An Evaluation Of Speaking Tasks Focus On Grade Eight English Textbook

The target of this study was to evaluate speaking tasks presented in Grade Eight Ethiopian rnEnglish textbook whether they are designed based on Nunan‟s (1989) components of rncommunicative tasks and quality of effective speaking tasks or not. The study was evaluative rnresearch design and employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The researcher rnused content analysis as (a main tool), questionnaire and interview. The data were collected rnfrom grade 8 textbook, teacher‟s guide and syllabus, particularly speaking tasks. Besides, 4 rnteachers and 70 students participated from Eshet and Dejeazmach Geneme Primary Schoolsrnin Addis Ketema Sub City in Addis Ababa to find out the attitude of teachers and students rntowards speaking tasks. Simple random sampling and available sampling were employed to rnselect students and teachers respectively. Additionally, to get valid information about the rntasks, task designers participated in this study. The finding revealed that the goals of the rnspeaking tasks were not clearly stated in students‟ textbook, but mentioned in teacher‟s rnguide. Most of inputs of speaking tasks were inauthentic, and most of the input forms werernverbal. Activities seem to be closely related to the communicative goals of the task and the rninput of the tasks. All speaking tasks were designed to be practiced in the form of pair work rnor group work. The roles of students and teachers were mentioned in text book, and teacher‟srnguide. In short, tasks don‟t fulfill some of the relevant criteria of Nunan‟s (1989) components rnof communicative tasks. Regarding goodness of speaking tasks, the activities were rnmotivating, meaningful, purposeful, productive, and suitable for pair or group work.rnHowever, the tasks do not fulfill stages of tasks. Both students and teachers have positive rnattitude towards the speaking tasks. Based on the findings, it is recommended that task rndesigners need to develop tasks through incorporating the six basic components of rncommunicative tasks in the learner‟s textbook when preparing the materials. Hence, somernactivities need modification in order to be more applicable to the goal and input of tasks.rnMaterial designers need to consider different ways of presenting speaking tasks whilerndesigning

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism