EUSHARE: European economic integration of the Republic of Moldova

through EU shared values: education-research- innovation

www.eushare-project.eu

1.2. INTEGRATION OF EASTERN PARTNERSHIP IN EU THROUGH

EDUCATION-RESEARCH-INNOVATION

DEVELOPING THE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

THROUGH TASK-BASED LEARNING: A CASE STUDY

CZU: [37.091.3:81`243]:303.425(478) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6991779

Viorica CONDRAT1,
Alecu Russo Balti State University

ABSTRACT: Language educators are encouraged to create the optimal motivational environment
for learning to take place. It appears that the student-centered classroom offers the ideal context to boost the
learners’ interaction and make the learning process more motivational. The learners’ ability to appropriately
use the language in various context is linked to the development of the intercultural communicative
competence. The paper shows the results of a small-scale research conducted at Alecu Russo Balti State
University, which aimed to determine whether or not task-based learning can help develop the learners’
intercultural awareness and boost their intercultural communicative competence. The results seemed to
indicate that task-based learning can be used among other student-centered methods when the language
educator’s focus is on the development of both fluency and intercultural awareness. When it comes to the
development of the intercultural communicative competence, further research should be conducted in order
to get valid results.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, intercultural awareness, task-based learning,

language education, student-centered classroom, fluency.

Introduction. The English language classroom should offer the necessary context for learners
to meaningfully use the language so that they can become confident and competent users of
English. Thus, the main goal of the language educator becomes to scaffold the development of the
necessary skills in learners. They should carefully design the whole language education process so
that learners are enabled to successfully integrate into the 21st century context.
The traditional teacher-centered approaches have focused primarily on the development of
accuracy, where the teacher is the center of the instruction, whereas the learners have the role of
rather passive recipients of knowledge. This could work in the 19th century, where the teacher
indeed appeared to be the unique source of information available at the time, and whose primary
aim was to develop basic literacy in the learners (the society was predominantly illiterate at the
time). However, this teaching paradigm does not meet the needs of today’s learners, who should
develop not only the four basic skills, but also the 21st century skills. Therefore, teachers should
think of ways to offer learners the possibility to use the language meaningfully in the classroom so
that both fluency and accuracy are equally developed. This implies that the primary task a language
educator has is to develop the communicative competence in learners.
Similarly, researchers and language educators alike (Bennett, 2015; Byram, 1997; Cortazzi &
Jin 1999; Mckay, 2003; Condrat, 2020, 2022) emphasize the fundamental necessity to develop the
intercultural communicative competence (hereafter, ICC) in learners, which will enable them to
detach themselves from their ethnocentric points of view and appropriately decode the messages of
their interlocutors or texts they are exposed to in the process of the English language education.

1
Viorica CONDRAT, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Philology, Alecu Russo Balti State University, E-mail:
[email protected], https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7779-0587

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16-17 May, 2022

The communicative approach has placed learners in the center of the instruction process. The
primary goal was to help learners gain fluency in their use of the language. Undeniably, it has
helped in creating the optimal contexts where language can be used meaningfully, substantially
contributing to the enhancement of fluency in learners. As a result, several methods have been
elaborated within the communicative approach, such as Content Based Instruction, Problem Based
Learning, Project Based Learning, etc. All these methods share one major feature: while doing a
communicative activity the learners of English have the possibility to communicate with each other
(i.e. to use the language meaningfully), which enables them to meet the needs of communication in
various contexts. It is also assumed that ICC can also be fostered while applying the communicative
approach to the language education process.
Task Based Learning (hereafter, TBL) is said to have emerged from the strong form of the
communicative approach (Thornbury, 2006), which implies that language is learned by using it and
this process is not controlled by teachers at all. What is central in TBL is that it does not matter how
it is said, but rather what it is said. Thus, the focus is on the meaning of the language used in the
process of accomplishing a task, and not on the form and structure of the used language.
As seen, the notion of task is at the core of TBL. Task can be defined as: “a piece of
classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting
in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. The
task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in
its own right” (Nunan, 1989: p.10). The learners are expected to communicate within small groups
in order to complete the tasks and thus acquire the language in the process.
Undeniably, teachers asked learners to complete communicative tasks not necessarily using
TBL in their language education process in the past, however, what TBL advocates for is “the
dependence on tasks as the primary source of pedagogical input in teaching and the absence of
systematic grammatical or any other type of syllabus” (Richards and Rogers, 2001: p. 241). The
learners are to understand the form of the language in the authentic materials they can be exposed to
before and while doing the task. Such a method is said to motivate learners as well as boost their
creativity (Willis, 1990), however not sufficient research has been done to prove this, and there are
scholars doubting whether or not it is possible to teach solely through tasks (Hall, 2011).
Seedhouse (1999) argues for an objective evaluation of the benefits of TBL. While analyzing
some transcripts of the actual interaction happening between learners while accomplishing tasks,
the scholar arrives at the conclusion that the results he got do not seem to support “the rosy
theoretical claims” (Seedhouse, 1999: 155) of the TBL proponents. He acknowledges the benefits
tasks can have in enabling learners to accomplish some tasks in the outside world, but he questions
the advantages of task-based interaction. It is not clear whether or not TBL can contribute to the
development of ICC.
Methods. The study aims at determining whether or not TBL can help foster the development
of ICC in learners enrolled at the Faculty of Philology at Alecu Russo Balti State University
(hereafter, USARB). It is a small-scale research based on the researcher’s observations, on the one
hand, and the questionnaire given to the students who participated in the course American and
British Culture, on the other. The course was designed for first-, second-, and third- year students by
Stephan Houghton, academic staff within the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Program Key
Action 1 – Learning Mobility of Individuals. The co-teachers of the course were two teachers for
USARB Viorica Cebotaros and Viorica Condrat, and Emma Lane, the English Teaching Assistant
at the Fullbright Program.
The training period lasted for three weeks starting from November 2, 2021 till November 18,
2021. The students majoring in English were invited to take part in the three-week course to
increase their intercultural awareness. The course leader was Stephan Houghton, who invited three

