ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 509 THE REALIZATION OF TASK-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO FOSTER STUDENTS’ SPEAKING FLUENCY IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL CONTEXT Eline Rozaliya Winarto English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Muhammadiyah Cirebon, Indonesia Email: eline.rozalia@umc.ac.id Fitri Aprianti English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Muhammadiyah Cirebon, Indonesia Email: aprianti_fitri22@gmail.com APA Citation: Winarto, E. R., & Aprianti, F. (2022). The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context. English Review: Journal of English Education, 11(1), 509-520. https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v10i2.6251 Received: 06-02-2022 Accepted: 28-04-2022 Published: 30-06-2022 INTRODUCTION Task-based language teaching (henceforth TBLT) is one of the alternative strategies employed by the teacher to attain students’ confidence and motivation in English as Foreign Language (hereinafter EFL) speaking classroom. TBLT has altered with regard to the restrictions of the old- style PPP (Presentation, Practice, and Performance) approach (Ellis, 2003). This sort of approach offers students a tangible chance to communicate language use through tasks (Douglas & Kim, 2015; Lin & Wu, 2012; Thanh & Huan, 2012). Hence, it can be elucidated that language learning is an evolving process that can foster students’ communication and interaction instead of acquiring language by practicing language items, and that students are able to utilize language when exposed to activities in a meaningful and natural way. Moreover, this bandwagon has evolved into a practical framework for the communicative classroom wherein the students employ task-based activities through the cycles of pre-task preparation, task performance, and post-task feedback (Skehan, 1996, 2014; Elis, 2003; Willis & Willis, 2007; Willis, 1996). According to Ellis (2003), TBLT has been acknowledged in recent years from different standpoints emphasizing on meaning, real-world language use, and communicative-based activities to incorporate four language skills specifically speaking skill. Hence, it is fundamental in teaching and learning process to offer different activities to foster students’ interaction in EFL speaking Abstract: The present study aims at scrutinizing the realization of task-based language teaching in fostering students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context. Four diverse tasks are administered to the students particularly: sequencing task, picture narration task, question and answer task, and problem-solving task. Twenty-eight eleventh grade students in one vocational school in Cirebon were selected as the participants. From twenty-eight students, six participants were chosen as the representatives whose speaking performance were scrutinized by considering at several linguistic aspects namely segmental errors, speech rate, and grammatical accuracy. The findings indicated that task-based language teaching fosters students’ speaking fluency. There was an improvement in terms of students’ speech production specifically rhythm, segmental, and speech rate aspect. The students also showed positive responses throughout the realization of task-based language teaching in respect of the various aspect of English pronunciation awareness. Furthermore, the result of observation in each meeting and students’ interview revealed that students’ participation in interacting in English was enhanced. This study suggests that the students need to be exposed and learn the different aspects of pronunciation to further enhance their speaking performance. Keywords: Task-based language teaching; speaking fluency; Benefit and problem in the realization of task- based language teaching method. mailto:eline.rozalia@umc.ac.id%201 mailto:aprianti_fitri22@gmail.com Eline Rozaliya Winarto & Fitri Aprianti The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context 510 classroom. In English as a foreign language (EFL) context, speaking skill is deemed as the most fundamental skill to be mastered by the students concerning its prominence for academic, social, and professional purposes (Aleksandrzak, 2011; Hasan, 2014; Tuyen & An, 2019). Furthermore, since speaking skill requires courage as a psychological factor as well as a proper preparation to produce English as a target language (Malihah, 2010; Bashir, Azeem, & Dogar, 2016; Oradee, 2013), it is also regarded as a complex and difficult skill to master despite its importance. Furthermore, most students tend to be reluctant to speak and require more time to deliver their speech (Aleksandrzak, 2011; Bashir et al, 2016; Samaranayake, 2016). This situation might lead to the poor improvement of their English- speaking skills and affect the accuracy and fluency in their speech production. Therefore, due to its complexity students’ proficiency may not become practical as expected. A variety of language teaching methods have been implemented to provide the betterment on improving students’ speaking skill. Currently, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is considered the most dominant method employed in many schools all around the globe. