UTILIZING TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF

LEARNER’S SPEAKING SKILLS OF BONGABONG TECHNICAL AND

VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

A Thesis Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
MINDORO STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Main Campus
Alcate, Victoria, Oriental Mindoro

In Partial fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION
Major in English Language Teaching

by

STEPHANIE D. BALMEDINA
2019
INTRODUCTION

Language classrooms strive to involve and support learners in the learning

process. Instructional tasks are important components of the language learning

environment, and ‘‘hold a central place’’ in the learning process (Ellis, 2008, p.1). The

type of task used in instruction may positively influence learners’ performance. Hence,

the curriculum or course designer tries to create tasks that foster a language-learning

context in which the learners can be involved and supported in their efforts to

communicate fluently and effectively (Ellis, 2008;). Among the ways to create this

language-learning context, Task-Based Instruction (TBI) presents opportunities to employ

effective and meaningful activities and thus promotes communicative language use in the

language classroom.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study will determine the Utilization of Task-Based Language Teaching in the

Improvement of Students’ Speaking Skills of Bongabong Technical and Vocational High

School.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of students’ speaking skills as revealed in the Pre Test of the

students:

1.1 Control Group,

1.2 Experimental Group?

2. How do the participants perform during the utilization of the PPP approach and

the utilization of Task-Based Language Teaching:

 2.1 Control Group,

2.2 Experimental Group?

3. What is the level of students’ speaking skills as revealed in the Post Test of the

students:

1.1 Control Group,

1.2 Experimental Group?

4. Is there any significant difference in pre-test performance of the control and

experimental group?

5. Is there any significant difference in post-test performance of the control and

experimental group?

6. How effective is the employment of task-based language teaching in speaking

classes of Bongabong Technical and Vocational High School in terms of improving

students’ speaking skills?

STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

1. There is no significant difference in pre-test performance of the control and

experimental group?

2. There is no significant difference in post-test performance of the control and

experimental group?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

An understanding of pedagogy strengthens teaching practice, and an

understanding of the theoretical framework that underpins it strengthens pedagogy.

(MacNeill & Silcox, 2003)—have a clearly articulated framework of understanding that

informs their teaching practices. An understanding of pedagogy is cogently expressed by

Alexander (2013) who argues that pedagogy is the act of teaching together with its

attendant discourse of educational theories, values, evidence and justifications. It is what

one needs to know, and the skills one needs to command in order to make and justify the

many different kinds of decisions of which teaching is constituted. (p. 47) In this definition

we see clearly the purpose of pedagogy as teaching, underpinned by theoretical

understandings of learning, the values embedded in the translation of theory to practice,

and evidence that supports and justifies this translation.

From its early development TBLT has been located in sociocultural learning

theories with the understanding that language learning required “the creation of conditions

in which learners engage in an effort to cope with communication” (Prabhu, 1987, p. 1),

and more specifically in Activity Theory (Ellis, 2003). The merit of locating TBLT in

Expansive Learning theory is that it provides concrete explanations for how the Expansive

Learning Theory cycles of meaning making and negotiation can be worked into task

phases. Additionally, it provides an elaboration of the cyclical learning processes that may

be embedded in tasks, improving the intentionality and focus of language tasks. In doing

this it clearly establishes task-based teaching as a robust construct for language teaching

programs. TBLT is a pedagogy premised on the belief that “the most effective way to

teach a language is by engaging learners in real language use” through teacherdesigned

tasks that “require learners to use the language for themselves” (Willis & Willis, 2012, p.

1). Because TBLT is an adaptive pedagogy, with teachers encouraged to refine their
 approach to task design to suit their context, the definition of this methodology relies

heavily on a meaning-making, threephase cycle of pretask/task/posttask.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This part presents the conceptual framework which discusses how the study flows.

Control Group Experiment Group

IV DV IV DV

Traditional PPP Learner’s Task Based Learner’s

Approach Speaking Skills Language Speaking Skills
Teaching

RESEARCH DESIGN

The researcher will employ quasi-experimental research pre-test and post-test

design in undertaking this study. Furthermore, the control group will be engaged in the

traditional presentation, practice, and production (PPP) approach while the experimental

group will be engaged on the Task Based Language Teaching.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

Pre-Test and Post-Test

The researcher will administer Pre Test/Post Test to determine the level of

speaking skills of the respondents – experimental and control groups before and after

delivery of instruction to the students.

Construction. The researcher will prepare a Table of Specification that will include

the learning competency to be measured. The researcher will review the list of reading

comprehension competency in the 3rd and 4th quarter of the second semester.

Validation. The researcher will ask the approval of the School Head to conduct

validation of the research instrument to some language teachers of the school.

Administration and Retrieval of the Tests. The researcher will administer the

pre-test before the start of the experimentation and will administer the post-test after 15

sessions which was the duration of the experimentation.

Observation

While on the process of delivering the instruction, the researcher will conduct

observation of the learner’s progress to determine if there is an increment in their

speaking skills.

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY

The respondents of the study will be two sections of Grade 8 (Aventurine and

Bixbite) handled by the researcher, which were equal in number and in age.
STATISTICAL TOOL

Mean. This will answer problems 1 and 3, which described the pre-test and post-test

performance of the subjects based on the teacher-made test.

Standard Deviation. This will measure the amount of variation or dispersion of the pre-

test and post-test score.

Paired t-test. This will be used to compare the scores of the two groups of subjects, the

experimental and the control groups. This statistical tool will be used to determine whether

there is a significant difference in pre-test and post-test performance of the control and

experimental group. This treatment will answer question number 4 and 5.