TASK-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN VIETNAMESE EFL HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOMS: TEACHERS’ ROLES IN THE DURING-TASK PHASE AND THEIR BELIEFS
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article explored the roles the Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers performed during students’ task work. Data were collected over the course of 10 weeks in a Vietnamese high school where nine Vietnamese EFL teachers and their nine respective classes were observed and audio and video recorded. The teachers were also interviewed after the observed lessons. For the present paper, the teacher’s talks during student-student task execution in normal classroom schedules were audio recorded and analysed by microgenesis method. The results demonstrated a wide array of emerging fluid pedagogical roles the teachers played in response to the unfolding task work at hand. The different roles the teachers adopted were underpinned by their beliefs, awareness and thoughts. The study offers practical implications for how teachers could mediate task-based learning in EFL classroom contexts and perhaps in similar settings.
Article Details
Keywords
tasked-based language learning, Vietnamese EFL teachers, teacher roles, beliefs
References
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Borg, S., & Sanchez, H. S. (2020). Cognition/beliefs and good language teachers. In C. Griffiths & Z. Tajeddin (Eds.), Lessons from good language teachers (pp. 16-27). Cambridge University Press.
Butler, Y. G. (2017). Communicative and task-based language teaching in the Asia-Pacific region. In N. Van Deusen-Scholl & S. May (Eds.), Second and foreign language education, encyclopedia of
language and education (3rd ed., pp. 327–338). Springer.
Bygate M. (2016). Sources, developments and directions of task-based language teaching. The Language Learning Journal, 44, 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2015.1039566
Bygate, M., Norris, J., & Van den Branden, K. (2009). Understanding TBLT at the interface between research and pedagogy. In K. Van den Branden, M. Bygate, & J. M. Norris (Eds.), Task-based language teaching. A reader (pp. 495-499). John Benjamins.
Cao, P. T. H. (2018). Task-based language teaching: Affordances and challenges in TBLT implementation at the Vietnamese tertiary level. Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(2), 510-515. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.2.19.510
Choi, H., & Iwashita, N. (2016). Interactional behaviours of low proficiency learners in small group work. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 113–134). John Benjamins.
Coughlan, P., & Duff, P. (1994). Same task, different activities: Analysis of SLA task from an activity theory perspective. In J. P. Lantolf, & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 173-193). ABLEX.
Dao, P., & Iwashita, N. (2018). Teacher mediation in L2 classroom task-based interaction. System, 74, 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.03.016
Deng, C., & Carless, D. (2009). The communicativeness of activities in a task-based innovation in Guangdong, China. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 113-134.
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.
Duong, T. M., & Nguyen, H. T. T. (2021). Implementing task-based language teaching in Vietnamese secondary schools: What hinders EFL teachers?. Teaching English as a Second Language Electronic Journal (TESL-EJ), 25(2), 1-15. https://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej98/a4.pdf
Ellis, R. (2006). The methodology of task-based teaching. Asian EFL Journal, 8(3), 19-45.
Ellis, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: Sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 221-246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2009.00231.x
Ellis, R., Loewen, S. & Erlam, R. (2006). Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 339-368. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263106060141
Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research. Routledge.
Freeman, D., & Johnson, K. E. (1998). Re-conceptualizing the knowledge-base of language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 32(3), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588114
García Mayo M. P., & Azkarai, A. (2016). EFL task-based interaction: Does task modality impact on language-related episodes?. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second Language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 241-266). John Benjamins.
Gass, S., & Mackey, A. (2000). Stimulate recall methodology in second language research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gibbons, P. (2003). Mediating language learning: Teacher interactions with ESL students in a content-based classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 247-273. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588504
Gibbons, P. (2006). Bridging discourses in the ESL classroom. Continuum.
Griffiths, C. (2021). What about the teacher? Language Teaching, 56(2), 210-222. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000100
Guitiérrez, A. G. (2008). Microgenesis, method, and object: A study of collaborative activity in a Spanish as foreign language classroom. Applied Linguistics, 29(1), 120-148. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm032
Hall, J. K. (2022). L2 classroom interaction and its links to L2 learners’ developing L2 linguistic repertoires: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 55(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444820000397
Han, Z. (2018). Task-based learning in task-based teaching: Training teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 38, 162-186. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051800003X
Harmer, J. (2012). Essential teacher knowledge: Core concepts in English language teaching. Pearson.
