USING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I hereby sincerely state that the thesis titled “Using Project-Based Learning to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Env

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I hereby sincerely state that the thesis titled “Using Project-Based

Learning to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment”is the result of my own research for the Degree

of Master of Arts in English Language The things out of my masterpiece in this thesis are signed by citation and referred in the references

Except where reference has been made in the text, this thesis contains

no material previously published or written by another person.The study reported in this thesis was approved by Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

Author’s Signature

Lê Minh Hằng

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Đặng Nguyên Giang, Ph.D

Date: ………

ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS

Completing this thesis is one of the hardest challenges and the greatest desires in my life It was made possible thanks to the encouragement, assistance and support of many people First of all, I would like to express my appreciation and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Đặng Nguyên Giang who provided me with valuable advice from my first few days in the course and through the duration of my thesis to completion His constructive suggestion and untiring supervision not only encouraged me to complete my dissertation, but it helped me effectively develop my research skills as well In addition, I am very much grateful to the teachers of Department of Foreign Languages and the other staff at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for granting me the honor of writing this thesis as well as their assistance and most valuable comments

Especially, I would like to give sincere thanks to my colleagues at the Department of English at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment for their encouragement and attendances during my study My appreciation also goes to all twenty eight students at class English3- 27 who participated in this study for their patient cooperation Both teachers and students who have been involved at different stages in this action research helped provide valuable data so that I have a better views of teaching speaking at university

Finally, this study is dedicated to my family for their sympathy and financial support during my study for M.A degree at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences With their love and contribution, I am strongly motivated to complete this thesis

2.2.1 Direct and Indirect Method of Teaching Speaking 10

2.2.2 Principles for Techniques in Teaching Speaking 11

2.3.1 Definitions of project-based Learning 14

2.4 Project-based Learning in English Language Teaching 18

2.4.1 Phases for Implementing a Project-based Learning Projects

2.4.3 Advantages and Possible Restriction of Project-based Learning

ABSTRACT

This research tries to attempt to know the effectiveness of based learning on speaking ability as well as students’perceptions toward the implementation.The researcher executed action research design at class English 2-27 with the participation of twenty eight first-year students and co-operation of two teachers as observers at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment for more than two months This research applied

Project-an embedded mixed-method design in which the quProject-antitative data were collected using speaking test, and the qualitative data were collected using interview, observation checklist and survey questionnaires.The results of the analysis showed a significant effect of PBL on students’ speaking competence; additionally, theywere found to have a higher level of motivation, interest, confidence, creativity and collaborative learning skills in speaking lessons Based on the findings, this study recommends the implementation of PBL in Teaching English as Foreign Language

LIST OF TABLES

Page Table 1: Subdivision of Projects according to Outcomes 17 Table 2: The Criteria of Speaking Performance

Table 3: Observation Checklist

31

38 Table 4: Students’ Evaluation of their Achievement on English

Table 9: Summary of projects carried out by students 56

LIST OF FIGURES & CHARTS

Page Chart 1: Students’ willingness in speaking English in class 43 Chart 2: The factors affecting students’ limited performance of

speaking skills

43

Chart 3: Students’ choices of speaking activities 45 Chart 4: Students’ comments on learning environment 46 Chart 5: Students’ opinions of the application of PBL 48

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AR: Action Research

EFL: English as Foreign Language

PBL: Project-Based Learning

HUNRE: Hanoi University of Natural Resources and

Environment T: Teacher

Ss: Students

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

In the context of intercultural communication, English is described as one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, which results in the continuous shift of demands on learning and acquiring this language in English non-spoken countries and contributes to the movement of teaching English as a foreign language Since Vietnam started to open its door to the world in 1986, English has increasingly taken an important role and become

an unchangeable mean of keeping up with the pace of the rapidly changing world The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government, and as a result, the English language programs became compulsory with the secondary schools and subsequently the high

schools and finally universities

The teaching of English in Vietnamese schools has been strongly focusing on grammar, sentence structures and vocabulary so as to meet fundamental requirements of evaluation and assessment criterion In such a teaching content, conversational English has not come into educators’ focus, which leads to learners’ limited abilities of communicating with foreigners or expressing their ideas in a second language As a result, after at least seven years learning English in schools, there have been a number of students in universities facing big challenges from mastering speaking skill They are normally found to have several problems in oral activities, such as reluctance, fluency, shyness or fear of committing mistakes

