Skkn developing 11th grade students’ oral presentation skill through project based learning a case at a mountainous high school

Moreover, the teachers of English find it difficult to encouragetheir students to make oral presentation in the process of teaching speaking skill.. Therefore, it is really essential to

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has become an international communicative language in the world It hasbeen used widely in many different fields such as economics, politics, culture, science,technology, education and tourism It can’t be denied that English is one of the mostimportant means of communication Therefore, teaching and learning English is moreand more essensial

In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject in the syllabus of manyschools, colleges and universities It has been taught and learnt throughout the country.However, the fact is that the speaking English skill has not been effective yet, especiallyoral presentation Students graduating from high school or even from university areunable to “speak” English, because we have not given them enough practice in speakingEnglish Most of the students do not find speaking a rewarding task We cannot learnspeaking by observation Speaking is the most difficult in the four skills Reading,listening and writing can be learning with a teacher or on one’s own, with books.However, speaking requires immediate comprehension and real time reaction I think thatthe way of teaching by oral presentation will motivate student and encourage them topractice English in the classroom

At Doluong 3 high school, many students are not interested in speaking lessons aswell as they can not speak English well after leaving school even though they have learntEnglish for a long time Moreover, the teachers of English find it difficult to encouragetheir students to make oral presentation in the process of teaching speaking skill

To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Do luong 3 havebeen trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching English Theyhave always tried to catch up with the world’s latest frameworks of English LanguageTeaching As in other schools, teachers of English in Do luong 3 are now approachingproject based learning to teach English to students They hope to provide students with ameans of communication, namely English which is vital for them to be successful in theirjob and to fulfill their social demands in the time of globalization

Therefore, it is really essential to know whether the project based learning has thegood effects on teaching oral presentation skill to the 11th graders of Do luong 3 High

school With the aim to access the method on teaching oral presentation through the

Project based learning, I would like to choose the topic “Developing 11th grade students’ oral presentation skill through project-based learning: A case at a mountainous high school” to find out the answer, and further, to help improve the

teaching of oral presentation at my school

In this study, I would like to speak about developing students’ oral presentationthrough Project based learning in English language classrooms and its impact in speakingskill I think that the use of oral presentations in EFL classroom is important because ofits positive impact on students’ proficiency level Some students do not like to speak inthe classroom In addition, they do not have the opportunity to speak this languageoutside So if student do not practice English in the classroom, may be they do speak itnever I know that I cannot learn to speak any language with observation Therefore, I putforward that the use of students’ oral presentation may develop students’ speaking level

When we have students give an oral presentation in front of class is one technique

to improve students’ oral proficiency Teachers can use oral presentation as a technicalway to deal with students’ problems in speaking Oral presentation activities provide anexcellent opportunity for the learners to develop this skill, speaking several minutes in astructured way, delivering into various aspects of a single topic

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study has been designed to investigate the use of oral presentation in Englishclasses for the 11th students at Do luong 3 upper secondary school In general, it has twopurposes

Firstly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the use of oral presentations

in the classroom Secondly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral presentations throughproject based learning on the students’ performance in English lessons Finally, it is toprovide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use of oral presentations in theirteaching with a view to better their students’ speaking skill

Our objective is to show how project based leaning can help students enoughpractice to develop oral presentation skill in speaking English language

1.3 Scope of the study

Although there are many different ways to motivate students to learn English, allthese issues cannot be fully covered in this paper Due to the limited time and the length

of the thesis, I focus on exploiting students’ attitudes toward the use of PBL and itseffectiveness in teaching the oral presentation skill The subjects of the study includeforty 11th graders at Do Luong 3 high school.

1.4 Significance of the study

The main goal of study is how to make student perform well in classroom, bypreparing activities where they will speak as much as possible We will focus on the useand effectiveness of the project based learning during the courses, and how will facilitatethe students’ oral presentation skill

This study is important to give the teacher some ideas for how to deal withstudents who do not want to practice in classroom The use of oral presentation can helpstudents of English language for being able to speak it, because in our universities werarely learn how to speak Oral presentation in EFL classes give students a confidence tospeak in public and help them in enhancing their proficiency Moreover, this study isimportant for both teachers and students’ Oral presentation can be an enjoyable activityfor them It gives a break away from textbooks

1.5 Research Questions

This study attempts to answer the following questions:

1 What are the attitudes of 11th graders towards the use of Project-Based Learning?

2 Does Project-Based Learning help 11th graders to develop their oral presentation skill ? If so, to what extent?

1.6 Design of the study

The study contains four chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope andorganization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter introduces a historical overview of the literature The first is about oralpresentation The next is about project based learning The final is the application of PBL

in teaching oral presentation

Chapter 3: Methodology

The subjects of the study were 40 eleventh grade students who were chosenrandomly from Do Luong 3 upper secondary school during the school year 2017-2018

Three instruments were used to collect data for the study: An oral performance test(debate), an oral attitudes survey and a rating scale.