Hattie, J., & Anderman, E. (Eds.) (2020). Visible learning guide to student achievement. Routledge.
Hood, M., Elwood, J., & Falout, J. (2009). Student attitudes toward task-based language teaching at Japanese universities. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 19-47.
Jackson, D. O. (2022). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2011). A socio-cultural theoretical perspective on teacher professional development. In K. E. Johnson, & P. R. Golombek (Eds.), Research on second language teacher education: A socio-cultural perspective on professional development (pp. 1-12). Routledge.
Lantolf, J. (2012). Sociocultural theory: a dialectical approach to L2 research. In S. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), the Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 57-72). Routledge.
Loewen, S., & Sato, M. (2018). Interaction and instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching, 51(3), 285–329. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444818000125
MOET. (2010). Guide to implementation of standardized knowledge and skills: The English language subject for Vietnamese high school level. Education Publishing House, Hanoi.
MOET. (2018). National Curriculum for General Education: The English curriculum. Hanoi.
Nguyen, B. T. T. (2013). Tasks in action in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms: The role of rehearsal and performance in teaching and learning through oral tasks (Unpublished PhD thesis). Victoria University of Wellington.
Nguyen, B. T. T., Newton, J., & Crabbe, D. (2015). Preparing for tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms: Teachers in action. In M. Thomas & H. Reinders (Eds.), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia. Bloomsbury.
Nguyen, B. T. T., Newton, J. & Crabbe, D. (2018). Teacher transformation of textbook tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms. In M. Bygate, V. Samuda & K. Van Den Branden (Eds.), TBLT as a researched pedagogy (pp. 52-70). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.12.03ngu
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Philp, J. (2016). Epilogue: New pathways in researching interaction. In M. Sato, & S.
Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 377-395). John Benjamins.
Poehner, M. E., & Leontjev, D. (2022). Peer interaction, mediation, and a view of teachers as creators of learner L2 development. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(1), 18-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12444
Samuda, V. (2001). Guiding the relationships between form and meaning during task performance: The role of the teacher. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing (pp. 119-140). Pearson Education Limited.
Samuda, V. (2015). Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces. In M. Bygate (Ed.), Domains and directions in the development of TBLT (pp. 271-301). John Benjamins.
Samuda, V., Bygate, M., & Van den Branden, K. (2018). Towards a researched pedagogy for TBLT. In V. Samuda, M. Bygate, & K. Van den Branden (Eds.), TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy (pp. 1-22). John Benjamins.
Skehan, P. (2003). Task-based instruction. Language Teaching, 36(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026144480200188X
Skehan, P. (2016). Tasks versus conditions: Two perspectives on task research and their implications for pedagogy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190515000100
Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through
collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97-114). Oxford University Press.
Tran, N. G., Ha, X. V., & Tran, N. H. (2023). EFL reformed curriculum in Vietnam: An understanding of teachers’ cognitions and classroom practices. RELC Journal, 54(1), 166-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211043670
van Compernolle, R. A. (2015). Interaction and second language development: A Vygotskian
perspective. John Benjamins.
Van den Branden, K. (Ed.). (2006). Task-based language education. Cambridge University Press.
Van den Branden, K. (2009). Mediating between pre-determined order and chaos. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 264-285.
Van den Branden, K. (2016). The role of teachers in task-based language education. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 164-181. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190515000070
Van den Branden, K., Bygate, M., & Norris, J. (2009). Task-based language teaching: Introducing the reader. In K. Van den Branden, M. Bygate, & J. Norris (Eds.), Task-based language teaching: A reader (pp. 1-19). John Benjamins.
VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S. (Eds.). (2020). Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction. Routledge.