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) possesses several varieties in which TBLT is one of them. Previous studies have been stressing the strategies the EFL students may employ to overcome their speaking problem (Aleksandrzak, 2011; Malihah, 2010; Bashir et al, 2016; Oradee, 2013). In Indonesian context, there have been several studies concerning the implementation of TBLT in speaking skill context. Adiantika and Purnomo (2018), in their study, investigated the implementation of TBLT in EFL teaching speaking skill comprising the advantages and shortcomings faced by the students and teachers in implementing TBLT particularly in teaching speaking skill. This study employed a qualitative approach by using a case study design. The findings indicated that TBLT resulted in several advantages (i.e., fostering students’ engagement in speaking classroom interaction and enhancing students’ speaking skill) and shortcomings (i.e., teacher’s ability, time constraints, and different students’ proficiency level). Another study regarding the implementation of TBLT in EFL teaching speaking skill was conducted by Munirah and Muhsin (2015). This study stressed students’ speaking improvement in respect of their speaking fluency after the students were taught with TBLT. The study utilized classroom action research wherein the students’ speaking improvement was measured and investigated throughout the cycles. The indicator for students’ fluency was based on their self-confidence in each cycle. Furthermore, according to Crowther, Trofimovich, Isaacs, & Saito (2015), TBLT can potentially improve EFL students’ speech comprehensibility. This study put an emphasis on examining the effect of speaking tasks to measure EFL students’ speech based on several linguistics domains particularly pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. With respect to the fluency aspect, the study emphasized the segmental, word stress, rhythm, and speech rate categories as one of the measurements. Therefore, TBLT is deemed as the best alternative to facilitate students obtaining their speaking proficiency specifically fluency. In addition, TBLT can improve students’ confidence enhance students’ fluency in four English language skills (Chou, 2017; Halici Page & Mede, 2018; Kafipour, Mahmoudi, & Khojasteh, 2018a; Tavakoli, Lotfi, Biria, & Wang, 2019) particularly speaking skill (Ellis, 2003; Nunan, 2004. One of the pertinent tasks that can be utilized as a tool to foster students’ speaking fluency is picture description task (Albino, 2017; Samaranayake, 2016). According to the previous studies as aforementioned, this study is intended to foster students’ speaking proficiency through the realization of TBLT. This study will employ a number of tasks which put an emphasis on pedagogical purposes as proposed by Skehan (1996; 2014), Willis and Willis (2007) and Willis (1996). Moreover, this study will also scrutinize students’ responses and speaking fluency improvement during the teaching and learning process. The previous empirical studies as aforesaid have examined the realization of TBI in fostering students’ speaking fluency by scrutinizing several linguistic domains namely fluency (particularly segmental, word stress, rhythm, and speech rate) and grammatical accuracy through each task. However, the realization of TBLT in teaching speaking skill in vocational school context is still rarely conducted. Most of them are conducted at junior high school, senior high school, and university level. Therefore, this study attempts to ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 511 examine students’ speaking improvement and their responses towards TBLT method in one vocational school in Cirebon. METHOD The present study employed qualitative research paradigm since this study was aimed to obtain a comprehensive data in a classroom as a natural setting in qualitative research paradigm through multiple data instruments namely open-ended interview, observations, and document analysis. It is relevant with the characteristics of qualitative research in which it emphases on gathering an in- depth information through a number of research instruments (Creswell, 2018). Hence, the selection of qualitative study is relevant with the intention of portraying a more thorough description concerning the problem being investigated. Case study was selected as the design in this study since this study was intended to obtain a variety of data in a certain period of time or in other words this design is restricted by time and activity (Creswell, 2018). Therefore, this design is considered pertinent for this study as it emphasizes on how students can improve their speaking fluency through the realization of TBLT in a certain time period inside the classroom as a natural setting of the research. This study was carried out in one classroom of eleventh grade students in one vocational school in Cirebon. The selection was based on the accessibility in terms of permission and location. This study involved 28 students in one class where they had attended four sessions in the second semester. Since this study employed case study design, there were seven students who were chosen to see their improvement in speaking fluency. The students’ presentation of each task was subsequently recorded in each session. Due to data collection technique, several techniques were sequentially initiated to obtain an in-depth and comprehensive data namely observation, students’ document, and open-ended interview. In conducting the observation, observation sheet and field notes were utilized during the teaching and learning process. Furthermore, the students’ document for instance students’ audio-recording transcription of the four tasks were scrutinized and analyzed. Interview session was initiated through a set of open-ended in which the students’ answers were transcribed and analyzed to enrich the