Developing Tasks to Foster Thai Students’ Willingness to Present in English

Abstract

It is evident that there are many factors that influence degrees of willingness to present among second language (L2) learners. Within the current context, less proficient students have shown clear signs of reluctance to deliver presentations in English language classrooms. Based on the researchers’ assumption and previous existing literature, there are two variables (i.e., topics for presentation and preparation time for presentation) central to the phenomenon situated. This article describes a pilot study which investigated to what extent a speaking task designed on the basis of two key factors (i.e., speaking topics relevant to students’ background knowledge and extended preparation time) produces a positive impact on Thai students’ degrees of willingness to present in English. Under study, 15 undergraduates in a Thai university were encouraged to deliver a presentation about a secret tourist attraction in their city. Flipped learning was also adapted and utilized as an approach that offered students more preparation time to deliver their presentations. Findings gained from students’ written reflections and a willingness to present scale demonstrated that students’ degrees of willingness to present were positively influenced by the task design. Pedagogical implications are also provided in this study.

The Effects of Flipped Classroom on Form 4 ESL Learners’ Speaking Performance in a Malaysian Secondary School

“…Consequently, the application of Flip emerged as a valuable factor in enhancing overall speaking performance among learners. The results are in line with past studies conducted [7,13,18,19,21,[31][32][33]. This outcome reinforces the current concerns regarding the importance of previewing materials in the Flipped Classroom, emphasizing its role in enhancing learners' speaking performance [22].…”

“…In recent studies by Pratiwi et al (2022) and Sridhanyarat et al (2022), the effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom approach in enhancing speaking skills was explored [18,19]. Pratiwi et al's quantitative study focused on online speaking classes, revealing that the Flipped Classroom, coupled with in-class feedback, significantly improved learners' learning outcomes, emphasizing skills like content organization, coherence, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation.…”

“…This success was attributed to ample practice opportunities in the online environment and the accessibility of learning materials. Meanwhile, the study by Sridhanyarat et al (2022) aimed to boost Thai learners' confidence in English presentations using the flipped classroom model [19]. The research demonstrated that this approach increased learners' self-assurance during speaking tasks, primarily due to extended planning time and culturally aligned task design.…”

Performance Tasks as a Mediator to Communicating in English and for Enhancing Language Learner Engagement

“…Previous studies have suggested that aspects of task design other than the authenticity of topics and content affect L2 learners’ engagement. For example, a study of Thai university students’ willingness to present in English showed that presentation topic familiarity and preparation time reflected students’ willingness to present (Sridhanyarat et al, 2022). Some studies have also reported that the cognitive load of a task correlates with the degree of task completion because of growing anxiety (Chen & Chang, 2009; Donate, 2018).…”