Potential Implications of Task-Based Language Teaching on Developing EFL Learners' Oral Fluency

Eulices Cordoba Zúñiga, Esteban Mayorga, Nancy Ruiz

Abstract


Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an instructional approach that cultivates communicative competence by exposing learners to English speaking practice. This study examined the perceptions and implications of implementing ten fluency-based tasks with twenty EFL learners at a private university in Medellin, Colombia. These tasks addressed barriers, including a significant frequency of pauses, a low speech rate, and limited speech length, which hindered learners' ability to express themselves fluently. The research used qualitative date collected by means of a questionnaire, interviews, and oral production rubrics. The findings indicated that 100% of the learners held a positive perspective of TBL as a qualified methodology that assisted them in reducing the considerable number of pauses in communicating their ideas, moderating their pacing smoothness, and balancing their speech rate to speak with a moderate clearness and consistency. Learners valued the strategy as a potential method that enabled them to communicate their ideas, regardless of occasional mistakes. In conclusion, the tasks aided them in increasing their speech rate and enhancing speech fluency during conversations. 

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.22.11.8


Keywords


communication; interactive tasks; oral interaction; oral fluency

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References


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