an study on opinion-gap tasks.pdf

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Full Length Research Paper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE EFFECT OF STORY RETELLING OPINION GAP TASK ON

IRANIAN EFL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL.

Mohammad Aliakbari & Ferdows Mohsennejad

English Department, School of Humanities, Ilam University, Iran. Accepted: 18 JUNE, 2014.

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ABSTRACT

he current study investigated the efficacy of story retelling opinion gap task on the

promotion of Iranian EFL learners. In so doing, 29 students from a private language

institute in Khorram Abad, Iran were addressed. Based on their performance in the

pretest, they divided into two homogeneous groups. The students in the experimental

group received activities through opinion gap tasks while those in the control group

received the traditional tasks used to teach speaking. Finalizing the treatment, the researchers gave the final

exam and examined the results through t-test statistics. The results indicate that the students in the

experimental group out-performed those in the control group. Accordingly, it can be concluded that

implementing story retelling opinion gap task can significantly promote the students speaking ability.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- *Corresponding Author. Email: [email protected]

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ADVANCES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (AELL)

ISSN: 2328-2711 VOL. 1(2), pp. 7-15, JUNE 2014 REF NUMBER: 1620140601 ONLINE: http://www.projournals.org/AELL

T

KEYWORDS:

Opinion gap, story retelling, speaking, task, Iranian EFL learners

mailto:[email protected]

THE EFFECT OF STORY RETELLING OPINION GAP TASK ON IRANIAN EFL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLA.

1620140601

PRO JOURNALS [AELL] - THE EFFECT OF STORY RETELLING OPINION GAP TASK ON IRANIAN EFL

STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL. By Mohammad Aliakbari & Ferdows Mohsennejad

Advances in English Language and Literature (AELL)

INTRODUCTION

The way education was perceived has undergone substantial changes during previous decades. As a result,

structure-based instruction has been replaced, mostly, by communicative teaching. Teacher-centered classes

have gone under question and has been changed to students-centered and teacher-students-centered classes.

Traditionally, learners were required to reproduce language presented by authors and writers;

however, in contemporary language education, they are taught how to use language creatively [26]. Hands on

and flexible activities are more emphasized now. Language teaching has also undergone changes in the past

decades; Grammar Translation Method and Audio-lingual Method have been replaced by practical and

beneficial approaches. SLA research has made up new theories and applications. Among new methods and

pedagogical approaches, task-based language teaching has been widely used to promote the quality of

educational systems around the world ([35];[36];[9];[12]).

Nunan [26] defined a communicative task 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 form.”(p.36). Willis [39] defined tasks as activities where the

learners use language for communicative purposes to reach an outcome. It can be anything from doing a

puzzle, role play, retelling stories and so forth. It can, thus, be understood that a task is meaning-focused, and

contribute learners in comprehending and producing language.

A review of literature shows that there are three main types of tasks including:

1. OPINION-GAP TASK

Everyone has different opinions, feelings, attitudes, and preferences about subjects. Realizing others’

opinions and feelings helps closing the gap [22].

2. REASONING-GAP TASK

It involves driving new information from the given ones through inferences, deduction or perception

of the relationships or partners. It needs comprehending and conveying information [2].

3. INFORMATION-GAP TASK:

It is “a situation where one person knows something, which the other does not. This cultivates

curiosity/inquisitiveness, inventive nature, confidence, problem solving, phrasing questions,

discovering questions, and above all communication” [2].

Experts have referred to the following features as essentials of implementing the above-mentioned tasks:

It should be pair or group worked (e.g. [33]; [13]).

Tasks should be personalized ([5]).

Tasks should be in the interest area of students.

A variety of activities should be included.

They should be open-ended. Put differently, no predetermined correct answer should exist

([40]).


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One major language area where tasks are adopted to promote the learners skill is speaking, which is the final

goal of learning language [25]. Miller suggests that’s peaking is itself a critical tool of representation, a way of

representing the self and others. It is the means through which identity is constituted, and agency or self-

advocacy is made manifest. In other words, we represent and negotiate identity, and construct that of others

through speaking and hearing. (pp. 293-4)

Among the purposes of speaking, Bygate [8] suggests information and instructional routines. The

information is frequently restructuring; however, in the instructional routines, there is a need to constantly

negotiate meaning as to make interaction. In retelling task, the students are expected to negotiate meaning as

to make interaction.

