An investigation into the effects of task-based and topic-based activities on the participation of advanced learners of English in speaking lessons

ABSTRACT Learners of a foreign or second language are considered successful if they can communicate effectively in that language. Since oral practice leading to automatisation is a pre-requisite of communicative competence, one of the challenges of teaching speaking is to provide sufficient opportunities and encouragement for learners to participate in speaking lessons. An effective way of increasing the speaking time available is to organise learners in small groups, but the question still remains as to what type of activities should be used to facilitate learner participation and ensure the production of high quality interaction. Activities fall into two categories - those which are task-based and require a specific outcome, and those which are topic-based, in which the emphasis is on conversing on a particular topic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of these two categories on student participation in speaking lessons. It was carried out with two intact monolingual classes of young adults studying English in the prep year of two departments at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University. Data was collected by means of tape recording a series of lessons, each of which required the learners to carry out either a task-based or a topic-based activity. The data was then transcribed and analysed in an attempt to answer questions regarding the quantity and quality of oral interaction during both types of activity. The findings indicate that task-based activities were overall more beneficial than topic-based ones. A larger volume of target language speech and interaction was apparent during task-based activities and the quality of the language produced was found to be higher, especially with regard to fluency. It would therefore seem appropriate to include such activities in speaking lessons in order to increase learners' communicative competence.