Using project based teaching to enhance 11th grade students at a high school in hung yen

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYỄN THỊ DUYÊN USING PROJECT-BASED TEAC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ DUYÊN

USING PROJECT-BASED TEACHING TO ENHANCE 11 TH GRADE

STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HUNG YEN

(Sử dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án để nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh

lớp 11 tại một trường THPT ở Hưng Yên)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

HANOI - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ DUYÊN

USING PROJECT-BASED TEACHING TO ENHANCE 11 TH GRADE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HUNG YEN

(Sử dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án để nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh

lớp 11 tại một trường THPT ở Hưng Yên)

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Prof Dr Nguyễn Hòa

HANOI – 2019

DECLARATION

I, Nguyễn Thị Duyên, declare that this thesis and the work presented it are my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own original research It has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, April 2019

Nguyễn Thị Duyên

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Prof Dr Nguyen Hoa - Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing The door of Prof Nguyen Hoa’s office was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research

or writing He consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it

I would also like to thank thirty 11th grade students at a local school in Hung Yen province Without their passionate participation and input, the validation survey

could not have been successfully conducted

My sincere thanks go to my family, my colleagues and my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work

Project-be significant to both teachers and students in teaching and learning English

speaking skills

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF CHARTS ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 4

3 Significance of the study 4

4 Scope of the study 5

5 Methods of the study 5

6 Structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Speaking in foreign language learning 7

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking 7

2.1.2 Components of speaking skills 7

2.1.3 Teaching speaking skills 9

2.2 Project-based learning 10

2.2.1 Definitions of project-based learning 10

2.2.2 Theoretical framing of project-based learning 11

2.2.3 The project as a process 13

2.3 Some previous studies 15

2.3.1 Advantages of project-based learning 15

2.3.2 Disadvantages of project-based Learning 16

2.3.3 PBL in teaching and learning English in Vietnam context 17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Context of the study 18

3.1.1 The current situation of teaching and learning English at the school 18

3.1.2 The teaching program and materials 19

3.2 The participants 20

3.3 Design of the study 21

3.3.1 Action research 21

3.3.2 Procedures of the study 21

3.3.3 Data collection instruments 27

3.4 Data analytic method 31

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33

4.1 Analysis of the speaking tests 33

4.2 Analysis of the survey questionnaire 35

4.3 Analysis of the interview 40

4.4 Discussion of the findings 42

4.4.1 Achievement 42

4.4.2 Attitudes 43

4.5 Summary 44

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 46

5.1 Recapitulation of the research 46

5.2 Recommendations of the study 46

5.2.1 The teachers 47

5.2.2 The students 47

5.2.3 The school administrators 47

5.3 Limitations of the study 48

5.4 Suggestions for further research 48

REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES I Appendix 1 – A Sample DESCRIPTION OF A PROJECT I Appendix 2 – PRE-TESTS XIX Appendix 3 – POST-TESTS XXIII

Appendix 4 – Rating scale for Speaking test XXVII Appendix 5 – THE QUESTIONNAIRE XXXI Appendix 6 – INTERVIEW XXXVI Appendix 7 – TRANSCRIPTS OF THE INTERVIEWS XXXVII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL : English as a Foreign Language

ESL : English as the Second Language

ELT : English Language Teaching

MOET : Ministry of Education and Training

PBL : Project-based Learning

TESOL : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

ZPD : The Zone of Proximal Development

CEFR : The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Procedures of the study 22Table 4.1: The results of pre-test and post-test 33Table 4.2: Students’ responses to the questionnaire 36

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Students’ mean score of average mark 34

Chart 4.2: A comparison of mean scores on pre-test and post-test by five criteria 35

Chart 4.3: Students attitude towards PBL 37

Chart 4.4: The benefits of PBL 38

Chart 4.5: The benefits of PBL in learning speaking skills 39

Chart 4.6: Students’ difficulties when implementing PBL 39

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the background to the problems and the reasons for choosing the topic are mentioned As a result, the necessity of delivering the research as well as the importance of the application of project-based teaching in teaching English speaking skills is revealed The aims and the significances of the study are also stated The final section will present the scope and methods of the study which shows the number of participants and the time of the intervention

1 Rationale of the study

The world has changed dramatically over the last generation – even over the last ten years Our lives have become far more connected through technology, a global economy, and social media Since the emergence of a global movement that calls for a new model of teaching and learning for the 21st century, it has been argued that formal education must be transformed to enable new forms of teaching and learning that are needed to tackle complex global challenges Experts recognize that the “transmission” or lecture model is highly ineffective for teaching 21st century competencies and skills The concern about transforming the goals and daily practice of teaching and learning is characterized as knowledge and technologically driven How teachers and educators can best support learners develop essential skills for the 21st century is a big issue People learn in a variety of ways, so the challenge for teachers is to discover which approaches help them learn most effectively

