A case study of implementing project based learning in a listening speaking class of undergraduate english majors at the hcmussh m a

In the field of English language teaching and learning, for example, PBL has considerable impacts on students‟ language skills development.. Among several types of foreign language teach

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

A CASE STUDY OF IMPLEMENTING BASED LEARNING IN A LISTENING-SPEAKING CLASS OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGLISH MAJORS

NGUYEN THI HONG THAM, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2019

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify that this thesis which entitled “A case study of Implementing

Project-based Learning in a Listening-Speaking class of Undergraduate English Majors at the HCMUSSH” is my work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this paper does not contain materials published elsewhere or extracted on whole or in part from a thesis

by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person‟s work has been used without acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis The thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh, June 2019

NGUYEN THI THAO

Next, I would like to send my deep thank to all the lecturers, who have laid my background knowledge at the Master program in Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities This background equips me with intensive knowledge in the scientific area as well as improve my personal skills to conduct research papers

Then, my particular gratefulness is sent to all of the instructor and students of the class Language Skill 3B who have participated in the PBL implementation They were eager to join the course and answer the interview questions

Last but not least, my words of appreciation are sent to my family for their endless love and care, and for being always supportive so that I could get the thesis done

ABSTRACT

Although project-based learning (PBL) approach has been illustrated to have considerable impacts on students‟ skill development, Vietnamese students‟ awareness

on this approach seems to be still limited Therefore, this case study was conducted on

an intact class of 33 English major students in the Vietnam National University Hochiminh City – University of Social Sciences and Humanities (hereafter HCMUSSH) It aimed at discovering the procedure to implement PBL in a class, the impacts of PBL on the development of the students‟ language skills and transferable skills, and their advantages and disadvantages while doing the projects The study employed semi-structured interviews with nine students and the instructor, six classroom observations, and document analysis basing on the students‟ end-products, such as posters, multimedia presentations, and the instructor‟s and peers‟ evaluation forms to collect data before conducting thematic analysis

The findings of the study showed that the implementation of the projects into the course was conducted successfully following 10-step-procedure and five main features of PBL With the success of the implementation, the students‟ listening-speaking skills improved after the projects The majority of them developed their thinking skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and social skills, such as communication, teamwork, and time management skills Meanwhile, some of them achieved improvement in their IT, leadership, and filmmaking skills, or finding information skills They also benefited from the instructor‟s assistance, accessibility

of information, the school‟s facilities, and their peers‟ supports However, they encountered some challenges, such as time pressure, unfamiliar topics, competitiveness, and personal weaknesses Alternatively, the study also found that these difficulties bolstered the students‟ time management skills, problem solving, and critical thinking skills It then concluded that PBL is a fruitful method that provides students with a variety of benefits to develop their language and transferable skills Therefore, it is suggested that projects should be widely incorporated in curriculum

Table of Contents

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Scope of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Approaches to English Language Teaching 6

2.2 Language skill integration 9

2.2.1 Listening skills 10

2.2.2 Speaking skills 14

2.3 Transferable Skills 18

2.3.1 Definitions 18

2.3.2 Typical transferable skills 18

2.4 Project-Based learning approach (PBL) 20

2.4.1 History 20

2.4.2 Definitions 20

2.4.3 Key features of PBL 22

2.4.4 PBL in developing learners‟ skills 25

2.5 PBL in the Vietnamese contexts 29

2.6 Steps to develop a project in English language teaching and learning 30

2.7 Challenges in implementing PBL 33

2.8 Conceptual framework 35

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 37

3.1 Research methodology 38

3.2 Research settings and participants 39

3.3 Methods of data collection 40

3.3.1 Semi-structured interviews 40

3.3.2 Observations 41

3.3.3 Document Analysis 42

3.4 Data collection procedure 44

3.5 Data analysis procedure 46

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 50

4.1 The implementation of the projects in the listening-speaking class 50

4.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ listening-speaking skills 62

4.2.1 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ listening skills 62

4.2.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ speaking skills 65

4.3 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ transferable skills 71

4.3.1 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ critical thinking skill 71

4.3.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ problem-solving skills 74

4.3.3 PBL and it impacts on the students‟ creativity 76

4.3.4 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ teamwork skills 80

4.3.5 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ communication skills 83

4.3.6 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ time management skills 85

4.3.7 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ other skills 86

4.4 The advantages and disadvantages the students encountered 88

4.4.1 The students‟ advantages 88

4.4.2 The students‟ disadvantages and their solutions 93

4.5 Summary of main findings 96

4.6 Discussions 97

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 109

5.1 Conclusion 109

5.2 Pedagogical implications 111

5.3 Limitations of the study 113

5.4 Suggestions for further research 113 REFERENCES

APPENDICES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Summary of the Research Methodology ……… …….37 Table 3.2 The Procedure of Data Collection of the Study ……… 45 Table 3.3: Data coding ………46

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Project-based learning (PBL) is regarded as one of the most promising teaching

approaches for preparing students with necessary skills for the 21st century (Boss,

Larmer, & Mergendoller, 2013) In the field of English language teaching and

learning, for example, PBL has considerable impacts on students‟ language skills

development Moreover, it promotes students‟ transferable skills However, it may

also cause many challenges for both students and teachers (Hsieh, 2012) Therefore,

this study was conducted in order to investigate impacts of PBL on students‟ language

and transferable skills The first chapter will introduce the background leading to the

study, the aims, significances, and the scope of the study

1.1 Background of the study

The role of English has become more important than ever It is an essential tool

for the integrating process (Kirkpatrick, 2015), a “lingua franca” for Asia, an official

language for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Kirkpatrick,

2012, p 131) It is also considered a “visa” for Vietnamese people to integrate into

the world (Le, H D, 2015) Therefore, to acquire and become fluent in English

language is a must for Vietnamese people

Many attempts have been made to improve Vietnamese learners‟ command of

English language In 2008, The Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam

launched a project, so-called the National Foreign Language Project 2020, aiming at

improving foreign language competence for Vietnamese people As a part of the

project, a lot of training has been provided to improve the quality of English language

teachers around the country It also encouraged educators to actively renovate

curriculum, update teaching approaches, and apply technology in their teaching

However, in order to develop English language competence for Vietnamese

learners, to qualify current teachers seems not to be adequate It is also important to

instruct future English language educators who are currently being trained in tertiary

institutions, “not only to model an approach that teachers in training may

subsequently use with language learners later in their careers, but also to reinforce the

content of the teacher-training curriculum” (F Stoller, 2006, p 22) Therefore, the

most effective and practical teaching methodology should be employed to develop

both their language and transferable skills

Among several types of foreign language teaching approaches, Project-based

learning is considered to benefit learners‟ language skills and essential transferable

skills development such as critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and so on

(Hsieh, 2012; Maulany, 2013) The approach is student-centered and underscores the

constructivism where students learn new skills and knowledge by doing projects It

promotes students‟ active roles while studying, as they play key roles in learning

process On the one hand, students take responsibility of what they want to learn, and

what is necessary for their future job On the other hand, it bolsters students‟

independence in when and how to do tasks to achieve results under teachers‟

instructions Therefore, the approach equips students with skills to meet high demands

of future workforce In other words, students develop working skills, such as critical

thinking, problem solving, teamwork, time management skills when learning by doing

projects

However, there are still some barriers preventing PBL from being popularly

implemented in Vietnam Firstly, the exam-oriented teaching system is still widely

used Standardised tests are often used at the end of each course to evaluate students‟

achievement instead of eveluating their progress In higher education institutions,

although students now have more opportunities to be assessed during learning course,

final exams at the end of each course is still popular Moreover, most of teachers have

not been well trained in using project-based learning to teach in class Many of them

are not willing to apply new method in their teaching practice partially because “less

teacher talk requires more teacher time” Cornell and Clarke (1999, p 94) In terms of

students, as their challenges and advantages have not been well clarified in the

literature, they do not have enough prior experience to be ready for the project-based

learning class Besides, the lack of agreement in the teachers‟ and students‟ attitude

toward this approach still exists (Beckett, 2002) Some still show dissatisfaction with

PBL though “most project-work proponents assert that the advantages outweigh the

disadvantages” (Alan & Stoller, 2005)

In addition, using English to communicate orally effectively seems to be a

question to generations of educators and learners in Vietnam Although a number of

Vietnamese students achieve high scores in written tests in local and international

examinations, most of learners are still encountering considerable difficulties to speak

English fluently Also, in spite of extrinsic pressure of using spoken English in

studying and working, learners are easy to lose their learning motivation The reasons

come from inappropriate or ineffective teaching methods, students‟ inadequate

background knowledge, and students‟ unawareness of the importance of English

language (Tran & Baldauf Jr, 2007) Therefore, there comes an urgent need to train

prospective teachers with approaches which inspire learners to talk, appeal to

learners‟ interests, and raise their awareness about the importance of English in future

workforce

For these reasons, this study chose PBL – one of the promising practical teaching

approach to apply for a Listening-Speaking class with the hope of filling the said gaps

and to provide a better understanding of using PBL in teaching language in higher

education in Vietnam

1.2 Aims of the study

As mentioned earlier, many studies have been conducted on PBL (Alan & Stoller,

2005; Felipe, Amouroux, Pham, & Stojcevski, 2016; Hsieh, 2012; Maulany, 2013; F

Stoller, 2006) However, in Vietnam, the implementation of PBL in EFL (English as a

Foreign Language) and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) has been hampered by

the reluctance of both teachers‟ and students‟ on the transition from teacher-controlled

to learner-centered approach (Nguyen, K V., 2015) Little attention has been paid to

the process in which PBL is implemented into curriculum In addition, how the

approach helps students develop their language skills and transferable skill and the

evaluation of impacts that students can gain from experiencing PBL have not been

thoroughly investigated Furthermore, PBL has not been an accustomed teaching

approach used in higher education in Vietnam Thus, it is believed that both

instructors and students may encounter many challenges implementing and using the

instruction Meanwhile, as it is new to some practitioners, it is worthwhile

investigating some of the possible advantages So far, however, there has been little

discussion about students‟ advantages and disadvantages while doing projects in EFL

classroom

Drawing upon those mentioned issues, this study attempts to develop an

understanding of PBL‟s impacts on students‟ listening-speaking skills and

transferable skills It also aims at discovering students‟ experiences while doing

projects in order to seek for more effective implementation of PBL

1.3 Research questions

The study aimed to address the following questions:

1 How is project-based learning implemented in the listening-speaking class?

2 Does Project-based learning help the students improve their listening-speaking

skills? If so, how?

3 Does Project-based learning develop the students‟ transferable skills? If so, in

what ways?

4 What advantages and disadvantages do the students experience during the

implementation of the projects? How do the students overcome the disadvantages

(if any)?

1.4 Significance of the study

Although PBL is considered an effective teaching method, it is not used widely

(Wurdinger, Haar, Hugg, & Bezon, 2007) due to its challenges for both teachers and

students In Vietnam, even in higher education environment, the implementation and

practitioners‟ awareness of PBL are indeed limited (Felipe et al., 2016) Due to its

narrow scope of implementation, the procedure which PBL is implemented has not

been clearly presented For that reason, this study was conducted in the hope of

clarifying the procedure to implement projects into class, as well as advancing the

understanding of PBL On the one hand, detailed procedure of implementing PBL into

curriculum will facilitate educators and teachers when applying this method in

teaching practice It can also be a source of reference for teachers to design effective

and suitable projects for their class On the other hand, students can anticipate the

advantages and disadvantages before entering the courses with PBL They may have

opportunities to maximize the advantages of learning with PBL, as well as to

overcome its challenges Accordingly, the effectiveness of using PBL will be

maximized and students will benefit more from the approach

1.5 Scope of the study

This study does not engage with overall impacts of PBL on students‟ skills

development It only focused on examining procedure which PBL was implemented

in the selected course and its impacts on the students‟ development of

listening-speaking and transferable skills It also investigates the students‟ advantages and

challenges while doing the projects From those, it draws some suggestions for future

implementation of PBL in language teaching and learning

The overall structure of the study takes the form of five chapters including

Introduction Chapter 2 reviews the literature related to Project-based learning with

operational terms, previous studies and conceptual framework Chapter 3 is concerned

with methodology used in the study, which describes research approach, tools, the

context and participants, as well as the data collection and analysis procedure Chapter

4 analyzes the collected data thematically, and discusses the results and findings

Chapter 5 concludes the main ideas and gives implications for pedagogy

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter briefly summarizes and synthesizes the approaches in English

language teaching which have had impacts to listening-speaking skills Also, it

analyzes the theory related to listening-speaking skills, and transferable skills before

synthesizing academic terms relating PBL approach It searches the history,

definitions, and features of PBL, and their impacts on the English listening-speaking

and transferable skills The advantages and challenges that students encounter in the

PBL implementation process are also discussed before a conceptual framework for

the study is designed

2.1 Approaches to English Language Teaching

According to Brown and Lee (2015), English language teaching has been

experiencing many changes through years since the late of 1800s when Gouin‟s series

method was introduced It went through the Direct Method (learning a new language

like mother tongue without translation and with little or no grammar rules) Then it

came to the Grammar-Translation methods (teaching language by translation from the

target language to the source language or vice versa) It was also followed by the

Audiolingual Method (learning language directly with a descriptive analysis of

language patterns) And many other methods were also introduced and employed for a

certain stage such as the Community Language Learning approach (learning in a

community where teachers were perceived as counselors to assist students to achieve

their language goals like in a community); or the Total Physical Responses approach

