EXPLORING THE EFFECT OF TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION WITH AUTHENTIC MATERIALS ON THE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY OF THAI HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT MARIE UPATHAM SCHOOL
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Abstract
The purposes of this study were to: 1) compare the mean scores of students' English proficiency tests before and after receiving task-based instruction with authentic materials, and 2) examine students' overall attitude toward the instructional approach. A pre-experimental design (one-group pretest-posttest) was utilized in the study. The sample consisted of 50 eleventh-grade students from Marie Upatham School during the first semester of the 2025 academic year, selected through purposive sampling. The research instruments included: 1) 24 lesson plans based on task-based instruction with authentic materials, 2) pretest and posttest English proficiency tests, and 3) a questionnaire to gauge students' attitudes toward task-based instruction with authentic materials. Data analysis was conducted using paired-sample t-tests, means, and standard deviations. The findings revealed that the mean pretest score was 30.58 (S.D. = 3.61), while the mean posttest score increased to 36.86 (S.D. = 4.01), indicating a statistically significant improvement at the 0.05 level. The attitude questionnaire showed mean scores of 4.41 (S.D. = 0.44) for task-based learning activities, 4.39 (S.D. = 0.32) for content, and 4.34 (S.D. = 0.39) for perceived benefits. The overall mean attitude score was 4.38 (S.D. = 0.34), demonstrating that students held a high positive attitude toward task-based instruction with authentic materials. These results indicated that task-based instruction with authentic materials effectively enhanced English proficiency and was positively received by students. This study provided valuable insights into enhancing English proficiency through task-based instruction with authentic materials and offered innovative recommendations for educators and researchers to improve teaching practices and educational outcomes.
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References
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