In the general context of the world, Vietnamese education is not an exception Providing learners with only good basic numeracy and literacy skills will no longer suffice The labor market increasingly demands a mix of high-quality cognitive, behavioral, and technical skills Therefore, the government should provide better quality schooling that fosters higher-order cognitive and behavioral skills (such as creative and critical thinking) for more young people Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training is working on an ambitious reform to optimize learning and

promote the competencies needed to master content and apply knowledge To adapt

to the development of society, to train human resources according to the needs of the new era, in addition to intensive knowledge, the school needs to equip the 21st century skills for students

Over the last few years, project-based teaching has been discussed and implemented widely in Vietnam education The phrase “Project-based teaching” has been mentioned in a lot of books on teaching methods and techniques Research has shown that project-based teaching - methods and techniques of teaching based on project-based learning - has been proved positive and effective It is a learner-centered teaching model, through open tasks, encouraging learners to explore, realize the knowledge learned during the implementation process and create their own products Instead of following a rigid lesson plan that instructs learners down a specific path of learning outcomes and objectives, project-based teaching allows students carrying out in-depth investigation of a topic under discussion Through project-based teaching, learners have more autonomy over what they learn, maintaining interest and are motivated to take greater responsibility for their

learning Project-based teaching “focuses on the nitty-gritty of how teachers

facilitate high-quality learning experiences for students” (Suzie Boss and John

Larmer 2018) Together with the changes of the world, the need for project-based teaching is increasing We see schools and districts working toward more student-centered approaches that include inquiry learning, personalized learning, performance-based assessments and a huge surge of interest in and implementation

of project-based learning Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge PBL is the conversion of project-based teaching PBL and project-based teaching presuppose each other Therefore, in my thesis I will explore project-based teaching through the expedition to the field of PBL

PBL is a learning method based on constructivism (Hmelo-Silver 2004) which was

first proposed by John Dewey (1859-1952) at the end of the 1890s (Douglas and Stack 2010) Dewey’s philosophy was child-centred and introduced real-life situations and contexts into the school environment His ideas were further developed by Kilpatrick in the early 1900s in his book “The Project Method” (1918) Since then, PBL has been elaborated indetail and applied to various school subjects and learning situations As a result of such practical applications, our understanding of PBL has been greatly enriched With the theory of "learning by doing and experiencing", Dewey advocates teaching students how to learn through building a specific project and finding reasonable solutions to bring the project to success According to Thomas (2000), this learning method brings learners a good chance to improve integrated skills such as language competence and other necessary expertise in the 21st century PBL enables the expression of diversity in learners, such as interest, abilities and learning styles

Having been teaching English at a high school for nearly twenty years, I realize that the students may read and write well in English but they cannot speak it fluently A majority of students show their low motivation in speaking English They are quite passive, not active in speaking lessons However, the importance of speaking is more revealed with the integration of other language skills The mastery of speaking

in English is a priority for many second-language or foreign-language learners Our learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English on the basis of how much they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency Oral skills have hardly been neglected in today’s EFL/ ESL courses

To meet the demand of the educational development trend - education in the 21st century highlights globalization and internationalization - as well as to improve my students’ performance, I have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective methods of teaching English The methods being worked out can be for the four English skills, of which speaking should be paid most attention to Having perceived the benefits of PBL, I am interested in applying it into my teaching job to

improve the learners’ speaking skills Therefore, I conducted the research entitled

“Using project-based teaching to enhance 11th grade students’ speaking skills at

a high school in Hung Yen” My objective is to construct the most effective ways

of alleviating the students to overcome the barrier of low self-confidence when studying speaking skills I hope that this innovative approach can foster my students’ motivation and autonomy, and enjoy learning English Furthermore, being good at speaking English will be a gateway leading to opportunities to work with international projects for developing economics or cultures

2 Aims of the study

Based on the rationale mentioned above, I would like to investigate the impacts of PBL on students’ English speaking skills and their attitudes towards the new approach in my own teaching environment to see whether it is applicable at my school or not The study is conducted with a view to finding out the answers to the following questions:

1 To what extent does project-based learning enhance the students' speaking skills?

2 What are the students’ attitudes towards project-based learning?

Of these two questions, the first one is the focus of the study

3 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this thesis will be a small contribution to the theory of ELT on the impacts of using PBL in promoting students’ language competence of speaking skills at a high school Some researchers have proved that PBL has had positive impacts on students’ language competence of speaking skills Therefore, hopefully this study will achieve rewading results