The reality shows that most of the students at Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) find it challenging in communicating well orally From what students have displayed in their oral

performances in the classes and their results in latest final tests, a large number of students are not able to describe their personalities or even their daily activities in English Their abilities of mastering speaking skill are normally highly complained by the teachers not just about pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar accuracy but fluency level, gesture improving and communicative competence as well To deal with this challenge, language teachers need to employ appropriate English teaching and learning methods that may encourage the students to use language with an emphasis on communicative purposes in real world settings, rather than completely focus

on grammatical accuracy as in traditional teaching

It is stated that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997 as stated in Flowrez (1999)) It requires great amount of exercise and practice, otherwise the students’ speaking cannot be improved In addition, Brown (1994) states that anxiety is one of problems faced by the students in speaking because they are afraid to be judged as stupid and incomprehensible people Therefore, a linguistic teacher needs to create safe learning environment so that the students feel comfortable and confident enough to get themselves involved in classroom oral activities

Blumenfeld (1991) said that project-based learning (PBL) seemed to match this English teaching and learning needs, especially the benefits of learning by practice The PBL technique refers to a method allowing to do the designing, planning and carrying out tasks in order to produce, publish and present a product Throughout the PBL technique, learners are encouraged to complete authentic activities (project-work), so that they have the opportunity

to use the language in a relatively natural context and participate in

meaningful activities which require authentic use of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) language kill

Throughout this classroom action research, the researcher tries to experiment and adapt PBL techniques on teaching English speaking skills for the non-major first-year students so that a solution may be then tohelp them

be more motivated and interested in speaking Accordingly, the researcher decides to examine how well project-based learning impact the students’ speaking skills

1.2 Aim(s) of the Study

The aim of the study is to improve the first-year students’ English speaking skill at HUNRE

In order to achieve the aim, the study is expected to reach the following objectives:

- Investigating the first-year students’ attitudes towards the based learning techniques used in their speaking periods

project Evaluating the effectiveness of the projectproject based learning techniquesapplied to English speaking skill teaching and learning

1.4 Scope of the Study

In this study, the researcher focally identifies the effectiveness of employing the project-based learning techniques on improving non-major first

year students’ speaking skills as well as their attitudes towards oral activities There will be twenty-eight students at elementary level participating in this action research They are expected to have basic knowledge of English about grammar, acceptable ranges of vocabulary; or limited but effective command

of the language in familiar situations such as family topics and lifestyle expression They may have studied English through years of secondary and high school, but not have had much opportunity to practice speaking English They are selected to take part in this investigation to check how well their background of English and potential abilities of speaking can be activated and improved after PBL is applied in their speaking lessons

1.5 Significance of the Study

Theoretically, this study is expected to make a contribution to development in teaching speaking at HUNRE so as to get more achievement not just in methodology but in further development of English Department as well In addition, the research findings will partly enrich the previous theories and research on EFL teaching and learning, especially in teaching English

speaking skill

Practically, it is highly hopeful that the results of the study can provide the teachers of English at HUNRE with a good alternative way for teaching speaking skill, which can attract student’s attention and get them more interested in the lessons In the terms of students, they are the main subject to take potential benefits of learning from PBL which helps them enhance not only their working skills (individually, pair work or team work), but also skills of planning, critical thing and creativity ability Specifically, their needs

of learning English is hoped to be fulfilled They can build their projects to suit their own interests and abilities Furthermore, learners can increase in

problem-solving skills, meaning that they are able to identify the topics and their problems, then seek possible solutions

1.6 Research Methods

In order to achieve the aim, action research procedures are used in the present study In schools, action research (AR) refers to a process of evaluation, investigation, and analysis designed to diagnose problems or weaknesses – whether organizational, academic, or instructional – and help educators develop practical solutions to address them quickly and efficiently.The data were collected via survey questionnaires, classroom observations, interviews, and oral tests

1.7 Structure of the Study

This research is organized in the following manner The first chapter gives reasons for choosing the thesis, scopes and aims of the study as well as the research methods Chapter two begins the journey with an overview of the literature by providing the theoretical foundations, defining project-based learning in relationship to several other similar approaches, and also discusses previous studies in the area Chapter three gives the specific description of the methodology, which includes research setting, participants, data collection instruments, research design, research procedures and data analysis Chapter four discusses the analysis and results from the data which are divided into four main sections, reflecting the different types of data present in the study.Chapter five concludes with a discussion of the findings of the study and its implications for second language teaching theory and practice Last but not least, the limitations of the study and directions for future research are also concluded

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Concepts of Speaking

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Speaking is a kind of communicative and interactive activity between people in which information is continuously produced, received and processed so that the participants are able to converse and express their thoughts and feelings The form and meaning of information are dependent on the context in which it occurs including the physical environment, the purpose

of conversation and the collective experience of the participants (Burns & Joyce, 1997) It is supported by Byrne (1984), in this oral activity, both the speakers and the listeners have positive function in deciding success and failure of this communication process The speakers are responsible for creating a clear message that will be understood and responded by the listeners A speaker must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situation For example, when a salesman asks

“How can I help you?”, the expected discourse sequence includes a statement

of need, an offer of appreciation and a leave-taking exchange In order to give the correct response, a learner must understand the setting in which the speech act occurs, choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand

Therefore, as Brown (1994) states that in order to communicate successfully, a speaker needs to develop both linguistic competence and sociolinguistic competence at the same time It means that speaking requires learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as

grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also that they understand when, why and in what ways to produce language

Based on the definitions above, it can be conducted that learning to speak involves “developing a number of complex skill and different types of knowledge about when and how to communicate” (Brown, 1994) As a result,

in speaking lessons, teachers should monitor learners’ speech production to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development

2.1.2 The nature of speaking

Brown (2004) states that speaking is a productive skill that can be directly and empirically observed, “those observations are invariably colored

by the accuracy and effectiveness of a test taker’s listening skill, which necessarily compromises the interaction between teacher and students or among the students which depends on how classroom activities are organized” He further states that there are some basic types of speaking as in the following:

a Imitative: this type of speaking refers to the ability of imitating a word,

a phrase or a sentence The purely phonetic level of oral production, a number of lexical and grammatical properties of language may be included in the criterion performance

b Intensive: The production of short stretches of oral language is designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical or phonological relationship

c Responsive: This type include interaction and test comprehension but at the somewhat limited level of very short conversations, standard greetings and small talk, simple requests and comments

d Interactive: The difference between responsive and interactive speaking

is in the length and complexity of the interaction, which sometimes includes multiple exchanges or multiple participants Interaction can take the two forms of transactional language, which has the purpose of exchanging specific information or interpersonal exchanges which have the purpose of maintaining social relationship

e Extensive: extensive oral production tasks include speeches, oral representation and storytelling, during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly limited or ruled out together

2.1.3 The components of speaking skill

According to Vanderkevent (1990), there are three components in speaking, including: the speakers, the listeners and the utterances Speakers are people who produce the sound, they are useful as the tool to express opinion or feelings to the hearer Therefore, if there are no speaker, the opinion or the feelings will not be stated On the other hand, listeners are people who receive or get the speakers’ opinion or feeling If there are no listeners, speaker will mostly express their opinion by writing Last but not least, the utterances are words or sentences produced by the speakers to state the opinions and feelings

As proposed by Brown (1994), speaking is not simply expressing something orally, it asks language learners to acquire some aspects of oral performance so that they can improve their speaking competence Those aspects consist of pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and accuracy (Harris, 1974)

a Pronunciation:

Pronunciation refers to the students’ ability to produce clear language to fulfill the task requirements It becomes important because it gives

meaning to what is being said Therefore, to make a successful communication happen, clear messages need to be delivered for listeners Wrong pronunciation may cause misunderstanding or people involved in

a conversation are offended In speaking, teaching pronunciation includes stress, rhythm and intonation

b Fluency

It is pointed out that a fluent speaker is a person who can express a sequence of ideas easily, smoothly and expressively In a language classroom, speaking activities which focus on fluency require students to get things done smoothly through conversation, with a few acceptable infrequent pauses Harris proposes a model in assessing speaking in which fluency is measured by considering the total number of seconds of silence and time spent saying “uhm”, “ah” by subjects as they complete a task

c Grammar

“Grammar is the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence” (Harris, 1974), so it is needed for students to build up a correct sentence in conversation If there are too full

of grammar mistakes during a dialogue, the communication will be certainly slowed down

d Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a set of lexemes, consisting single words, compound words and idioms that are typically used when talking something To be able to speak fluently and accurately, learners should master enough vocabulary and has capability to use it accurately

e Comprehension

This component of speaking is an ability to perceive and process stretches

of discourse In other meaning, it refers to the speakers’ understanding about what they are saying to the listeners so as to avoid misunderstanding information; in addition, its function is to make the listeners easily to catch the information from the speakers

