THE EFFECTS OF TASK-BASED GROUP ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ COLLABORATIVE BEHAVIOURS IN EFL SPEAKING CLASSES

This article reports on an investigation that compared the effects of task-based and topic-based speaking activities on student interaction and collaboration in EFL speaking classes. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in a classroom setting, with trainee teachers of English (n=25) with an average upper-intermediate level of English proficiency. The participants were instructed to carry out either a task-based or a topic-based speaking activity during which their performance was recorded. A qualitative analysis of the data revealed that the task-based activity led to more real life-like language use, characterised by a larger number of short turns and questions, compared to the greater quantity of long turns observed during the topic-based activity. Furthermore, the task-based activity yielded more collaborative behaviours. The study concludes that task-based speaking activities may be more conducive to creating a more collaborative learning environment and also providing opportunities for real life-like language use.