Practically, this study is firstly expected to be an alternative way to expose students to more student-centered classrooms, and to help them enhance their English competence, cooperation and their motivation in those classes The results

of this research are expected to give useful information and experience to English teacher whether or not PBL is an effective way to improve students’ language competence If this method is successful, it may possibly be widely applied at a

high school to make the students interested in English and more confident to communicate with each other in the target language

For these reasons, this research is constructed not only to explore previous related theories to get background knowledge of PBL but also to change and improve educational situations

4 Scope of the study

Due to time constraints, the research is carried out in sixteen weeks of the first term in the academic year 2018-2019 (from August 20th to December 8th) The study limits itself to the investigation of the impacts of PBL on the students’ speaking skills as well as their attitudes towards the project-based approach The number of participants of the study is quite small – only thirty students of class 11DA1 These participants are fairly good at English Therefore, no generalization is intended in this study

5 Methods of the study

The method employed in the study is classroom action research According to Ferrance (2000), action research is regarded as one of the most common research methods applied in current educational circumstances With the choice of this method, data collection instruments including pre-test and post-test, questionnaire and interview are used in order to have a deep investigation into what is being studied

6 Structure of the thesis

The study consists of five chapters:

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, states the reasons for choosing the topic or

rationale, the aims to which the study is conducted and the research questions Then, it is followed by a brief description of its significance, scope and method The fact about how current study is organized will also be provided in this section

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW, provides the definitions of some key

terms, and the previous research related to the study Both positive impacts and disadvantages will be exposed in this section

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, focuses on eliciting research

questions, research methods, data collection and data analysis

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, demonstrates the findings and

further discussion

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, ends the report with the summary of findings

Besides, some limitations of the study and recommendations for further research are also proposed

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims at providing readers the theoretical background of the study In the chapter, the key concepts related to the speaking and its elements, including the main characteristics of speaking performance, as well asnotion of teaching speaking are respectively presented In addition, background information about PBL, and preceding studies will be displayed specifically

2.1 Speaking in foreign language learning

Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) requires learners’ development of four language skills: reading, speaking, writing and listening As far

as speaking is concerned, it is said to be at the heart of second language learning and one of the four productive skills Speaking English is priority for any second or foreign language learners and is one of the basic language skills It is a crucial part

of second language learning and teaching that aims at improving students communicative skills because only in that way can students express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance This section revolves around the nature of speaking

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking

There are many definitions of speaking According to Chaney (1998) speaking is

“the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and

non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”

In a related study, Bailey (2005) defines speaking is “the productive, oral skill It

consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”

In brief, speaking is the productive skill used to convey information or expressing one’s feeling in speech with its various forms which are dependent on particular contexts

2.1.2 Components of speaking skills

Form and meaning of speaking are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical

environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving Bartz (1979) described five kinds of speaking components that enhance fluency, understanding, and quality of communication content, quantity of communication content and the exertion in communication Fluency is smooth, constantly and naturally speaking Understanding refers to supply of content or data

to make the audience understand Quality of communication refers to the language accuracy to speak Quantity of communication content refers to capacity of content The exertion in communication refers to the speakers try to be understood by verbal and non-verbal in communication

Speaking is defined operationally in this study as the secondary stage students' ability to express themselves orally, coherently, fluently and appropriately in a given meaningful context to serve both transactional and interactional purposed using correct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary and adopting the pragmatic and discourse rules of the spoken language In other words, they are required to show mastery of the two sub skills: Micro- and macro skills of oral production Here are some of the micro- and macroskills involved in speaking which are stated

by Brown (2004) as followed:

Microskills include making differences among English phonemes and allophonic

variants, producing chunks of language of different lengths, creating English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed positions, rhythmic structure, and intonation contours, creating reduced forms of words and phrases, making fluent speech at different rates of delivery, and producing speech in natural constituents: in appropriate phrases, pause group, breathe groups, and sentence constituents

Microskills also mean using an adequate number of lexical units (words) to accomplish pragmatic purpose, exploiting grammatical word classes (nouns, verbs,

etc), systems (e.g., tense, agreement, and pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, and elliptical forms, monitoring one’s own oral production and use various strategic devices-pauses, fillers, self-corrections, back tracking - to enhance the clarity of the message, and expressing a particular meaning in different grammatical forms and using cohesive devices in spoken discourse

Macroskills consist of appropriately accomplish communicative functions

according to situations, participants, and goals, using appropriate styles, registers, implicature, redundancies, pragmatic conventions, and conversation rules, floor-keeping and –yielding, interrupting, and other sociolinguistic features in face-to-face conversations, conveying links and connections between events and communicate such relations as focal and peripheral ideas, events and feelings, new information and given information, generalization and exemplification Macroskills are also made up of conveying facial features, kinesics, body language, and other nonverbal cues along with verbal language, developing and using a battery of speaking strategies, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, providing a context for interpreting the meaning of words, appealing for help, and accurately assessing

how well your interlocutor is understanding you

In short, speaking requires that 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 If the learner of foreign language wants to be able to speak and use the target language orally well in his/ her daily activity, they must know and master a lot of language knowledge: pronunciation, vocabulary and structure as well as they know how to communicate fluently, accurately and appropriately in the different situations