Additionally, this chapter will present the author’s suggestions on mentionedproblems and summarize all the main points raised in the paper, the limitations of thestudy and some suggestions for further studies

Chapter 4 : Findings and discussions

This part shows major findings and discussions and offers recommendations formotivating students to do oral presentation through project based learning

Chapter 5: Conclusion

That is a summary of the study in which limitations of the study and suggestionsfor further research are presented

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Oral presentation

2.1.1 Definition of oral presentation

Oral presentation is an extension of oral communication skill It is where thepresenter shows their knowledge on a particular subject The participant might choose thetitle or the teachers give it to them In order to talk about it to their classmate after this theparticipant makes a small research to get more information about this topic The presenter

is giving the most important information first, leaving the details for last According toBaker (2000, p 115) oral presentation is like a formal conversation, speaking to group as

a natural activity Most of people spending hours of their daytime, speaking to others,however making an oral presentation that is a formal conversation, it is difficult task forthem Oral presentation is part of spoken language The purpose of this practice is tocommunicate It is design to inform or persuade Oral presentation occurs inorganizational setting and with limitation in time The audience is likely to be morespecialized than those attending a typical speech event.” There are different betweennormal speech and oral presentation The later is a type of speech, but the former is morenature than oral presentation

2.1.2 Types of oral presentation

2.1.2.1 Informative oral presentation

This type of presentation has a primary goal, which is to make the audiencelearning something new The speakers use in this type of presentation an informativespeech The aim of informative presentation is to be communicating with the audiencesand giving them much information in a limited time (Chivers, Shoolbred, 2007, p 5)

Moreover, in this type of presentation the speakers use an informative speech toexplain a concept, instruct the audience, demonstrate a process, or describe an event in anacademic setting In addition, speakers may be choosing the topic by themselves.(Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p 5)

In sum, the speaker’s aim of this presentation is to give the result of their research

in informative way

2.1.2.2 Persuasive oral presentation

Persuasive speech is to influence the audience in their thinking about a topic,

which may be given or chosen According to Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p 3) in this type of presentation, speakers need to have a strong content and present it in a clear way.

Baker (2000, p 76) states that persuasive has three elements, which are:

* Logos

In persuasive presentation, the topic needs to be logical Tacy (2008, p 9) claimsthat when speakers want to talk about their topic, they should organize the ideas from themore important point to less one Logos mean the speakers organize what they are going

to say from the beginning to the end in a logic way

2.1.3 The benefits of using oral presentations in the language classroom

Oral presentations have been shown to be extremely successful with respect toimproving learners’ second language skills, and increasing their autonomy For example,Girard, Pinar and Trapp (2011) found that using oral presentations in their classroom lead

to greater class interaction and participation, an increased interest in learning, andnoticeable improvements in their students’ communication and presentation skills

For most language teachers the five major benefits to use oral presentations in theclassroom are:

 They are student-centered

 They require the use of all four language skills

 They provide students with realistic language tasks

 They have value outside the language classroom

 They improve students’ motivation

One of the main benefits of using presentations in the classroom is that oralpresentations are student-centered When students are asked to give an oral presentation it

is one of the few times in the language classroom that the students themselves have direct

control of both the content and the flow of the classroom (Apple & Kikuchi, 2007) Aproperly scaffolded presentation can result in multiple opportunities for students toimprove their English in a context in which the students themselves are acting as bothteachers and learners Interactions between the presenters and the audience provide bothsets of participants with numerous opportunities to practice their English abilities withother students in an authentic manner.

Oral presentations also provide students with a process-driven activity thatrequires them to use English, not just while they are giving the presentation itself, butalso while they are preparing to present

Another benefit of oral presentations is that they require students to use all fourlanguage skills; writing, reading, speaking, and listening Most teachers recognize thespoken component of presenting, as students are required to speak when giving theirpresentations If these students are given a simple task to do during the presentation, orare expected to use the knowledge disseminated through the presentation for a specificpurpose, this will allow practicing their listening skills and confirm their understanding

by asking questions and interacting with the presenters (Thornbury, 2005, p 91)

The final benefit of using oral presentations in the language classroom is that theycan provide students with additional motivation to study English One of the joys ofteaching a presentation class is seeing students gain confidence, self-esteem, andautonomy while they are working independently, or as a small group, to produce and give

an effective presentation

2.1.4 Students’ common oral presentation problems

Oral presentation is considered to be one of important skills of speaking, regarded

as one of the most difficult skill to master for the majority of EFL students who are stillincompetent to communicate orally in English As Loama (2004, p 1) states: “Speaking

in a foreign language is very difficult and competence on speaking takes a long time todevelop ˮ So, during the oral classes, learners encounter many obstacles that hinder theirlearning process of such a difficult skill

Beside these linguistic factors such as: lack of vocabulary, mispronunciation,grammatical mistakes, the use of the mother tongue, students may face withpsychological factors These problems are speech anxiety and group boredom

Students often meet these factors as follows:

2.1.4.1 Linguistic factors

2.1.4.1.1 Lack of vocabulary

The knowledge of vocabulary is the prior requirement that the students shouldhave about the language they want to speak However, they face difficulty because theirvocabulary is limited, so they are unable to communicate effectively in the targetlanguage Students find themselves uncomfortable when they intend to express theirideas in a clear manner It is due to the lack of vocabulary and limited knowledge

Hence, this inadequate vocabulary affects the rate of their participation in oralactivities and make them unable to share their ideas with others in a comfortable manner

2.1.4.1.2 Pronunciation mistakes

They are defined by Kelly (2000, p 11) as: “A consideration of learners’pronunciation errors and of how these can inhibit successful communication is a usefulbasis on which to assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the classroom.”Besides the learners’ problems in vocabulary, there is a noticeable problem which ismispronunciation of words, which leads to problems in reception or comprehension of

an utterance’s meaning; consequently, reduce their oral participation

Pronunciation is the most significant skill in foreign language learning since ithelps EFL learner to be more competent in communication Furthermore, the level ofpronunciation proficiency represents the main criteria that EFL students can be judged onand assessed Hence, they must practice the correct pronunciation forms and be aware ofthe various rules of sounds as stress, intonation …etc Morley (1991, p 488) emphasizesthe importance of pronunciation in speaking proficiency: “intelligible pronunciation is anessential component of communication competence ˮ

Therefore, mispronunciation is a serious problem to overcome that non-nativeEnglish speakers face when they try to reach a high level of fluency So, pronunciationmistakes are one of the main factors that hinder the students’ freedom in classroominteraction

2.1.4.1.3 Grammar mistakes:

Grammar is an essential element of a language, According to Harmer (2001, p 12)grammar is defined as: The grammar of a language is the description of the ways inwhich words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that language

if grammar rules are too carelessly violated, communication may suffer […,] creating a

good grammar rule is extremely difficult Linguists investigating Native-speaker speech

…, over the years, devised various different systems to describe how the language works

One of the most important aspects of being skillful in oral production is possessinggrammar knowledge; Therefore, inappropriate grammar leads to misunderstanding incommunication

Moreover, EFL learners often prefer to keep silent rather than producingungrammatical structures because they are afraid of being ridiculed in front their teachersand classmates

Therefore, a grammatical mistake is one of the linguistic obstacles that preventEFL learners’ participation

2.1.4.1.4 The use of the mother tongue

It is obvious that EFL learners often use the mother tongue inside and outsideclassrooms because they are less exposed to the target language and feel demotivated tocommunicate Students tend to borrow words from their native language when they fail inexpressing their thoughts in the foreign language due to the lack of vocabulary in thislanguage According to Baker and Westrup (2003, p 12): “Barriers to learning can occur

if students knowingly or unknowingly transfer the cultural rules from their mother tongue

to a foreign languageˮ Therefore, the use of mother tongue lessens the students’speaking capacity and leads to breakdown of communication in the classroom Inaddition, they will find it difficult to use the target language accurately if they keep onborrowing words from their native language which is caused by the lack of foreignlanguage vocabulary

2.1.4.2 Psychological factors

2.1.4.2.1 Speech anxiety

During the oral presentation, psychological sources were also held responsible forlanguage learners’ high as well as low levels of apprehension There are variouspsychological variables that make EFL learners anxious in setting where they arerequired to speak English, to do oral presentation

Impact of speech anxiety makes language learners frightened and shakes theirconfidence which results in avoidance and withdrawal from speaking activities especiallyoral presentation in EFL classes One of the high apprehensive subjects of this studyrevealed in response to the question of influence on anxiety on his language, “Due to fear

I cannot speak well, otherwise when I am alone, I really make good dialogues I think inEnglish alone I think the main reason of my poor English is my confidence, myconfidence level is very low I can’t speak in front of others even if I know the answer”.

“I am teaching tuition to my brother, I speak better English, I feel very confident at thattime But in front of teacher and the classmate I forgot every thing”

Both the statements of subjects who experience high anxiety clearly show thatanxiety cast negative influence on learners’ productive skills and EFL teachers need toconsider this multi-faced phenomenon

2.1.4.2.2 Group boredom

Some EFL presenters have problem with memorizing information with English sothey try to get it by heart By this way, the audience will feel bored when they have tolisten to what the speaker said it is look like that they are reading their information “wordfor- word” from what the memorizing (King, 2002, p 405)

Group boredom also results from listening to memorized speeches A totaldependence on memorization is the pattern followed by most EFL presenters who usuallyhave trouble adapting information to spoken English for the audience The audience feelsbored when they have to listen to a tedious reading or word-for-word memorized speechfrom a presenter who reads rapidly and monotonously, losing command of their voice,tone, and pacing When the audience cannot follow the presentation, their attention driftsand they lose interest This makes the speaker feel less confident

One can say that, students’ problems with oral presentations should take inconsideration Find a solution of this problem is the rule of booth teachers and students

2.1.5 Strategies for teaching oral presentation

Many students do not find oral presentation an enjoyable activity They are afraidwhen teachers ask them to prepare an oral presentation According to Chivers andShoolbred (2007, p 31), “Many students feel highly nervous about undertaking classpresentation.”