2.2 Speaking Teaching

2.2.1 Direct and Indirect methods of teaching speaking

The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second

or foreign language learners They consequently often evaluate their success

in learning on the basis of how well they have improved in their spoken language proficiency In speaking, speakers tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspect of the world, or simply being together In learning a foreign language, a lack of automaticity, grammatical knowledge, and lexical knowledge influence a lack of foreign language fluency(Thornburry, 2005) Therefore, it needs appropriate methods in teaching and teachers are highly expected to apply a variety of approaches, ranging from direct approaches focusing on specific features of oral interaction (turn-taking, topic management, questioning strategies) to indirect ones which create conditions or give learners a real – life context for verbal communication through group work, task work and other strategies (Richards, 1990)

It is maintained that a direct approach focuses on “the development of isolated speaking skills, micro-skills” (Thornbury, 2005) and concerns with “a structural accuracy and emphasizes the use of language forms” It also

“provides space for language analysis, raising learners’ awareness about grammar, discourse structures, and routines” (the components of language)

An indirect approach, on the other hand, focuses on the development of

fluency of speech It “encourages learners to use language by engaging them

in communicative activities” (Goh& Burns, 2012) Learners are believed to acquire speaking skills by communicating with each other and they will be able to transfer those skills to real-life situation.However, Goh and Burns (2012) point that both direct and indirect approaches have their own limitations As the focus of the first one is on using language to complete a task, rather than on practicing language; the latter tend to neglect the development of accuracy” Therefore, in order to master speaking skills, a combination of features in both approaches should be emphasized

All in all, the aim of teaching speaking is to train students for more effective interaction with people in real life The teacher teaches speaking by carrying out the students in certain situation when the topic is being talked about so that students can develop their ideas and have an oral command of the language need to describe the topic

2.2.2 Principles for Techniques in Teaching Speaking

Brown (2001) assumes that there are some principles for techniques in teaching speaking:

 First of all, teachers can employ techniques that cover the spectrum of students’ needs, from language-based focus on accuracy to message-based focus on interaction, meaning and fluency

 Secondly, the techniques should provide intrinsically motivating techniques, in which students must understand how the techniques and activities will have advantages to them

 Thirdly, the techniques might improve the use of authentic language in meaningful context They may need efforts to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction; or teachers can find from resource materials

 Fourthly, conducting feedback and correction is the next principle for the technique in teaching speaking It is important to teachers to adopt the kinds of corrective feedback which are appropriate for the moment (Brown, 2001)

 Fifthly, the techniques must combine the speaking and listening skill These two skills can reinforce each other, skills in producing language are often taught through comprehension

 Finally, the techniques have to encourage the development of speaking strategies Students can be aware of and have an opportunity to practice some strategies like asking for clarification, asking someone to repeat something, using nonverbal expression

2.2.3 Speaking Activities in the Classroom

If we assume that speaking the FL is an essential part of language learning, teachersmustprovide activities that involve interaction between learners Scrievener (2005)makes the important point that “the aim of the communicative activity in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning to interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving

exchanges of information or opinion.” Among these activities are the following:

 Communication games: teachers design such games to encourage and

involve the students in a verbal interaction O‟Malley and Pierce (1996) call these activities “information gap activities”; they define them as “the ability of one person to give information to another An information gap is an activity where one student is provided with information that is kept from a partner.”

 Drama, simulations and role-plays: These three types of oral

activities are very important O‟Malley and Pierce (1996) say that such

activities are more authentic because they provide a format for using the real life conversation such as repetitions, interruptions, recitations, facial expressions and gestures Students often engage in another identity in role-plays, drama and simulations activities, where their anxiety is reduced, their motivation is increased and their language acquisition is enhanced

 Discussion activities: these activities are often employed for advanced

language learners; they can serve as the basis of spontaneous interaction Lindsay and Knight (2006) point out that in such activities, students are supposed to give their opinions or receive others' opinions They can speak freely without being told what to say or not by the teacher The students should be only informed of what to talk about and given enough time to structure what they wish to say However, Thornbury (2005) says that many teachers agree that the best discussions are those that arise spontaneously either because one learner reports something personal or because the topic of the course book arises discussion

 Presentations and Talks: The best way to make students gain their

self-confidence is through making them present oral works in front of their classmates Thornbury (2005) asserts that the students act of standing up in front of their colleagues and speaking is an excellent preparation for authentic speaking A prepared talk is when students make the presentation on a given topic of their choice, and this talk is not planned for informal spontaneous conversations; it is more writing-like

