Task-based learning and students’ motivation in the Armenian classroom setting

Abstract

This study attempted to explore and answer the following question: To what extent does task-based teaching/learning (TBT) motivate students and lead them to successful learning? It also intends to investigate whether the effectiveness of task completion, i.e. the outcome, depends on the fact that students carry out the tasks individually versus in groups or pairs. The data was collected through conducting various task types like information gap, reasoning gap, problem solving activities, as well as questionnaires, interviews with the students and teachers, and the field notes taken by the investigator. All these tasks were carried out in groups, pairs, individually or in whole class discussions. The experiment lasted for three weeks (seven classes). The participants of the study were students of two classes at the same level, and the teachers of the two classes. The researcher divided students into pairs or groups and switched the turns every lesson. The students filled out the closed-ended task questionnaires at the end of each lesson in order to assess the relevance and appropriateness of the tasks. At the end of the study, the students and the teachers were asked to fill out an open-ended questionnaire intended to measure the overall effectiveness of the task-based teaching approach and to examine which types of class organization were more successful in promoting and developing students’ performance. The results of the analysis indicate that a task-based approach to EFL might offer numerous benefits to the Armenian EFL learners. The findings of the study might help Armenian teachers to provide the learners with a variety of learning tasks and instructions that would give an opportunity to involve learner in a way of learning that is communicative, creative and cognitively-challenging.