Vygotsky, L., S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Longman.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1990). Aspects of language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Zhang, E. Y. (2007). TBLT-Innovation in primary school English language teaching in Mainland China. In K. Van den Branden, K. Van Gorp & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 68-91). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Berben, M., Van den Branden, K., & Van Gorp, K. (2007). “We'll see what happens”: Tasks on paper and tasks in a multilingual classroom. In V. d. Branden, K. Van Gorp & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 32-67). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Borg, S. (2009). Language teacher cognition. In A. Burns & J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 163-171). Cambridge University Press.
Borg, S., & Sanchez, H. S. (2020). Cognition/beliefs and good language teachers. In C. Griffiths & Z. Tajeddin (Eds.), Lessons from good language teachers (pp. 16-27). Cambridge University Press.
Butler, Y. G. (2017). Communicative and task-based language teaching in the Asia-Pacific region. In N. Van Deusen-Scholl & S. May (Eds.), Second and foreign language education, encyclopedia of
language and education (3rd ed., pp. 327–338). Springer.
Bygate M. (2016). Sources, developments and directions of task-based language teaching. The Language Learning Journal, 44, 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2015.1039566
Bygate, M., Norris, J., & Van den Branden, K. (2009). Understanding TBLT at the interface between research and pedagogy. In K. Van den Branden, M. Bygate, & J. M. Norris (Eds.), Task-based language teaching. A reader (pp. 495-499). John Benjamins.
Cao, P. T. H. (2018). Task-based language teaching: Affordances and challenges in TBLT implementation at the Vietnamese tertiary level. Journal of Asia TEFL, 15(2), 510-515. http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.2.19.510
Choi, H., & Iwashita, N. (2016). Interactional behaviours of low proficiency learners in small group work. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 113–134). John Benjamins.
Coughlan, P., & Duff, P. (1994). Same task, different activities: Analysis of SLA task from an activity theory perspective. In J. P. Lantolf, & G. Appel (Eds.), Vygotskian approaches to second language research (pp. 173-193). ABLEX.
Dao, P., & Iwashita, N. (2018). Teacher mediation in L2 classroom task-based interaction. System, 74, 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.03.016
Deng, C., & Carless, D. (2009). The communicativeness of activities in a task-based innovation in Guangdong, China. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 113-134.
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.
Duong, T. M., & Nguyen, H. T. T. (2021). Implementing task-based language teaching in Vietnamese secondary schools: What hinders EFL teachers?. Teaching English as a Second Language Electronic Journal (TESL-EJ), 25(2), 1-15. https://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej98/a4.pdf
Ellis, R. (2006). The methodology of task-based teaching. Asian EFL Journal, 8(3), 19-45.
Ellis, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: Sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 221-246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2009.00231.x
Ellis, R., Loewen, S. & Erlam, R. (2006). Implicit and explicit corrective feedback and the acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 339-368. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263106060141
Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research. Routledge.
Freeman, D., & Johnson, K. E. (1998). Re-conceptualizing the knowledge-base of language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 32(3), 397-417. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588114
García Mayo M. P., & Azkarai, A. (2016). EFL task-based interaction: Does task modality impact on language-related episodes?. In M. Sato & S. Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second Language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 241-266). John Benjamins.
Gass, S., & Mackey, A. (2000). Stimulate recall methodology in second language research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gibbons, P. (2003). Mediating language learning: Teacher interactions with ESL students in a content-based classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 37(2), 247-273. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588504
Gibbons, P. (2006). Bridging discourses in the ESL classroom. Continuum.
Griffiths, C. (2021). What about the teacher? Language Teaching, 56(2), 210-222. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000100
Guitiérrez, A. G. (2008). Microgenesis, method, and object: A study of collaborative activity in a Spanish as foreign language classroom. Applied Linguistics, 29(1), 120-148. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm032
Hall, J. K. (2022). L2 classroom interaction and its links to L2 learners’ developing L2 linguistic repertoires: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 55(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444820000397
Han, Z. (2018). Task-based learning in task-based teaching: Training teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 38, 162-186. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051800003X
Harmer, J. (2012). Essential teacher knowledge: Core concepts in English language teaching. Pearson.
Hattie, J., & Anderman, E. (Eds.) (2020). Visible learning guide to student achievement. Routledge.