2.3 Project-Based Learning

2.3.1 Definitions of Project-based learning

The foundations of project-based learning approach are rooted in Dewey, dating back to the early 20th century He strove to advocate for project-based learning as one of the most inspiring and sustainable educational approach, which is believed that the classroom should be a reflection of society and students should be active learners, rather than passively receive information from teachers ( via Eyring, 2001) According to Brydon& Miller (2006), teaching based on project based approach is “a largely uni-directional system in which the teacher deposits learning into the empty vessels who are students, later withdrawing this learning in the form of testing Standardized tests are thus ultimate form of narrow-minded accountancy in the banking approach to education”

Thomas (2000) stated that Project – based learning is a kind of a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about the target language through the experience of problem-solving and then, produce the outcomes that might be in form of presentation, exhibition, publication, etc

Legutke& Thomas (1991) defined PBL as an “educational philosophy which aims at providing the direction, and some possible routes, to a more democratic and participatory society” In order to make it further clarified, several key characteristics of PBL generally agreed upon by Legutke& Thomas are summarized in the following points:

1 Themes and target tasks derive from “life”

2 The educational value of project learning is fostered through the process of discussion, experimentation, reflection, and application

3 Project learning is investigative and follows a cyclical model of experiential learning

4 Project learning is learner-centered and allows learners to discover their specific strengths, interests and talents

5 Successful completion of project tasks depends on the cooperative abilities of every single member in a group

6 Project work assumes a basic ability for self-direction and learner autonomy in the learning process itself

7 Project learning takes a broader view of product or outcome, as products can appear in a great number of representational forms, represent the holistic and multi-sensory nature of learning

8 Project work increases roles for teachers and learners Teachers may act as manager, facilitator, researcher, participant or monitor Learners may also act as manager, actor, writer, secretary, teacher and researcher

9 Learners as partners, who are provided with the space and skills to contribute to the content and process of learning, and allows for an open, process-orientated curriculum

From those statements, it can be inferred that PBL is a method in which the students are learning through a project that is decided by themselves with the help from teachers so that they can be actively engaged in the learning process

2.3.2 Types of projects

There are several types of projects to consider when defining PBL Educators as Legutke and Howard (1991) offer the division according to sources of information and data collecting techniques, as following:

 Encounter projects: require direct contact with native speakers They

may take place in the target language speaking countries or sub-systems

of the target language and culture such as religious groups, language societies or individuals

 Correspondence projects: involve students communicating with the

foreigners and with native speakers of the target language through the use of letters, faxes, phone calls or email

 Survey projects: ask students to create the survey instrument and then

go out and collect information for analysis

 Research and information project: information is found in a library or

in the internet This kind of project work is very usual can be easily done in a relatively short time

 Text projects: is a group of projects which arises from variety of media

such as literature text, media video and audio material, not from real world encounters outside the classroom,, This is the way students experience the world and life through the text

Haines (1989) divides projects based on learner and teacher – centered activities, including:

 Structured projects: are teacher-centered The topics, materials, as well

as methodology and presentation are prescribed by the teacher In these projects, learners do not feel motivated enough

 Unstructured projects are more learner – centered All activities are

focused on student’s interests and needs

 Semi-structured projects are an approach when both teachers and

learners are involved in the projects as well as define learning process The other subdivision is according the way information is reported, which includes production, performance and organizational projects (Legutke& Howard, 1991) Table 1 shows projects’ division based on the outcome

Table 1- Subdivision of projects according to outcomes

Debates Oral presentations Drama Role-play

2.3.3 Evaluation in PBL approach

Moursund (1999) states there are three common phases of the evaluation of project-based learning from teachers’ point of view:

 Formative Evaluation is designed to provide feedback while the

student is still working on the project This allows both the student and teachers to make mid-project corrections The teacher may use some of the formative evaluation information in a final assessment, but may choose not to do so

 Summative Evaluation is a collection of work samples Typically, the

student and the teacher work together to decide which work samples will go into the students’ portfolio During the school year, a large number of items may be collected for use in the school year portfolio Then some of them will be added to the student’s long-term portfolio

