Developing Tasks to Foster Thai Students’ Willingness to Present in English

Abstract

It is evident that there are many factors that influence degrees of willingness to present among second language (L2) learners. Within the current context, less proficient students have shown clear signs of reluctance to deliver presentations in English language classrooms. Based on the researchers’ assumption and previous existing literature, there are two variables (i.e., topics for presentation and preparation time for presentation) central to the phenomenon situated. This article describes a pilot study which investigated to what extent a speaking task designed on the basis of two key factors (i.e., speaking topics relevant to students’ background knowledge and extended preparation time) produces a positive impact on Thai students’ degrees of willingness to present in English. Under study, 15 undergraduates in a Thai university were encouraged to deliver a presentation about a secret tourist attraction in their city. Flipped learning was also adapted and utilized as an approach that offered students more preparation time to deliver their presentations. Findings gained from students’ written reflections and a willingness to present scale demonstrated that students’ degrees of willingness to present were positively influenced by the task design. Pedagogical implications are also provided in this study.