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EUSHARE: European economic integration of the Republic of Moldova
through EU shared values: education-research- innovation
www.eushare-project.eu

teachers to co-teach the course. The learners had the possibility to work with two native speaker
teachers and two local teachers.
18 students enrolled in the course, 4 students in their first year of study (one gave up after a
week because of lack of time), 9 in their second year of study, and 5 in their third year of study. The
students were divided in small groups of three/four and were asked to accomplish a task every
week, reporting on their work at the end of the week (on Thursday in the first week, and on Friday -
the second and the third weeks). Completing the tasks was supposed to help learners get a better
understanding of the current Anglo-Saxon culture, which can help them enhance their intercultural
awareness.
Over the three-week period, the students completed three tasks:
Week one - Posters: create and present a poster on a chosen aspect of American or British
culture.
Week two - News Broadcasts: record a video news broadcast of stories currently in the
American or British media.
Week three - Presentations: prepare and deliver a formal presentation on a chosen aspect of
American or British culture.
Because of the COVID-19 restrictions the course was held online via Zoom. Every Tuesday,
the students were assigned a new task. Before starting working on the task itself, the course leader
briefly introduced the main features of the task to be accomplished (i.e. the features of a poster,
news broadcast, and presentation). The first day was the preparation stage, in which learners were
supposed to collaboratively decide on what they should include in their final product and gather the
information, the second - the creation stage, in which students worked together to produce their
product, and the third day - the presentation stage, in which the learners presented their product to
the rest of the class. It should be mentioned that during the first week, learners worked on Tuesday
and Wednesday, whereas Thursday was the presentation day; during the second and third weeks,
they worked on Tuesday, Wednesday; Thursday was the day when the course leader suggested the
so-called open-door session when students would discuss the preparation of their part with him;
whereas Friday was the presentation day.
The learners were split into three groups of three and two groups of four. The members of the
groups changed for each task. After the Pretask stage, the learners were sent to breakout rooms,
whereas the teachers involved in the course were circulating providing assistance to the learners
working on their task. Two teachers were responsible for American culture and two for British
culture. The teachers’ primary goal was to help learners develop intercultural awareness. They had
the role of a resource the learners could go to in order to get a better understanding of a certain
cultural specific feature.
In order to elicit the learners’ attitude towards the course in general, as well as the perception
they have regarding their own progress, a 10-question questionnaire was elaborated. 4 questions
intended to understand the learners’ attitude towards the accomplished tasks, 5 questions were
Likert scales containing 5 response options, in which the responders were asked to specify their
level of agreement to a statement or their level of satisfaction with their participation in the course.
Similarly, an observation sheet was created intended to observe the learners’ interactive
patterns within the group, on the one hand, and the way ICC was developed in them while
accomplishing a given task.
Findings. 15 students out of 18 agreed to take the questionnaire: 2 first-year students; 8
second-year students, and 5 third-year students. The first question aimed to elicit the learners’
perception of the tasks they have to do. Thus, 76.9% believed that making a poster was the easiest
task. 15.4% believed that the presentation task was the easiest. However, there was one student
(6.7%) claiming that making a news report was the easiest.

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16-17 May, 2022

When corroborated with the data from the observation sheet, it appears that the students indeed
found the poster making the easiest task. They did not need much technical assistance. The support
they were offered dealt with what information they could include on their posters. As they were
exposed to a variety of information online and in the course book Your Key to American and British
Culture (Condrat, Cebotaros, 2021), they found it rather challenging to prioritize what should be
included on the poster and what could be omitted as being less significant. It was quite interesting for
them to realize the cultural differences in terms of sports, symbols, and values existing between
US/UK and Moldova. On the whole, they had a positive attitude related to the first task.
The second question elicited what was perceived as the most difficult task. The great majority
92.3% agreed that making their news report was the most challenging task. Only one student
thought that creating the poster was the most difficult for them. These results coincide with the
researcher’s observations. Indeed, students needed more assistance, including technical assistance.
They were supposed to understand what taking on the role of reporter, presenter entails, which
turned to be quite challenging. Similarly, it was also unsettling for them to choose the topics they
reported on.
The third question showed the learners’ perception on what task helped them understand the
American/British culture better. 76.9% believed that they increased their ICC while making
presentations, 15.4% while making the news report, and 7.7% while making the poster. This is
rather surprising as from the observation the order appears to be reversed, i.e. the learners seemed to
be more culturally aware when making the posters. They had to summarize their understanding of,
for example, the symbols, and then speak on them. This was not the case with the news reports as
they seemed to have focused more on the technical part. When it comes to the presentations, they
gathered the information, yet they seemed to be simply retelling it. Their own perception of the
phenomenon remained unclear or was incomplete (e.g. when speaking on the concept of American
Dream, the learners missed the present controversy around this term existing in the US).
The fourth question elicited what task the learners liked doing the most. It was interesting to
note that 53.8% liked making a news report most, 38.5% - the presentation, and 7.7.% - the poster.
This was difficult to observe, as the learenrs worked independantly. It was vissible that they were
more excited about this task, yet it was difficult to predict what they liked doing the most.
The fifth questions aimed to determine the learners’ attitude related to the way of working in
groups. In particular, it wanted to understand the way the learners perceived working in groups as
helping them increasing their intercultural awareness. The assumption is that if the learners are
aware of the similarities and differences between their own culture and another culture, it will be
easier for them to function effectively across cultures (i.e. develop their ICC). 53.8% strongly
agreed and 46.2 agreed with the statement that: “Working in groups has helped increase your
intercultural awareness.” The observation of the students work during the ZOOM session indicates
that their group work contributed to the boost of the learners’ intercultural awareness.
When it comes to the 6th question, the learners were asked to express their degree of
satisfaction in working in groups. 46.2% felt very satisfied, 46.2% satisfied, and only 7.7% were
neutral about this statement. Yet, none of the participants felt unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. The
observation sheet showed that, overall, the learners seemed to be quite happy to work in groups.
However, they were allowed to choose their own topic for the last task, and form the group
accordingly to their interest. What was noticed was that they seemed to choose the topic according
to who was in that group rather than the interest for the topic. Thus, students from the same
academic group got together. They agreed to work together and then chose the topic.
The eighth question elicited how the team’s performance made the learners feel. 61.5% felt
very satisfied, 30.8% - satisfied, and 7.7% - neutral. It can be seen that the great majority was quite
happy with the team’s performance.

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EUSHARE: European economic integration of the Republic of Moldova
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www.eushare-project.eu

The ninth question determined how the learners viewed their progress. Thus, 53.8% were very
satisfied with their own progress, and 46.2% felt satisfied. The observation showed that every
student seemed to have enjoyed the course and were proud of their own performance. This
information is corroborated with the results from the tenth question, where the learners expressed
their impressions on the experience they had during the 3 weeks of the course. Upon analysis, the
learners seemed to acknowledge that the course has contributed to the development of their
intercultural awareness (53.33%). They also state they liked working in groups and interacting with
native teachers (60%). One learner even admitted that the course made them get out of their comfort
zone. The course challenged them to do something which they would not do it on their own.
Although the learners were encouraged to make suggestions, none suggested anything.
Discussion. The results clearly indicate that the course was a success with the students.
Taking into account that they voluntarily participated in it, and that only one learner withdrew
because of lack of time, it can be assumed that it impacted the learners in a positive way. They
seemed motivated to complete the tasks each week and they appreciated the presence of the two
native speaker instructors who would offer them an inside perspective on some issues. This is an
interesting phenomenon as the two local teachers offered similar perspectives, but they were still
perceived by the learners as outsiders. It does not mean the learners did not trust their expertise, it
simply shows their tendency to trust a native speaker more as they are part of the American or
British socio-cultural environment. However, what seems to elude our learners is the diversity of
the two cultures. The learners find it rather difficult to understand that the teachers involved in the
course represented just one viewpoint and not necessarily the perception of the whole country (a
task rather impossible to achieve).
It also appears that the primary goal of the course, i.e. to increase the learners’ intercultural
awareness, was achieved. The learners understood better some of the current issues related to the
USA and UK. While working on their posters, news broadcasts, or presentations, the learners had
the possibility to discover and better understand the otherness of the two countries. This enabled
them to detach themselves from their ethnocentric viewpoints and see themselves as part of the
worldwide cultural mosaic. It is rather difficult to state which task contributed to this most, as all
the tasks involved the discovery of some specific cultural aspects; whereas sharing their products to
the whole group helped them gain additional information to that their group had worked on.
The feedback the learners gave when answering the last question in the questionnaire shows
that they were rather motivated to take part in the course. They connected to the Zoom meetings in
time, and most of them attended all the meetings. There were very few cases when the learners
could not attend the classes as they had other urgent engagements. Further research should be done
in order to determine if their motivation was due to the task they were supposed to complete in
groups or to the fact that having a native speaker teacher increased their responsibility.
It should be noted that, previously, the third-year students had to complete two tasks
individually for their course in Stylistics of the English Language. When comparing the learners’
performance from the course in Stylistics with what they did during this course, it can be concluded
that TBL can boost their motivation. The other students similarly seemed to be motivated although
they had not been previously exposed to TBL.
When it comes to collaboration, it is rather difficult to state to what degree this skill has been
enhanced in the learners. Although the learners claimed they felt quite satisfied while working in
teams, the concept of teamwork was rather misunderstood. They did not work as a team on a task
but rather as individuals on different parts of the task which will be put together at the end. This
seems to indicate that TBL contributes little to the development of collaboration, which is closely
linked to ICC.