Moreover, students have a fear from give an oral presentation because they havenot experience In addition, some of them do not have a confidence in their abilities.(King, 2002, p 406) When students have been asked about what a good presentation is,they have related it to a clear speech, correct language and when the audience get themain idea Therefore, it is important to teach students how to make an oral presentation

because most of them have not clear ideas about how to do it.

Oral presentations are become more important part of language teaching,especially at high school nowadays English learners need to be aware of this techniquebecause, it is been considered as an opportunity to improve their English In the past,teachers had been focused on giving the learner grammatical rules, vocabulary…etc thecommunicative approach aim to teach students how organize the main idea about a giventopic in a logical coherent and also it aim to develop the students ability to produce inEnglish with the correct way (King, 2002, p 406)

To conclude, the main purpose of teaching students oral presentation is to helpthem rejecting the fear of making pronunciation or grammatical errors

2.1.5.1 Teachers’ Role

The teacher’s role is not an easy one because oral presentation is challenging jobfor teachers like in lesson planning according to King (2002, p 207) “teacher move fromthe traditional role of teacher as an authorities expert to the new role of facilitator oflearning” In addition, teacher need to prepare their students for this work In addition,develop their interaction skill According to Xinaming (2005, p 120), “teachers…stillplay a key role in the background, as a facilitator, research guides, ultimate references,and source of encouragement” The teacher’s role in oral presentation is an a guide,organizer consultant resource person, and supporter this role involve also organizing intogroups, preparing details, more information about the topic, helping them to learn how touse visual aids in their presentation and finally evaluation the students performance (King

2002, p 407-408)

2.1.5.2 Students’role

A student is ready to learn in a real world project format if he or she is qualified toparticipate in a team project, and has realistic expectations about the process Students arenot fully formed people, much less fully functioning managers One cannot expectstudents to be qualified to complete a project But some students are more qualified, orready to participate in project learning, than others Students should be relatively mature,use good judgment, be willing to negotiate, and be willing to “go the extra mile” to getthe job done (Papamarcos, 2002) Students should also have a desire to gain experience

or to serve a client as sufficient reward for their extra effort

Students should bring some technical, interpersonal, communication and creative

thinking skills to the project They should be willing to subordinate their personalpreferences to the decisions of the team, and be willing to compromise in order to achieve

a group consensus Students should be trustworthy in terms of their ability to representthe university to their client, and to keep client information confidential as needed

Students also need to begin a project with realistic expectations about the process.Students must replace their “traditional” course expectations with an awareness of thecharacteristics of a project Real world problems that are inherently ambiguous have noobvious action plan and no right or wrong answer Indeed, the opportunity to learn aboutthe ambiguity of real world projects, and how to deal with it, is a benefit to students ofdoing projects

The author has found that student satisfaction ratings of courses that feature realworld projects are a bimodal distribution Many students have rated a course with realworld projects highly while many any other students rated it very low: “You either love it

or you hate it” Dissatisfied students cite a number of factors, including bad experienceswith their team, a bad client, and unhappiness with the project process

Each student should know in advance that his or her initiative will determine thesuccess of the project, that one’s performance (and grade) is linked with one’steammates, that the project process will be ambiguous, that the project outcome has noright or wrong answer, and that the project will involve a client who is a potential “wildcard” in the process Despite the warning, some students will not thrive in a real worldproject environment and will give the course a low rating Students find it difficult tohave realistic expectations about something that they have never experienced, such as areal world project Another reason for low ratings is that students knew what to expect,and didn’t like it, but took the course because it was their only option to earn credit

In summary, students should have the opportunity to self select, or be selected, toparticipate in a real world project based on their aptitudes and preferences And studentsshould be told up-front about the challenging features of a project

2.1.5.3 Evaluation of oral presentation

The first evaluation of an oral presentation is on the speaker itself The teacherneeds to evaluate the performance of these students by looking for their pronunciation,then teacher move to the kind of information that is included in the presentation

(Xinaming, 2005, p 120) However, in this practice the true evaluation is the speakers’ability to answer the questions, which the audience have been asked.

