An Assessment Of The Communicative Tasks Of Grade Ten English For Ethiopia Textbook: The Case Of Speaking Skill.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the speaking tasks of grade ten English for Ethiopia students’ textbook at Heben Degaga Secondary School with a major objective of assessing whether the tasks in the textbook were designed in light of current theories of communicative language teaching. In order to achieve this aim, the research questions asked were to review how capable the tasks in the students’ textbook were to initiate students communicative skill, to identify the role of students in the teaching and learning of speaking skill and to analyze the effectiveness of the presentation of communicative tasks to promote students’ speaking skill. To achieve this aim, the teachers’ guide and student textbooks were used as sources of data and they were reviewed in terms of goals, inputs, activities, roles and setting using Nunan’s (2004) framework. In addition, tasks were assessed to see how motivating, authentic, and purposeful they were, and to identify whether they reflect real world use of language as well as how they would promote pair and group work. Research methods employed for data collection include classroom observation, to see how tasks were implemented; and questionnaire and interview were used to assess teachers and students attitudes towards the speaking tasks. The findings showed that the goals of the tasks appeared to match students’ need and interest. The contents used as inputs seemed to be familiar to the students even though they lack authenticity. The tasks were also purposeful; were able to promote pair and group work activities. Students played more roles in terms of implementing the tasks compared to teachers. However, the text book could not provide situation to both teachers and learners to prepare speaking tasks for communicative purpose even though the text book should give opportunities to the teachers to design the tasks by themselves. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations were forwarded for possible improvements and remedial measures.