Examining the Effects of Task-Based Language Teaching in Japanese EFL University Classes

在我们项目的第一年，我们设法完成了我们的大部分目标，并似乎在我们的提案中提出的时间表上。回顾一下，在我们项目的第一年，我们设法进行了一项试点研究，以帮助我们向前推进。在这个项目中，我们想探索我们的数据收集和数据分析技术。由于我们计划在研究项目中使用的分析口语输出的分析相当复杂，因此一项试点研究对微调我们计划在主要研究中实施的一些方法很有用。在这项先导性研究中，8名参与者每人在两个时间点接受了评估：治疗开始后5天内(测试前)，大约12周后，即治疗结束后5天内(测试后)。这些评估中的每一项都包括参与与同学的二元对话，完成两份问卷(旨在评估用英语交流的意愿和学习自主性)，并接受采访。治疗包括让学生转录他们正在进行的视频对话。预试结束后，教师将带领学生完成一系列步骤，教会他们如何从流利性(时间和犹豫)、句法复杂性、词汇复杂性和准确性等方面系统地分析视频和语音记录。在与讲师一起分析他们的表现后，参与者能够清楚地确定自己的优势和劣势，并最终为自己的前进制定明确的目标。

In the first year of our project, we managed to accomplish the majority of our goals and appear to be on the schedule we put forth in our proposal. To review, in the first year of our project, we managed to conduct a pilot study to help us move forward. In this project, we wanted to explore our data collection and data analysis techniques. Since the analysis to analyze speaking output that we are planning to use in our research project is quite complex, a pilot study was useful to fine-tune some of the methods we are planning to implement in the main study. In this pilot study, each of the eight participants was given an assessment at two points in time: within five days of treatment beginning (Pre-test), approximately twelve weeks later, i.e., within five days of treatment ending (Post-test). Each of these assessments involved participating in a dyadic conversation with a classmate, completing two questionnaires (designed to assess willingness to communicate in English and learner autonomy), and being interviewed. The treatment involved having students transcribe the video-recorded conversations they were in. After the pre-test, the instructor will take the students through a series of steps that teaches them how to methodically analyze the video and speech transcripts in terms of fluency (temporal and hesitation), syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, and accuracy. Upon breaking down their performances with the instructor, participants were able to clearly identify their strengths and weaknesses and, ultimately, create well-defined goals for themselves moving forward.