Teaching speaking in

English 5: textbooks
and novice teachers
views

Niklas Rösund

Department of English

Individual Research Project (EN04GY)

English Linguistics

Autumn 2022

Supervisor: Joseph Siegel

Teaching speaking in English 5:
textbooks and novice teachers
views
Niklas Rösund

Abstract

Speaking is an essential skill for language learning. Moreover, the communicative aspect
of learning a secondary language is the major goal for many learners. Since English is a
language with a substantial number of speakers and is often used as the preferred method
of communicating between people with different mother tongues, the pressure on
teaching materials and textbooks for learning English is substantial. Traditionally,
textbooks are one of the most used tools for learning language and assisting teachers in
providing materials for students in the targeted language. However, previous research
showed that there are aspects where textbooks could still be lacking due to commercial
interests, lack of effective speech enhancing tasks, and a divergence from current research
in secondary language acquisition. Moreover, little research has been done in Swedish
contexts regarding the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbooks. Considering these
issues, the current study aimed to investigate speaking tasks within textbooks used for
English 5 in Sweden to see if they can be considered effective in teaching speech. The
study also aimed to find out novice teachers’ views on the speaking tasks in textbooks
and teaching speaking in general. The study was conducted by analysing two English
textbooks, namely Blueprint A and Solid Gold 1 used for English 5 in Sweden. The
speaking tasks within both textbooks were categorised based on previous research on
effective speech enhancing tasks. The results of this analysis showed that a large portion
of the speaking tasks within the textbooks could not be considered effective speech
enhancing tasks. Nevertheless, around half of the ineffective tasks could be made into
effective speaking tasks with minor teacher intervention. The result of the following
interviews also showed that the novice teachers were aware of how to supplement the
tasks within the textbooks and that they had a focus on content rather than structure of the
tasks. Lastly, the novice teachers’ also viewed repetition of tasks as negative and that
more focus on the social factors of teaching speaking should be taught in teacher
programs.

Keywords
Textbooks, teaching materials, speaking, novice teachers, speaking tasks, fluency.
Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................. 1
1.1 Aim and research questions .............................................................. 1

2. Background and theoretical framework ............................................. 2

2.1 Theories and concepts of L1 and L2 speech ......................................... 2

2.2 The role of textbooks ....................................................................... 4

2.3 Current limitations of speaking tasks in textbooks ................................ 5

2.4 Research on novice teachers’ opinions and needs ................................ 6

2.5 English L2 speaking skills required in the Swedish curriculum ................ 7

3. Methodology ................................................................................. 7
3.1 Material and data ............................................................................. 8

3.2 Procedure ....................................................................................... 9

3.3 Categories applied to analysis ........................................................... 9

3.3.1 Communication gap tasks ............................................................... 10

3.3.2 Discussion tasks............................................................................. 10

3.3.3 Monologic tasks ............................................................................. 10

3.3.4 Other tasks ................................................................................... 11

4. Results ...................................................................................... 12
4.1 addressing research question 1 ........................................................ 12

4.1.1 Solid gold 1 speaking tasks ............................................................. 12

4.1.2 Blueprint A speaking tasks .............................................................. 14

4.2 Addressing research question 2: Interviews ....................................... 15

5. Discussion .................................................................................. 19
5.1 Effectiveness of the speaking tasks in the textbooks ........................... 19

5.2 Novice teachers’ opinions on speaking tasks and textbooks .................. 20

5.3 Limitations and Future studies .......................................................... 22

6. Conclusion ................................................................................. 23
References ..................................................................................... 24
Primary resources ................................................................................ 24

Secondary resources ............................................................................ 24

Appendix A. Consent form ................................................................ 26

Appendix B. Tasks from the textbooks used in the interviews ................. 28
Appendix C. Questions used in the interviews ...................................... 31

1
1. Introduction

Speaking is an essential skill for language acquisition use and a key motivator for learners
of a language, since being able to communicate in a foreign language is often the goal of
the learner (Lazaraton, 2014). Confidence in their speaking and the ability to
communicate is not only beneficial but it can also be a required aspect of the average
person’s working or academic career. This can be especially true when it comes to the
English language since it is often considered a global language and is used in a significant
number of areas in everyday life. The English language is taught at most schools and in
Sweden the learning process starts at an early age, with students sometimes being taught
as early as the age of 7 and continues as a core subject for the rest of their school years.
One of the most common tools for teaching a foreign language is the use of textbooks to
provide authentic texts and speaking opportunities for the learners (Tomlinson, 2022).

Textbooks have several advantages. For example, textbooks ease the pressure on novice
teachers by being used as a helpful tool in organising lesson plans and providing tasks
with instructions, since novice teachers lack the repertoire of pre-constructed tasks and
lesson plans that a more experienced teacher might have (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994).
However, previous research shows that there are aspects where textbooks could still be
lacking due to commercial interests, insufficient repetition of tasks, lack of effective
speech enhancing tasks, and a divergence from current research in secondary language
acquisition. These factors indicate that there is currently a need for teachers to themselves
supplement the textbooks with additional tasks (Tomlinson, 2022).

Although there have been many researchers focused on researching textbooks and the
tasks within them, there is still a lack of research on how novice teachers view textbooks
and the speaking tasks within. In addition, little research has been done on Swedish
contexts regarding the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbooks. Therefore, the current
study aims to investigate speaking tasks within textbooks used for English 5 in Sweden
to see if they can be considered effective in teaching speech. The study also aims to find
out novice teachers’ views on these tasks and if they would supplement these tasks with
their own instructions. Furthermore, the study will investigate if the novice teachers prefer
to create their own materials for speaking focused lessons over pre-constructed tasks from
textbooks. Lastly, the study will further investigate if novice teachers feel sufficiently
prepared for creating their own speaking tasks after finishing their teaching degree.

1.1 Aim and research questions

The aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbooks for
English 5 and novice teachers’ views on these tasks. Additionally, the study aims to
investigate whether the novice teachers use textbooks or self-created material for
speaking focused lessons and if they felt prepared for creating those types of exercises in
their current teacher role. The study therefore seeks to answer the following questions:

1
 1. What types of speaking tasks are there in the textbooks and can they be considered
effective in accordance with previous research?
2. What are novice teachers’ views on using these speaking tasks and speaking tasks in
general?

2. Background and theoretical framework

The following section consist of 5 parts. The first part describes theories and concepts of
L1 and L2 speech. The second part examines the advantages and disadvantages of using
textbooks in language teaching. The third part discusses the current limitations of
speaking tasks argued by previous research. The next part discusses current research on
novice teachers. The final part describes English L2 speaking skills required in the
Swedish curriculum.

2.1 Theories and concepts of L1 and L2 speech

The act of speaking is an essential skill of communication, a major goal of second

language education and the focus of many users of a language. Some parts of speaking
are acquired incidentally; however, a vast amount of language skills especially within an
L2 language is acquired through extensive lessons through schooling and other forms of
education. How to acquire these skills in different languages is widely researched with
theories emerging through the years of how this process occurs.

Starting with speech processing and what happens when we speak, Levelt (1989)
proposes 4 major processes for producing speech. These processes are conceptualisation,
formulation, articulation, and self-monitoring. Beginning with conceptualisation, this is
where speech begins and involves the first planning of how and what speech is going to
be conveyed. Conceptualization depends on the speaker’s previous knowledge regarding,
discourse, speech situation and the topic that is to be discussed. In simplified terms
conceptualisation is thinking about what to say in a conversation. Conceptualization also
serves as a self-check to ensure that the speaker’s intended meaning is conveyed correctly
and appropriately in the form of grammar, expressions and so on.

The second process that Levelt proposes is formulation, which happens after the initial
conceptualisation of what to say. Therefore, formulation regards how to express what the
conceptualisation wants to say, by finding the correct words and phrases to deliver the
correct meaning. This can also be the most challenging step for language learners since
they need to find the correct words and forms and make several lexicogrammatical
choices to accomplish the correct outcome due to knowing one or more additional
language (Goh & Burns, 2012).

