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2- Using vocabulary appropriately and adequately:
The analysis revealed that the task- based instruction group achieved higher
standard of proficiency than the regular instruction group in terms of using adequate and appropriate vocabulary during speaking.
On the posttest, the students could use a greater variety of vocabulary which
shows that they had a wider range of vocabulary items. In addition, words used were more appropriate to context. Students also improved in their use of collocations (grammatical or lexical) to communicate their meaning. See Appendix (D) This progress can be attributed to different factors; among them was raising
students' awareness of ready-made lexical phrases through exposing them to real
samples of spoken language at the pre-task stage. The listening texts used helped
students improve their use of words and word collocations as they enabled them to
(a) identify vocabulary and word chunks that are more appropriate to the genre, (b)
extract word collocations and understand that words are combined together
according to certain conventional rules and (c) acquire a range of vocabulary related to the speaking genres and topics they had to tackle. Teaching and consciousness raising activities, at the pre-task stage, also helped
draw students' attention to important words related to the task to be performed. Most of the teaching was done inductively through encouraging students to elicit words appropriate to different stages of the genre. Students were always taught how to deal with expressions as a whole and look for words that precede or follow each vocabulary item. Besides, both consciousness raising strategy and teaching drew students' attention to some special characteristic of spoken vocabulary such as: vague language and words that are only used in the spoken discourse (i.e. "pretty big" instead of "very big"). Students' attention was drawn also to the importance of choosing words appropriate to the social context.
Requiring the students also to plan for the upcoming task might have been
effective in improving students' vocabulary. Before doing the task students had to
determine the words and words collocations needed to do the task. This helped to
draw their attention to how to select words appropriate to the task to be done.
Furthermore, planning helped students identify some strategies they can use if they
couldn't find the appropriate word such as "circumlocution" that led to a greater
lexical variety in the students' responses. Planning was mainly teacher guided with
the teacher acting as a helper and elicitor of appropriate words and word
collocations. big" instead of "very big"). Students' attention was drawn also to the importance of choosing words appropriate to the social context.
Requiring the students also to plan for the upcoming task might have been
effective in improving students' vocabulary. Before doing the task students had to
determine the words and words collocations needed to do the task. This helped to
draw their attention to how to select words appropriate to the task to be done.
Furthermore, planning helped students identify some strategies they can use if they
couldn't find the appropriate word such as "circumlocution" that led to a greater
lexical variety in the students' responses. Planning was mainly teacher guided with
the teacher acting as a helper and elicitor of appropriate words and word
collocations. During the task, the students could test their ability to use the words they learned before the task in real time. During this stage, students negotiated meaning which helped them employ various strategies to ask for clarification or explain difficult words. After doing the task, he English- English dictionaries available to which students resorted to plan, draft and redraft their oral presentation- and the teacher provided help with correct word collocation. This means that the vocabulary supplied was in response to perceived students' needs. In this way, students learned vocabulary indirectly as a part of their emphasis on clarity, and accuracy for a public presentation. In addition, these resources encouraged students to become autonomous active participants in their learning of words usage. Furthermore, the group observation sheet used at this stage, helped students pay attention to their spontaneous vocabulary errors.
The self- evaluation checklist, used at "altering the attention balance phase"
also enabled students to self- correct the words used in their spoken performance, and consequently improve the use of vocabulary in actual speaking performance
afterwards. Students discovered their errors by themselves and this helped them learn easily and effectively. Besides, the post task activities remedied students' errors and provided them with the chance to practice word collocations and use.
With respect to different genres, the analysis revealed that there were
statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group in all genres/macro functions students were exposed to. This might be due to specific
activities that were geared toward every genre. For instance, in "describing people"
task, words such as "cheerful" "ambitious" "outgoing" "sociable" were the starting
point of work and analysis.
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