During the research, to collect the data, the two instruments were employed: thequestionnaires about using PBL for the students, the teacher’s observation sheet based on

an oral presentation rubric of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Thequestionnaires findings showed that the attitudes of 11th graders towards the use ofproject-based learning and PBL helps to develop their oral presentation skills

Teachers should try to be positive in their evaluation and avoid criticism ofstudents’ practice that improves by time In addition, students need to learn how to do it

by experience

Conclusion

To conclude, oral presentation is another way for communication skills If it iswell prepared, structured, and organized, it will be beneficial and enjoyable activity forlearners This practice is one of speaking activities that aims to develop the students’proficiency level in English and to help them to build self-confidence in their ability tospeak in public

Oral presentation is one type of communication which aims to develop thestudents’ ability to perform in English The aim of this activity is to enhance students’proficiency in oral speaking skill At the end of their presentation, students should beaware how to communicate effectively of many methods of teaching oral presentation.Project based learning is now becoming popular in teaching communicative skills Thenext section will discuss the PBL

2.2 Project based learning

Project-based learning has been investigated in a great number of studies on theglobal scale over the last decade, but the application of this approach to teaching English

as a foreign language in Vietnam is still not popular Project-based learning is a learningmethod which focuses on the learner; the teacher acts mainly as a facilitator andmotivator PBL emphasizes learning activities that are learner-centered and usuallyintegrated with real world concerns With a view to achieving great successes in teachingand learning under the credit-hour system, training workers of the twenty-first centurystandard, PBL is also a beneficial approach to be applied at high school in Vietnam.Aware of the importance of PBL, I make the best efforts to discuss the definitions and

benefits of PBL in general and for 11th grade students of English in particular I also dealwith the application of PBL in teaching oral presentation and suggest several languagelearning projects.

This section discusses some of the theoretical basis for the research done in thisstudy

2.2.1 Definitions of the project based learning.

Many definitions of project-based learning have been proposed by various authors.Van Duzer (1995) and Moss (1998) define it as an instructional approach thatcontextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products todevelop As discussed, project-based learning (PBL) is a model that organizes learningaround projects which are complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems,involving students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigativeactivities; giving students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extendedperiods of time; and culminating in realistic products or presentations In addition, thestudents develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-basedand independent work

Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which studentslearn about a subject through the experience of problem solving A project may beconnected to real professions through the use of authentic methods, practices, andaudiences Multiple presentation modes gives learners opportunities to effectively usevarious technologies as tools in the planning, development, or presentation of theirprojects

PBL requires varied and frequent assessment including teacher assessment, peerassessment, self-assessment, and reflection Assessment practices should also beinclusive and well understood by learners, allowing them opportunities to participate inthe assessment process in ways not typically supported by more traditional teacher-centered lessons

The variety of definitions has provided the features of PBL Thomas proposes thefive criteria of project-based learning: centrality, driving question, constructiveinvestigations, autonomy, and realism

1 PBL projects are central, not peripheral to the curriculum.

2 PBL projects are focused on questions or problems that "drive" students to encounter

(and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline.

3 Projects involve students in a constructive investigation.

4 Projects are student-driven to some significant degree.

5 Projects are realistic, not school-like.

With its distinctive features, PBL has drawn a lot of attention and support fromeducators, teachers and learners Research has provided evidence for more of its benefitsthan drawbacks I shall discuss the benefits in the following section

2.2.2 Advantages of the project based learning.

English has been taught as a foreign languages in Vietnam for a very long time.However, there has been little application of the project-based learning in teaching Infact, project-based learning offers many advantages and challenges when implemented inthe classroom

Fried-Booth states that the process leading to the end-product of project-workprovides opportunities for students to develop their confidence and independence Asdealt with in Stoller PBL provides opportunities for the natural integration of all fourskills, reading, writing, listening and speaking

Another advantage discussed is that the students have enhanced motivation,engagement and enjoyment because project work progresses according to the specificcontext and students’ interests PBL thus enriches the lives and experiences of a learner

as he is required to establish contacts with individuals outside his regular links ofcontacts

In addition, PBL can develop many helpful skills for the students Colemandiscusses an advantage relating to students’ increased social, cooperative skills, andgroup cohesiveness Adopting PBL projects in the classroom also helps reinforce socialrelationships among team members Thus, PBL provides learners with opportunities tolearn collaborative skills, stimulate cooperation and knowledge exchange amongststudents and it encourages individual students to talk more

Given sufficient time to complete the PBL project, learners would be givenenough time to plan, revise and reflect on their learning Assessment is seen as anongoing, varied and frequent process involving teacher assessment, peer assessment, self-assessment, and reflection

According to Fragoulis (2009, p 92), there are many benefits of implementing the

project based learning (PBL) technique in teaching speaking, they include the following:

1 PBL provides contextual and meaningful learning for students

2 PBL can create an optimal environment for practicing speaking English

3 PBL makes students actively engage in project learning

4 PBL enhances students’ interests, motivation, engagement, and enjoyment

5 PBL promotes social learning that can enhance collaborative skills

6 PBL can give an optimal opportunity to improve students’ language skills

To put in a nutshell, PBL is very beneficial to students in general and those ofEnglish in particular The question here is what the teacher and students do to maximizethe advantages of PBL, especially in oral presentation