2.1.3 Teaching speaking skills

Nunan (2003) considered “teaching speaking” as a way to teach ESL learners to make the English speech sounds and sound patterns It can help learners use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language; choose appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter Teaching speaking aims to teach the learners how to arrange their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence, how to exploit language as a means of expressing values and judgments, and how to apply the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called fluency

All things considered, speaking lessons are a kind of bridge for learners between the classroom and the world outside So using the target language or the second language to communicate in real life is one of facilitator for the students for learning new language Many teachers agree that students should learn to speak the second language by interacting with others to master speaking components such as comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency Besides, teaching speaking is to create good atmosphere for students to express their emotions, communicative needs, interact with other people in any situation, and influence the others In conclusion, teaching speaking skills is helping students

improve their micro- and macro skills of speaking

2.2 Project-based learning

2.2.1 Definitions of project-based learning

There are many definitions of project-based approach in learning Each definition is the reflection of the underlying theories or perspectives that the authors assume Carter and Thomas (1986) characterize project work with three features referring to the venue, the inter-disciplined characteristic and student's autonomy:

i) it takes place outside the classroom

ii) it is cross-curricular

iii) it allows learners to set their own targets as they proceed

Moss, D and Duzer, V.C (1998) defines "PBL is an instructional approach that

contextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products to develop" Accordingly, the essential feature of project-based approach is a tangible

and visible result such as a product or a solution to a defined problem

According to Thomas (2000), there are five criteria of PBL They are centralization, existence of a “driving question”, a constructive investigation by the students, incentive to autonomy and realism

In conclusion, PBL is an active learning method, it is an instructional method centered on the learners to engage learners in sustained, cooperative investigation Project teaching is a form of teaching in which students solve a complex learning

task not only theoretically but especially in terms of practice themselves under the control and help of teachers Through projects, they create practical products which can be introduced and published PBL allows in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about

2.2.2 Theoretical framing of project-based learning

2.2.2.1 Theoretical basis of project-based learning

Rooted in constructivism with sociocultural theory and constructivist ideology, PBL

is cooperative and collaborative learning which has very strong theoretical support for successful achievement The theory of constructivism, derived from the works

of Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, explains how a learner acquires knowledge, the underlying belief being that learning best takes place when the learner is actively engaged According to scientific observation and inquiry, constructivism allows individuals to construct their own understanding of the world through real-life experiences Their knowledge is conditioned further on the reflection of these personal experiences In L.Vygotsky’ doctrine, he conceives the development of human cognition based on social background and through social activities, through the use of language, communication and relationships with others

Lev Vygotsky’s studies of description of the circumstances under which students

learn best is yet another theoretical framework for PBL Vygotsky defined the Zone

of Proximal Development (ZPD) as "the distance between the actual developmental

level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotskiĭ& Cole, 1978) PBL is specifically designed to place the teacher in a facilitator role and students in collaborative groups in problem-solving situations; thus, it is possible to see PBL as the vehicle through whichVygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development is realized PBL is a student-driven, teacher-facilitated approach to learning Learners pursue knowledge by asking questions that have piqued their natural curiosity The genesis

of a project is an inquiry Students develop a question and are guided through

research under the teacher’s supervision Discoveries are illustrated by creating a project to share with a select audience Organizers support systematization of the processes that will be implemented throughout the research and project phases of PBL Student choice is a key element of this approach Teachers oversee each step

of the process and approve each choice before the student embarks in a direction Children with similar inquiries may elect to work cooperatively, thereby nurturing twenty-first-century collaboration and communication skills and honoring students’ individual learning styles or preferences Most projects include reading, writing, and mathematics by nature The outcome of PBL is greater understanding of a topic, deeper learning, higher-level reading, and increased motivation to learn PBL is a key strategy for creating independent thinkers and learners Children solve real-world problems by designing their own inquiries, planning their learning, organizing their research, and implementing a multitude of learning strategies Students flourish under this childdriven, motivating approach to learning and gain valuable skills that will build a strong foundation for their future in our global economy

2.2.2.2 Characteristics of project-based learning

Nowadays, PBL can be found under such names as project method, project

approach, project-based instruction, knowledge in action, learning by doing, or experiential learning There are different interpretations of PBL with various

overlapping terms, for example, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, problem learning and the project method In addition, activity-based learning and

discovery learning encompass similar features

To provide synthesis features of PBL on the tasks, the students' activities, the time and the result, Thomas (2000) writes:

"PBL is a model that organizes learning around projects According to the

definitions found in PBL handbooks for teachers, projects are complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems, that involve students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities; give students the

opportunity to work autonomously over extended periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations"

According to Thomas, “PBL is a model that organizes learning around projects.”