(learning a new language by listening and following physical actions); or the Natural

Approach (learning process where teachers only provided comprehensible inputs and

learners were not forced to speak until they felt ready) However, it seems that each

method only solved one aspect of language (grammar, vocabulary, or responses)

Foreign language learners needed more than one ability to listen or speak Otherwise,

they need to master the ability to understand the context where the language is used

Therefore, it was not until 1972, when Dell Hymes published an essay on

learners‟ language competence, and in 1980, when Canale and Swain suggested

theoretical bases of communicative competence that a new language teaching

approach was emerged It is called the Communicative Language Teaching Approach,

which teaches languages in all aspects: grammar (using form of language); discourse

(comprehending and producing language in both oral and written forms);

sociolinguistics (using sociocultural contexts to communicate); and strategies (using

verbal and nonverbal tactics to communicate successfully) As it can provide learners

with adequate environment, materials and support to gain the mastery of both spoken

and written language, this approach has become one of the favorable and popular

approaches among foreign language teachers and educators around the world

In fact, The Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) can be

considered one of the most promising teaching approaches Unlike traditional

teaching methods such as Grammar-Translation method, Direct method or

Audiolingual method, CLT “sets as its goals the teaching of communicative

competence” (Richards, 2005, p.3) Hence, this teaching approach has its distinctive

key features that help boost communicative competence for foreign language learners

Jacobs and Farrell (2003) states eight major changes of the CLT in comparison with

previous teaching approaches They are learner autonomy (learners‟ choice in both

content and process to learn), the social nature of learning (learning in social

activities based on interaction among stakeholders), curricular integration

(connections between subjects, text-based learning is a case), focus on meaning

(meaning from force of learning, such as content-based teaching), diversity (learners‟

different ability and learning styles that educators need to take into account), thinking

skills (developing higher thinking skills from learning languages), alternative

assessment (alternative assessment tools such as observations, portfolios, journals to

replace traditional tests) , and teachers as co-learners (a teacher as a facilitator)

Brown and Lee (2015) researched, summarized and then offered seven

characteristics of clarify CLT They point out that CLT emphasizes:

 The overall goals of learning a new language: Goals of learning a new language

means learners‟ abilities to use language accurately with organizational

(grammatical and discourse) and pragmatic (sociolinguistic and strategic) aspects

of language

 Form and function: Organization of a language (grammatical or discourse) is not

the central focus, but it plays an important role that enables learners to master a

new language

 Fluency and accuracy: The approach focuses on both fluency and accuracy of

learners, nothing is more important than the other

 Focus on real world contexts: Language is learnt in classroom is a prerequisite

element to prepare for the students to use the language in the world outside

Therefore, it should be practical and real for later use

 Autonomy and strategic involvement: Learners are encouraged to focus on their

own learning process by raising their awareness of their strengths, weaknesses and

preferences The awareness enables them to develop their learning autonomy

 Teacher roles: Teachers are considered as facilitators or instructors who facilitate

learning process, not teaching anymore

 Student roles: Students are active in their learning process They are centered of

the learning process, collaborative learning is emphasized

Obviously, language is the integration of many skills and aspects of language

Not only oral communication (listening and speaking) but also written language

(reading and writing) are important Not only grammar, vocabulary, or translation, but

also contextual meanings are crucial to the mastery of a language As all of these

skills and language functions are integrated and interrelated, they should not be taught

and learnt separately from each other Therefore, language teaching approach should

provide students with environment to learn language skill in integration

2.2 Language skill integration

According to Harmer (2015), “it makes little sense to talk about skills in

isolation” (p.297) When we engaged in a conversation, we cannot interact with other

people if we do not listen and understand them, and we cannot also talk all the time

without listening We also need to read from many sources to have comprehensible

input before we can speak or write something Even in digital area when we often chat

in text rather than talking directly to each other, writing is also rarely done in

isolation Instead, we have to read or listen before we write This is to say that, to

communicate well in a language, we cannot learn skills in isolation It is necessary for

us to learn skill in integration

In English language teaching, the four skills are classified into receptive skills

(listening and reading) when we received information from outside to our brain; and

productive skills (speaking and writing) when we produce language forms to

communicate with other people (Harmer, 2015; Brown & Lee, 2015) However, in the

scope of this study, it only discusses listening and speaking skills The two skills are

two highly interrelated skills which work simultaneously to foster real-life oral

communication abilities of any language learners (Sadiku, 2015) Listening relates to

the process of receiving information and it is a prerequisite element of speaking,

because without receiving understanding input, students cannot begin even simple

learning (Nunan, 2002) In the same way, Nunan (1997) had previously stated that

students cannot communicate effectively without listening skills because “spoken

language provides a means of interaction for the learners” (p 1) To put it differently,

listening cannot be taught separately from speaking (Aydoğan & Akbarov, 2014)

Similarly, speaking cannot be separated from listening However, it is a difficult skill

because it requires students‟ ability to use language correctly in appropriate social

contexts (Shumin, 2002) In other words, speaking is a two-way process relating to

receiving (listening to information) and producing (giving utterances) in an

appropriate manner

Therefore, the integration of listening and speaking skills is a crucial factor for

acquiring a new language Learners cannot have good oral communication

competence in a language if they cannot understand the input (listening), which leads

to incomprehensible output (speaking) For Richards (2008), foreign language

learners often evaluate the success of a language course by their improvement in oral

proficiency, meaning ability to listen, understand other people and respond to them

appropriately Thus, it is crucial for the educators to help the language learners

improve and master their listening and speaking skills However, authentic spoken

language is a challenge for learners (Nunan, 1997) because learners need to interact

with the language naturally and automatically Therefore, the following parts will

discuss on the nature of listening and speaking in isolation before their integration

2.2.1 Listening skills

 Definitions:

There is no agreement on the definition of listening process However, no one

can deny the importance of listening skills to the process of any language mastery

According to (Nunan, 2002), listening is vital for language learners as it provides

input which is necessary for learners to produce output To be more specific, Richards

(2008) uses the term listening and listening comprehension interchangeably In his

belief, listening comprehension is a process of understanding speech in a native or

foreign language The study of listening focuses on individual linguistic units such as

sounds, morphemes, words, or sentences It also relies on listeners‟ expectation,

contexts of the speech, as well as background knowledge of listeners on the topics

Similarly, Rost (2011) defines listening in a broader view In his belief,

listening is a complex process which comprises: receptive (receiving what other

people say), constructive (constructing and representing meaning); collaborative

(negotiating meaning with speakers and respond); and transformative (creating

meaning through involvement, imagination, and sympathy) Obviously, he treats

listening as a process which does not merely take place by receiving information, but

also processing and analyzing the information Also it does not merely physical

activity to take input, but it is also affected by psychological elements

Although each author has his own definition of listening, it seems they share

the similar beliefs that listening is a process of getting information, analyzing

information and responding verbally or non-verbally to speakers It is affected by both

what information listeners receive and their reactions to what they receive In other

words, not only receiving information, but listening includes psychological and

physical reaction of the listeners Therefore, listening was categorized into two classes

from which teachers and educators can design the most appropriate teaching strategies

for this skill

 Micro- and macro-skills of listening comprehension:

Richards (2008) divided listening skills into two main processes: bottom-up

and top-down According to him, top-down process happens when learners try to

listen and infer general meaning of what they listen based on their existing

knowledge Otherwise, bottom-up process is when listeners receive information based

on successive of elements such as sounds, words, clauses, sentences, texts From the

materials, listeners infer messages of speakers Both processes happen spontaneously

In 2015, Brown and Lee (2015) adapted the taxonomy of aura skills advocated by

Richards and proposed that listening skills are combination of micro-skills and

macro-skills According to them, micro- and macro-skills are synonymous with bottom-up

and top-down processing (Brown & Lee, 2015, p 326) By doing that, they clarified

the two skills with components as follow:

Micro-skills relate to conversational discourse, and consist of:

- Retain chunks of language of different lengths

- Discriminate among distinctive sounds in English

- Recognize English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed positions, rhythmic

structure, intonational contours, and their role in signaling information

- Recognize reduced forms of words

- Distinguish words boundaries, recognize a core of words, and interpret word order

patterns and their significance

- Process speech at different delivery

- Process speech containing pauses, errors, corrections, and other performance variables

- Recognize grammatical word classes (verbs, nouns, etc.), systems (tense, agreement,

pluralization), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms

- Detect sentence constituents and distinguish between major and minor constituents

- Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different grammatical forms

Meanwhile, macro-skills relate to:

- Recognize cohesive devices in spoken discourse

- Recognize the communicative functions of utterances, according to situations,

participants, goals

- Infer situations, participants, goals using real-world knowledge

- From events, ideas, etc., described, predict outcomes, infer links and connections

between events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea,

supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification

- Distinguish between literal and implied meanings

- Use facial expressions, body language, and other nonverbal clues to decipher meanings

- Develop and use a battery of listening strategies, such as detecting key words, guessing

the meaning of words from context, appealing for help, and signaling comprehension or

lack thereof (p 327)

The micro-skills, in specific, refers to ability to pertain language at sentence

level In other words, they include pronunciation, intonation, grammatical structures,

fluency of utterances Meanwhile, macro-skills refer to the attainment of the language

from discourse level They consist of linking words to connect ideas, messages that

speakers want to convey, understanding of connotation and denotation meanings, and

the strategies to understand utterances from speakers The study also uses these

features to develop conceptual framework for the study The features also lead to the

principles for educators to follow so that students can learn this skill effectively

 Principles for teaching listening skills:

In 2015, Brown and Lee adapted the taxonomy of aural skills proposed by

Richards and have researched and summarized seven main principles for teachers and

educators to apply in their teaching of listening skills as follow:

- Including a focus on listening in an integrated-skills course: Listening should not

be taught on its own Instead, it should be combined with other skills in an

integrated-skills course However, teachers must ensure that listening skills are not

neglected in this combination

- Using techniques that are stimulating and motivating: As listening is affected

much by background knowledge and cultural awareness, listening activities should

be well chosen to motivate students

- Utilizing authentic language and contexts: Students are more ready dive into

activities which are relevant to their real-world activities Therefore, teachers

should design classroom activities authentically

- Including pre-, while-, and post-listening techniques: Listening does not merely

mean to listen several times until they get it Instead, teachers or educators should

divide lessons into many stages For example, before students listen, they should

be taught vocabulary, or background knowledge relating to the topic After that,

teachers should give students some tasks to complete while they are listening

Finally, after listening, teachers should also have some activities to check

students‟ vocabulary, their weaknesses, and have some discussions, or debate

- Considering carefully the form of llisteners’ responses: It is very important for

teachers to have some activities to check whether students‟ comprehension is

correct or not

- Including both bottom-up and top-down listening strategies: It is important for

students to acquire knowledge through the two methods, because both of them

assist students to improve their listening skills better

In short, listening skills are not a passive skills where listeners merely receive

information In contrast, it is a two-way process comprises receiving and analyzing

information Therefore, in order for learners to develop listening skills, teaching

approach needs to take this notion into consideration Teachers and educators should

have an appropriate approach to cultivate from both top-down and bottom-up

listening

2.2.2 Speaking skills

Unlike listening skills, which is receptive, speaking skills are productive skills

It is also priority of all language learners According to Richards (2008), language

learners often evaluate their success on language learning based on their level of

spoken language Brown and Lee (2015) also confirmed that the success of language

acquisition is the demonstration of “an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through

interactive discourse with other speakers of the language” (p.345) Thus, the skill

attracts much attention of researchers and educators in the field of language teaching

and learning over several years

 Definitions:

As has been said previously, speaking is a productive skill where speakers utter

sounds and words to express their thoughts However, the definition is not as simple

as its‟ nature According to Burns and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process

involving producing, receiving and analyzing information Its meaning and form do

not only depend on words or sounds but also on contexts of speaking, on participants

who join in the conversation and purposes of speaking In a similar way, Cornbleet

and Carter (2001) stated that “speaking isn‟t just making sounds” (p 17) It is the

combination of sounds, intonation (raising or falling tone), rhythm (stressed syllables,

and stressed words), pitch (louder or softer voice), pace (the emphasis of words or

ideas) It also depends on context that conversations take place, on receiver of the

speech, and on the purpose of the speech (whether it is a promise, congratulate, or

apologise) Although they had different ways to define the skills, it appears that

speaking skills do not merely mean utterances of sounds or words It must be the

combination of many other elements, in which the language is spoken and understood

Therefore, the following part is going to discuss the characteristics of oral

communication:

 Micro- and macro-skills of oral communication:

Speaking skills or oral communication consists of many skills inside Brown and

Lee (2015) summarized and divided the skills into two main parts, namely micro-

and macro-skills Micro-skills appear similar to bottom-up process when judging

listening skills It consists of:

- Produce chunks of language of different lengths

- Orally produce differences among the English phonemes and allophonic variants

- Produce English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed positions, rhythmic

structure, and intonational contours

- Produce reduced forms of words and phrases

- Use an adequate number of lexical units (words) in order to accomplish pragmatic

purposes

- Produce fluent speech at different rates of delivery

- Monitor your own oral production and use various strategic devices - pauses, fillers,

self-corrections, backtracking – to enhance the clarity of the message

- Use grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs, etc.), system (e.g, tense, agreement,

pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms

- Produce speech in natural constituents – in appropriate phrases, pause groups, breath

groups, and sentences

- Express a particular meaning in different grammatical forms

Meanwhile, macro-skills consist of:

- Use cohesive devices in spoken discourse

- Accomplish appropriately communicative functions according to situations,

participants, and goals

- Use appropriate registers, pragmatic conventions, and other sociolinguistic features in

face-to-face conversations

- Convey links and connections between events and communicate such relations as

main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and

exemplification

- Use facial features, body language, and other nonverbal cues along with verbal

language to convey meaning

- Develop and use a battery of speaking strategies, such as emphasizing keywords,

rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the meaning of words, appealing for

help, and accurately assessing how well your interlocutor is understanding

In general, speaking skills are the combination of micro-skills and macro-skills

Micro-skills mention language at sentence level, which consists of pronunciation,

length of speech, vocabulary, fluency and accuracy (in using words and grammatical

structures) Meanwhile, macro-skills emphasize using speaking strategies to convey

meaning as well as using body language to supplement for the process of speaking

Therefore, this study also based on these features to develop conceptual framework

and data analysis network for analyzing the data These features are also the

foundation to advocate the principles for teaching speaking

 Principles for teaching speaking skills:

Brown and Lee (2015) guides some principles for teachers to remember when they

teach speaking as follow:

- Focusing on both accuracy and fluency: Teachers should be sure that teaching

activities focus on both accuracy and fluency However, the level of focus depends

on teachers‟ and students‟ objectives

- Ascertaining that the complexity of the technique is appropriate: Teachers are

suggested to put themselves in the shoes of their students to understand their

proficiency level and then design appropriate tasks

- Providing techniques that spark the Interest of students: Students‟ interest will

motivate them to learn and gain much Therefore, teachers need to make sure

speaking activities are interesting enough to appeal to students

- Encouraging the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts: Authentic

language and teaching materials are important to motivate students Thus, teachers

should ensure to provide students with a sense of authenticity

- Providing appropriate feedback: Feedback is important to help students take

notice of language elements For that reason, appropriate feedback in teaching

listening is crucial

- Capitalizing on the natural link between speaking and listening: The two skills are

interrelated When teachers teach listening, students‟ listening skills are also

reinforced Teaching speaking, thus, should include both listening and speaking

- Giving students opportunities to initiate oral communication skills: Besides giving

some suggestions for students to speak out, teachers also should design some

activities for students to initiate language, so that they are more motivated in

speaking

- Encouraging the development of speaking strategies: Classrooms can be a place

where students form their own learning strategies, such as learning how to ask for

clarification, getting someone‟s attentions, and so forth These activities should

include by using authentic materials

In short, speaking skill is not being learnt solely Therefore, teachers and

educators should be flexible and be active to create environment for students to learn

speaking in classroom as in real-world contexts As can be seen from the

abovementioned parts, listening-speaking skills are obviously integrated with each

other By their nature, it is impossible to separate them Therefore, teaching practice

should apply such approaches which motivate students to develop both skills at the

same time Moreover, it is important to note that schools are not only expected to

provide students with knowledge in their majors but also other skills to prepare them

for their later lives Therefore, in recent years, transferable skills have been paid

considerable attention

2.3 Transferable Skills

2.3.1 Definitions

Similar to English listening and speaking skills, attention to transferable skills

is growing in higher education due to its crucial roles (Carvalho, 2016; Kemp &

Seagraves, 1995) Transferable skills refer to “skills and abilities which are

considered applicable in more than one context” (Kemp & Seagraves, 1995, p 315)

Likewise, Shah (2013) defines transferable skills as those which can be transferred

and applied in various contexts, in different situations They are not restricted to a

certain field, or job, but transferable to many areas of life As the term suggests, these

skills are necessary in all social circumstances They may be organizational skills,

managing skills, and so on, which facilitate people in their social interactions For that

reason, Carvalho (2016) considers them to be equal or even more important than

professional knowledge Therefore, it is important for institutions of higher education

to train their learners with good transferable skills

2.3.2 Typical transferable skills

Although there are variations in categorization of transferable skills, there are

still some common suggestions According to Kemp and Seagraves (1995), Shah

(2013), and Carvalho (2016), transferable skills concern thinking skills with critical

thinking, problem-solving, creativity, which relate to ability to think and create things;

and social skills like teamwork, communication, time-management skills, information

technology, and so on, which relate to ability to react with people and social activities

These skills are illustrated as follow:

 Critical thinking skill: It refers to the ability to explain issues, use evidence to

investigate a viewpoint, analyze a context and make assumptions, conclusion and

related outcomes

 Problem-solving skill: It refers to the ability to identify the problems, and

strategies, propose the solutions, evaluate potential solutions, implement the

solutions and evaluate outcomes;

 Creativity: It refers to the ability to connect, synthesize, transform;

 Teamwork skill: It refers to the ability to contribute to team meetings, facilitate the

contributions of team members, foster constructive team climate, and respond to the

conflicts;

 Communication skill: communication skills relate to skills to present a speech with

poster or PowerPoint presentation in front of the audience; to persuade others; to

read, write, and/or speak foreign languages, to negotiate with other people, etc

 Time management skill: It refers to the ability to manage time well both in oral

presentation and in preparing for the presentations;

 Information technology: It refers to the ability to use computer and digital devices

to faciliate learning and working

As these skills are essential for students to work effectively as part of a

workforce, teaching methodology should be experiential, student-centered approaches

with authentic materials (Carvalho, 2016) In reference to this point, PBL can be a

fruitful language approach Working in a project, students collaborate with other

students and their facilitators, and many other people outside their classroom By

doing so, students have opportunities to develop their problem-solving skill, critical

thinking skill, and creativity to boost their motivation and then, increase their learning

performance (Savage, 2012)

 Principles for Teaching Transferable skills

According to Billing (2007), in order to improve students‟ transferable skills, it

is necessary to teach the skill with co-operative approach in which feedback is

provided on performance in accordance with the illustrating examples Therefore, in

order for students to improve their transferable skills, it is necessary for them to study

in real contexts and to receive feedbacks timely on their performance

2.4 Project-Based learning approach (PBL)

2.4.1 History

The project approach originated and was first used in the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology Engineering Faculty since 1864 It then evolved and

developed through the European countries and United States (Wurdinger and Carlson,

2009) Later in 1918, William Heard Kilpatrick wrote an essay which stated that

PBL‟s ideas were generated from students‟ interests and it helped students to develop

an understanding of their lives (G Beckett, 2006) However, unlike other researchers

who later advocated the strength of group work in conducting projects, Kilpatrick

focused much more on the cognitive development of the learners who participated in

project work In addition, the following researchers who conducted research on PBL

added the close connection between students‟ interests and their progress and new

language and skills (Kubiatko & Vaculová, 2011), and the importance of

learner-centeredness (Wrigley, 1998)

2.4.2 Definitions

Literally, the Project-based learning approach refers to processes where

students acquire knowledge by doing projects It underscores constructivism theory,

where students “create rather than receive knowledge and the teacher guides or

facilitates this process of discovery” (Henniger, 2005, p 45) However, according to

