Improving Speaking Fluency in a Task-Based Language Teaching Approach: The Case of EFL Learners at PUNIV-Cazenga

• Main Author: Gabriel Albino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2017-04-01
• Series: SAGE Open
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017691077

This study was an attempt to assess how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) improved their speaking fluency in a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach used with ninth-grade learners at PUNIV-Cazenga, a high school in Luanda. In a case study design that used picture-description tasks, learners’ speeches were audio recorded before and after the teaching, in which recasts and prompts were utilized as feedback tools for 8 weeks. The findings indicated that learners improved in terms of their speaking fluency by maximizing their speed of speech production, increasing grammatical accuracy, elaborating on their utterances, and developing interactional language. Furthermore, learners’ opinions on being taught with the TBLT approach were sought, and the findings indicated that the learners felt encouraged to speak, believed in their potentials to use the target language, expanded their vocabulary, and recognized the relevance of the TBLT approach. The implications of the findings are discussed for teaching practice and future research.