Having considered the above discussion, the present study aimed to implement task-based teaching

in an EFL context to seek the effectiveness of this approach in the enhancement of students’ speaking. More

specifically, this study was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of story-retelling opinion-gap task in

the promotion of Iranian students’ speaking.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A distinction has been made between strong and weak form of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

([15]; [37]; [31]). The weak version emphasizes on providing opportunities for language learners to use

English for communicative goals. The strong version, however, claims that language is best learned through

communication. Task-based language teaching, as a manifestation of CLT, is a research-driven approach

which emphasizes on the real use of language ([23]; [20]; [30]; [34]; [20]; [27]). Having this brief history of

task-based language teaching in mind, the following goes to review the related literature, and reviews some

studies conducted using different techniques of task-based teaching, including role play, information gap,

opinion gap and so forth.

Lots of previous studies proved the effectiveness of information gap tasks [11]; jigsaw, information

gap task and role play [14] and so forth in the promotion of students’ speaking ability. In one study,

Rosmaliwarnis [32] proved that adopting information gap activities enhanced the students’ speaking ability

more than traditional methods of teaching. She maintained that tasks motivated learners to speak without

memorizing dialogues. In a qualitative study, Novita [29] found that role play increased the students’

participation in the classroom. Moreover, the researcher claimed that students became more brave and

confident and less stressful about dialogues.

Aliakbari and Jamalvandi [1] designed an experimental study to find the usefulness of role play, as a

technique of task-based teaching on the enhancement of students’ speaking ability in Iran. They randomly

selected 60 sophomore university students and divided them into experimental and control groups. They

prepared role play cards and gave them to the students in the experimental group to let them play roles. The

results of their study indicated that the students in the experimental group outperformed those in the control

group. The researchers concluded that implementing role play technique of task-based teaching was effective

in promoting students’ speaking ability.

Karimi [18] aimed at examining the effectiveness of information gap task on the promotion of Iranian

EFL learners’ vocabulary. Five tasks were chosen and practiced in the experimental group. There was also a

control group in the study. Having implemented 16 sessions and holding a posttest, the researcher concluded

that adopting the information gap task was useful in the enhancement of students’ vocabulary development.

Yandeya investigated the usefulness of utilizing information gap task on the eighth grade students’

speaking ability. In so doing, 70 students were divided into homogeneous groups. Those in the experimental

group received information gap tasks. Finally, a posttest was conducted to seek the efficacy of the treatment

on five levels of comprehension, pronunciation, fluency, grammar, and vocabulary. The results show the

effectiveness of information gap task in all five levels.


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Watamni and Gholami [38] conducted a study to see whether adopting information gap task affects

the students’ speaking ability in EFL classes. Fifteen female students in a private language institute in

Mahabad, Iran were chosen and among them 34 learners were selected and assigned into control and

experimental groups. An oral interview served the role of the pretest and was the basis for dividing the

students into homogeneous groups. The students received information gap tasks during 17 sessions. Finally,

one standard speaking test was administered to find the students’ progress. The results of the final exam

revealed that those in the experimental group outperformed the students in the control. Therefore, it was

concluded that adopting information gap task was effective in promoting the students’ speaking ability.

Bearing the literature in mind, lots of studies have been conducted in the literature to find the

effectiveness of different tasks in different situations; however, no study has sought the efficacy of opinion

gap tasks using the story retelling technique. Accordingly, this study conducted to fill the gap between

learning and teaching in the given context.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Lots of studies have been done to seek the effectiveness of task-based teaching on listening, speaking, and

reading around the world. Few studies, however have adopted opinion-gap tasks to find its effectiveness in

the promotion of students speaking ability. The task might not be totally new in English language teaching;

however, not much study adopted it in Iranian context. Therefore, this study was designed to find out the

extent to which task-based would affect Iranian EFL learners’ language ability in general their speaking

ability improvement in particular. In this spirit, the study sought answer to the following research question:

Do implementing opinion-gap tasks through the strategy of story re-telling affect Iranian EFL students’

speaking?

METHOD

PARTICIPANTS

In order to check the effectiveness of the adopted task on speaking ability of Iranian students, 29 female

intermediate students from Zaban Sara Institute in Khorram Abad selected. Based on the scores they

achieved in the pretest, they were assigned into two homogeneous groups of control and experimental.

Fifteen students were in the experimental group, and 14 students in the control group. Their age range was13

to 21.