2.2.3 The application of PBL in teaching oral presentation

There are some stages of the PBL technique implementation according to Bell(2010) The first is speculation in which teachers provide the choice of project topicsinitially based on the curriculum and discuss them with students At this stage, teachersand students speculate possibilities that will lead smoothly to the projects However, forbeginner or lower level students, teachers can choose the projects themselves but stillconsider the problems of the students It was assumed by Gaer (1998, p 22) that students

at the beginner or lower level do not have the language or confidence to develop projectthemes Thus, he assumes, teachers need to lead them first before they can decide forthemselves The second stage is designing the project activities, referring to organizingthe structure of a project activity that includes group formation, assigning roles, andmethodology decision The third is conducting the project activities in which the studentswork out what was planned and designed in the previous stage At this stage, the studentsgather information, discuss it with the members of their group, consult with the teacherabout problems encountered in their work and exhibit their final products that might be inthe form of a presentation, a performance, a product, a publication, etc to the class oreven to the wider community such as other classes, teachers, outsiders The last stage iswhen the students perform in front of the class

According to Srikrai (2008), PBL technique activities can have characteristics as follows:

(1) focus on content learning rather than on specific language patterns

(2) student-centered with the teacher as a facilitator or coach

(3) encourages collaboration amongst students

(4) leads to the authentic integration of language skills and processing informationfrom multiple sources.

(5) allows learners to demonstrate their understanding of content knowledgethrough an end product such as an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin boarddisplay, or a stage performance

(6) bridges the use of English in class and the use of English in a real life context.More importantly, PBL is both process- and product-oriented (Stoller, 1997) Theimplementation of project work differs greatly from one instructional setting to another

In some settings, fairly non elaborate tasks, confined to a single class session, are labeled

as projects In other settings, elaborate sets of tasks fill the process for completing theproject and span an entire instructional unit; in settings like these, the benefits of projectwork are maximized because students actively engage in information gathering,processing, and reporting over a period of time, and the outcome increases contentknowledge and language mastery In applying the PBL technique in the classroom, Marx(1997) set out problems teachers may have with enactment during the class as below:

(1) Time: projects often take longer than anticipated

(2) Classroom management

(3) Control: teachers often feel the need to control the flow of information while atthe same time believing that students' understanding requires that they build their ownunderstanding;

(4) Support of student learning

(5) Technology use: teachers may have difficulty incorporating technology into the classroom, especially as a cognitive tool

(6) Assessment: teachers may have difficulty designing assessments that require students to demonstrate their understanding

Based on the above, the teacher can discuss the end product with her students andexplain what exactly they have to do and how, what they have to practice or learn, whatthey can expect and what is expected from them, the choices they have to make and therules they have to follow It is very useful from the start to draw a timetable, a plan and acheck list of objectives for the project work so that the students can follow the stages ofthe project

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY Introduction

In this second part of our research, I will move to something that is more practical.The present chapter aim to collect data about the use of the PBL in developing 11th gradestudents’ oral presentation To achieve that, I have tried to investigate how students of amountainous high school consider the effectiveness of using project based learning onachieving better result in their oral presentation We have also investigated how teacherjudge the use of PBL as a particular means to develop their students’ oral presentationskill In order to conduct our investigation, answer the research questions, and confirmour hypothesis, we collected data from students’ questionnaire and classroomobservation

The major tool of collecting data was the questionnaire addressed to 11th gradestudents We have used teachers’ interview in order to see the teachers’ opinions aboutthe use of oral presentation to improve their students speaking level In addition, we haveused the classroom observation in order to collect more information and to confirm thequestions and interview results During a period of four weeks, we have attended manysessions with different four teachers and different four groups

3.1 Research setting

3.1.1 An overview of Do luong 3 upper secondary school

Do luong 3 upper secondary school is situated in Do luong district, Nghe Anprovince Founded in 1978, Do luong 3 has an enthusiastic and experienced teachersstaff This is a school that has a length of good tradition of teaching and learning in Nghe

An province At present, there are 36 classes with about 1400 students divided into threedifferent grades: 10th, 11th and 12th grades

English has been considered as an important subject in the program because it is acompulsory subject in GCSE examination as well as the chance of getting better jobs inthe future Therfore, the leaders has always created the best possible conditions forEnglish teaching and learning to help students to improve speaking ability effectively

However, there have been many problems that should be solved The facilities atschool are still poor, for example, the library is too small and lack books especiallyEnglish books as a reference Furthermore, the students have few opportunities to

practise English with native speakers to improve their communication, especially oralpresentation They often feel shy, nervous … to express their attitides towards anyproblem.

