Task-based teaching effectiveness on students achievement in learning grammar

IV ABSTRACT The ongoing research in language teaching pedagogy has aimed to find the most effective approach in teaching language. Presentation-practice-production paradigm aims only to teach a grammatical structure or help learners realize a function in the language. On the other hand in task-based teaching learners get a grammatical structure when they try to communicate and pay attention to meaning. The present study focussed on comparing two types of teaching: task-based teaching and the traditional presentation-practice-production paradigm. It was intended to find which model for grammar teaching is more effective on students' achievement in learning two grammatical structures ' Present Perfect Tense' and 'Passive Voice'. 102 lower-intermediate learners of English as a foreign language in Foreign Language School at Anadolu University participated in this study. A task-based and a presentation-practice- production group were thought these items for 20 class hours. They were given pre-tests before each treatment and post-tests after the treatments. The same tests were given as long-term retention tests two months later after each treatment. An opinion questionnaire was administered to subjects in order to obtain ideas about the instruction types at the end of the treatments. Based on the results of the study it was indicated that task-based group gained more achievement in learning first grammatical structure in the long-term, however both instruction types were effective in the shot-term. For the second grammatical structure task-based instruction was found to be more effective in the short-term whereas both instruction types provided success in the long-term. The answers for the opinion questionnaire showed positive opinions about task-based teaching. On the other hand a few of the subjects in task-based group regarded this type of instruction lacking some of their needs. For the traditional paradigm the subjects' tendency was not positive in general, but quite a lot of them mentioned that they benefited from this type of instruction for the exams.