MATERIALS AND INSTRUMENTS

The main material of the study was Interchange, book 2 ([31]). Besides, leveled short stories were worked

upon in both experimental and control groups. Two oral interview proficiency tests were used in the study.

One of the tests was used as the pretest as to determine the students speaking ability before the study began.

The other test, the posttest, was used to see the students’ progress after implementing the study. Both tests

had fixed and open-ended questions.

PROCEDURE

A quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. The study lasted 45 days through which both groups

took part in the classes three times a week. The tasks were supposed to be completed in three phases, pre-

task, while-task, and post-tasks. In the pre-task phase the teacher gave the students background knowledge


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and made the students mind ready for the topic. The students had two days to study the story, and be

prepared for re-telling it in the next session. In the while-task phase, the students firstly discussed about the

story, and the teacher/researcher helped them re-tell the story. After that the students were required to

exchange their ideas about the topic, for example, if it was about love, sport, unity, a typical disease, and

travel. They discussed about it, expressed their attitudes, preferences, and feelings, and were encouraged to

prove suggestions regarding how could the story ended.

The teacher’s role was solely a teacher manager who tried not to interrupt the discussion. Moreover,

the teacher helped the students in finding words needed, and in expressing correct sentences. Finally, in the

post-task phase the students together with the teacher reviewed the story and the discussion in 5-7 minutes.

The students in the control group also received short stories at the end of each session. They re-told the story

in the next session. The teacher also helped find the meaning of new words and explained new structures to

them. However, there was no opinion-gap, and the students did not discuss about the special topic. At the end

of the study, all of the students took part in an oral interview test to see the efficacy of the adopted task. The

scores were then analyzed through T-test.

RESULTS

The following tables reveal the students’ performance in the pretest; both descriptive and inferential

statistics are presented.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the students’ performance in the pretest

Class N Mean Std. Deviation

Task-based 15 41.34 3.8

Traditional 14 40.93 3.5

Table 2. Inferential statistics of the students’ performance in the pretest

F df Sig. (2-tailed) Std. Error Difference

.027 27 .64 2.10

Table 3 and Table 4 show the students’ performance in the posttest.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the students’ performance in the posttest

class N Mean Std. Deviation

Task-based 15 46.12 3.2

Traditional 14 42.03 4.02


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Table 4. Inferential statistics of the students’ performance in the posttest

F df Sig. (2-tailed) Std. Error

Difference

.098 27 .035 3.10

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

As stated earlier, the purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of task-based opinion gap activities,

particularly story re-telling opinion-gap activities, on the students speaking ability. Table 1 shows the average

scores of the students in the experimental (41.34), and the control groups(40.93). However, to ensure the

homogeneity of the groups, Independent-Samples T-test was run. As it is shown in Table 2, the sig=0.64 is

higher than 0.05; so it can be safely claimed that the groups were homogeneous before the study began.

At the end of the semester, one interview exam was conducted to find out the students’ progress

after the semester. Table 3 indicates the descriptive statistics of the students’ performance in the final exam.

The average score of 46.12 that was achieved by the students in the experimental group is higher than the

mean score of 42.03, achieved by those in the control group.

To seek the meaningfulness of this difference, Independent-Samples T-test was adopted. The

sig=0.035 (p<.05) reveals that the difference between the achieved scores was statistically meaningful.

Regarding the mean scores, it is clear that the adopted strategy in task-based teaching was more effective in

promoting the students speaking ability than traditional teaching. One of the reasons for the effectiveness of

the adopted strategy in enhancing the students’ speaking might be due to the nature of the opinion-gap task.

The students had enough time to be prepared for retelling the story. They could find the words and change

the structure of sentences into a simpler form to be able to retell them. Another influential factor in advancing

the students’ speaking can be related to the fact that the students were allowed and motivated to end the

stories in a desirable manner. It has been said that this can provoke their motivation and their imagination.

Such tasks help the learners to go beyond the information given by presenting their attitudes and

preferences. In fact, opinion-gap task provide a wider range of language output for the students.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

One of the limitations of the study was the limited number of participants. The participants of the study were

chosen from one language institute in Khorram Abad. Thus, future studies can replicate the current study

using a larger number of students. This study was conducted in one semester; therefore further studies can

be done longitudinally to seek the efficacy of the adopted approach in other contexts and with other

participants. The students of this study were intermediate learners of English, students of different

proficiency levels, including elementary and advanced, can be the participants of further studies to open new

lines for further investigations.


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