3.1.2.The teachers

In Doluong 3 upper secondary school, there are totally 9 teachers of English aged

34 to 50 All of them have got the University Bachelor’s Degree but their time lengths ofteaching English are different The oldest teacher has nearly 20 years of teachingexperience, and the youngest just has nearly 10 years As rural teachers, they have fewopportunities to upgrade their teaching and do not have a lot of teaching aids andmaterials to help their work Despite all these disadvantages, they are always eager forknowledge and willing to adjust to new thinking and apply better ways to improve theirteaching quality Especially, some of them have been applying project based learningmethod in teaching to give learners more chances to practise speaking English, especiallyoral presentation However, they often get into some troubles in the process ofperforming it effectively

Secondly, most of the classroom activities concentrate on teaching and practicinglanguage structures Therefore, during the lesson, the learners do most repetition,substitution, memorizing activities, or answering questions based on texts and so on.They do not have only a little time to use English in oral communication As a result,when doing speaking activities, they often cope with such problems as “inhibition”,

“nothing to say”, “mother-tongue language”, “body language ”, etc

Moreover, their parents, the actual farmers, who hardly know anything aboutEnglish, do not encourage them to learn it As a result, most of the students do not knowwhat they learn English for, except for the reason of passing the final examination They

do not know its importance in the modern life as well as in their future They become

bored with learning it In each class, there are only a few students really learning Englishand being interested in learning it The rest almost forget all the things they have learnt.Once the learners have no motivation for learning, the learning quality is very difficult to

be improved

3.1.4 The English syllabus

The textbook English 11 was pulished in 2006 The Englis syllabus is the mainmaterial used in the class It is structured with a priority towards theme-based or topic-based approach, including 16 units, each unit includes 5 lessons with four different skillsand a language focus There are 3 periods of english per week and each semester dealswith 8 of them with a total periods are 54 The text book aims at providing students with

a profound knowledge of numerous fields, a favorable attitude towards English and fourskills proficiency in English (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) In order toachieve these objectives, the content of the book is designed based on topics related tosocial life, sports, work and leisure, which are familiar with students For each topic,related vocabulary and word study are presented communicatively In addition, newmethods of language teaching and learning such as learner-centered approach,communicative approach and task-based teaching are extensively employed The newsyllabus with the communicative approach is considered interesting but ratherchallenging for the teachers It mainly focuses on equipping students with communicativeability and competence to perform basic language functions receptively and productively,using correct language forms and structures

3.1.5 The current situation of teaching and learning oral presentation skill at

Do luong 3.

At Do luong 3 upper secondary school, both teachers and students are aware of theimportance of learning speaking English, especially oral presentation However, itseffectiveness is not high although many teachers have taken advantages of using thebenefits of project based learning This is due to subjective and objectives causes

The role of the teachers in class is a guide for the students to lead their own study.They also take great efforts to create good language environment for students to activelyparticipate in classroom activities by organizing groups work and pairs work in order tohelp students to have chance to exchange their ideas with their friends and achieve themain target of developing not only speaking skills but also other ones However, there

still appear problems which partly prevent students from actively taking part in theseactivities for speaking Perhaps, the reason is that they are still affected by the traditionalteaching and learning methods Therefore, they appear not to have high interest andmotivation to participate in the classroom activities, also show their attitudes in oralpresentation.

In summary, a brief overview of Do Luong 3 where the researcher collected the datafor her research has been presented Some issues related to students, teachers, learningrequirement, speaking teaching situation have been investigated, which provides thecontext for the research to be undertaken The next part will shed light on themethodology applied in the study

3.2 Research design

3.2.1 Research method

Action research was conducted involving five phases in each cycle namely, (i) theinitial reflection phase, (ii) the planning phase, (iii) the implementation phase, (iv) theobservation and analysis phase and (v) reflection and assessment phase

The choice of the method has determined by the nature of the study because it candetermine the facts about the actual situation and thereby to clarify that the use of projectbased Learning can develop their oral presentation skill In addition, oral presentation isone of the best and appropriate solutions to deal with students’ problems in speakingEnglish To collect the data for analysis, questionaires and teachers’ observation sheetbased on NCTE were used

3.2.2 Sample of the study

From a population of about 480 students, we have been deal with forty 40 studentsselected randomly to be our sample None of them was ever involved with the use ofPBL before

3.2.2.2 Procedures.

At the initial reflection a plan of action for the second phase were developed andphase, the main objective was to identify issues, implemented It also involved theexaminations of the problems and research situations and to define what proposedprojects by the teachers and strategies on how changes need to be done to improve thepractice During the initial observation phase it was noticed that there was an overall lack

of motivation to communicate in English during classroom activities Also, the lack ofeye contact and low voice was a common occurrence among most of the students

The planning phase addresses problems identified in the first phase, measures to

be taken, ideas about projects to be implemented, techniques to encourage the students to

be involved in determining the projects, and types of data to be collected and datacollection tools in the implementation phase

The implementation phase involved conducting the action plan, the documentationprocess as well as collecting relevant data including teacher's notes about theeffectiveness of the actions, the reactions of students and also the students' work.Consequently, a number of documentation processes were used such as photos of theactivities, video recording of the activities and records of students' behavior, feelings anddialogue during the activities

Following the implementation phase, the results of actions that have beenimplemented were analyzed and discussed Then a reflection on the implementation ofthe project and ways to improve the process and a review of the actions taken and theresults of observations were conducted

The stages of learning projects presented by Fragoulis (2009) were implemented

as follows:

In the speculation stage, students were told to make presentations in class in

groups of four on one of the topics in the course book They chose the group members atthe first period of the course The teacher provided a list of topics for them to choose asfollows:

Project 1: Talk about someone daily routines.