Hood, M., Elwood, J., & Falout, J. (2009). Student attitudes toward task-based language teaching at Japanese universities. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 19-47.
Jackson, D. O. (2022). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Johnson, K. E., & Golombek, P. R. (2011). A socio-cultural theoretical perspective on teacher professional development. In K. E. Johnson, & P. R. Golombek (Eds.), Research on second language teacher education: A socio-cultural perspective on professional development (pp. 1-12). Routledge.
Lantolf, J. (2012). Sociocultural theory: a dialectical approach to L2 research. In S. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), the Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 57-72). Routledge.
Loewen, S., & Sato, M. (2018). Interaction and instructed second language acquisition. Language Teaching, 51(3), 285–329. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444818000125
MOET. (2010). Guide to implementation of standardized knowledge and skills: The English language subject for Vietnamese high school level. Education Publishing House, Hanoi.
MOET. (2018). National Curriculum for General Education: The English curriculum. Hanoi.
Nguyen, B. T. T. (2013). Tasks in action in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms: The role of rehearsal and performance in teaching and learning through oral tasks (Unpublished PhD thesis). Victoria University of Wellington.
Nguyen, B. T. T., Newton, J., & Crabbe, D. (2015). Preparing for tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms: Teachers in action. In M. Thomas & H. Reinders (Eds.), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia. Bloomsbury.
Nguyen, B. T. T., Newton, J. & Crabbe, D. (2018). Teacher transformation of textbook tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms. In M. Bygate, V. Samuda & K. Van Den Branden (Eds.), TBLT as a researched pedagogy (pp. 52-70). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.12.03ngu
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Philp, J. (2016). Epilogue: New pathways in researching interaction. In M. Sato, & S.
Ballinger (Eds.), Peer interaction and second language learning: Pedagogical potential and research agenda (pp. 377-395). John Benjamins.
Poehner, M. E., & Leontjev, D. (2022). Peer interaction, mediation, and a view of teachers as creators of learner L2 development. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(1), 18-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12444
Samuda, V. (2001). Guiding the relationships between form and meaning during task performance: The role of the teacher. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan, & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching and testing (pp. 119-140). Pearson Education Limited.
Samuda, V. (2015). Tasks, design, and the architecture of pedagogical spaces. In M. Bygate (Ed.), Domains and directions in the development of TBLT (pp. 271-301). John Benjamins.
Samuda, V., Bygate, M., & Van den Branden, K. (2018). Towards a researched pedagogy for TBLT. In V. Samuda, M. Bygate, & K. Van den Branden (Eds.), TBLT as a Researched Pedagogy (pp. 1-22). John Benjamins.
Skehan, P. (2003). Task-based instruction. Language Teaching, 36(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026144480200188X
Skehan, P. (2016). Tasks versus conditions: Two perspectives on task research and their implications for pedagogy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190515000100
Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through
collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Sociocultural theory and second language learning (pp. 97-114). Oxford University Press.
Tran, N. G., Ha, X. V., & Tran, N. H. (2023). EFL reformed curriculum in Vietnam: An understanding of teachers’ cognitions and classroom practices. RELC Journal, 54(1), 166-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211043670
van Compernolle, R. A. (2015). Interaction and second language development: A Vygotskian
perspective. John Benjamins.
Van den Branden, K. (Ed.). (2006). Task-based language education. Cambridge University Press.
Van den Branden, K. (2009). Mediating between pre-determined order and chaos. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 264-285.
Van den Branden, K. (2016). The role of teachers in task-based language education. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 164-181. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190515000070
Van den Branden, K., Bygate, M., & Norris, J. (2009). Task-based language teaching: Introducing the reader. In K. Van den Branden, M. Bygate, & J. Norris (Eds.), Task-based language teaching: A reader (pp. 1-19). John Benjamins.
VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S. (Eds.). (2020). Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction. Routledge.
Vygotsky, L., S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Longman.
Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1990). Aspects of language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Zhang, E. Y. (2007). TBLT-Innovation in primary school English language teaching in Mainland China. In K. Van den Branden, K. Van Gorp & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 68-91). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.