It is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process constructed around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks It seems to be the most suitable and clearest in the context of this study I also support five features of PBL proposed by Thomas (2000) as follows:

Firstly, “PBL projects are central, not peripheral to the curriculum.” It means that

all aspects of learning, such as objectives, teacher, and student activities, time allocation, materials should focus on or aim at fulfilling the project, which contributes to the accomplishment of learning outcomes stated in the curriculum

Secondly, “PBL projects are focused on questions or problems that "drive" students

to encounter the central concepts and principles of a discipline.” In other words, the

questions or problems here must include the learning objectives or concepts and principles of a subject

Thirdly, “Projects involve students in a constructive investigation.” This emphasizes

accumulative progress students make during the completion of the project

Nextly, “Projects are student-driven to some significant degree.” This is

characterized in the importance of students' participation during different stages of a project Students should have certain autonomy in doing the task

Last but not least, “Projects are realistic, not school-like.” Projects should offer

students real-life problems or situations to deal with rather than a repetition of school drills

2.2.3 The project as a process

The division of stages in a project varies from researcher to researcher Wrigley (1998), for example, proposes some basic phases found in most projects which include selecting a topic, making plans, researching, developing products, and sharing results with others The process in a project can be divided into three steps: Orientation and planning, research and implementation and sharing results in this study

2.2.3.1 Step 1: Orientation and planning

In this step, students identify the topic for the project as well as develop a work plan for completing it Once they have some ideas about what can be done, students decide the topic and their own work plans It is necessary that students are involved

in decision-making from the beginning It is suggested by Gallacher (2004) that teachers should help students work out the plan by posing some guidelines in terms

of what the project includes, its form, the task division of each group member, the time for producing each part of the project, and the material or resources which might be needed

2.2.3.2 Step 2: Research and implementation

Students engage in research and other activities in implementing the project such as field work, sessions with experts, and various aspects of gathering information, reading, writing, drawing and computing at this step They need various skills, including language skills and research skills to the requirements of specific projects However, it is advisable that the teacher support learners with low language proficiency or little experience in working as part of a team Pre-teaching in classroom sessions involved an investigation of various text types as well as language items that students would use in their writing would be useful as they needed in their drafting, rewriting and editing

2.2.3.3 Step 3: Sharing results

This activity occurs when students have accomplished the project Sharing results can be made in different forms such as presentation or disseminating the results in the larger community Gallacher (2004) stated that the most common way of sharing results is the presentation of the project to an audience This is the last but not least important stage as students, by giving their own presentation, students can improve their presentation skills and, by attending other groups’ presentation,

students can learn a lot from others

With PBL, children learn from their processes and assessment is authentic A child’s performance is measured via rubrics, but a critical aspect of this model includes self-evaluation and reflection They reflect on how well they worked in a

collaborative group and how well they contributed, negotiated, listened, and welcomed other group members’ ideas Students are also allowed to self-evaluate their own projects, efforts, motivations, interests, and productivity levels Students are critical friends by giving constructive feedback to each other, which assists them become aware of their own strengths and improve on their interactions with each other After the appreciation of fellow students, the teacher, again, plays an important role

as it is he/ she who will make a summary and comment on the presentation By doing so, he/ she will help enhance students’ process of language learning and knowledge widening What’s more, an evaluation will be made by the teacher after the presentation of the project and this is one of the main sources of motivation for students

2.3 Some previous studies

As mentioned above, PBL is an effective approach to learning that offers students authentic learning experiences ranging from experimentation to real-world problem solving Thus, there are a large number of studies on PBL carried out in the world and some in Vietnam so far

2.3.1 Advantages of project-based learning

PBL is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing 21st century skills while working in small collaborative groups PBL has been reported an effective teaching model that allows all learners to learn According to Harmer Nichola (2014), the main advantages of PBL include: claims of improved academic results, the development of wider skills, increased student motivation and enjoyment, enhanced outreach and engagement beyond academia and advantages for lecturers

Fried-Booth (1997), taking a more practical view of PBL, emphasizes that project work is a bridge between using English in class and using English in real life situations outside of class From a learner-centered perspective, Thomas (2000)

claims that the PBL creates a convenient condition for students to have “increased

attendance, growth in self-reliance, and improved attitudes toward learning”

Hilton-Jones (1988) carried out a six-week project-based English course and she was satisfied with the significant results Her PBL implementation motivated the students to foster reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in English and enabled them to see their language learning needs through project-based activities