Project 2: The pollution.

Project 3: People’s background.

Project 4: Your schoollife.

Project 5: Volunteer work on summer holiday.

Project 6: Your personal experiences.

Project 7: Talk about the celebration of Tet and other festivals’ activities.

Project 8: Talk about measures for protecting endangered nature.

Project 9: Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of energy sources.

Project 10: Talk about collection.

or they could choose their own topics which they were interested in but it had to

be related to the lesson and agreed by him Each representative of the groups drew thelots to decide which topics they would make their presentations on

In the designing the project activities, for example, students agreed to make a project about pollution including the following activities:

• A promo about our conference

• A short film about the causes of pollution (written – acted – directed by students)

• A presentation about thermal pollution

• A presentation about water pollution

• A presentation about air pollution

• Students sing two songs about pollution

• Introducing advertisements of the year 2050

• Writing a letter to UN secretary to ask him to hold an international conference about pollution

• Designing some posters to show the danger of pollution

In the stage of conducting the project activities, the groups implemented the

activities designed in the previous stage Students gathered information, processed andcategorized it Students discussed issues related with cooperation among group members,problems of personal relations and possible changes in group composition Students alsomodified their products according to the result of the group discussion and feedback

As for the evaluation stage, a questionnaire for the students about using PBL was

used the responses will be discussed later Clearly, the course had certain pedagogicalstrengths; however, a number of factors may limit its applicability The shortage of timewas effective We had only nine meetings and more time was needed We already heldthe conference on 25/3/2018 and it was a great success

Some oral activities performed indoor and outdoor applying Project based learning

Group works discussing in class before making oral presentations

Ourdoor oral presentations in group works

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Analysis of the Students’ Responses

4.1.1 Students’ attitude towards PBL and PBL strategy for oral presentation

1- Are you satisfied with using PBL to teach English?

Table 01: Satisfaction with PBL

Figure 01: Satisfaction with PBL

As it is clearly observed from the table that the results of the questionnaire showobviously how using PBL was successful and effective The students indicate clearlytheir attitude towards using PBL Students engage in this project-based learning process,they become active and self-directed learners, instead of simply listening to the teacherlecture They have enhanced self-determination, have higher intrinsic motivation andself-efficacy, feel responsible, and decide what they want to learn

In this item students were asked to express how satisfied they feel when usingPBL to teach English in class Twenty eight (70%) students said “agree” that they veryoften feel satisfied, a majority of twelve (30%) students said “partly agree “that theysometimes feel satisfied when using PBL to teach English in class No one chose

“Disagree” They were happy to break the boredom of the traditional strategies Theywere happy to be independent, self organized, motivated and creative They enjoyedthemselves.

2- Do you feel that you are able to use PBL strategy to make oral presentation inside classroom?

Table 02: Ability to use PBL inside classroom

Figure 02: Ability to use PBL inside classroom

According to the results shown in table 02, as for students' answers to the secondquestion, they assisted their previous result They showed their ability to use PBLobviously Most of students find it confident and comfortable to use PBL from thebeginning to the end of their oral presentations Participation in PBL, projects help tomaximize student decision-making and initiative as they would have to make manyimportant decisions on their own throughout the project: from selecting from variousoptions each team member has to the design, production, and presentation decisions AsPBL usually involves projects done outside the classroom, these activities provideconnections to life outside the classroom As a result, PBL addresses real world issuesand develop skills which they would find useful in the real-world outside Many of theskills developed through PBL are those which employers usually seek: teamworking

spirit, the ability to work well and get along with others, make informed decisions, takeinitiative, and solve real-world problems.

When the students were asked to describe their ability to use PBL to make oralpresentation inside classroom, twenty eight (70%) students have answered “agree” aspresenting orally the target language very well A majority of ten (25%) studentsanswered “partly agree” although they may not use it as much, two (5%) studentsanswered “ disagree” means that their ability is not so well and they are aware of that.These students came clean and admitted having a bad oral presentation ability This reallyshows how our students are suffering when it comes to make oral presentation, it is really

a shame for students to not be able to express him/her self in the target language, even inclass with peers, this really calls for some drastic measures to turn this situation around,such as utilising many new teaching activities that will draw students attention andprovide them with some genuine practice

3- Do you feel motivated after using PBL inside your classroom?

Table 03: Motivation after using PBL inside classroom

Figure 03: Motivation after using PBL inside classroom

As can be seen from the table above that for the third question the result was still