findings. There were four sessions initiated in this study in order to perceive and observe the students. The researcher played a role as both a teacher and also a participant observer where it is in line with Creswell (2018) that participant observer is tangled during the process of perceiving and observing the situation and the participant. Hence, it is crucial for the researcher as a participant observer to actively play a part in the activities the researcher attempts to investigate. Throughout the observation, the researcher highlighted on the realization of TBLT stages. The students’ interaction, activities, and participation were underlined and thoroughly recorded. In addition, the researcher also carried out transcripts on the whole learning process and noted crucial aspects for reflection purpose in each meeting. A number of tools or instruments were utilized to obtain the detailed data such as video, camera, and teacher’s field notes. Subsequently, the data obtained from video and field notes were analyzed to crosscheck the whole learning process as an information concerning the improvement of students’ speaking fluency through TBLT. The document employed in this study was students’ fluency transcription. Firstly, the students’ speech in each task was recorded and their speech was subsequently transcribed by classifying it inti varied linguistic aspects particularly the number of segmental and word stress errors, rhythm, speech rate, and grammatical accuracy. In order to obtain more comprehensive and holistic data based on participants’ perspectives, the questions were employed through open-ended questions. It is relevant with Creswell (2018) that open-ended questions allow the participants to share their idea without any restrictions. Semi-structured interview was also carried out by considering the research questions formulated in this study. There were six students chosen as the representatives of the class. The data obtained from the interview were subsequently transcribed and analyzed to crosscheck the participants’ fluency improvement and their perspectives concerning the speaking tasks. The analysis technique carried out in this study was based on the study conducted by Crowther et al (2015). The present study emphasized on qualitative description analysis despite diverse method employed in the previous studies in analyzing the data. There are several steps initiated in this study Eline Rozaliya Winarto & Fitri Aprianti The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context 512 to analyze the data. The first step was collecting the recording of four meetings teaching-learning process as well as teacher’s field notes. The recording obtained from each session was transcribed to recognize students’ engagement amidst the realization of TBLT. The aspects investigated to observe the data was scrutinized by focusing on the stages of TBLT particularly pre- task, task cycle, and language focus based on the framework proposed by Skehan (1996; 2014), Elis (2003) Willis & Willis (2007) and Willis (1996). The second stage was initiated by analyzing the transcribed data of students’ recording in each session. The transcribed data were subsequently analyzed by emphasizing on the segmental and word stress errors, rhythm, speech rate, and grammatical accuracy to explore students’ performance in each session. Students’ interview was sequentially analyzed to decipher their perspectives concerning the realization of TBLT. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the present study, the findings showed that the realization of TBLT was successful to foster students’ speaking fluency and generate an expressive learning process in the classroom. These positive teaching-learning occurrences were indicated by the data gathered from multiple data collection techniques namely observation, document analysis, and interview. According to the result of observation and interview, TBLT was deemed indispensable to facilitate students in practicing their speaking skill. It is relevant with (Adiantika & Purnomo, 2018) that the realization of meaningful and focused task can potentially increase students’ active engagement. In addition, the variability of tasks employed in teaching- learning process are considered effective to encourage students’ interaction using their target language (Liu, Mishan, & Chambers, 2021; Xu & Fan, 2021). In the present study, the students were deemed active to perform their speaking skill through the realization of TBLT despite their lack of improvement in terms of students’ speech production in each session. Hence, in order to deliver a clear understanding of the research findings, the discussion as follows puts an emphasis on the students’ speaking fluency performance by focusing on the segmental errors, word stress errors, rhythm, speech rate, and grammatical accuracy faced by the students. These students’ speaking fluency aspects as aforesaid were subsequently crosschecked by the students’ perspectives towards the realization of TBLT in their speaking fluency. The improvement of students’ speaking fluency The findings exposed that the students’ fluency improvement was considered not actually substantial. The students’ performance observed from four sessions indicated slight improvement in certain aspects specifically in word pronunciation, word stress, and grammatical accuracy. Despite the lacks as stated earlier, some students also committed a progress in several aspects namely speech rate and rhythm. It is relevant with the study conducted by Samaranayake (2016) that students’ improvement mostly emerged in respect of speech rate after realizing TBLT in English speaking class. However, the improvement related to the aforementioned aspects should be necessarily exposed in a frequent way to uphold sustainability (Aleksandrzak, 2011; Crowther et al., 2015; Bashir, 2016). Put together from the observation and students’ speech analysis in four teaching-learning sessions, it was found that the segmental errors in students’ speech were considered the most frequently issue in this study. Generally, the shortcomings faced by the students were still concerned with the pronunciation of the specific vocabularies the students could not find in Bahasa Indonesia. The illustration of the segmental errors can be identified through the Table 1 as follows: Table 1. Example of segmental errors Student’s speech The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound impact, not only on people’s health, but also on how they learn, work and live. Among the most important challenges created by COVID-19 is how to adapt a system of education built around physical schools. Phonetic Transcription ðiː ˈkʌrənt kəˈrəʊnəˌvairəs pænˈdemɪk ɪz hæv eɪ prəˈfaʊnd ˈɪmpækt, nɒt ˈəʊnli ɒn ˈpiːp(ə)l helθ, bʌt ˈɔːlsəʊ ɒn haʊ ðeɪ lɜː(r)n, wɜː(r)k ænd lɪv. əˈmʌŋ ðiː məʊst ɪmˈpɔː(r)t(ə)nt ˈtʃæləndʒ kriˈeɪt ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 513 baɪ kəʊvɪd naɪnˈtin ɪz haʊ tuː əˈdæpt eɪ sɪstəm əv ˌedjʊˈkeɪʃ(ə)n bɪlt əˈraʊnd ˈfɪzɪk(ə)l skuːl Segmental Errors ðiː ˈkʌrənt koronaˌvirus pandemɪk ɪs hæv eɪ proˈfoʊnd ˈɪmpækt, nɒt ˈonli ɒn ˈpiːp(ə)l helt, bʌt ˈaːlso ɒn haʊ ðeɪ lɜː(r)n, wɜː(r)k ænd lɪv. əˈmʌŋ ðiː məʊst ɪmˈpɔː(r)t(ə)nt ˈtʃæləndʒ kriˈeɪt baɪ kəʊvɪd naɪnˈtin ɪs haʊ tuː aˈdapt eɪ sɪstəm əv ˌedukes(ə)n bɪlt əˈraʊnd ˈfɪzɪk(ə)l skuːl Based on the aforementioned table, the highlighted words in segmental errors column are the mispronounced words uttered by the students. They found it difficult to pronounce certain words in the Table 1. For example, the word virus was mispronounced as /virus/ instead of /vairəs/. From the example as stated earlier, it can be inferred that the students were not aware with the English sound [ə] which in result caused them to produce the sound [u]. The subsequent error is exemplified by the use of word pandemic. The students inclined to mispronounce this word as /pandemik/ rather than /pænˈdemɪk/. In other words, it can be stated that the students were unacquainted with the English sounds such as [æ] and [ɪ]. Yet they were not alert with the stress placed in the word pandemic (illustrated as [pæn]ˈ[demɪk]) pronounced as /pænˈdemɪk/. Further mispronounced words are demonstrated by the word education and health. There was a propensity that the students mispronounced those words as /ˌedukes(ə)n/ and /həlt/ instead of /ˌedjʊˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ and /helθ/. From the example as stated earlier, the students were not conversant with the English sounds [jʊ] and [θ] which resulted them to pronounce and speak as the way it is written without considering how they are pronounced in English sounds. In other words, the students seemed to neglect the difference between oral form and written form of the word in English since they were still strongly attached with Bahasa Indonesia as their source language (SL). It is relevant with Derakhshan (2015) and Jabu and Salija (2012) that the students incline to put words in sentences or spoken in structure relevant with their SL when their language background of the target language (TL) is insufficient. Moreover, Adiantika and Purnomo (2018) delineates that since oral and written form of English words are different from one another, Indonesian EFL students have a tendency to struggle in producing sounds which are unavailable in Bahasa Indonesia. The reason behind this occurrence is due to students’ lack of exposure concerning the ways the words produced and pronounced in English sound. This occurrence can negatively influence the clarity of the students’ speech. Therefore, it is fundamental to tackle this negative occurrence by cultivating the students to practice more on foreign language particularly English to avoid misunderstanding hence the clarity and the comprehensibility are assured (Crowther et al., 2015; Maijala, 2020; Samaranayake, 2016). Furthermore, since students’ awareness in terms of pronouncing appropriate correct words in English sound was considered to be problematic, this issue should be necessarily overcome by improving the practice allotment during teaching- learning process. The findings indicated that only few students who correctly pronounced the English words before the presentation in the planning stage of TBLT as most of them did not prepare for the presentation earlier. Consequently, during students’ presentation in the classroom, they found it difficult when they encountered unfamiliar English words. Therefore, in order to overcome this issue, it is very prominent to robustly exposed them to the certain English words in the learning process. It is pertinent with Aleksandrzak (2011), Nunan (2006), and Xu and Fan (2021) that initiating a well-planned activity plays a crucial role to accomplish the learning outcomes. Nevertheless, due to time constraint in this study, it can be elucidated that students’ improvement regarding word pronunciation of uncommon English words was not really significant despite the use of TBLT that could improve students’ speaking performance in general. The quantity of words uttered by the students, however, cannot be merely utilized as an assessment to measure students’ fluency improvement since the result of students’ spoken report are different in each session based on the tasks implemented in this study. Therefore, the emergence of dysfluency indicators particularly hesitation, repetition, filled and unfilled pauses is more prioritized to assess their fluency improvement (Malihah, 2010). According to the result of students’ document analysis, there was an improvement in respect of repetition and pauses production. They inclined to produce an Eline Rozaliya Winarto & Fitri Aprianti The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context 514 unnecessary repetition and improperly positioned the pauses in their speech. It is relevant with (Namaziandost, Homayouni, & Rahmani, 2020) that this occurrence commonly takes place since there is a difference of the pauses placement between non-native speaker and native speaker. Furthermore, it can be elucidated that fluency refers to a skill to smoothly speak in respect of speech flow with fewer pauses (Hasan, 2014; Tuyen & An, 2019). Table 2. Speech frequency in sequential task S #1 67 words per minute S #2 80 words per minute S #3 110 words per minute S #4 101 words per minute S #5 100 words per minute S #6 105 words per minute Due to grammatical accuracy, it is revealed that the students made a slight improvement. The aspect of grammatical accuracy cannot be simply employed to measure speaking fluency. Nonetheless, speaking fluency and grammatical accuracy should be equivalently produced by the speakers to create comprehensible speech to be clearly grasped by the listeners (Lin & Wu, 2012; Liu et al., 2021; Namaziandost et al., 2020; Samaranayake, 2016). Therefore, it can be elucidated that the aspect of grammatical accuracy should be taken into account to improve students’ more comprehensible speech. Furthermore, students’ problems concerning the production of target language could potentially affect their speech fluency and comprehensibility. Most students who were struggling in producing and pronouncing particular words could not recognize the essential meaning of their own speech. Consequently, when the students crossed path with any unfamiliar words, they inclined to produce and pronounce the words which are unavailable in English or Indonesian. Additionally, the lexical and grammatical errors made by the students could also influence the students’ speech performance, hence, these problems affect the way the listeners acquire the meaning of the students’ speech. Since it is fundamental for the students to deliver the meaning of the their speech to realize comprehensibility, hence, they have to be emphasized more on pronunciation practices, word stress, and grammatical accuracy in teaching- learning process by offering them a comprehensive instruction and enhancing their confidence in speaking English (Liu et al., 2021; Namaziandost et al., 2020; Shabani & Ghasemian, 2017). Students’ responses towards TBLT With regard to students’ responses towards TBLT, it was revealed that the students indicated positive responses due to meaningful and interesting teaching-learning process. The positive responses in this study were demonstrated as: (1) escalating and enhancing students’ speaking skill; (2) promoting students’ active engagement in teaching-learning process; (3) intensifying students’ collaborative skill and shaping their critical thinking ability. Conversely, the negative responses were due to several shortcomings during the teaching-learning process such as: (1) time constraints; diverse students’ proficiency level; (3) the occurrence of practical problem. These findings are relevant with Adiantika and Purnomo (2018) that the implementation of Task-Based Language Teaching could positively contribute students’ engagement/active participation in teaching- learning process and also intensify their speaking skill. Nonetheless, despite the positive responses towards the realization of TBLT revealed by the students, the students’ speaking performance is still compulsory to be enhanced. Escalating and enhancing students’ speaking skill According to the result of the students’ interview, it was revealed that the realization of TBLT contributed to escalate and enhance students’ speaking skill. The entire seven students entirely thought that TBLT was beneficial to advance their speaking skill. In addition, they entirely asserted that their speaking performance was enhanced through the realization of TBLT. This finding occurrence was indicated by the interview excerpts as follows: Excerpt#1 “Penerapan TBLT dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris membuat pembelajaran menjadi menarik dan tidak monoton. Sehingga saya sangat menikmati proses pembelajaran dari awal sampai akhir. Saya merasa kemampuan speaking saya sedikit demi sedikit meningkat karena terus didorong untuk praktek berdasarkan tugas-tugas yang menarik dalam TBLT.” (S3) (The implementation of TBLT creates a meaningful teaching-learning process in English lesson, hence, I can entirely enjoy the classroom thoroughly. I also believe that my speaking ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 515 performance gradually increases due to the fascinating tasks based on TBLT). Excerpt#2 “Guru selalu memberikan sesuatu yang baru melalui TBLT baik itu berupa kosa-kata baru dan tugas-tugas yang variatif sehingga atmosfir belajar menjadi sangat komunikatif dan interaktif. Kepercayaan diri dan kemampuan speaking dalam Bahasa Inggris saya pun perlahan meningkat dibandingkan sebelum-sebelumnya.” (S1) (Teacher continuously offers something new concerning