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16-17 May, 2022

Although the intercultural awareness was definitely raised in the learners, it appears that the
learners did not develop the ICC. The learners interacted little with the teachers before going to the
breakout rooms. The non-native speaker teachers tried to set an example by engaging with the
native speaker teachers, asking them questions, and being curious. Yet, the learners seemed rather
shy. This might be due to lack of confidence when speaking in English. Even when learners went to
breakout rooms to work on their tasks, they did not interact with the teachers circulating from one
room to another. The idea was to use the teachers as a resource. However, it was the teacher
initiating a conversation. In most of the cases when the teacher would enter a breakout room, the
students would keep silent. They would claim they were looking for information; they were
deciding what to write. Yet, they did not interact.
The learners seemed to be quite confident reporting on their findings, but they seemed rather
reluctant to interact among themselves or with the teachers. This issue needs to be further
researched as such a behavior may be due to the online environment. It can be interesting to find out
if they will have a similar behavior when doing the tasks in-person.
TBL has helped prove that learners seem to like challenging tasks. The instructors predicted
from the very start that doing a news broadcast will be the most challenging task. Indeed, 92,3% of
the students confessed that this was the most challenging task. Yet, 53,8% claimed that they en-
joyed completing namely this task. Thus, as scholars state (Ur, 2011; Harmer, 1991) the activities
teachers design should be challenging enough for the learning process to happen. However, teachers
should be attentive when designing the activity, if it is too difficult for them they get demotivated.
Similarly, if the task is perceived by the learners as too easy they get bored and no learning takes
place as a result.
It was namely this task that was supposed to help learners get a better feel for the cultural
specific moments of the USA and UK. Yet, in the opinion of the majority of the learners (76,9%)
while working on their final task, i.e. the presentation, they developed their intercultural
competence most. This can be explained by the fact that doing a news broadcast was totally new for
them and they concentrated more on the technical part of completing the task, and did not pay full
attention to the stories they were reporting on. They imitated the news they searched on the internet
trying to take on the role of the anchor or field reporter, but it appears that most of them did not
internalize the news itself.
Another interesting detail that surfaced was that TBL does not seem to foster the development
of accuracy. TBL can be used when the primary focus is on the development of the learners’
fluency. This might be problematic particularly when some errors the students make become
fossilized. The course leader thought of a possibility of focusing on the learners’ accuracy as well.
This is why, Wednesday became the open-session day for the last two tasks. Although the course
leader tried to help learners improve the learners’ accuracy, this seemed to have little effect on the
final presentations. Thus, TBL cannot be considered to meet all learners’ needs.
Conclusion.
TBL should be integrated in the process of language learning. Yet, it should not be viewed as
the only method to be used by language educators. Although the results seem to indicate that
learners have developed their intercultural awareness, they did not enhance their intercultural
communicative competence. Thus, fluency was not fully developed while completing the tasks;
whereas accuracy seemed to be totally overlooked. TBL can be used to bring more variety to the
language education process. It can motivate the learners to complete challenging tasks and learn
something in the process. It can also boost their collaboration. However, adopting TBL as the sole
method of instruction might not help develop all the skills that need to be developed in learners at
the lesson of English.

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EUSHARE: European economic integration of the Republic of Moldova
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www.eushare-project.eu

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