The third process is articulation which involves physically producing what the speaker
intends to communicate. This process involves several different motor functions of
speaking for example, lungs, tongue, lips and so on, to ensure correct stress and

2
pronunciation. Finally, the last process suggested by Levelt is that of self-monitoring,
which entails monitoring the produced speech to check for grammatical errors, incorrect
pronunciation, or issues with fluency. The speaker then corrects their speech accordingly
to fix the errors produced during communication. Effectiveness in this step is dependent
on the speaker’s implicit knowledge of the language, for example knowledge of grammar
and pronunciation (Goh & Burns, 2012). Bygate (2001) further explained that it is worth
considering that all these processes happen at the same time since on most occasions there
is not sufficient time for the speakers to plan and correct their intended meanings. If the
speakers take too long with one of the processes during their speech, the interlocutors
might interrupt or see it as inappropriate depending on the setting. Furthermore, fluency
and accuracy are dependent on the automation of these processes since it leads to less
pauses and accurate speech. Lastly, context and discourse can have an effect on the
processes, for example teacher-student interaction or familiarity with the interlocutor
(Bygate, 2001).

Another factor when producing speech that needs to be considered is whether the
language is a first or second language. Correspondingly, this factor could have an effect
on the learners’ language acquisition. Starting with the first language acquisition (referred
as L1), it is learnt from a young age during the formative years. A large portion of the
speakers’ L1 is picked up between the ages of 18 months and 4 years (Ortega, 2009). At
the first year, a child usually learns one-word utterances, at the second year two-word
utterances, at the third year they make use of more syntactic and morphological
deployment. Furthermore, at the fifth- and sixth-year, children typically learn more subtle
pragmatic or syntactically phenomena and many more aspects are learnt later once they
learn reading and writing through schooling (Ortega, 2009). Bilingualism or even
multilingualism may also occur during these first 4 formative years if the children have
circumstances where more languages are used in their surroundings. However, a lot of
children do not learn any additional languages until their later years through schooling,
in what is referred to as second language acquisition (SLA). SLA does not occur in the
same way as the learner would learn their L1 and is therefore seen as an additional
language or L2 since it is learnt after the L1 (Ortega, 2009).

Lastly, when considering speech three additional features are also often included, namely
fluency, accuracy, and complexity. These features are usually used to discuss the quality
of spoken language produced by L2 speakers (Goh & Burns, 2012). Starting with fluency,
it is the skill relating to producing and understanding speech without considerable pauses
and has a focus on meaning (Siegel, 2021). The second skill accuracy on the other hand
is related to producing speech with correct grammar and pronunciation focusing more on
form. Finally, the last feature, namely complexity, focuses on both meaning and form,
where the speech used is more grammatically precise and advanced forms of grammar is
used dependent on the interlocutor and social contexts (Goh & Burns, 2012).

3
2.2 The role of textbooks

Textbooks are often considered as the most common tool for teaching language in the
English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom
(Garton & Graves, 2014). Textbooks can also be used to help relieve teachers already
heavy workload with pre-constructed task and lesson formatting (Hutchinson & Torres,
1994). Although textbooks are a common occurrence within the language classroom it is
still debated whether textbooks hinder or help the students and if they are appropriate
considering all the language aspects required for the current curriculums demands.

Two researchers that strongly advocate for the use of textbooks in the language classroom
are Hutchins and Torres (1994). They mentioned that textbooks can be both a time saver
and can also act as a guide for teachers when planning lessons. Additionally, textbooks
assist teachers when there are times of greater change, such as when larger curriculum
changes are occurring. Textbooks are made to fit in with the current curriculum and
therefore the content should correspond to the changes within the targeted knowledge
requirements (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994). Other advantages of using textbooks can be
that “[…] [they] promote autonomy as learners can use and refer to [textbooks] outside
the classroom.” (Garton & Graves, 2014, p. 3). Letting learners work outside the
classroom on their own could potentially enhance language acquisition, especially if the
learners get to repeat the tasks later in the classroom (Goh & Burns, 2012).

However, there are also potential downsides of using textbooks. Sheldon (1987) argued
that the creation of textbooks itself is problematic due to the need for the textbook writers
to reach as broad of an audience as possible. Sheldon explained that there can be
complications due to this broad approach since it could lead to textbooks advertising for
a broader audience than what is appropriate. Furthermore, textbooks cannot be used in all
classroom situations and there is no available textbook that could possibly be used with
all learners of a language (Sheldon, 1987).

Tomlinson (2022) is another researcher that discussed the issues that textbooks currently
have. Tomlinson (2022) argued that current textbook trends are going against previous
research on L2 acquisition. According to Tomlinson, one of the reasons is that textbooks
restrict learners to focus on short and simple texts whose purpose is to only teach new
language points. Furthermore, textbooks often feature simplistic activities such as fill in
the blanks, sentence completion and true or false questions. The last issue that Tomlinson
discussed is that tasks restrict learners in using only the focused “language points”
(Tomlinson, 2022). Tomlinson also listed several reasons for the issues in current
textbook trends such as economic due to the cost of producing textbooks. Profit driven
goals are also listed as a possible reason similarly to Sheldon’s (1987) conclusions
regarding the issues for textbooks. Moreover, the cloning of successful textbooks, not
daring to go against the norm and complications when trying to acquire the rights to
authentic material can also be issues that hinder current textbooks (Tomlinson, 2022).

4
What teachers themselves want from textbooks can also complicate the process of
producing efficient textbooks. Masuhara (2011) discussed the teachers’ needs and wants
from textbooks, while also concluding that there is no exceptional synonymous opinion
on what teachers want from textbooks since one teacher’s needs could be vastly different
from another’s. Furthermore, Masuhara claimed that current textbooks trends consist of
more task focused material with a “pick and mix approach”, where the teacher only takes
what is needed for a specific task and in turn can lead to less coherent material (Masuhara,
2011, p. 262).

Although many researchers tend to see a negative trend with current textbooks, they seem
to agree that most of the issues can be solved through teachers implementing their own
supplemental instructions alongside the textbooks. If a teacher is knowledgeable of the
material that they are using in the classroom they can correct the errors that could occur.
Although, this is also time consuming and requires that the teachers have sufficient
education that aims to specifically create awareness for these issues regarding second
language education and textbooks. Finally, the result of current textbook research showed
the importance of knowing what to teach rather than just following the assigned textbook
for the course.

2.3 Current limitations of speaking tasks in textbooks

Although textbooks are considerably researched a narrower approach is also needed to

focus more on the specific parts of textbooks, namely speaking tasks within textbooks.
Rossiter, Derwing, Manimtim and Thomson (2010) investigated speaking tasks within
teaching materials for second language learners of English in Canada. Rossiter et al.
(2010) found that there was a lack of fluency enhancing speaking task and repetition in
textbooks for speaking related tasks. From their conclusion, they argued that there is a
need for supplemental tasks to cover oral fluency to ensure that leaners get enough
exposure to these types of activities (Rossiter et al., 2010). Similarly, in a later study of
ESL material, Diepenbroek and Derwing (2013) found that after investigating 12 different
series of ESL textbooks, there is a lack of both fluency and pragmatic content within the
tasks. Furthermore, fluency content seems to not be a major focus of the textbooks that
they researched (Diepenbroek & Derwing, 2013).

In fact the positive effect of the speaking tasks, which are insufficiently provided in
textbooks according to previous research, has been proven. Bygate discussed that “[…]
task selection likely affects learners’ language and language processing” (p.17). Bygate
(2001) then concluded that task repetition and task recycling can help students with
fluency, accuracy, and complexity as well as ease the formulation of speech when they
do not have to think as much on conceptualisation. Goh and Burns (2012) also agree that
there are benefits to repetition of tasks. They can help further students’ fluency and also
let them focus more on the accuracy and complexity of language, since they will be more
fluent by already knowing what to expect enabling them to construct better narratives.
Although a complete repetition of a task might not be what is needed in specific scenarios,

5
the teacher can then decide if a parallel assignment that is not identical would be better
suited (Goh & Burns, 2012).

Overall, consensus amongst researchers regarding textbooks and the tasks within showed
that most of the issues within textbooks could be fixed with some teacher interaction and
adaptation of the materials (Tomlinson, 2022; Rossiter et al., 2010; Diepenbroek &
Derwing, 2013; Goh & Burns, 2012), which aligns with one of the purposes of this
project, namely, to investigate teachers’ views and preference when it comes to teaching
speaking. It is also recommended that teachers get to know their material properly to see
where the additional instructions might be needed to ensure that students are provided
effective speaking tasks.

2.4 Research on novice teachers’ opinions and needs

Textbooks, although debated in their use, still prove to be a helpful tool for novice
teachers when presenting new concepts to their students, since textbooks with their
structured content can help and guide novice teachers how they could be introduced
(Diepenbroek & Derwing, 2013; Hutchinson & Torres, 1994). However, textbooks being
used as a potential aid also further the demands on that textbooks need to be appropriate
in both difficulty and content if they are to be relied upon. Borg (2006) discussed research
on novice teachers and stated that newer teachers might feel unprepared or unsure on
what to teach, potentially leading novice teachers to focus too narrowly on the provided
textbooks. Additionally, once novice teachers enter the work environments within
schools, there can be issues in the lack of support provided by the established staff (Borg,
2006). Mentorships are often recommended and should be provided for novice teachers.
However, as Borg discussed, novice teachers are most of the time on their own, and
although novice teachers can manage the first years, it will still be a struggle due to
workload and possible management issues. More experienced teachers might not be
willing or have time to assist in creating an environment that would be beneficial towards
acclimating novice teachers to the stressful reality of working within schools. In addition,
sometimes teachers only create this helpful environment when the novice teacher recently
starts working at the school and then after a short while they are forced to adapt similarly
to the rest of the teacher staff (Borg, 2006).

Moreover, what is taught during the novice teachers’ previous education is also of
importance when considering how they implement textbooks and view their own teaching
(Borg, 2006). Farrell (2021) suggests that is also important that the education novice
teachers have received prepare them for these stressful early years, with the first being
the worst for most teachers. Novice teachers need sufficient support throughout their early
years for them to grow from the beginning stage to a professional stage of being a teacher,
otherwise there is a large risk that they would leave the profession (Farrell, 2021). The
research on novice teachers showed that their early education is not the only factor for
being a successful teacher, rather novice teachers should be supported throughout their
early years and be provided sufficient knowledge of how to work with textbooks. Overall,
the novice teacher first year is a time of stress and uncertainty, therefore it is essential that

6
novice teachers should be provided sufficient support, for example through textbooks
with their structured content to relieve their workload.

2.5 English L2 speaking skills required in the Swedish curriculum

The present study is conducted in a Swedish context; therefore, it is also of importance

what the Swedish curriculum considers when grading and teaching English speech. To
start with, the current curriculum lgr22 and lgy22 is heavily influenced by communicative
language teaching (CLT) (Siegel, 2021). CLT itself is hard to directly define since it can
differ in methods and definition, however certain aspects still need to be present for it to
be considered as CLT. Some of these factors include holistic communicative competence,
for example knowing what registers to use depending on social context, prioritizing
fluency over accuracy, scaffolding, and negotiation of meaning (such as how to make
yourself understood and how to understand others) (Siegel, 2021).

In the grading criteria for English 5, the influence of CLT can clearly be seen in the
requirements. For example, there is no mention of accuracy within the grading criteria
rather fluency, coherency, and clear negotiated meanings are the focus. In the speech
production requirements for English 5, Skolverket (2022) states that the students need to
speak with “[…] viss variation, relativt tydligt och relativt sammanhängande. Eleven
formulerar sig även med visst flyt och i någon mån anpassat till syfte, mottagare och
situation.” (Some variation, relatively clearly and relatively coherent. The student should
be able to express themselves with some fluency and to some extent adapted to purpose,
recipient and situation, my translation.) (Skolverket, 2022). As can be observed, students
need to produce varied, coherent, and fluent language in speech that is adapted to the
recipient; as such, textbooks targeted towards English 5 need to provide sufficient tasks
that can enhance these skills. At higher grades, these demands are clearly higher although
even at grade A there is no mention of accuracy, rather they need to have better fluency.

These grading criteria therefore put pressure on teachers to provide students with
exercises containing meaningful interaction, which in turn could enhance their fluency
and also their general speech. Hence, it is of most importance that the exercises in
textbooks correspond well to the curriculum they are supposed to be based on, and if they
are not that teachers are aware of these flaws. These potential issues lead us to the purpose
of this study, to investigate if the specific speaking tasks within textbooks can be
considered to be effective in enhancing speech.

3. Methodology

The methodology section is divided into three parts. The first part will discuss the material
and data used. The second part will explain the procedure for the study. The third part

7
will examine the categories used in the present study to categorise the speaking tasks in
the textbooks.

3.1 Material and data

The main material for this study consisted of two textbooks targeted for English 5, which
was also supplemented with interviews from two novice teachers that had less than a year
of teaching experience.

Starting with the first textbook, Solid Gold 1, written by Hedencrona, Smed-Gerdin,
Watcyn-Jones and Eyre (2014), it consists of 351 pages and 9 chapters of different topics
(e.g, “Hot issues”, “Horror”, “City life”). The Solid Gold is structured as follows: the first
half of the textbook consist solely of texts for students to read and the other half of the
textbook contains the tasks for the texts. The students are therefore meant to go back and
forth between text and tasks in the textbook to answer the questions.

The second textbook, namely Blueprint A written by Lundfall and Nyström (2017)
consists of 328 pages and 7 chapters in total (e.g., “Human rights and wrongs”, “Dragon’
den”). In contrast to the Solid Gold, Blueprint A does not separate the tasks and texts into
different parts of the textbook, rather Blueprint A has the tasks directly following the
texts. Both textbooks were picked for the present study since I have previous experience
working with these two textbooks during my VFU (teaching practicum) and after initial
discussions with English teachers concluded that they are sometimes used in schools in
Sweden.

Additionally, the study collected two interviews with novice teachers that had less than
one year of experience of teaching English after finishing their teaching degree. The first
teacher that was interviewed hereby referred to as teacher A has worked as an English
teacher for a total of four months. The second teacher hereby referred to as teacher B
started working as an English teacher nine months ago. The data from the interviews was
used to supplement the textbook analysis to investigate novice teachers’ views on the
speaking tasks within the textbooks and their views on the textbooks themselves.

Before beginning the interviews, a pilot interview was conducted with a teacher that was
not participating in the current study to check the validity of the interview questions. The
questions were then later changed based on this pilot interview into the current questions
that were then asked to the two novice teachers participating in the study. The conducted
interviews took an average of 45 minutes each. The questions used for the interviews
were based on samples of the speaking tasks from the textbooks and the research
questions for the study (see Appendix B and C).

Furthermore, both interviewees were provided an anonymity form before starting the
interviews to ensure that the interviews were aware that they would be anonymous for the
present study and also to consent in participating (see Appendix A). Both interviewees
were also asked if they preferred to have the interview in either English or Swedish.

8
3.2 Procedure

To answer the first research question of what types of speaking tasks are there in the
textbooks and if they could be considered effective in accordance with previous research,
the first step was to manually sort out all the speaking tasks of both textbooks. The tasks
were sorted as speaking task if they explicitly mention having a speaking element, for
example if the task mentioned speaking, group work, pair work or presenting. The
speaking tasks were then categorised using 4 categories based on Goh and Burns (2012)
suggestions for task that are successful in enhancing learners’ speech. More specific
details on the categories that were used for this study can be observed in Section 3.3. The
results of this categorisation were then compared to the findings of previous research.

To answer the second question of what the novice teachers’ views were on the speaking
tasks within textbooks, a sample of three speaking activities were then picked from each
textbook based on the initial results of the analysis. The three speaking activities picked
were one communication gap task, one discussion task and finally one discussion without
goal task from each textbook. Totally, six activities were picked from the two textbooks.
These six speaking activities were used later for interviews with two novice teachers to
find out their views on the speaking activities and if they would supplement them with
their own instructions. The reason for choosing these three categories of tasks to show to
the novice teachers was firstly communication gap tasks were infrequent within both
textbooks and therefore the novice teachers’ views on these activities could be of interest
to the study. Secondly, discussion tasks and discussion without goal tasks were included
to see if the novice teachers could differentiate between them by adding additional
instructions for the activities and their views on these specific task categories.

Furthermore, the novice teachers were also asked if they preferred pre-constructed tasks
or textbooks for speaking assignment and if they felt prepare for working with them, eight
additional questions were asked (see Appendix C). Additionally, the novice teachers were
asked how they work with speaking tasks and their views on their received education that
was meant to prepare them for the teaching profession. The interviews were then
transcribed using the transcribe function in the Word program to simplify the processing
and presentation of the findings.

3.3 Categories applied to analysis

For the analyses of the textbooks, four main categories were picked to simplify the
categorisation of the different speaking tasks contained in the textbooks. The categories
were based on Goh and Burns (2012) suggestions on successful speaking tasks that
enhance speech. The tasks categories are mainly fluency focused although accuracy and
complexity are both possible through repetition of the tasks (Goh & Burns, 2012). The
four main categories are as follows: communication gap tasks, discussion tasks,
monologic tasks, and other tasks.
9
3.3.1 Communication gap tasks

Communication gap tasks as mentioned by Goh and Burns (2012) bears a close
resemblance to real life communication. Ordinary communication usually surrounds
some sort of communication gap, for example going to the store and finding a specific
item might require a shopkeeper’s assistance. The speaker tries to communicate what they
need to the interlocutor and together they try to find out what the speaker needs and then
locate the object. Likewise, information sharing is a common form of communication and
listeners often look for what they do not already know from the speaker which incentivize
learning (Goh & Burns, 2012). Furthermore, as Goh and Burns discuss some people might
see this gap as a way to further the conversation to find out missing information. When
looking at the communication gap task itself it is further divided into two categories, the
first one being information gap and the second context gap tasks. However, although
these internal categories can differ from each other, they will still in the context of this
degree project be counted as communication gap tasks.

3.3.2 Discussion tasks

The second main category that will be used based on Goh and Burns (2012) are discussion
tasks. Discussion tasks can be created in several different ways, for example, a group
could have a list of items that they together negotiate for which place they should have in
a ranking order. Discussion tasks can also be a simulation of a situation where one learner
acts as a specific role, such as a doctor, politician, or perhaps a parent. Goh and Burns
(2012) mention that simulations from discussion tasks differ from regular roleplay in that
it should not be as strict in what the learners are supposed to say or behave. Instead, the
learners are supposed to use their own experience and knowledge of how the person they
act as would deal with the situation of the task. Discussion tasks can also be used to
include other skills such as writing or listening when the group are to solve or discuss
problems together. Furthermore, discussion tasks can also help facilitate the development
of reasoning skills and high-level thinking (Goh & Burns, 2012). Generally, discussion
tasks should have a focused outcome in mind from the tasks rather than only discussing
for the sake of discussing. However, as Goh and Burns mentions, discussion tasks can be
conducted without a specific outcome in mind if for example, the teacher wants to have
an open discussion on an abstract or philosophical topic.

3.3.3 Monologic tasks

The third main category were monologic tasks, which were tasks focused on producing
monologic speech to an audience. The learner might be asked to produce and present a
rehearsed or spontaneous speech that should make a specific topic clear to the listeners.
The learners need to know how to “[..] introduce, maintain, and close a topic; use cohesive
devices to organise extended discourse; and anticipate and share listeners’ perspectives.”
(Goh & Burns, 2012, p. 212). These skills need to be taught to the learners in order for

10
them to perform well in monologic tasks. Furthermore, they also need to know what
appropriate discourse for the genre focused on the task is. (Goh & Burns, 2012). When
conducting monologic tasks, they can be conducted individually with each student
presenting a topic. However, as Goh and Burns explained there are benefits to using group
work instead for monologic tasks. Students working in small groups have the potential
for additional speaking opportunities when working together, while also helping reduce
individual anxiety. An additional benefit with using monologic tasks is that it makes it
easy for the teacher to adjust the task depending on knowledge level and different age
groups. Students can pick their own chosen topic to present to simplify the task or perhaps
be given a shorter timeframe to add additional difficulty to the task.

3.3.4 Other tasks

The last main category, called other tasks, consists of tasks that did not fit in with the
previous categories set by Goh and Burns (2012) and therefore have been categorised into
their own separate category. Within the fourth category, six subcategories were made to
cover the different tasks that surfaced from the analysis from the material within the two
textbooks. These six categories were as follows, vocabulary tasks, simple true or false
questions, read out load tasks, discussion without goal, turn taking and finally speaking
strategies.

Table 1. Other tasks subcategories

Tasks Descriptions

Vocabulary tasks Tasks that involved explicit vocabulary acquisition with an additional
speaking element. The speaking element usually concerns going
through the vocabulary task with a partner to for example fill in a word
gap in a sentence using the words given in the tasks. These types of
tasks could usually be solved with minimal interaction between the
speakers.

Simple true or false Consist of basic true or false statements based on a previous text that
questions the student is to answer with a partner. The reason for putting this
category separately from the regular discussion tasks where students
have to negotiate for the answers, is due to that these types of questions
function as a fact checker for the previous read text and no further
negotiation other than the correct answer is possible.

Reading out loud Tasks that simply states that the students are to read the text out loud
tasks to themselves or a partner with no additional follow up.

Discussion without In contrast to the previous discussion task, discussion without goal
goal only focuses on discussing or speaking without a particular outcome
or negotiated answer. Students could complete these tasks with
minimal effort rather presenting their answers than negotiating with a

11
 goal in mind and are not included due to not fitting in with the
exceptions for discussion tasks. These tasks are also of interest since
they could easily be corrected into being more useful for enhancing
students’ speech with minimal teacher interaction. The teacher could
add a whole class discussion at the end of the task where the groups
need to present their agreed upon answers or where they disagreed
(Goh & Burns, 2012, pp. 207-211).

Turn taking Simple questions where students take turns in reading and answering
with a partner, or simply taking turns reading a text. Turn taking is
helpful for learners to understand and help the flow of the conversation
(Goh & Burns, 2012, p. 106). However, these types of tasks in the
textbook felt too mechanical for being suitable for English 5.

Speaking strategies Speaking strategies are informative texts that explain to students how
to be a better speaker or how to create monologic speech. These types
of tasks are more focused on providing helpful tips rather than being a
proper assignment.

Most of these tasks have their place within a language classroom, for example explicit
vocabulary tasks could potentially increase fluency by limiting interruptions created
during the conceptualisation and formulation of speech (Goh & Burns, 2012). However,
these tasks still lack an important aspect when it comes to enhancing speech since they
do not create a realistic environment for students to speak in and there is no clear outcome
of the tasks other than making the learners speak.

4. Results

The Results section will be divided into two different parts. The first section will
investigate the speaking tasks within Solid Gold 1, which will then be followed by the
results of the speaking tasks in Blueprint A. The second section will investigate the
outcome of the interviews that were conducted with the two novice teachers.

4.1 Addressing research question 1

Starting with the results of the first research question of what type of speaking tasks
were there in the textbooks and if they can be considered effective according to previous
research, both textbooks were categorised based on Goh and Burns (2012) examples of
effective speaking tasks.

4.1.1 Solid gold 1 speaking tasks

Solid Gold 1 was the first textbook to be categorised. The results of the initial
categorisation can be observed in Table 2 below.

12
Table 2. Solid Gold 1 Speaking tasks
Solid Gold 1 Communication Discussion Monologic Other Total
Speaking gap
tasks n % n % n % n % n

Whole book 3 3 26 28 16 18 47 51 92
Chapter 1 1 9 1 9 1 9 8 73 11
Chapter 2 1 10 2 20 1 10 6 60 10
Chapter 3 0 0 3 30 1 10 6 60 10
Chapter 4 0 0 4 36 4 36 3 28 11
Chapter 5 0 0 4 33 1 8 7 59 12
Chapter 6 0 0 2 20 2 20 6 60 10
Chapter 7 0 0 2 25 1 12 5 63 8
Chapter 8 0 0 7 47 3 20 5 33 15
Chapter 9 1 20 1 20 2 40 1 20 5

The first noticeable pattern that can be observed by investigating the results of the
categorisation is that there is a clear lack of communicative gap tasks within the Solid
Gold textbook. Communication gap tasks make up only about 3% of the total speaking
tasks in the textbook, whereas discussion tasks came up at a total of 28% of the tasks in
the textbook and monologic tasks came up at 18%. Other interesting results that can be
observed is that chapter 8 of the textbook had an unusual amount of discussion tasks in
comparison with the other chapters, having 47% of the tasks of the chapter.

Additional results of the categorisation were that 51% of the total tasks of the textbook
was sorted into the other tasks category. This means that half of the tasks within the
textbook cannot be considered self-sufficient and effective speech enhancing tasks
without teacher intervention. Due to the high number of tasks within the other tasks
categories an additional step is also needed to see what these tasks are. The results of the
categorisation of the other tasks category of Solid Gold 1 can be observed in Table 3.

Table 3. Solid Gold 1 Other tasks category

Solid Vocabulary True Read out Discussion Turn Speaking Total
Gold 1 task or false loud without taking strategies
Other goal
n % n % n % n % n % n % n
Whole 6 13 3 6 1 2 21 45 12 26 4 8 47
book
Chapter 1 2 25 1 12 1 12 3 38 1 12 0 0 8

Chapter 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 50 3 50 0 0 6

Chapter 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 50 2 33 1 17 6

13
 Chapter 4 0 0 1 33 0 0 2 67 0 0 0 0 3

Chapter 5 1 14 0 0 0 0 4 58 1 14 1 14 7

Chapter 6 2 33 0 0 0 0 2 33 2 33 0 0 6

Chapter 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 60 2 40 0 0 5

Chapter 8 0 0 1 20 0 0 1 20 1 20 2 40 5

Chapter 9 1 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Interestingly, as can be observed in the results of Table 3, 45% of the tasks that were
categorised into the other tasks category were later sorted into the discussion without goal
category. This result could imply that nearly half of the tasks that consists within the other
tasks category and were considered insufficient speaking tasks, could rather easily be
corrected with minimal teacher intervention. Another interesting result is that turn taking
tasks had a rather large percentage, 26% of the total speaking tasks within the categories.
The results perhaps indicate that the textbook sees turn taking as an important skill for
English 5.

4.1.2 Blueprint A speaking tasks

Continuing with the analysis of the textbooks, the second textbook Blueprint A had all
their speaking tasks categorised using the same categories as the first textbook. The
results of this categorisation can be observed in Table 4 below.

Table 4. Blueprint A Speaking tasks

Blueprint A Communication Discussion Monologic Other Total
Speaking gap
tasks n % n % n % n % n

Whole book 1 1 13 19 7 10 49 70 70
Chapter 1 1 5 5 26 2 10 11 59 19
Chapter 2 0 0 2 15 2 15 9 70 13
Chapter 3 0 0 1 8 2 16 9 76 12
Chapter 4 0 0 3 17 1 6 14 77 18
Chapter 5 0 0 2 25 0 0 6 75 8

Examining the results from Table 4, a similar trend to the first textbook can be observed
within the speaking tasks. Once again there is a clear lack of communication gap tasks
within the textbook. Only one communication gap task was observed within the whole
textbook with a total of seventy speaking tasks. Furthermore, there is also a similar pattern
in Blueprint A that discussion tasks had the largest percentage of the effective speaking
tasks with 19% of the total tasks, and monologic tasks being the second largest with only
10% of the total tasks. Moreover, there seems to be also a correlation between the number
of speaking tasks per chapter and a higher number of discussion tasks within the textbook.

14
Chapter one having the highest number of speaking tasks with 19 in total, had the highest
percentage of discussion tasks with 26% of the tasks.

However, a similar negative trend can also be observed in Blueprint A, that a large
percentage of the total speaking tasks were sorted into the other tasks category.
Alarmingly, 70% of the total speaking tasks within Blueprint A cannot be considered
effective speaking tasks according to the initial categorisation. Therefore, the additional
step of investigating the other tasks category is also of interest in this textbook and the
results can be observed in Table 5.

Table 5. Blueprint A Other tasks category

Blueprint Vocabulary True or Read out Discussion Turn Speaking total

A task false loud without taking strategies
Other goal
n % n % n % n % n % n % n
Whole 6 12 0 0 14 29 28 57 1 2 0 0 49
book
Chapter 1 4 36 0 0 1 9 5 45 1 9 0 0 11

Chapter 2 0 0 0 0 3 33 6 67 0 0 0 0 9

Chapter 3 1 11 0 0 2 22 6 67 0 0 0 0 9

Chapter 4 1 7 0 0 6 43 7 50 0 0 0 0 14

Chapter 5 0 0 0 0 2 33 4 67 0 0 0 0 6

Examining the results of Table 5, it can be observed that 57% of the speaking tasks in the
other tasks category are contained in the discussion without goal category. Furthermore,
some differences can be observed between the results of the two textbooks with Blueprint
A having only a small percentage of turn takin tasks 2% of the total and instead focused
more on reading out loud tasks with 29% of the total speaking tasks within the other tasks
category.

4.2 Addressing research question 2: Interviews

In this final section of the results, the interviews with the two novice teachers will be
presented. Firstly, the study will investigate the novice teachers’ views on speaking tasks
using a sample of 6 activities from the textbooks and also their views on speaking tasks
in general. Secondly, the study will investigate if they prefer pre-constructed tasks from
textbooks or their own self-created material when teaching speaking. Finally, the novice
teachers’ views on their previous education and if they felt sufficiently prepared for
working with speaking tasks and textbooks.

15
Starting with the novice teachers views on the speaking tasks from the textbooks, six tasks
were picked that the novice teachers gave their opinions on how they would adapt or
implement into their classrooms. activities 1 and 2 were discussion without goal tasks and
beginning with activity 1 both teachers felt that there was a need to supplement with their
own instructions. Teacher A discussed:
I would probably add something just like to start it off with kind of talking like, there's
a lot of different things that kind of makes us who we are, and one thing could be gender
and then kind of have a class discussion about it.

Furthermore, teacher A mentioned that the activity by itself would not be sufficient unless
more lessons were done on the topic beforehand, also the teacher would have to be active
during the whole discussion to make sure that they will not miss any of the conversations.
Teacher B on the other hand felt that there could be an additional follow up questions to
make sure that the students are discussing properly and not rushing through the activity.
Both teachers also agree that gender might be a sensitive topic in most classrooms and
therefore teachers need to take into considerations if class would be comfortable with the
topic or they would not dare to speak.

In the second activity, Teacher A explained that the activity felt too simple by itself and
discussed:
If they write it down first themself, and then discuss with the groups, maybe compare,
and ask them to maybe argue for why they choose the items and maybe also add that at
the end after they discuss, they kind of have to decide in the group.

Similarly, Teacher B felt that the activity was too simple if they only discussed the
question and suggested that they would need to negotiate more for their answers and
perhaps rank them together on the whiteboard.

Proceeding to activities 3 and 4 which were communication gap tasks, both teachers felt
that they could be used as they were. However, Teacher B felt that the instructions for
activity 3 would need to be simplified for their students. Both teachers also agreed that
the topic of activity 4 might be problematic for some classes. For the last two activities 5
and 6, which were both discussion tasks, the novice teachers felt that they would only
make minor corrections. Teacher A would put activity 6 in a bigger context with more
lessons surrounding the topic, and teacher B discussed:
I would change it up, because if you give them too much freedom, there is also a risk
that they never get started right? Because they can't decide.

Teacher B considered picking out specific topics for some students that might have
difficulty picking themselves since otherwise they might take the whole lesson deciding.
Overall, both teachers agreed that they saw potential in all the tasks and found that they
could use them in their own lessons.

Moreover, both teachers were also asked questions on what they thought about speaking
tasks in general. Interestingly, both teachers said that they were more fluency focused
when considering speaking skills. Teacher A said:

16
 Yeah, I would say I encourage my students more to be fluent than accurate. I'm not
going to stop my students, for example if we are going through something and correct
them.

Answering the same question, teacher B explained:

As of now I mainly look at like fluency. I tried to, I mean, it's hard enough to get them
motivated to talk because they're pretty much afraid of it at the moment, and I guess
that's something that they will grow into. So, I can't be too harsh at the moment
regarding minor grammar mistakes.

Both of the novice teachers emphasized the importance of creating a classroom

environment where the students could speak without any negative reactions or corrections
of their speech.

However, both novice teachers also admitted that this fluency-focused view changed
when it came to national tests. Teacher B discussed:
I actually had to fill in for a national test now. So, I guess I looked more to grammar
than before, because it was in a more serious situation, but during a normal like normal
classroom situation I guess I just want to hear them speak.

Teacher A shared a similar opinion on national tests and explained:

Then you have the opinion of the school of [accuracy], which shows when we have
national tests. [The students] have to be correct as well, so that's of course it's important
to kind of have a correct, like use the correct terms.

Both teachers admitted that the more serious situation of conducting national tests makes
them focus more on students being accurate.

The teachers were also asked what they thought of task repetition since this was a
requirement set by Goh and Burns (2012), to make sure that the recommended speaking
tasks could improve accuracy and complexity alongside fluency. When asked about task
repetition, teacher A mentioned:
I don't really think it works because then you are just practising with the students to
learn that task, instead of learning to actually use the language.

Whereas Teacher B discussed:

“I would not repeat a task exactly the same, but I do like a similar task every week just
to get my students to speak a little bit at the end of the lesson.”

Both teacher participants contrary to the previous research view task repetition as
negative and complete task repetition should be avoided.

Furthermore, the novice teachers were asked if they prefer working with pre-constructed
tasks from textbooks or made their own material for speaking focused lessons. Both
novice teachers had similar answers since they both solely used self-created material in
their schools. Teacher A explained:

17
 Usually, I use self-created materials or something from one of my colleagues. We only
have like 1 example of a couple textbooks. We do not really have textbooks and that
has been a choice by the teachers here.

Similarly, teacher B explained:

At the moment it has been like mainly self-created, so that I can create material that is
closer to their interests. For example, most of my students like football, so yeah, that
has been a great icebreaker. But with textbooks we have some, but no one really uses
them at my school.

Both teachers had access to textbooks samples at their schools although they were
only copies available for the teachers. Additionally, both novice teachers were asked
if they had used or heard of the textbooks used in this study and both admitted to
only worked with the Blueprint textbooks in their previous experience.

Moreover, both teachers were asked for their views on their previous teacher education
and if they felt sufficiently prepared for working with textbooks and making their own
material when they started teaching. Starting with teacher A they explained:
You learn a lot more on how to be a teacher and how to act and how to handle things
during your first couple months as a teacher, than you would through the five years of
education.

Teacher A felt that a lot of what was happening at schools did not correspond to what was
taught during their education and that although the foundation in English was good,
pedagogy could still be improved. Teacher A also admitted that there could be more
focus on what the pros and cons of using textbooks could be and the concrete differences
between English 5 and 6. Correspondingly, teacher B also had a similar view of their
education and explained:
Yeah, if we talk about language skills and so on in English, I would say my education
prepared me in a great way. But the part of actually being a teacher and all that it
implies, I was not prepared for to be honest. I mean today I had to make like 6 calls,
and they took each about 10 minutes and that was my time to make lessons plans.

Teacher B says that they felt prepared in using their language skills however, there
are social factors that were not considered when working as a teacher, such as parent
teacher interaction and other social factors. Lastly, teacher B explained:

Yeah, we got some education about textbooks I remember, but the funny thing is that
we do not use textbooks at my school. We only have the digital material and I mean it
has its perks, but also its flaws. I would say using the digital material is not as simple
as a textbook and I wish our education could show more digital material that are used
in schools.

Teacher B remembered having lessons on using textbooks although thought that

there could be more focus on how to use digital material to cover the realities of
working as a modern teacher.

18
5. Discussion

The discussion section consists of three parts. Firstly, the first research question will be
discussed using the results from the categorisation of the textbooks and compared with
previous research. Secondly, the second research question will be discussed using the
results of the interviews with the novice teachers. Finally, the limitations of the study will
be examined and the possibilities for future research.

5.1 Effectiveness of the speaking tasks in the textbooks

To answer the first research question, the two textbooks Solid Gold 1 and Blueprint A
were analysed, and the speaking task categorised based on whether the tasks could be
considered effective speaking tasks. Previous studies on the efficiency of ESL textbooks
and the speaking tasks within, showed that there is a lack of fluency enhancing tasks
within the textbooks (Rossiter et al., 2010; Diepenbroek & Derwing, 2013). Therefore,
the current study made a similar analysis on two textbooks used in Sweden for English 5.

The results of the categorisation (in Table 2 and 4) showed that 51% in Solid Gold and
70% in Blueprint were speaking tasks that did not fit in with the categories based on Goh
and Burns (2012). These three task types that the categories were based on, were
explained by Goh and Burns to be speech enhancing tasks with a focus on fluency.
Through repetition the tasks also have a focus on accuracy and complexity. Since a large
percentage of the speaking tasks in the textbooks did not fit into the categories, the results
thus could suggest that the textbooks also have a deficiency of fluency enhancing tasks
similarly to the findings of the previous research (Rossiter et al., 2010; Diepenbroek &
Derwing, 2013). Additionally, since Skolverket (2022) emphasizes a focus on fluency
within the grading criteria for speaking in English 5, it could be problematic using these
textbooks without any additional supplemental tasks to cover the fluency deficiency.

Furthermore, the high number of tasks belonging to the other tasks category could also
be argued in correspondence with Tomlinson’s (2022) earlier claims of the issues with
ESL textbooks. Tomlinson (2022) claimed that textbooks tend to focus on simplistic
activities such as true and false questions, fill in the blanks, and so on. Similar findings
can be seen in Table 3 and 5 in both textbooks (excluding discussion without goal and
speaking strategies since these tasks are not necessarily simplistic but rather missing
smaller steps) showed that 47% in Solid Gold and 43% in Blueprint’s speaking tasks in
the other category are of this simplistic nature. However, the remaining speaking tasks in
the other tasks category that were excluded from the previous claim (discussion without
goal and speaking strategies) showed that a large amount of the speaking tasks within
both textbooks can easily be fixed with minor teacher intervention. If the teacher using
these textbooks is aware of these issues, they could add an additional step to the speaking
task such as a negotiation of the answers between the students.

Moreover, another interesting result of the categorisation of the two textbooks is that
Table 2 and 4 showed a very low amount of communication gap tasks within both

19
textbooks. Starting with Solid Gold 1, only around 3% of the total speaking tasks were
communication gap tasks, with the remaining 46% of the effective speaking tasks being
discussion tasks (26%) or monologic tasks (18%). Furthermore, similar findings were
found in Blueprint A with only around 1% of the speaking tasks were communication gap
tasks and the remaining 29% of the effective speaking tasks being discussion (19%) or
monologic tasks (10%). As Goh and Burns (2012) explained, communication gap tasks
provide opportunities for mimicking real-life conversations since gaps are a common
occurrence in communication. Therefore, the implications of these findings could be
argued that if a teacher wants students to have more exposure to common L2
communication they would have to implement these types of tasks themselves. Both
textbooks seem to avoid the communication gap task category and instead focus on
discussion and monologic tasks and perhaps this could be argued as a flaw of the
textbooks.

In addition, the results showed irregularities in the division of tasks between the chapters
in both textbooks. Chapter 8 in Solid Gold and chapter 1 in Blueprint had a higher number
of discussion tasks in comparison with the other chapters. One of the possible reasons for
the high amount of discussion tasks in the chapters could be that they have the highest
number of speaking tasks compared with the other chapters. Additionally, in Solid Gold,
the topic of the chapter namely “Hot issues” could perhaps lead to a better environment
for having more discussion tasks.

Lastly, an additional observation can be made in the speaking strategies tasks or the lack
thereof in Blueprint A. The lack of speaking strategies tasks within Blueprint A is due to
the strategies for speaking being part of the tasks themselves rather than having their own
specific part. Blueprint A also contains the section called “Blue pages” where additional
material can be found on how to construct longer texts and speeches. This section has
therefore been excluded from the categorisation since Blueprint A does not specifically
task the students to investigate these strategies in the other chapters.

5.2 Novice teachers’ opinions on speaking tasks and textbooks

To answer the second research question, six speaking activities were picked out from the
categorisation of the two textbooks, two discussions without goal, two communication
gap tasks and two discussion tasks. These activities were used as a base for the interviews
of the novice teachers’ opinions on the tasks within the textbooks. One interesting finding
from the interviews were that both teachers felt that the speaking activities that were
picked would not work without preparing seminars or additional activities on the same
theme. Otherwise, as the teacher A explained, the students would question the purpose of
the tasks and be less motivated. Teacher B held a similar opinion since they were
concerned with getting the students to speak and needed to simplify and encourage
students with topics that would interest them more. The findings seem to correspond with
issues of the “pick and mix approach” described by Musuhara (2001). According to the
“pick and mix approach”, many teachers pick out specific tasks from textbooks without
considering the overall contexts and usage of the tasks, this could lead to less coherent
material (Musuhara, 2001). These views seemed to be shared with the novice teachers as

20
well since their main concern is whether these activities would work in a classroom by
itself. Furthermore, content seems to be of more interest than structure when the novice
teachers discussed the activities. Both novice teachers wanted to see how the specific
activities could fit in with a larger project with a similar theme rather than a one-time
task.