 Summative Evaluation is carried out after the project is completed A

teacher might decide to base the project assessment purely on information gathered in the summative evaluation phase However, a final assessment might also give considerable weight to the process carried out in the project, such as accomplishing a project’s milestones

on time and the quality of intermediate products

It is discussed by Railsback (2002) that the teacher doing the assessment in a PBL lesson needs to think about the purpose of the assessment because this will shape the evaluative information which will need

to be gathered and the way this evaluative information will be used in the assessment He also adds “assessing student performance on project work is quite different from assessing traditional class work Because students are working on different projects with different timelines, the teacher’s task of assessing students progress is more complex than for typical classroom instruction”

2.4 Project-based Learning in English Language Teaching

2.4.1 Phases for implementing a PBL project in teaching Speaking

In order to make it more sufficient for students to benefit advantages of PBL in mastering speaking skills, lots of attention should be paid to how to apply PBL or carry out a PBL project Various authors suggest different divisions of project work development Stoller (2002) classifies the process

into five stages: Selection of topic and idea generation, organization of ideas

and identification of areas of enquiry; research and information gathering; compilation and analysis of information; publication, presentation and evaluation of project According to Patton (2012), project work is divided into

four major phases which are preparation phase, realization phase, then presentation phase and finally evaluation phase He gives very clear guidance

on how to carry out a practical project which include six stages: orientation;

preparation and planning; implementation; collation; presentation; and reflection In this research, I take Kriwas’s view (1999) which divides PBL

process into four stages: Speculation, Designing the project activities, Conducting the project activities, and Evaluation

a.Speculation: this stage choice of project topic and sensitization about

it, aiming at awaking students’ inner motivation and interest Topic is chosen after discussion between teachers and learners

b Designing the project activities: this stage includes formation of

groups and assigning of roles, decisions concerning methodology, sources of information, activities that will take place The better organized and more analytical the structuring of the activities, the easier and faster the research will be conducted

c Conducting the project activities: At this stage, the groups

implement the activities designed in the previous stage Students gather information, process and discuss it with the members of their group, consult with the teacher about problems encountered in their work and then, exhibit

or perform their final products that might be in the form of a presentation, a

performance, a product, or a publication

d Evaluation: this stage refers to the assessment of the activities from

participants and discussion about whether the initial aims and goals have been achieved, implementation of the process, and final products Evaluation also entails assessment of the experience at individual and group level, identification of errors and problems There are many forms of evaluation such as feedback from teachers, self-evaluation or reflections

2.4.2 Teacher’s Roles in PBL

Effective project-based learning requires the teacher to assume a different role, which is not dominant, but he/she acts as a guide, advisor, coordinator and facilitator In implementing the project method, the focal point of the learning process moves from the teacher to the learners, from working alone to working in groups

Haines (1989), outlines the teacher’s stage-by-stage role as the following:

 Initially, the teacher should arouse interest and elicit students’ ideas for the thematic direction, methods of working, timetable, suitable end product and resource implications

 During the project, the teacher should take on the role of facilitator, which involves becoming a source of ideas and advice, a referee helping to resolve arguments or disagreements, chairperson during groups’ reports to the whole class

 Finally, teachers’ functions are related to efficient organization or displays and productions His/ her role is one of organizer and evaluator

The researcher sees that in the PBL the main roles of teachers are: those

of facilitatorsas they explain the objectives of the project and give the main useful ideas, organizers as theyorganize the groups and help them to organize their knowledge, monitors as they observe thegroups while they are working, and evaluators as they evaluate and help learners to assess andevaluate each other's projects

2.4.3 Advantages and Possible Restrictions of PBL in Second and Foreign Language Setting

a Advantages of PBL

As pointed out by Thomas (2000), project work contributes to language growth in several ways The advantages of projects can be grouped under two broad theses: projects in developing students’ social skills and projects in developing students’ linguistic competence Railsback (2002) mentions particular benefits of project-based learning include:

 Preparing learners for the workplace They are exposed to a wide range

of skills and competencies such as collaboration, project planning, decision making and time management

 Increasing motivation Teachers often note improvement in attendance, more class participation and greater willingness to do homework

 Connecting learning at school with reality Students retain more knowledge and skills when they are engaged in stimulating projects With project, learners use higher order thinking skills rather than memorizing facts in an isolated context without a connection to how and where they are used in the real world

 Providing collaborative opportunities to construct knowledge

 Increasing social and communication skill

 Providing a practical, real-world way to learn to use technology

 Improving language skill Because students engage in purposeful communication to complete activities, they have the opportunity to use language in a relatively natural context and participate in meaning activities which require authentic language use

b Possible restrictions of PBL and challenges for teachers

As Thomas (2000) warns that over usage of PBL may threaten to meet the programming goals given by the curriculum Additionally, this teaching method is demanding in terms of preparation time, materials, school technical equipment and well as the project organization and student discipline

