TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS IN VIETNAM: POTENTIAL AND POSSIBILITIES
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examines the potential of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) for young learners in Vietnam by synthesizing key theoretical and pedagogical insights from existing research. Using a systematic review of literature from major academic databases (e.g., Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar), this study identifies input-based tasks and task repetition as essential strategies for optimizing TBLT implementation at the primary level. Input-based tasks provide essential scaffolding, allowing learners to engage in communication without the pressure of immediate production, while task repetition reinforces comprehension and fluency over time. By bridging theory and practice, this research contributes to the development of a more effective and accessible approach to English language education for young learners in Vietnam.
Keywords
input-based tasks, primary English education, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), task repetition
Article Details
References
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Paribakht, S. (2005). The influence of first language lexicalization on second language lexical inferencing: A study of Farsi-speaking learners of English as a foreign language. Language Learning, 55, 701-48.
Pinter, A. (2005). Task repetition with 10-year-old children. In C. Edwards & J. Willis (Eds.), Teachers exploring tasks in English language teaching (pp. 113-26). Palgrave Macmillan.
Pinter, A. (2007). What children say: Benefits of task repetition. In K. Van den Branden., K. Van Gorp., & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 131-158). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Prabhu, N.S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford University Press.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. RELC.
Sample, E., & Michel, M. (2014). An exploratory study into trade-off effects of complexity, accuracy and fluency in young learners' oral task repetition. TESL Canada Journal, 31(8), 23-46.
Samuda, V., & Bygate, M. (2008). Tasks in second language learning. Palgrave Macmillan.
Shintani, N. (2011). Task-based language teaching vs. traditional production-based instruction: Do they result in different classroom processes? University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 6, 1-24.
Shintani, N. (2012). Input-based tasks and the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: A process-product study. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 253-279
Shintani, N. (2013). The effect of focus on form and focus on forms instruction on the acquisition of productive knowledge of L2 vocabulary by young beginning-level learners. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), 36-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.54
Shintani, N. (2014). Using tasks with young beginner learners: The role of the teacher. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8(3), 279-294.
Shintani, N. (2015). Task-based language teaching at elementary schools in Japan: Issues and possibilities. Journal of the Chubu English Language Education Society, 44, 205-210
Shintani, N. (2016). Input-based tasks in foreign language instruction for young learners. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Shintani, N. & Ellis, R. (2010). The incidental acquisition of English plural -s by Japanese children in comprehension-based and production-based lessons. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 607-37.
Skehan, P. (2009). Modelling second language performance: Integrating complexity, accuracy, gluency, and lexis. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 510-532,
Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based Instruction. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 376-401. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami013
Thomas, M. & Reinders, H. (2015). Contemporary Task-Based Language Teaching in Asia. Bloomsbury Publishing.
To, T. T. H. (2010). Insights from Vietnam learning through English: Policies, challenges and prospects. Insights from East Asia, 96-114. Retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/publication_1_learning_through_english.pdf
Zhang, Y. (2015). Task-based language teaching in the primary schools of South China. In M. Thomas, & H. Reinders (Eds.), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia
(pp. 87-102). Bloomsbury Academic.
Bui, L. D. T., & Newton, J. (2020). Developing Task-based Lessons from PPP Lessons: A Case of Primary English Textbooks in Vietnam. RELC Journal, 53(1), 203-215.
Bygate, M. (2001). Effects of Task Repetition on the Structure and Control of Oral Language. In M. Bygate, P. Skehan & M. Swain (Eds.), Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing (pp. 23-48). Longman.
Bygate, M. (Ed.). (2018) Learning Language Through Task Repetition. John Benjamins.
Carless, D. (2004). Issues in Teachers' Reinterpretation of a Task-Based Innovation in Primary Schools. TESOL Quarterly, 38(4), 639-662. https://doi.org/10.2307/3588283
Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (2010). Second language acquisition research and language-teaching materials. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching materials: Theory and practice (pp. 33-57). Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (2012). Language teaching research and language pedagogy. Wiley-Blackwell.
Ellis, R., Heimbach, R., Tanaka, Y., & Yamazaki, A. (1999). Modified input and the acquisition of word meanings by children and adults. In R. Ellis (Ed.), Learning a second language through interaction (pp. 63-114). John Benjamins.
García Mayo, M. P. and Agirre, A. I. (2016) Task repetition and its impact on EFL children’s negotiation of meaning strategies and pair dynamics: An exploratory study. The Language Learning Journal, 44 (4), 451-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2016.1185799.
Hoang, V. V. (2010). The Current Situation and Issues of the Teaching of English in Vietnam. 立命館言語文化研究, 22(1), 7-18.
Hu, G. W. (2005). English language education in China: Policies, progress, and problems. Language Policy, 4(1), 5-24.