Moreover, the novice teachers’ views on speaking tasks in general were also interesting
for the present study. Both novice teachers were asked about repetition of speaking tasks
since it is seen as a helpful tool by previous research. Bygate (2001) explained that task
repetition could enhance students’ fluency, accuracy, and complexity as well as ease
formulation of speech while Goh and Burns (2012) used task repetition as an argument
to ensure that their tasks not only focus on fluency. However, the interviews showed that
both novice teachers did not consider complete repetition of tasks to be a successful tool
in teaching speaking. Although both agreed that they could use similar tasks with the
same structure with a different theme, they did not consider the repetition of speaking
task as efficient. The implications of these findings could mean that since the novice
teachers do not agree with the previous research on task repetition, their students would
not get the necessary exposure to gain accuracy and complexity from the speaking tasks
in the textbooks. Consequently, if the students are not given accuracy and complexity
through repetition, other means to practise these skills would have to be implemented by
the teacher.

Furthermore, the teachers were asked what type of material they preferred for speaking
focused lessons, textbooks, or self-made tasks. Interestingly, both teachers did not use
textbooks at their schools and instead solely relied on self-created material for their
lessons. Moreover, both novice teachers also had access to textbooks presumably for
helping create tasks although none of them had used textbooks during their career and
instead opted to ask colleagues. However, during the interviews both teachers viewed
most of the textbook activities positively and teacher B admitted to wanting to use some
of the activities for his own class. Although both novice teachers admitted to not using
textbooks in their lessons, they still see the possibilities of using pre-constructed tasks.
Therefore, it could be argued that textbooks still have a place in the language classroom
as a helping tool for novice teachers comparably to the arguments by Hutchins and Torres
(1994).

Finally, the study hoped to answer if the novice teachers felt sufficiently prepared for
creating their own speaking tasks and working with textbooks. Previous research on
novice teachers and the issues that they face, includes stressful environments, lack of
support, and uncertainty on what to teach (Borg, 2006; Farrell, 2021). However, not all
of these issues were present according to the novice teachers that were interviewed. Both
teachers felt secure in what they needed to teach in schools and confident in their subject
after acquiring their teaching degree. Nevertheless, some issues were still present, the
social aspects of teaching and the pedagogy of their education needed to be improved
according to the novice teachers. When considering speaking focused lessons, both
teachers had the issue of students either not being motivated to speak or not daring to
speak, which needed to be taken into consideration when constructing speaking tasks.
21
When discussing if they felt prepared to use textbooks, the novice teachers had their own
concerns regarding their previous education. Teacher A felt a need for more focus on
what the pros and cons of using a textbook could be and teacher B felt there was a need
to for more education regarding digital material. Overall, since both teachers considered
social aspects (e.g., Student motivation, classroom environment, parent teacher
interaction) to be a problematic factor in their education, more focus on these aspects
might be needed in future teacher education.

To conclude the discussion section, the result of the first research question showed that
the two textbooks had a high number of tasks that did not fit into the categories for
effective speaking tasks. However, almost half of these ineffective speaking tasks could
easily be changed to be more effective with minimal teacher intervention. Furthermore,
the second research question revealed that both of the novice teachers would supplement
the tasks from the textbooks with their own and that they focused more on content than
the structure of the tasks. Both teachers also considered the repetition of speaking tasks
as negative. The results also showed that both novice teachers prefer their own self-
created speaking tasks, although they still saw possibilities for implementing the tasks
from the textbooks. Lastly, the novice teachers felt sufficiently prepared for teaching their
subject and constructing speaking tasks. However, they still thought their teacher
education could be improved with more focus on the social aspects of teaching.

5.3 Limitations and future studies

The limitations of the current study were the limited number of participants since only
two novice teachers willing to participate in the study were found. Additionally, it was
difficult to find novice teachers within the targeted work experience of less than one year.
Moreover, the study only analysed the materials from two textbooks and only focused on
English 5 because of limited timeframe and scope of the study. However, although the
present study has these limitations it still adds valuable context in an area that is not
broadly researched. The usage of speaking tasks and textbooks in a Swedish context
currently is few and far between. The novice teachers’ perspective is also important since
it adds valuable perspectives from those that recently entered the teaching profession.
Thereby, the results of the present study could potentially provide new insight or
observations on the current role of being a teacher.

Future studies should therefore focus on gaining viewpoints from more novice teachers
to broaden this perspective and also find out where the current teacher education could
be improved. Furthermore, the two participants did not use textbooks in their schools and
therefore it could be of interest to investigate if novice teacher that do use textbooks as
the main teaching material shares their opinions on textbooks. Further studies could also
be done on speaking tasks within textbooks for other grades and on other textbook that
were not used in this study. It could also be of interest to find out the textbook writers’
opinions on the speaking tasks contained in the textbooks. Lastly, students’ perspective
could also be of interest for investigating the efficiency of speaking tasks in textbooks.

22
6. Conclusion

In conclusion, the present study investigated the effectiveness of speaking tasks in

textbooks for English 5 and novice teachers’ views on teaching speaking. Firstly, what
was discovered from analysing the textbooks was that there is a high percentage of tasks
in both textbooks, that could be considered ineffective for enhancing speech. However,
around half of these ineffective speaking tasks in both textbooks were estimated to be
correctable into effective speaking tasks with minor teacher intervention. Secondly, the
results of the interviews with the novice teachers showed that they both focused more on
content rather than the structure of tasks. The focus on content comes from ensuring
students motivation and participation in speaking related lessons. Furthermore, both
novice teachers viewed task repetition as negative since this could also impact students’
motivation for speaking. Thirdly, both of the novice teachers used self-created material
for speaking related lessons, and textbooks were not used at their schools. Nevertheless,
the implementation of the speaking tasks used by the textbooks were not seen as negative
and both of the novice teachers had access to textbooks for planning lessons. Finally, both
of the novice teachers felt sufficiently prepared for creating their own speaking tasks and
comfortable in their subject. However, they both saw a need for improving their teaching
education with more aspects surrounding social relations in the classroom, such as
motivating students to speak. Although both textbooks had issues regarding the
effectiveness of their speaking tasks, they could be easily improved with minor teacher
intervention, of which the novice teacher participants showed their awareness.

23
References

Primary resources
Hedencrona, E., Smed-Gerdin, K., Watcyn-Jones, P,. & Eyre, M. (2014). Solid Gold 1.
(1st ed.). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.

Lundfall, C., & Nyström, R. (2017). Blueprint: version 3.0. A. (1st ed.). Stockholm: Liber

Secondary resources

Tomlinson, B. (2022). Materials Development for Language Learning Ways of

Connecting Practice and Theory. in Coursebook Development and Use in Handbook
of Practical Second Language Teaching and Learning, Eli, H. (2022). [Elektronisk
resurs]. Routledge.

Bygate, M. (2001). Speaking. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge Guide to
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (The Cambridge Guides, pp. 14-
20). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511667206.003

Diepenbroek, L. G., & Derwing, T. M. (2014). To What Extent Do Popular ESL

Textbooks Incorporate Oral Fluency and Pragmatic Development. TESL Canada
Journal, 30(7)

Farrell, T. S. C. (2021). TESOL teacher education: a reflective approach [Elektronisk

resurs]. Edinburgh University Press.

Garton, S., & Graves, K. (2014). International Perspectives on Materials in ELT

[Elektronisk resurs]. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Goh, C. C. M., & Burns, A. (2012). Teaching speaking: a holistic approach. New York:
Cambridge University Press.

Hutchinson, T., & Torres, E. (1994). The textbook as agent of change. ELT Journal,
48(4), 315-328.

Lazaraton, A. (2014). Second Language Speaking. In Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D.M.

& Snow, M.A. (red.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language. (4th ed.)
Boston: National geographic learning.

Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: from intention to articulation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT

Press.