Consequently, teachers should reconsider the potential benefits that project work may cover with the potential problems that are associated with them Marx, et al, (1997) conclude that both students and teachers face a much more complex set of challenges in EBL experiences The impediments faced by students were as follows:

 generating meaningful questions

 managing complexity and time

 transforming data

 developing logical rationale to support decisions

He also describes the following difficulties encountered by teachers:

 Time: PBL investigative projects as such require more planning time and classroom time than typical lessons on both long term and daily bases

 Classroom management: Teachers must balance student autonomy with order

 Subject depth: Teachers need to focus on a driving question and link concepts and diverse activities, helping the students to construct their own knowledge rather than didactically teach single subjects

 Assessment: PBL requires alternative forms of evaluating the students’ knowledge

According to Westwood (2008), there are many difficulties which students can face:

 Some students lack adequate skills for researching and collecting information

 Some students may give the impression of productive involvement in the work but may in fact be learning and contributing very little

 When different aspects of a topic are given to different group members to research, there is a danger that individual members never really gain an overall understanding the whole topic

To sum up, this section deals with project-based learning through giving its definition, types of projects, benefits and evaluation of project-based learning The next section gives a close review of research that was carried out concerning the implementation of PBL in education

2.5 Previous Research

This section discusses some key studies which have used PBL in its various forms and implementations Different instructional settings, diverse student populations, instructional objectives and available resources may cause PBL to be translated into many different practices (Stoller, 2007)

One example of PBL which occurs frequently in the literature was undertaken by Hilton-Jones in the United Kingdom in 1988, with a group of West German teenagers This is known as a six-week project-based English language course of practicing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills

At the end of the course, students were able to improve their language learning needs through the use of a project

In one systematic research study, Beckett (1999) explores the implementation of project-based instruction on teaching communication skills

in a Canadian secondary school class and examined how participants accessed the effectiveness of PBL in teaching and learning process The findings showed that whereas teachers gave positive feedback to project work as providing contexts for their students to produce language functionally, there were more negative reflection on planning and carrying out project work

In 2003, Bulach’s study was to analyze students’ reactions to learning communication in a project work setting The specific objectives were to

develop the skills necessary to begin, maintain and finish a conversation and

to learn basic presentation skills This study indicated that the students’ reactions to their participation in project work were positive in several areas

Kornwipa Poonpon, a lecturer of KhonKaen University, Thailand

conducted research entitled Enhancing English skills through Project-based

learning in 2014 Forty-seven undergraduate students taking an English

course on Information Science were required to work in groups to complete

an interdisciplinary-based project Results of the study revealed how the interdisciplinary based projects could be implemented in a language classroom to enhance the learners’ English skills

One other empirical study focusing on the application of PBL in language teaching was carried out by Nguyen Danh Duc in 2009, which aims

to implement a project work approach in a setting of university classes The study shows that Vietnamese teachers and students effectively adopted a PBL approach, and they commented on the worth of PBL for their teaching and learning

Action research conducted in the context of Vietnamese Universities by Pham Thi Hanh in 2014 concentrated on the use of Project-based learning in teaching vocabulary in an English for Specific Purpose (ESP) course in the College of Industrial Economics and Technology The results of the study show that both students and teachers made a high agreement on the effectiveness of PBL in teaching and learning process and further applied this approach on ESP courses at IETC

Having reviewed the previous studies, the researcher’s theoretical background on revealing the effects of project-based learning strategy on developing student’s educational achievement is enriched Most of the previous studies agreed on the effectiveness of using project-based learning

strategy on improving English skills as they were applied to all ages and for all levels

2.6 Summary

This chapter has presented fundamental areas of PBL in the literature concerning the definitions, the key features, the implementation process as well as the commonly faced challenges in applying PBL Based on the literature review that has been done, it was summarized that PBL has the potential of being effective teaching approaches in the classroom Some of these benefits may include motivating students and increasing their interest, developing language proficiency and achieving learning outcomes As for English teachers, PBL give them practical ideas about projects for teaching English for low level students However, challenges also exist, indicating a need for further investigation as to how to assist in remedying these frustrations

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher would like to present some aspects in the research methods which include the setting, the participants, the instruments and the techniques of collecting data as well as the validity and reliability of the research The explanation of each aspect is described in detail below:

