The Effects of Task-Based Language Learning (TBLL) on Writing Among Student Teachers

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of task-based language learning (TBLL) on English language writing performance among student teachers. The writing performances are measured in terms of the grammatical and lexical usage. A series of TBLL lessons are used as the treatments while a series of Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) lessons are used as the control. The TBLL lessons are conducted using two different types of collaborative writing tasks namely, the dictogloss and jigsaw tasks on two different groups. Meanwhile, the PPP lessons use the traditional individual writing task conducted on a control group. The samples of the study consist of 63 student teachers in one of the Malaysian teacher training colleges. The scores are analysed using a one-way ANOVA test. The results show that both of the treatments groups achieve higher scores in the writing performance in terms of the grammatical and lexical usage mean scores as compared to the traditional PPP group mean scores. Based on questionnaires and interviews, the participants have also revealed their high interest and satisfaction over the TBLL strategy. This study implicates that students writing performances as well as students satisfactions in English language classes can be improved through interactions using the TBLL strategy.