Masuhara, H. (2011). What do teachers really want from coursebooks? in Materials

Development in Language Teaching, edited by Brian Tomlinson, Cambridge

24
 University Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-
com.ezp.sub.su.se/lib/sub/detail.action?docID=674679.

Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Hodder

Education.

Rossiter, M. J., Derwing, T. M., Manimtim, L. G., & Thomson, R. I. (2010). Oral Fluency:
The Neglected Component in the Communicative Language Classroom. Canadian
Modern Language Review, 66(4), 583–606. https://doi-
org.ezp.sub.su.se/10.3138/cmlr.66.4.583

Sheldon, L. E. (1987). Introduction. In L. E. Sheldon (Eds.), ELT Textbooks and

Materials: Problems in Evaluating and Development (p. 1-10). London: Modern
English Publications and the British Council.

Siegel, J. (2022). Teaching English in secondary school: a handbook of essentials. (First

edition). Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Borg, S. (2006). Teacher Cognition and Language Education: Research and Practice.
Continuum.

Skolverket. (2022). Ämne – Engelska. Retrieved December 21, 2022, from

https://www.skolverket.se/undervisning/gymnasieskolan/laroplan-program-och-amnen-
i-gymnasieskolan/gymnasieprogrammen/amne?url=-
996270488%2Fsyllabuscw%2Fjsp%2Fsubject.htm%3FsubjectCode%3DENG%26c
ourseCode%3DENGENG05%26version%3D6%26tos%3Dgy&sv.url=12.5dfee4471
5d35a5cdfa92a3#anchor_ENGENG05

25
Appendix A. Consent form

Niklas Rösund
Email: niros.r@hotmail.com
___________________________________________________________________________

Teaching speaking in English 5: textbooks and novice teachers views

Who I am
My name is Niklas Rösund, and I am a student at Stockholm University, doing a degree project
on the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbooks and novice teachers views on teaching
speaking.
What the project is about
The project will investigate two textbooks targeted towards English 5 to see if the speaking
tasks could be considered efficient in teaching speaking. Furthermore, the study also aims to
investigate novice teachers views on these speaking tasks and on teaching speaking.
What participation involves
The interview will take about 30-50 minutes. With your consent, I will audio record and
transcribe the interview. In the unlikely event that sensitive issues should come up in the
interview or for any other reason, you can ask to stop the recording.
Your participation is voluntary, and you can withdraw from participating at any time.
What will happen to the data
The interview will be used to investigate novice teachers views on speaking tasks within the
project. No real names will be given and no information that could reveal the participants
identity will be included.
The information you provide will be handled with care. The recordings will be kept in a safe
space and will be deleted after the conclusion of the project in line with GDPR.

Contact details
For any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at: niros.r@hotmail.com
Supervisor: Joseph Siegel, Email: joseph.siegel@english.su.se

26
 Niklas Rösund
Email: niros.r@hotmail.com
___________________________________________________________________________

Consent to participating in the research project

Teaching speaking in English 5: textbooks and novice teachers views

I have read and understood the information about the study in the document "[Enter name of
Information sheet]". I have been given the opportunity to ask questions and I have had them
answered. I may keep the written information.

☐ I consent to participating in the study described in the document

Name: ________________________________

Signature: ________________________________

Place, Date: ________________________________

27
Appendix B. Tasks from the textbooks used in
the interviews

Task Number Task Instructions

Task 1 Reflect & Share

Prepare individually, then form groups to share and discuss.

”Gender identity is in the core of our beings. We're all assigned gender at
birth. but sometimes gender assignment doesn't match.”
Can this statement be true for other aspects/ qualities society assigns to us?

(Lundfall & Nyström, 2017, p. 189)

Task 2 035 starter

Make a list of five inventions that you personally couldn't live without
1 ________________________
2 ________________________
3 ________________________
4 ________________________
5 ________________________

Now work in small groups. Compare and discuss your answers.

(Hedencrona, Smed-Gerdin, Watcyn-Jones & Eyre, 2014, p. 197)

Task 3 FOCUS ON SPEAKING
Discussing and negotiating

Prepare individually. Write down notes.

• Which of the recommendations for achieving happiness do you
believe would work for you?
• Which of them can you see yourself trying out?
• Describe in detail when/where/how/with whom you would do this.
• Give reasons for why you would want to try this recommendation
or this combination of recommendations.
• Are there any recommendations that don't appeal to you? Why not?

2. Form groups of four to six students.

3. Share and discuss your ideas with each other. describe and give reasons.
Then negotiate and decide which are your top three recommendations.
Formulate your reasons for choosing these three.

4. Finally, each group should tell the class about their priority list, giving
good reasons for each choice.

28
 (Lundfall & Nyström, 2017, p. 120)
Task 4 225 focus on crime words

A Work in pairs. Here are 28 different crimes arranged alphabetically. How

many of them do you know? Use a dictionary if necessary. Test yourself on
some of them by matching ten of them to the definitions below.

arson, assault, assassination, bigamy, blackmail, bribery and corruption,

burglary, drug trafficking, embezzlement, espionage (spying), forgery,
fraud, hijacking, kidnapping, libel, manslaughter, mugging, murder,
perjury, rape, robbery, shoplifting, slander, smuggling, theft, treason,
trespassing, vandalism

1 ________is the crime of copying things such as banknotes, letters, official

documents, etc.
2 ________is the crime of deliberately damaging public property, e.g.
telephone kiosks, usually for the fun of it.
3 ________is the crime of deliberately setting fire to a building, etc. often
for the insurance money.
4 ________is the crime of attacking someone, often in a public place such
as a park or a street, in order to rob them.
5 ________is the crime of lying in court while giving evidence, when
you've promised to tell the truth.
6 ________is the crime of stealing from someone’s home.
7 ________is the crime of demanding money from someone by threatening
to reveal a secret about them.
8 ________is the crime of betraying your own country to help its enemies.
9 ________is the crime of printing or publishing something which is untrue
and which damages another person's reputation.
10 _______is the crime of taking a person hostage, usually in order to
demand money in exchange for releasing them.

B Now make up your own definitions for five of the words that are left
over. read them out to another pair and see if they can guess which words
you’ve defined

(Hedencrona, Smed-Gerdin, Watcyn-Jones & Eyre, 2014, p. 284)

Task 5 Talking about yourself and introducing a classmate

1. Working in pairs. Take turns interviewing each other. Ask your classmate
about the following topics. Remember to take notes on your classmate’s
answers.

• why he/she choose this study program

• her/his favourite free-time activity
29
 • something he/she really hates doing
• something he/she loves doing
• something unusual he/she would like to do

2.Form groups of 2-3 pairs. Introduce your classmate to the other students
in the group. Try to speak for half a minute. Use some of these conversation
linkers to give your talk more fluency:

It might surprise/interest you to hear that X…

Another very interesting side to X is…
In addition to …. X (is) also..
Moving on to another side of X..
On the other hand, X…
Finally, X’s ambition is to…
One more thing that needs to be said about X is…
Last but not least, X…

(Lundfall & Nyström, 2017, p. 8)

Task 6 093 Writing/Speaking

Work in pairs. Type “educational student tours” into your favourite search
engine. Decide on where you want to go on the language course for two or
three weeks. Find the information about the following:

Destination (Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia)

Which country?
Itinerary (things to do and see; sport activities, cultural activities,
excursions)
type of lodging (host family, hostel, boarding school)
Length of tour
Costs
Language classes per week
Number of students per class

When you're ready, present your information to another pair.

(Hedencrona, Smed-Gerdin, Watcyn-Jones & Eyre, 2014, p. 203)

30
Appendix C. Questions used in the interviews

A) Questions for interviews on teaching speaking

1. How long have you worked as English teacher?

2. Have you heard or used of the textbooks used for this study
3. How would you define L2 English speaking skills? (What skills do you know of?)
4. How do you help students develop these skills?
5. What materials do you use for speaking focused lessons? textbooks, self-created material
6. Some researchers think that task repetition is important for improving fluency. Would you
agree?
7. What do you think of your teacher education program and how did it prepare you for your job?
8. Could something be done better when it comes to being prepared towards textbooks or
speaking?

B) Questions directed towards the tasks from the textbooks

1. What do you think of this activity? (Pros and cons)

2. Would you use the tasks as it?
3. Would you supplement it? If so, how?

31
Stockholms universitet
106 91 Stockholm
Telefon: 08–16 20 00
www.su.se