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: issues and implications. Longman.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Understanding language teaching: From method to post-method. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lantolf, J. 2003. Intrapersonal communication and internalization in the second language classroom. In A. Kozulin, V. S. Ageev, S. Miller, & B. Gindis (Eds.), Vygotsky’s Theory of Education in Cultural Context (pp. 349-370). Cambridge University Press.
Le, V. C., Nguyen, H. T. M., Nguyen, T. T. M., & Barnard, R. (Eds.). (2019). Building teacher capacity in English language teaching in Vietnam: research, policy and practice (1st ed.). Routledge.
Levelt, W. J. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge University Press
Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal, 58(4), 319-326.
Loschky, L. (1994). Comprehensible input and second language acquisition: What is the relationship? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 303-23.
Lynch, T., & Maclean, J. (2000). Exploring the benefits of task repetition and recycling for classroom language learning. Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 221-250.
Newton, J. and Bui, T. (2018) Teaching with tasks in primary school EFL classrooms in Vietnam. In M. Ahmadian and M.P. García Mayo (Eds.). Current Trends in Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning (pp. 259-278). Mouton de Gruyter.
Newton, J., & Bui, L. D. T. (2020). Low-proficiency learners and task-based language teaching. In C. Lambert & R. Oliver (Ed.), Using Tasks in Second Language Teaching, 143, (pp. 33-48). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788929455-004
Nhan, T. (2013). Promoting content and language integrated learning in gifed high schools in Vietnam: Challenges and impacts. Internet Journal of Language, Culture and Society, 38,
146-153.
Nguyen, V. G., Le, C.V., & Barnard, R. (2015). “Old wine in new bottles”: Two case studies of task-based language teaching in Vietnam. In M. Thomas & H. Reinders (Eds.), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia (pp.68-86). Bloomsbury.
Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Ohta, A.S. (2001). Second language acquisition processes in the classroom: Learning Japanese. Mahwah. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Oliver, R., Philp, J., & Ducheness, S. (2017). Children working out together: A comparison of younger and other learners collaborating in task-based interaction. System, 69, 1-14.
Ortega, L. (2012). Task-based language teaching in foreign language contexts: One pragmatist's view. Unpublished Plenary delivered at the JASELE Conference.
Paribakht, S. (2005). The influence of first language lexicalization on second language lexical inferencing: A study of Farsi-speaking learners of English as a foreign language. Language Learning, 55, 701-48.
Pinter, A. (2005). Task repetition with 10-year-old children. In C. Edwards & J. Willis (Eds.), Teachers exploring tasks in English language teaching (pp. 113-26). Palgrave Macmillan.
Pinter, A. (2007). What children say: Benefits of task repetition. In K. Van den Branden., K. Van Gorp., & M. Verhelst (Eds.), Tasks in action: Task-based language education from a classroom-based perspective (pp. 131-158). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Prabhu, N.S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford University Press.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. RELC.
Sample, E., & Michel, M. (2014). An exploratory study into trade-off effects of complexity, accuracy and fluency in young learners' oral task repetition. TESL Canada Journal, 31(8), 23-46.
Samuda, V., & Bygate, M. (2008). Tasks in second language learning. Palgrave Macmillan.
Shintani, N. (2011). Task-based language teaching vs. traditional production-based instruction: Do they result in different classroom processes? University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 6, 1-24.
Shintani, N. (2012). Input-based tasks and the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar: A process-product study. Language Teaching Research, 16(2), 253-279
Shintani, N. (2013). The effect of focus on form and focus on forms instruction on the acquisition of productive knowledge of L2 vocabulary by young beginning-level learners. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), 36-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.54
Shintani, N. (2014). Using tasks with young beginner learners: The role of the teacher. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8(3), 279-294.
Shintani, N. (2015). Task-based language teaching at elementary schools in Japan: Issues and possibilities. Journal of the Chubu English Language Education Society, 44, 205-210
Shintani, N. (2016). Input-based tasks in foreign language instruction for young learners. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Shintani, N. & Ellis, R. (2010). The incidental acquisition of English plural -s by Japanese children in comprehension-based and production-based lessons. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 607-37.
Skehan, P. (2009). Modelling second language performance: Integrating complexity, accuracy, gluency, and lexis. Applied Linguistics, 30(4), 510-532,
Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based Instruction. Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 376-401. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami013
Thomas, M. & Reinders, H. (2015). Contemporary Task-Based Language Teaching in Asia. Bloomsbury Publishing.
To, T. T. H. (2010). Insights from Vietnam learning through English: Policies, challenges and prospects. Insights from East Asia, 96-114. Retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/publication_1_learning_through_english.pdf
Zhang, Y. (2015). Task-based language teaching in the primary schools of South China. In M. Thomas, & H. Reinders (Eds.), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia
(pp. 87-102). Bloomsbury Academic.