vocabulary and interesting tasks to create a communicative and interactive classroom atmosphere. Both my confidence as well as my speaking ability progressively improve compared to previous circumstances). According to the Excerpt #2, it can be elucidated that the realization of TBLT in particular vocabulary and different meaningful tasks could enhance students’ speaking ability. Moreover, it also positively contributed to students’ English- speaking confidence in which they tend to be convinced to enthusiastically speak English. In the meantime, excerpt #1 indicated that the realization of TBLT could create their speaking performance due to interactive tasks provided in teaching- learning process. In other words, the lesson was deemed meaningful instead of monotonous. Those findings are pertinent with the statements that TBLT can foster students’ target language development, give students to increase their motivation to speak, and enhance students’ ability to speak fluently and accurately (Adiantika & Purnomo, 2018; Liu et al., 2021; Namaziandost et al., 2020; Shabani & Ghasemian, 2017). Promoting students’ active engagement in teaching- learning process In line with the result of students’ interview, it was found that the realization of TBLT in EFL classroom was useful to offer students an opportunity to interactively and communicatively engage them in every single activity. The tasks, based on TBLT stages, provided in each session encouraged students to practice more in speaking. On this occasion, they were allowed to easily share their thoughts during the class discussion. This finding emergence can be scrutinized in the interview excerpts as follows: Excerpt #3 “Dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris melalui TBLT, saya selalu ingin aktif berinteraksi baik dalam menjawab pertanyaan maupun mengemukakan pendapat secara bebas. Tidak hanya itu, dalam sesi dialog praktek speaking pun saya sangat termotivasi untuk terus aktif terlibat dalam setiap aktifitasnya.” (S5) (Throughout the realization of TBLT, I am always willing to actively interact either in answering question or sharing perspectives freely. Besides that, I am always excited to actively take part in every single dialogue session using TBLT). Excerpt #4 “Metode TBLT memungkinkan saya cenderung lebih aktif baik dalam bekerja secara individu, berpasangan, atau berkelompok. Pembelajaran melalui tugas-tugasnya yang menarik juga sangat menyenangkan.” (S7) (Through TBLT, I tend to be more active either to work individually, in pair, or group. The teaching- learning process through meaningful tasks is simply exciting). From the excerpt #3, student 5 asserted that she could really articulate her perspectives easily in a group discussion session and she tended to be more actively engaged in every single task through the implementation of TBLT. On the other hand, student 7 in excerpt #4 stated that she could actively participate in any kind of sessions (individual, in pair, group). In other words, it can be inferred that TBLT can facilitate some spaces for students to interact by using the target language (Oradee, 2013; Xu & Fan, 2021). Those occurrences are harmonized with the statements that TBLT can offer an opportunity for the students to be more active and practice their linguistic knowledge through the learning process (Chou, 2017; Halici Page & Mede, 2018; Kafipour, Mahmoudi, & Khojasteh, 2018b; Tavakoli et al., 2019). Intensifying students’ collaborative skill and shaping their critical ability The implementation of varied tasks in each session enabled students to shape their critical thinking ability to accomplish the task. The findings indicated that the students were eager to figure out the solution towards the problems being discoursed in each session. Therefore, it can be stated that the different tasks in each session were beneficial to the way the students respond and accomplish the task. Eline Rozaliya Winarto & Fitri Aprianti The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context 516 As in third meeting, the students were supposed to share their experience concerning ‘the use of gadget at school for educational purpose’. On this occasion, the students appeared to be interested in discussing the tasks since it related with the fact they usually encountered on a regular basis. Besides problem-solving task, the other tasks were considered useful to shape students’ critical thinking ability. This occurrence can be observed from the excerpt #5 as follows: Excerpt #5 “Tugasnya teh bagus karena bisa membuat kita berfikir terhadap suatu masalah secara kritis sesuai dengan apa yang kita yakini. Apalagi masalah ini teh menjadi perbincangan diantara kita siswa-siswa. Intinya mah tugasnya bagus dan menarik jadi tidak melulu ke buku dan sebagainya.” (S4) (The task is good as it enables us to think critically based on what we believe towards the problem or issue being exposed. Additionally, this problem remains debatable among the students like us. Importantly, the task is good and interesting since it does not merely depend on textbook and so on). According to the excerpt #5, students 4 emphasize that he is able to critically respond the problem being delivered (the use of gadget at school for educational purpose) through problem- solving task. Thus, through the realization of TBLT, student 4 can really enhance his knowledge regarding the topic and decipher the solution towards the problem being discussed the use of gadget at school for educational purpose). This emergence is relevant with the studies conducted by Bao and Du (2015) and