The Effectiveness of Task-Based Language Teaching in Teaching Speaking to B2 Level University Students

A lot of university students achieve B2 in English but still struggle with speaking fluently and naturally. This literature-based article looks at whether Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) can help B2 university students to develop speaking fluency, communicative competence and active vocabulary. Twelve books and peer-reviewed articles were examined using the course’s who–what–how questions and the findings are presented in the form of a literature matrix and a number of diagrams. The review indicates that TBLT does work as it enables students to use language in order to achieve a genuine outcome, gives them time to plan and rehearse and allows them to put new vocabulary into use in real conversation. The literature also points to some practical problems in the way that TBLT is implemented: the pressure of exams, large class sizes and the danger that students will just focus on getting the task completed. On the basis of the literature the article suggests a five stage task cycle for B2 speaking classes.