3.1 Research Setting

Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment was established under the Decision No.1583, issued by the Prime Minister based upon upgraded from the College HUNRE is a multidiscipline university with the task of training qualified human resource for public sector in natural resources and environment at different levels from the undergraduate to postgraduate level Some main majors educated in school and relating to environment and resources are land administration, environmental engineering technology, meteorology, hydrology, climate change and sustainable development, water resources management In addition, there are some fields developed recently including accounting, economics of natural resources, tourism and travel management, information technology The vision of the school is to become the key university in training high-qualified human resource in the field of natural resources and environment and reach to

cooperation with well-known international universities

With the typical context of HUNRE, along with technical subjects, English gives students the skill necessary to advance a career in their future; therefore, this subject is supposed to attract learners’ interest Therefore, this study was conducted with the hope that it could help the researcher to find a suitable technique to raise learners’ motivation and effectiveness in speaking lessons

This research was held during three months from the middle of January

to the end of March using the first-year students of HUNRE as the subjects of the research It was conducted in class English 2-27 in the second semester of the academic year of 2008/2019 Based on the final test of the English 1 and the researcher’s personal observations on the first lessons of English 2, there were some speaking problems in this regular class To be compared with other classes, this one had the lower average of speaking scores Moreover, level of the students is not at the same: someone has an acceptable range of vocabulary and good grammar background whereas most of the students have poor knowledge of English Additionally, in the very first lesson of English 2,

it was observed that they showed little motivation and interaction throughout the teaching-learning process, which demands the researcher as well as their teacher to apply a new teaching method to increase their motivation and interest in learning language and then, evolve their speaking ability

In the first semester, there were about 53 classes for English 1 with about 35-40 students in each class, but it reduced to 50 classes with the same size in the second one Students were classified according to their levels of English that are based on the placement test at the beginning of academic year The class English 2-27 consists of students at elementary level The condition of the class was an acceptable standard with 28 students, 12 boys and 16 girls The classroom is quite well equipped with a large-enough screen and a projector HUNRE had four language laboratories including computers connecting to the Internet so that students could search useful information to support their work During the learning time, because of students’ level, the teacher used both first language and target language to communicate with learners to ensure that messages could be delivered clearly

3.2 Participants

This section will discuss the participants involved in this study The participants in the research consisted of the researcher as the teacher of English; the two other teachers played as observers and the students as the research subjects

3.2.1 The researcher

The researcher has been a teacher of English at HUNRE for eight years, right after graduating from the College of Foreign Languages – Hanoi National University in 2010 She is currently taking an M.A course in English Language at Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

In the second semester of academic year 2018 – 2019, she took responsibility for four classes, in which she taught the subject English for Specific Purpose – English for Environmental Science at two classes of second-year students; and a class of first-year students with English 2 She

decided to choose the class English 2-27 as the subjects of the study

3.2.2 The teachers from English Department

Along with twenty eight students, two teachers from Department of English at HUNRE were invited to participate in this study as observers Both

of them have experienced in teaching ESP for years They all graduated from universities with English major and started with teaching General English One of them worked on her dissertation for her doctoral degree in Philippine and the other took an English master degreein 2014 and had three – month experience in teaching English for secondary students in Australia.They have various roles involving being a teacher, course designer, materials provider, researcher, collaborator and evaluator Therefore, their visits were the source

of much available comment for the researcher to achieve the goals of the study

3.2.3 The students

As discussed above, the students were from class English 2-27 consisting of twenty eight students There were some considerations of choosing the participants including their differences in English abilities; students’ interest and motivation in learning language and lastly, teacher’s schedule fitting with this class because she was teaching this class at the time

of the study

First of all, although students were all defined to be at elementary level, their speaking competence and linguistic background were performed differently Some of students showed that they could communicate in English with the use of short sentences and acceptable range of vocabulary In contrast, most of students presented huge challenges in producing spoken language, which were possibly caused by their poor knowledge of target language after several years of learning at high school

Secondly, it was observed in the first lesson that learners’ interest in English varied into different levels There were only a few students having positive attitude toward speaking English They took advantages of every moment in class to speak with full of energy without bothering about their mistakes in pronunciation or grammar Differently, a half number of students had poor motivation in the speaking lesson, limited interaction with their partners and they felt uncomfortable to speak out; whereas the last students kept quite all the time All the expressions above urged the teacher to adapt new teaching method to increase their motivation in learning speaking skills

Last but not least, this class was chosen because it fits the teacher’s schedule