Tuyen and An (2019) that the utilization of TBLT can potentially promote students’ critical thinking ability towards the issue being scrutinized. In line with the result of students’ interview, it is indicated that the students are more interactive in accomplishing the tasks as they can collaboratively work with their team. They tend to be more dynamic in finishing the tasks since they are able to initially discuss with their friends. In other words, it can be elucidated that the students can frequently practice their speaking skill with their group. During the task learning, the students also obtain feedback from other students not merely from the teacher. Consequently, the students can attain many advantages from the group discussion particularly in accomplishing the tasks. It can be seen from the excerpt #6 as follows: Excerpt #6 “Melalu diskusi grup, pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris menjadi lebih menarik dan lebih mudah. Untuk pengerjaan tugasnya pun tidak melulu secara individu namun bisa dilakukan secara berkelompok sehingga lebih cepat dan efektif tentunya.” (S6) (Using group discussion, English learning becomes more meaningful and easier. For tasks accomplishment, it can also be done in group despite individually hence it could be faster and more effective). From the aforesaid students’ interview result, student 6 in excerpt #6 underline that the effectiveness is assured since they can work together with their partners in group. This finding is pertinent with the statement that TBLT, consisting of diverse tasks, can empower students to work collaboratively with their partners and intensify their engagement in learning the target language (Douglas & Kim, 2015; Hasan, 2014; Maijala, 2020; Oradee, 2013). Time constraint From the result of students’ interview, it is found that the students also highlight negative response due to several shortcomings towards the realization of TBLT. The shortcoming asserted by the students is initially due to time constraint. The student- respondents entirely admit that they have inadequate time to accomplish tasks or instruction in TBLT. This issue can be seen from the excerpt #7, excerpt #8, and excerpt #9 below: Excerpt #7 “Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris melalui TBLT yang berhubungan dengan kosa-kata, pronunciation, dan grammar sebetulnya sangat menarik. Hanya saja, waktu yang tidak banyak membuat siswa tidak semuanya mengerti.” (S7) (The realization of TBLT in EFL classroom regarding vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar is actually interesting. However, not all students can comprehend it as the implementation requires a plenty of time). Excerpt #8 “Instruksi-instruksi yang diberikan memang bervariasi dan sangat menarik tetapi membutuhkan waktu yang relative lama untuk memahami dan menyelesaikannya.” (S2) (The instructions given to the students are varied ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 517 and meaningful, nonetheless, it needs a lot of time to understand and accomplish the tasks). Excerpt #9 “TBLT membutuhkan waktu yang relatif lama untuk bisa dimengerti oleh siswa karena banyak sekali hal-hal yang harus siswa fahami dan kerjakan.” (S5) (TBLT necessitates a relatively long time for the students to understand and finish the tasks or instructions). From the excerpt above, it can be elucidated that the students require more time to really grasp certain materials specifically vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. This occurrence is due to a condition that students tend to emphasize more on grammatical rules, spelling/pronunciation, and vocabulary mastery. Therefore, in consonant with the time constraint, the present study puts an emphasis on students’ awareness to communicate. It is relevant with Adiantika and Purnomo (2018) and Aleksandrzak (2011) that time availability plays a fundamental role in implementing TBLT to empower students’ communicative competence. Diverse students’ proficiency level Another shortcoming revealed in this study is due to diverse students’ proficiency level. Four students out of 7 students-participants acknowledge that they possess inadequate English language proficiency. In other words, they tend to struggle in speaking English due to lack of pronunciation, vocabulary mastery, and also grammar. This drawback is identified in the excerpt #10, excerpt #11, and excerpt #12 as follows: Excerpt #10 “Jujur, saya kurang bisa memahami pembelajaran secara keseluruhan karena guru selalu menggunakan Bahasa Inggris ketika mengajar. Sehingga terkadang saya tidak bisa memahami bahkan menjawab pertanyaan yang diberikan oleh guru.” (S4) (Honestly, I can really understand the learning thoroughly since teacher always speaks English during the teaching-learning process. Somehow, I cannot understand even answer the question given by the teacher). Excerpt #11 “Meskipun pembelajarannya menarik namun saya terkadang kurang mengerti apa yang disampaikan oleh guru karena beliau selalu menggunakan Bahasa Inggris ketika mengajar. Mungkin ini karena kosa-kata yang miliki masih sangat sedikit.” (S6) (Despite meaningful teaching-learning, I sometime cannot comprehend what the teacher says due to the frequent use of English in teaching-learning process. Probably, it is because my low vocabulary mastery). Excerpt #12 “Materi-materi maupun instruksi-instruksinya semuanya dalam Bahasa Inggris. Mungkin jika ada versi terjemahan Bahasa Indonesianya, siswa yang kurang mengerti seperti saya bisa terbantu.” (S5) (Both the materials and instructions are in English. I