groups as the activity previously mention.

Students must describe a routine and compared with a famous characters routine.

For instance: comparing Madonnas routine; she sings every day to improve her

performance. Student: I sing in a band with some friends all weekends.(see Annex

5)

Activity N3: Students are going to interview their classmate in order to complete

a chart about what he/she does in his/her free time and what he/she does in

his/her daily routine, creating questions like: do you work or study or both?, or how

do you spend your free time?. Once they have the information about their partner

they have to introduce them using the information given.

Between these two activities we are going to ask a question to students in order to

connect both. Let me tell you a story. At the university I have two best friends, a

boy and a girl. They are in a relationship and I love them both, but once I saw

cheating on my friend with another guy. I ask myself Should I tell him what

happened or should I keep the secret? She did not see me at the party where she

cheated on him. What can I do? (see Annex 6)

Activity N4: Students work in groups.Students will have to read four short texts

where some problems are described. They will have to decide which of these four

problems interest them the most, analyse it and find the possible solutions for it.

They will receive some useful language for it. (see Annex 7)

Moreover, the last instrument is the Final Test, which will be given in order

to demonstrate whether the students improve or not their performance in spoken


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language. Although, the main idea is to encourage their management, either the

results will be better at the end of the classes or students performance in this area

will remain same or get worse results. (see Annex 8)

The design of the final test will be divided into two parts; the first one will bean ice breaker with six questions. The first three questions will be asked to all the

students and the other three questions will be divided in the entire group. The

second and final part of the test, students will work in pairs and choose an image

from a set of famous people images and then they will have to prepare a short

presentation about the daily routine of the famous they chose. They will have five

minutes to prepare the presentation.

We decided to change the final test and make it similar to a task that was

applied in classes because we were working with the TBLL in classes and we

wanted to make them felt comfortable and familiarized with the test and also to

evaluate the application of TBLL during classes. We took the activity number 2

(previously mentioned) which was to describe the daily routine of a famous person.

After the application of tasks In Kings School We talked about how they felt

performing the tasks and the final test. Most of them said that they felt more

confident at the moment of speaking. Also they said they felt motivated to

participate during the task and they enjoyed the practice of speaking skills due to,

they not always practiced the speaking skills in classes.

In IDOP School, students felt very comfortable at the moment of speaking

they expressed what they want to say, sometimes some students made some

mistakes but nothing to be worried about, they told me that it was better to do

activities like this due to, they had the knowledge what they were doing and for.

Students enjoy the activities in general and some of them start to work in activities,

when before the application of the tasks they did not work.

In Juanita Fernandez Solar, after, a brief conversation with students and the

final test application, we talked about how they felt during the classes where the

tasks were applied. Some students felt awkward with the new methodology and


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they felt that there was a change in the class rhythm. Others felt more confident in

a sort of talking group that working individually when they had to speak English so

they really liked how was the class going and they wanted to keep this new rhythm.

Also, there were some students that did not wanted to share what they deeply

thought, but they said that it was complicated to use one day one methodology and

the other days another one, so they got confused with the application of TBLL, but

they thought that it would be funnier just using TBLL in classes.

Just a little more than a half of the class group wanted to share their experiences

with the TBLL application, the rest was not interested in chat about it and they just

wanted to go back to reality, that is to say, the traditional methodology mode

Chapter IV

Data Analysis


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The purpose of the following chapter is to analyze all the data information

recompiled in all arrange. We will start with the diagnostic test applied in three

different schools described in chapter three and tabular it with graphics the results

obtained. Let us remember that it was used a diagnostic test composed by three

parts; the first one was a set of four ice breaker questions where students have to

answer according to their personal information, the second part was to create a

short story with some pictures about daily routines, and finally, the third part was

about to talk about their daily routine. (Students should follow some structures of

simple present and vocabulary).

IDOP School

Graphic 1

As it is illustrated in the graphic 1 it was demonstrated that students

speaking abilities at IDOP School were in the following way: the 10% of students

achieve in fair level, where students have some pauses at the moment of

expressing ideas and using grammar according to their level.

The 30% of students achieve an excellent level, where they expressed their ideas

thoughts and opinions.

Finally, the 60% of students achieve a good level, where they did some pauses

and mistakes in grammar.

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Poor Fair Good Excelent

Diagnostic test results

Idop School


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qualifying students as poor learners and ignorant people. According to our

diagnosis, this sampling was not able to approve the test, but we still need to

analyze the results of a second final test.

Graphic 4

According to the graphic and the results of the three schools we can say that

two of them have good results in general and that it is probably because students

level at English subject was better than the other one where no one achieve the

diagnostic test up to here.

IDOP School has the best results and one of the important factors in our

opinion it is that in this school have a lot of technology and resources to

complement with the activities and works to develop in class, nowadays technology

plays an important role in the learning process due to catch the attention of the

students easily and that helps to the classes making them more interactive. Also

this school gives the opportunity of working with personalized computers and

activities for each of them.

Kings school has the second position in terms of results in the diagnostic

test and as same as IDOP School has a lot of technologic recourses to use in

classroom and apart from that the school itself it is concerned in the learning

process of each student together with their parents.

0%

10%

20%30%

40%

50%

60%70%

80%

90%

100%

Idop School King's

School

Juanita

Fernandez

Solar

School

Diagnostic test results

Poor

Fair

Good

Excelent


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standards in the diagnostic test; they successfully improved their level of English

trough the implementation of Task based language learning.

Graphic 6

As we can see in the graphic, most students improved their level of

speaking after being exposed to the methodology. 20% of the students improved

one level (from fair to good) and other 20% moved from good to excellent. As a

result, we could say that 40% of the students get better results in the final test

using tbll during classes. Also they increased the use of vocabulary and the

fluency. Also there was a rising in the use of full sentences.

Graphic 7

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


King's School

King's School

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%


Final test results

Juanita Fernandez

Solar School


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Conclusion


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3.- Now, tell us about your daily routines


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Annex 4


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Annex 5


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Annex 6


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Annex 7


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