2.3.2 Disadvantages of project-based Learning

Despite advantages, PBL still has several disadvantages and challenges which teachers and students experienced Harmer Nichola (2014) has pointed out that group work was frequently identified as the most significant challenge faced by learners undertaking PBL A study by Meehan and Thomas (2006), for example, found students undertaking environmental management projects in Vietnam reported team work as being the hardest element of their project work Similarly Stauffacher et al., (2006) found the majority of challenges came from group work processes Difficulties with group work are attributed to lack of prior training and larger group sizes, which created problems in terms of communication and allocation of work (Joyce, 2013)

Next, PBL is time-consuming to students Compared with traditional learning, students following PBL deal with a greater amount of workload They have more difficulties from forming groups, assigning duties and searching for information The case is similar to teachers Although PBL focuses on students’ activities, it does not mean that teachers will have less preparation

In Thomas’ point of view, there are three kinds of challenges involving students, teachers and school factors However, the author only focuses on the students' problems as it is the centre of discussion in this study The first challenge encountered by learners is the students' failure to work in a team The second is the students' lack of skills to conduct a scientific study such as generating meaningful scientific questions, managing complexity and time, transforming data, and

developing a logical argument to support claims

In conclusion, students will face many challenges in doing a project However, being aware of these challenges will help them minimize the intervention of these challenges to the success of a project

2.3.3 PBL in teaching and learning English in Vietnam context

Although books and studies on PBL in the world are in great numbers, the research carried out in Vietnam is limited There is not much material revising the practical application of PBL in Vietnam, just only a few theses, doctoral theses and experience initiatives The reason for this is that we have experienced the traditional model of instruction for a long time and the innovation in education has just been implemented recently However, scrutinizing PBL, we can see that it is one of the effective learning methods It captivates students’ interest and promotes students’ engagement by offering a diverse range of real life working projects The PBL has proved to be advancing learning for the 21st century.

Summary

This review of literature highlighted some key terms related to speaking skills It presented a full definition of project-based learning and then examined the conceptual framework of the study It also presented the foundations of PBL, discussed the key features and process of a project A review of research on advantages and disadvantages of PBL was introduced No matter how little the previous studies carried out in Vietnam have been analysed, PBL shows its effectiveness on English students’ academic achievements Chapter 3 will present the methods employed in conducting the study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter focuses on describing the research implementation Starting with the current situation of teaching and learning English and the teaching program and material at the local school, the study continues with research questions, the details

of participants as well as provides background information about action research and presents a detailed description of how research was carried out After that, the methods applied are also clearly indicated along with the reasons for choosing these approaches In addition, how the data was collected and data analysis will be displayed systematically and concisely

3.1 Context of the study

3.1.1 The current situation of teaching and learning English at the school

Located in the center of Hung Yen city, the school was a public educational institution with thirty three classes in total Each grade included eleven classes In the school year 2018-2019, there were eleven eleventh-grade classes encompassing five natural science oriented classes (from 11A1 to 11A5), the other two groups of social science major (11C1, 11C2) and the rest belongs to D group (11D1 to 11D4) The students of group A and C had three periods of English per week while those of group D had four periods each week (including three periods like group A and C and an extra one called optional period)

Although most students had been learning English for quite a long time – since grade three, their speaking skills were not very good They could get high marks in written tests but their communicative skills were poor They were often too shy to speak and it was difficult for them to express their viewpoints or to make themselves understood They hardly had opportunities to use English outside the English classes As a result, they felt scared of speaking English, of making mistakes, and of not conveying their sentiments to listeners They are not confident to use English in speaking class They were not used to expressing their ideas in English They often used mother tongue Thus, most speaking classes were monotonous and unsuccessful In reality, these classes were ineffective ones

The main reason for the above problems was perhaps due to their learning tradition which was mostly grammar-based and mainly prepared students for the university entrance examination, written oriented-assessments The main teaching methods that the teachers applied were “grammar focus” and the expectation of the outcomes was just only the students’ scores in their English written tests According to the policy from MOET, the semester and final examinations only focused on reading, vocabulary and grammar through the multiple-choice format Therefore, the students only paid attention to practising reading skills and grammatical points as well as vocabularies and structures Teachers of English themselves took advantage

of the little time they had to provide reading practice and help with solving problems in grammar exercises in order to achieve the short-term goal of passing the final examination In short, learners’ difficulties in getting involved in speaking lessons were posed due to the following reasons:

 Traditional learning or students’ prior learning experiences

 Low level of English language proficiency

 Anxiety or shyness in class and low motivation

With the above causes, teachers and learners often paid less attention to speaking skills than to the others Having poor English-speaking skills inhibited the students’ ability to communicate Consequently, they were unable to obtain enough information and knowledge for global integration This situation had raised the needs of a teaching and learning method which could help students to improve their language skills and develop their soft skills as well Hence, a change in teaching method was critically necessary and the applying of technology in English teaching was believed to be one of the solutions to the improvement in the students’ English speaking proficiency