believe if the Indonesian version are available, it could be really helpful for the student like me). According to the excerpts as aforementioned, the students mostly use Indonesian as their first language (L1). It is pertinent with Derakhshan (2015) and Jabu and Salija (2012) that the students tend to use Indonesian as their L1 rather than English as their target language (TL). In addition, it can be inferred that not all students can fluently respond even answer teacher’s question by using English since they possess diverse English proficiency level particularly lack of pronunciation, vocabulary mastery, and grammar. Therefore, it is essential for the teacher to accommodate students with appropriate materials in consort with the suitable lesson plans to completely cover students’ proficiency level starting from low proficiency, middle proficiency, and eventually high proficiency. The occurrence of practical problem The last shortcoming identified in this study is owing to the occurrence of practical problem. From the students’ interview, it is revealed that the students show their negative response regarding the realization of TBLT through the incorporation of multimedia carried out in the fourth meeting specifically. In addition, the integration of multimedia seems to be a little problematic due to the poor internet connection and students’ insufficient multimedia possession. This shortcoming can be seen from the excerpts below: Excerpt #13 “Beberapa sumber pembelajaran yang diberikan guru bersifat daring ketika diakses sedangkan internet di sekolah kita tidak terlalu bagus. Hal Eline Rozaliya Winarto & Fitri Aprianti The realization of task-based language teaching to foster students’ speaking fluency in vocational school context 518 ini terkadang menjadi masalah dan tidak semua siswa bisa mengaksesnya dengan mudah.” (S2) (Several learning sources offered by the teachers are accessible when connected to the internet but our internet connection here is not really good. Somehow it leads to difficulty for students to easily access them). Excerpt #14 “Jaringan internetnya teh kurang bagus ditambah lagi tidak semua dari kita memiliki hp atau perangkat yang memang support untuk mengakses materi yang diberikan.” (S5) (The internet connection is not really good, yet, not all students have sophisticated gadgets to facilitate us accessing the materials given). Based on the abovementioned excerpts, it can be stated that poor internet connection and students’ insufficient multimedia possession become the concrete shortcomings in terms of practical problem faced by the students. In other words, the realization of TBLT combined with the incorporation of multimedia does not decently work since there is still an issue regarding practical problem. Those findings are relevant with the statement that lack of technological infrastructure in language learning particularly in EFL classroom may cause some difficulties for the students to really grasp and comprehend the target language (Altun, 2015; Floris, 2014; Özdemir, 2017). Therefore, the enhancement of technological infrastructure in EFL classroom is crucial to really assist the students to effectively acquire English as a target language in EFL/ESL classroom (Cuhadar, 2018; Park & Son, 2020). CONCLUSION TBLT is deemed to be able to foster students’ active engagement in teaching-learning process. TBLT is also beneficial to facilitate students an opportunity to exercise their speaking and enhance their linguistic aspects. Furthermore, the realization of TBLT is considered beneficial to escalate and enhance students’ confidence in speaking English throughout the variability of the tasks implemented in each session. Regardless the slight improvement indicated in students’ speech performance, the students express positive responses due to the advantages of TBLT realization. Through the realization of TBLT, the students are able to escalate and enhance their speaking skill, promote their active engagement in teaching-learning process, and intensifying students’ collaborative skill and shaping their critical thinking ability. According to the findings in the present study, there are implications for the teachers and students. For teachers, this study is expected to contribute current knowledge concerning the realization of tasks variability in teaching-learning process. This study is also expected to reassure the teachers to conduct relevant meaningful tasks in order to enhance students’ speaking ability. Furthermore, the realization of TBLT in teaching-learning process can encourage students’ interest and active engagement in EFL speaking context. The teachers can also offer more opportunity for the students to emphasize more on pronunciation, word stress, and language structure for the sake of their students’ speaking skill performance. Meanwhile, for students, they are expected to keep practicing their English with other students throughout interaction and discussion in order to accomplish the speaking skill’s expected outcomes. Since all data was simply obtained from seven students in one vocational school in Indonesia, the findings of this study are limited by the small sample size. Hence, it is suggested for the impending study to broaden the study with more participants in different contexts to scrutinize what factors enhancing and improving the students’ speaking fluency. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We acknowledge the financial support received from the Education and Culture Ministry of Indonesia. 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