EFFECTS OF TASK-BASED ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC SPEAKING ABILITIES: A CASE STUDY IN DEMONSTRATION SCHOOLS

Abstract

The present study aimed to accomplish two objectives: 1) to develop task-based activities for the enhancement of academic speaking skills among Mathayomsuksa 2 students, and 2) to assess the impact of these task-based activities. A cluster sampling method was utilized to select 33 Mathayomsuksa 2/1 students from the Demonstration School of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (Secondary) during the second semester of the academic year 2022. Research instruments included lesson plans based on the task-based language teaching approach, pre- and post-tests measuring academic speaking skills, and a speaking skill test for academic purposes. Data analysis was performed using mean, standard deviation statistics, and t-test. The findings of the study indicate that: 1) the utilization of lesson plans based on task-based language teaching approach resulted in an improvement ratio of 86.10/83.67, which met the established benchmark of 80/80, and 2) the average pre- and post-test results for Mathayomsuksa 2 students were 16.07 and 25.10, respectively, indicating that the post-learning academic speaking skill evaluation scores were significantly higher than the pre-learning scores at the .05 level of statistical significance.