3.1.2 The teaching program and materials

At the chool, English is one of the three core subjects in the curriculum and it is the subject which students have to pass at the national examination by the end of grade

12th to be qualified for the secondary school diploma The syllabus and the

textbooks for English including “Tiếng Anh 10”, “Tiếng Anh 11”, “Tiếng Anh 12” which are prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training The English textbook “Tiếng Anh 11” (the set of standard textbooks) was written by a group of textbook compilers: Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh et al and was published in 2006

“Tiếng Anh11” textbook consisted of sixteen units for two terms It was designed under theme-based approach with sixteen topics corresponding with sixteen units Each unit is about a theme There are five parts in each unit arranging as follows: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus in which a variety of exercises and tasks were compiled for practice Also, there existed a “Test yourself” after every three units The objective of these tests was to examine how well the students had achieved in the previous units The “Test yourself” was constructed as

follows: Listening, Reading, Pronunciation and Grammar, and Writing

Speaking lesson was the second part in each unit, introduced just after the Reading lesson These speaking lessons were under the tendency theme-based and task-based approaches In general, the textbook provided students with a variety of topics and speaking activities with the aim of helping students improve their speaking skills

The English course lasted thirty-five weeks with one hundred and five periods Each week, teachers of English had three periods of forty five minutes Each period focused on one language skill namely reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus However, students belonging group D had one extra period every week, the fourth one of the week During these lessons, students could have more time for other activities so as to consolidate and broaden knowledge they had learnt

in the textbook

3.2 The participants

The study was conducted on thirty eleventh-grade students, including twenty three females and seven males, of class 11D1 of the school Their current textbook was the the seven-year set “Tiếng Anh 11” textbook (for students who started learning English from Form 6 – 12)

These students were of the same age, same class, but different English proficiency levels In term of their results in the school year 2017-2018, 31% of them were classified as good at English Their final grades ranged from 8.0 to 8.5 Another 60% owned the final from 6.5 to 7.9 and the rest was of average rating None of them was below average It could therefore be assumed that most of them were rather good at English These participants were selected conveniently because I have been teaching them since they were in grade ten I invited them to participate in the study and they were willing to accept

Every week, the students had three English lessons basing on “Tiếng Anh 11” and one extra lesson for other optional topics called “optional periods” The study was carried out in sixteen optional periods

3.3 Design of the study

3.3.1 Action research

Firstly, the research was designed as action research because this is more of an approach to problem-solving, rather than a single method for collecting and analyzing data This strategy could be considered a mirror reflecting the teacher’s experience in teaching which serves as a basis for the continuous and on-going process of professional development

Secondly, action research was carried out by practitioners (classroom teachers) rather than outside researchers It was collaborative (researchers + practitioners) and was aimed at changing things

Lastly, action research was practical research to achieve both action (change or improve) and research (understanding) Practical research used to bridge the gap between research and practice Teachers in general and teachers of English in particular actually carried out action research for most of their time Therefore, action research was inevitably a very common practice and the best choice for the study

3.3.2 Procedures of the study

As illustrated in following table, the study was carried out through four phases in the period of sixteen weeks during the first semester of the 11th graders at at a local school in Hung Yen province The action plan was done as follows:

Table 3.1 Procedures of the study

Time Phases of Action

Three projects were carried out in teaching oral presentation

Project 1: Festivals around the world Project 2: Volunteer Work

Project 3: Global issues

Students were asked to express their opinions toward carrying out projects and doing oral presentations over 12 weeks

Teacher observed students’

Phase 1: Planning (Weeks 1 & 2):

During this phase, essential materials used in this study were developed including: tests (pre-test and post-test), questionnaire and interview Then, the researcher asked the students to do a pre-test at the second week in order that she could assess the students’ current speaking ability and identify some difficulties or issues which needed changing Besides, the course syllabus and lesson plans were built with a view to helping the students match the expected outcomes In short, I prepared the

teaching materials, designed lesson plans, instruments aids, and delivered the test to assess students’ language ability before the intervention

pre-Phase 2 & 3: Acting and Observing (Weeks 3 to 14):

In this phase, I applied PBL in teaching and learning process step by step I used PBL in optional periods during twelve weeks In these lessons, students could practice carrying out the projects as well as giving presentation Students were also asked to write weekly journals on their attitude toward PBT used in class, as well as possible impact of these techniques on their engagement

