TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING IN SPEAKING CLASSES FOR ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT NHA TRANG UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Language teaching methodologies have been evolving to align with contemporary educational trend. Task-based language teaching has partly showed its effectiveness in current society. This article focuses on using task-based language teaching in speaking classes for English-major students at Nha Trang University. Qualitative research methods were utilized to gather data via questionnaires from 4 lecturers of speaking skills and 232 students. The collected data was analyzed, then interpreted and finally the findings were presented. The results indicate that task-based language teaching was used by the lecturers in their speaking classes at the university. Furthermore, the majority of respondents agreed effectiveness of task-based language teaching in enhancing speaking competence of English-major students at Nha Trang University. The effectiveness of different task types, however, was evaluated in various levels. Problem-solving, sharing personal experiences, projects and other creative tasks are the task types which are supposed to improve students’ speaking positively. This study is a link between the theory of task-based language teaching and its practice in speaking classes at university.