Stoller (2006), the concept of PBL is not as simple as the term suggests

Specifically, a number of researchers have attempted to define the nature of the

approach Fried-Booth (2002), for example, defines it as a learner-centered approach

that students work collaboratively in a real-world environment to create end-products

In his belief, PBL closely relates to learner-centeredness, authentic problems,

collaboration among participants, and end-products This viewpoint is consistent with

what was proposed by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, in which PBL learning

activities are stated to be “long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered, and

integrated with real-world issues and practices” (Malaysia, 2006, p 3) Haines (1989,

p1, as cited in Stoller 2006) also agrees that projects comprise of multi-skill activities

However, he develops an idea that projects not only focus on specific language

targets, but also on contents and topics, which stimulate students‟ thorough attention

into problems and achieve deeper understanding of contents Meanwhile, Beckett

(2002), emphasizes the duration of projects which last for over a period of time rather

than a single class However, he treats projects as doing research, whose tasks relating

to a variety of cooperative activities, such as planning, gathering information,

analyzing and reporting

In a broader view, Stoller (2006) defines that PBL does not merely relate to

incorporating project works into curricula It, however, consists of elaborated

sequences of tasks, in which students actively engage to collect, process and report

information rather than passively receiving it from teachers He also states

characteristics that differentiate PBL from other approaches In his belief, projects

should:

(1) be process- and product-oriented;

(2) be at least partially owned by students;

(3) last over a period of time (several weeks, months, or semester);

(4) require skill integration;

(5) develop students’ understanding of both content and language;

(6) involve both individual and group work;

(7) have students be responsible for their own learning by gathering,

processing, and reporting information from target language resources;

(8) should assign new roles for both students and the teacher;

(9) have final tangible products;

(10) have students reflect on both the process and the products

In brief, the approach emphasizes the integrity of content and language and the

changes in the roles of students and teacher By focusing on both learners and

learning, the approach empowers students‟ knowledge and skills development

Moreover, PBL approach is believed to provide students with opportunities to

develop skills for the 21st century For that reason, Boss et al (2013) confirms:

PBL is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning

important knowledge and developing the 21st century competencies

through an extended, student-influenced inquiring process structured

around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and

learning tasks (p.10)

To put it another way, PBL is a preparation for necessary skills for students‟

future Similarly, Larmer, Mergendoller, and Boss (2015) confirm that the

authenticity of projects is illustrated via its context, tasks, its impacts on the world,

and personalities of people who conduct the projects They also claim that PBL is a

powerful teaching method that motivates students; gets them ready for colleges and

career in their future; develops students‟ knowledge and thinking skills to meet

required standards; allows teachers to be flexible in teaching; and provides schools

means to communicate with parents and community In other words, projects are

beneficial for all stakeholders

Given these points, the definition of PBL has changed over time Although

there is no complete agreement among the authors about what PBL is, they all

mentioned learner-centeredness; learning by doing; focus on authentic tasks; use of

collaboration among students; and creation of end-products characteristics of the

approach Therefore, the following section described in details these characteristics

2.4.3 Key features of PBL

 PBL is a learner-centered approach:

According to Nunan (2013), learner-centeredness is a concept which all factors

like what to teach, how to teach, when to teach, and how to assess are made with

reference to learners Unlike traditional teaching approaches, which focus on teacher,

curriculum, or content, the learner-centered approach focuses on learners and takes

them as a key to answer the questions of what, how, when to teach In other words, in

a learner-centered class, students play active roles to acquire knowledge They are

“closely involved in the decision-making process regarding the content of the

curriculum and how it is taught” (Nunan, 2013, p 54)

As mentioned previously, all the authors confirm that PBL is a learner-centered

approach Explicitly, Beckett (2002) and Stoller (2006) clarify that it is a learning

process which students actively make plans, collect information, analyze and report

their products Gubacs (2004), by the same token, mentions that PBL always begins

with ideas of creating an end-product, which students achieve by research, and

through this process they learn and make plans to achieve specific skills and

knowledge In his opinion, a project requires students to work actively to delve into

authentic problems to gain knowledge and skills Therefore, engaging in a course with

projects, students play central roles in deciding what they gain from courses rather

than relying heavily on the teacher and curriculum

 PBL expects students to learn by doing:

Likewise, the PBL approach emphasizes students‟ engagement in sets of

activities rather than passively listening and taking notes Stauffacher, Walter, Lang,

Wiek, and Scholz (2006) call it a process changing from “learning by listening” to

“learning by doing” (p.255) To put it differently, a project relates to a set of tasks,

which encourages students to take actions to complete Moreover, according to Stoller

(2006), projects should create at least a partial ownership by students Therefore,

students are expected to get involved to create their own products Explicitly,

Blumenfeld et al (1991) clarifies that by carrying out sets of activities, students meld

their prior knowledge, experience, and skills with new learning This process results

in their newly acquiring knowledge

 PBL works on authentic tasks:

The above-mentioned definitions acknowledge the authenticity of PBL

Although Blumenfeld et al (1991) claim that authentic questions or problems are one

of the two crucial components of projects They drive the students‟ learning process

and result in their acquiring knowledge and skills Unlike traditional approaches,

where students are passive receivers of knowledge, in project classes, students have

certain rights to make real choices on deciding goals, procedure, final products, and so

forth (F Stoller, 2006) According to Blumenfeld et al (1991), no matter who

determines the problems, it is important to note that the final outputs should not be

predetermined To put it another way, students should be freely working on the

problems and designing their own ways to solve those problems By doing so, they

gain knowledge and skills

 PBL emphasizes members’ collaboration:

Another salient feature of project classes is collaboration among students

According to Laal and Laal (2012), collaboration or collaborative learning refers to

activities which involve groups of learners collaborating together in a group to solve

problems, to deal with tasks or to create end-products Regarding PBL approach,

many authors confirm that projects require collaborative works (Gulbahar H Beckett,

2002; Fried-Booth, 2002; F Stoller, 2006) In reality, projects often last for several

weeks or months, and consist of several tasks Therefore, students need to collaborate

with their peers to complete the tasks Hanney and Savin-Baden (2013) also clarify

that projects are “complex series of interactions among team members over time”

(p.8) That is to say, collaboration is among the key features of the approach

However, there are still some concerning problems relating to the collaboration in

PBL Blumenfeld et al (1991) indicated that although students may find groupwork

enjoyable, they may lack the skills to benefit from groupwork According to him,

working in groups requires students to communicate well, discuss ideas clearly,

negotiate constantly, manage their own understanding, and ask critical questions

Therefore, it is important to carefully design projects which can enhance students‟

collaborative skills so that they can gain considerable benefits

 PBL requires end-products:

One of the keys of the approach is end-products, which is like goals that

students aim at achieving According to Stoller (2006), final products must be

tangible Beckett (2002) also states that the end-products must be reported orally,

and/or in writing The end products may be various It can be posters, academic

reports, wallpapers, or multimedia products (Stoller, 1997) with some descriptions

which are predetermined by the participants (Hanney & Savin-Baden, 2013)

In conclusion, PBL is a learner-centered approach that generates authentic

problems (Beckett, 2002; Stoller, 2006; Larmer et al., 2015), and allows teachers to

teach in more satisfying ways with various roles, such as a supervisor, facilitator,

instructor, or a co-learner in their teaching process (Blumenfeld et al., 1991)

Additionally, PBL emphasizes communication among students, as well as teacher and

students and helps students develop knowledge and thinking skills (Beckett, 2002;

Stoller, 2006; Hanney and Savin-Baden, 2013) Besides, for the PBL approach, the

assessment of students is not traditional assessment as standardized tests at the end of

the course, but alternative assessment as oral presentations, journaling, portfolios in

which projects are integrated into the course (Coombe, Purmensky, & Davidson,

2012)

Those features support the ideas that PBL learning is an innovative teaching

approach that takes routes to achieve the goals of communicative language teaching

In other words, it is an extension of the Communicative Language Teaching

Approach (Richards, 2005) These features infer that Project-based learning is a

promising approach to teach listening-speaking skills In fact, the approach has been

illustrated to have positive impacts on the development of students‟ language skills

2.4.4 PBL in developing learners’ skills

 Project-based learning in developing learners’ listening-speaking skills:

According to Stoller (2006), practitioners have reported that students achieve

significant improvement in language skills, such as reading, writing, listening,

speaking, grammar, and vocabulary According to him, authentic tasks require

students to “read to write, write to read, listen to speak, and so forth” (Stoller, 2006,

p.26) To put it another way, authentic problems require students to combine all the

aspects of language to produce real outputs Therefore, their language competence

gains improvement However, in the scope of this study, only impacts of PBL on

listening-speaking skills are investigated

The PBL approach can be a useful choice as “the major goal reported for

project-based instruction is to provide opportunities for language learners to receive

comprehensible input and produce comprehensible output” (Eyring, 1989 as cited in

Beckett, 2006, p.4) Several studies have also illustrated the positive impacts that PBL

has on students Foss, Carney, McDonald, and Rooks (2008), for example, conducted

a study in a 7-day-intensive English course in Japan The 75 participants worked on

four projects: the Wikipedia project (creating a well-formed Wikipedia entry for the

University together with a PowerPoint presentation in English about their product);

the Newspaper project (doing research, designing and publishing a newspaper); the

Small-groups video project (using camera and computer to produce a 3 minute video

about a dilemma relating to the use of science and technology with a partner), and the

Whole-group video project (working in a group to make a short film to answer for a

predetermined question) By the end of the seven-day course, the study shows the

combination of English learning with other skills made the students bring the

language in classroom to their real-life interests Therefore, the students had higher

levels of motivation in using English Notably, their oral communication was

dramatic improvement

In 2014, Tabaku and Ecirli found similar results when they studied the impacts

of PBL on a multi-cultural class of 30 first year students coming from many countries

The 30 students participated in a project named A virtual tour through Albania and

Turkey The aims of the project was to improve the students‟ language skills so that

they can communicate with their classmates Also it is conducted to improve the

students‟ intercultural communication skills to fill in the gaps among students coming

from different countries After doing the project, the students‟ language competence,

especially listening skills improved considerably Besides, the students‟ intercultural

communication skills were also upgraded They worked more closely with their

classmates and more confident standing on the stage to deliver oral presentation

Likewise, Kettanun (2015) investigated the validity of PBL in Thailand by conducting

a study on 21 third-year students in Bangkok University Results from pre-tests and

post-tests, ongoing assessment, question-guided journals, and unstructured interviews

showed that the students significantly improved their English language, especially

speaking skill after taking the projects

There are some concerning problems, though Hsieh (2012) found mixed

results when working on a study which integrated technology to support PBL for 25

students in a Presentation and Communication course in a Taiwanese University

Although the students had positive improvement in their language skills in general,

they were partially demotivated while working on technological projects The

demotivation caused by their lack of technological skills, thus, resulted in their

hesitation to speak the language This is to say that though PBL is effective for

students, the effectiveness may still be affected by other factors

However, PBL undoubtedly benefits students in language learning It is due to

the fact that PBL “can provide for comprehensible output” and “provide students with

opportunities to develop accuracy and fluency” (Beckett, 2002, p 54) As when

students do projects, they need to talk to the instructor, the classmates, and people

outside classrooms Thus, the PBL approach motivates students to communicate in

target language frequently This leads to students‟ language improvement In short,

“speaking does not of itself constitute communication unless what is said is

comprehended by another person” (Rivers, 1966, p 196) For that reason, teaching

methodology should focus on developing learners‟ integrated skills The PBL

approach is one of the most promising approaches because it provides contexts for

students to practice the language frequently Moreover, it is believed to enhance their

transferable skills, which are vital for their life This aspect is going to be presented in

details in the next session

Project-based learning in improving students’ transferable skills:

Many researchers have indicated positive effects of PBL on improving

learners‟ transferable skills In 2009, Wurdinger and Rudolph conducted online

surveys on four groups of participants: 147 alumni who graduated within 10 years,

current students, teachers, and parents of a student-centered school in the USA about

the effectiveness of PBL on students‟ success in higher education and in their later

lives After the online surveys, the research found that PBL improved many skills of

the students who have participated in courses with PBL Among the skills, creativity,

finding information, problem-solving, and time-management were the four most

important skills that the students developed These skills are beneficial for them in

college and in life Similarly, Hsieh (2012) stated that students‟ critical thinking,

problem-solving and decision-making were also reported to have improved during

their project works Tanner (2012) conducted a study in a rural public high school to

evaluate the effectiveness of PBL on students‟ transferable skill development He

used electronic surveys and open-ended interviewing questions to collect data from 12

participants including administrators, educators, and students He added that besides

critical thinking and problem-solving skills, PBL enhanced opportunities for student

collaboration and helped students transfer their knowledge According to him, this

approach brings students opportunities to attain and assimilate their knowledge and

make good preparation for their future careers In 2017, Nguyen, T T conducted a

study in an intact class of 33 students in a listening-speaking class in a university in

Vietnam and found that similar results She stated that the PBL approach improved

students‟ skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, teamwork

skills It also helped improve students‟ leadership and IT skills

However, the findings are not completely consistent with what Wurdinger and

Qureshi (2015) found in their study While undertaking projects in a 16-week course

for students who were taking a Master course, the authors reported that the students‟

problem-solving, creativity, responsibility, and self-direction improved However,

there was no difference in their time management and collaboration before and after

the projects In another study, Nassir (2014) concluded that PBL had positive effects

on students‟ academic risk-taking, problem-solving and creative thinking skills It also

developed students‟ intellectualism and social skills Both students and teachers who

engaged in implementing PBL state that PBL is more effective than traditional

teaching approaches in improving their students‟ transferable skills (Harris, 2015)

