BA in English and English Language Teaching

2017/2018
LSU 4202 (Research Project)
Continuous Assessment Test 1
Presentation of Research Project

Registration Number : 616939924

The background for the Study

•Speaking is one of the most effective language skills in communication.

•Therefore, Sri Lankan textbooks also contain many speaking activities to develop

speaking competencies of students.

•Teachers are instructed to teach these activities using suitable approaches, but when

students face interviews and language proficiency tests in speaking, it appears that they

are not very fluent in English.

•Therefore, there can be a problem in the speaking activities of the Pupil’s Books or in the

approaches that teachers use to teach them at schools.

The summary of the research article
Textbook writers include many speaking activities in textbooks, but their level

of communicativeness ( the level of focus on meaning in comparison to the

level of focus on form) is very low. The communicativeness of those speaking

activities can be increased with the efforts of teachers, but even for that

purpose speaking activities should have been designed based on the

Communicative Learning Theory.

Lee, Y., & Chang, L. (2011).

 Research Problem
The purpose of this qualitative and
quantitative content analysis is to investigate
the speaking activities of the Grade 11 English
Pupil’s Book to identify their suitability for
developing the Spoken English competencies
of the G.C.E.O.L students of Sri Lanka with the
use of Communicative Teaching Approach to
make them fluent English speakers.
 Research Questions
• What are the speaking activities included in
the Grade 11 English Pupil’s Book?
• What are the language functions included in
the speaking activities of it?
• What are the structural aspects in those
speaking activities?
• What are the different contexts demonstrated
in those speaking activities?
 Sample
• G.C.E.O.L Grade 11 English Language Teacher’s
Guide
• G.C.E.O.L. Grade 11 English Pupil’s Book
 Research design - data collection
instruments and methods
A Content Analysis

Data collection
Purposive sampling

Coding
1. A framework outlined by Littlewood, 2004
2. A framework outlined by Grant, 1987
3. My own checklist based on the following headings
• Language Functions
• Structural Features
• Different Contexts

Analysis
Qualitative and quantitative (Mixed Methods Approach)
 References
• Bauer, M. W. (2007). Content Analysis. An Introduction to its Methodology–By Klaus
Krippendorff From Words to Numbers. Narrative, Data and Social Science–By Roberto
Franzosi. The British Journal of Sociology, 58(2), 329-331.
• Bryman, A. (2006). Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it
done?. Qualitative research, 6(1), 97-113.
• Grant M (1987). Making the Most of Your Textbook. London: Longman.
• Lee, Y., & Chang, L. (2011). An Analysis of Speaking Activity Designs of Junior-High-School
English Textbooks Used in Taiwan and China. Journal of National Pingtung University of
Education, online source, 144-160.
• Littlewood, W. (1984). Foreign and second language learning: Language acquisition research
and its implications for the classroom. Cambridge University Press.
• Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions. ELT
journal, 58(4), 319-326.
• Nation, I. S., & Newton, J. (2008). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. Routledge.
• Richards, J. C. (2008). Teaching listening and speaking. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press.
• Sheldon, L. E. (1988). Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. ELT journal, 42(4), 237-246.
• Tok, H. (2010). TEFL textbook evaluation: From teachers perspectives. Educational Research
and Reviews, 5(9), 508-517.
Thank You!