Therefore, Savage (2012) concludes that project-based learning practices benefit all

stakeholders in the learning and teaching process

To sum up, the PBL approach can provide students with opportunities to

develop their skills needed for their future career and to close the gap for learners‟

success in the future workforce (Tanner, 2012), such as critical thinking,

problem-solving, decision makings, communication, teamwork, and so on

2.5 PBL in the Vietnamese contexts

There has been increased attention to the use of PBL in Vietnam in recent

years In 2014, Pham, T T H conducted an action research applying projects in her

English speaking class for grade 10 students She reported that PBL motivated

students to engage actively in using English in the classroom Therefore, their

speaking skills in terms of fluency, vocabulary, grammatical accuracy, pronunciation,

and interactive communication improved significantly According to her, students had

provided lots of activities to engage and react to the language while gathering

information, and preparing for presentations for their projects As a result, they

improved their language ability

In the same year, Ngo, H H conducted another study on graduate students

who were taking the Intercultural Communication in their MA degree The study

shows that participants developed in-depth understanding on cultural values, and

social behaviors Thus, their communication became more effective Moreover, their

English language skills improved tremendously, especially listening and speaking

skills Their research skills, collaborative skills also increase after doing the projects

Nguyen, V L (2017) also concluded that PBL benefits students‟ motivation and their

learning autonomy when he studied the effects of PBL on fifty second-year students

in Cantho University

Those aforementioned studies found similar results Despite levels of the

students, no matter high school students or tertiary students, they all received positive

impacts by doing the projects However, the understanding of PBL and its familiarity

among students are still limited According to Felipe et al (2016), students, even in

international school like RMIT, struggled with doing projects at Despite the

obstacles, they also claimed that PBL is beneficial for students The students showed

their appreciation to different aspects of doing the projects They appreciated

knowledge gaining from collaborative tasks, gathering information, and making

presentation From the instructors‟ perspectives, the students, especially freshmen,

could gain skills quickly and be able to adapt the knowledge and skills to their later

courses better The study also shows that this approach is adaptable in the higher

education context, and “should be introduced in Vietnam shortly” (Felipe et al., 2016,

p 324)

To sum up, although PBL is beneficial for all stakeholders, the use of the

approach in Vietnam has not been as promising as it should be Therefore, more

empirical studies should be conducted to provide educators, teachers, and students

better understanding of PBL before implementing the approach widely in higher

education

2.6 Steps to develop a project in English language teaching and learning

According to Larmer et al (2015), a project does not mean a lesson that lasts

for a day or two, but it is like a unit, which lasts for at least one week, or even more

than two weeks It is due to the fact that a project contains several learning goals that

both the teacher and students have to work together to complete These goals may be

defined before starting the course by the agreement between the teacher and students

(Coombe et al., 2012) To reach those goals, stakeholders of a project have to go

through “multiple lessons, activities, tasks, and students‟ assignments, and it requires

a variety of resources” (Larmer et al., 2015, p 66) Therefore, a project does not

follow a straightforward process, but it is like a “cycle” or a “spiral” in which students

will dig deeper and deeper (Larmer et al., 2015) Researchers have made efforts to

propose the procedure for conducting a project Among them, the 10-step process

advocated by Stoller (1997) is one of the most favorable processes used by many

researchers in the field of second language acquisition (Foss, Carney, McDonald, &

Rooks, 2008; Fujioka, 2012; Smithers, 2014) The ten step procedure is summarized

Step 4:

Instructor prepares

Ss for language demands of step 5

Step 5:

Ss gather information Step 6:

Instructor prepares Ss for language demand in Step 7

A PROJECT

- Step 1: Students and instructor agree on a theme for the project

The instructor and students work together to seek an agreement on a theme or themes

for the project Students should be given some sense of ownership of the project

- Step 2: Students and instructor determine the final outcome of the project

The final products may be a brochure, class or wall newspaper, multimedia

presentation, and so on in English Also, the audience should be well-defined in

advance

- Step 3: Students and instructor structure the project

The instructor and students work out project details from opening activities to the

completion of the project Students, then, work to decide their role, and

responsibilities for each phase of the projects

- Step 4: Instructor prepares students for the demands of information gathering

The instructor provides students with instructional activities for gathering

information, such as language to interview (if students need to interview for

information), or format of a letter (if the project is about writing a letter), etc

- Step 5: Students gather information

Students start collecting information needed for their projects (by interview/ writing,

etc.) by themselves or with the instructor‟s support

- Step 6: Instructor prepares students to compile and analyze data

Strategies may be provided for students to categorize, compare or design graphics to

store, and then analyze data

- Step 7: Student compile and analyze information

Students choose appropriate information and discard some others Then, they work in

groups to organize information and discuss the value of the data

- Step 8: Instructor prepares students for the language demands of the final activity

Similar to step 4 and 6, the preparation may include presentation skills, persuasive

debates, editing, and so on

- Step 9: Students present the final outcomes

Students present their final outcomes as along the lines of what they set out in step 2

- Step 10: Students evaluate the project

For this last stage, students are often asked to provide recommendations or feedback

to what they have conducted According to Coombe et al (2012), language

intervention steps, step 4, step 6, and step 8, are optional Explicit language

instruction can be given to students at any time during the project Depending on

students‟ levels of proficiency, and actual situations, instructors can decide whether

they should follow all the ten steps or not As doing a project is a learning process

ranging from planning, researching, making products, and presenting final outcomes

to audiences, a “typical standardized test or workbook question (…) is inappropriate

for short- and long-term benefits of project-based instruction” (Blumenfeld et al.,

1991, p 383) Specifically, it is suggested that teachers can employ such means of

assessment as portfolio, interview or assessment of students‟ discourse (Blumenfeld et

al., 1991) In fact, in order to assess the students‟ performance properly, the teacher

needs to clearly understand the field in which students are doing projects This can

also be regarded as one of the many challenges when projects are implemented into

the curriculum

2.7 Challenges in implementing PBL

Although PBL is a non-traditional approach which benefits students in many

ways, it has not been widely used (Wurdinger et al., 2007) because of some

difficulties students and teachers may face Generally, researchers of PBL have

identified some of the challenges of implementation of PBL in terms of time, fairness

and management In comparison with traditional teaching approaches, PBL is more

time-consuming, because “less teacher talk requires more teacher time” (Cornell &

Clark, 1999, p 94, as cited in Wurdinger & Carlson, 2009) Teachers need time to

make plans or instructions for the project, time for supervising students when they are

in the process Also, time for assessment of projects is much larger than marking

standardized tests Additionally, teachers may feel discouraged because of their lack

of experience and/or motivation, and knowledge in the field of their students‟