At the beginning of the first term of the school year, I provided a list of topics based

on the themes of the textbook of the school curriculum “Tiếng Anh 11” from Unit 1

to Unit 8: Friendship, Personal experiences, A party, Volunteer work, Illiteracy, Competitions, World population, Celebrations After discussing the themes, I, the teacher, and the students agreed to choose three topics for projects

Three projects are: Theme 1: Festivals around the world

Theme 2: Volunteer work Theme 3: Global issues

The projects were carried out for twelve weeks (also twelve optional periods) of the first semester of the school year 2018-2019 Each project lasted in four weeks.The aim of the intervention was to help the students to enhance their speaking skills thanks to cooperative learning method when doing projects Cooperative learning was considered to be able to increase students’ learning in the way that it can make the students participate more actively By doing research, students can enlarge their vocabulary and apply content knowledge in the field of the study I also hoped that PBT could help develop students’ motivation and self-confidence in using English

as a foreign language

The implementation of PBL was nearly the same in three projects Every four weeks, the groups carried out their projects with three stages of PBL

Basing on the characteristics of PBL, the topics for the PBL lessons were not only

related to curriculum, “not peripheral” but also realistic The lessons extended and

helped the students widen the knowledge they had learn in the syllabus The

students worked on projects that were meaningful and relevant to their culture, their lives and their future During the lesson, the students played an active role in constructing their knowledge and the teacher acted as coach, a conductor, the guide

on the side, not the sage on the stage Their work was publicly displayed, discussed and critiqued

Stage 1- Orientation and planning

In the first period, the researcher divided thirty students into six groups of five They discussed to draw out a plan and split the tasks among themselves During the first week, the groups looked for information and prepared everything for the project at home This was the most important stage of the project and involved a variety of activities such as group work, individual research, teacher consultation, etc Students had to search for information individually, organized group meetings themselves, and had to be in agreement about the outline, organization and content

of their project Therefore, to make their project successful, students needed to be active, creative and cooperative

Stage 2 – Research and implementation

In this phase, I checked students’ work and provided assistance Firstly, it helped

me to make sure that my students were really working and they were going in the right direction Secondly, it helped students to make a habit of self-studying and to progress in their study I must be responsible and willing to support students when necessary I devoted time and energy to scaffolding the students by giving comment, suggestions and helping them to get over possible difficulties such as ineffective group work, lack of materials, etc Then students continued fulfilling their task at home They had to make a written assignment to hand in and a PowerPoint presentation to be given before the second period Their final presentation must be informative, creative and persuasive to the teacher and other groups

Stage 3 - Sharing results

The last three periods was the time for the six groups to make a presentation on their project in about ten minutes There were two groups presenting each week

While the students in each group were making a presentation, every member of the class had to listen attentively and respectfully and they could take notes if necessary The fifteen minutes rest of each period was spent on asking and answering questions and discussion

This was the last but not least important stage in which groups took turns to give presentation to the whole class Normally, each group had about fifteen minutes for sharing results in which ten minutes was for their oral presentation and the rest (five minutes) was for class discussion and teacher’s feedback and consolidation of the topic Two most important objectives that all members needed to achieve by the end

of the project were as follows:

- report what their group had done to the whole class in a creative and persuasive way

- participate in other presentations and gain knowledge and experience from other groups

For the teacher’s part, I was fully aware of their important role and the duties they needed to fulfill, not just playing the role of an audience

- Equip himself/ herself with sufficient knowledge about the project topics in order to give accurate and persuasive comments on the projects Also, with such knowledge, the teacher can confidently lead the follow-up discussions which enable students to gain experience and knowledge effectively

- Design a good and reliable assessment tool so as to make students feel satisfied and more interested in the future projects

In short, if both the teacher and his/her students make every attempt to achieve the objectives above, the success of the projects can surely be guaranteed and both can benefit greatly from this learning activity

This was also the phase of witnessing the effects of PBL activities on the students

In this phase, I had to analyze the students’ participation to see if their attitude had changed over the course of intervention or not

Reflecting (Weeks 15- 16)

This phase was the time for me to I analyze the data collected to evaluate my action plan After implementation of the action plan, data were collected during the fourteen

weeks to answer the research question “To what extent does project-based learning

enhance the students' speaking skills?” During week 15, the post-test was delivered

to the students Besides, the last phase involved evaluating the results of the action through data, ensuring that the intervention was truly meaningful In this phase, the collected data were carefully analyzed The data collected during fourteen weeks of action implementation and from the post-test were compared with the results of week 1-2 to evaluate the suggested solution in the plan action and give some recommendations

In the last week, questionnaires were directly distributed to the students in person to ensure effective implementation My brief introduction about the study together with my careful oral instructions were made in Vietnamese to lessen any misunderstanding and ambiguity Then, during the time of questionnaire filling, if students had any difficulty, I would be there to give them essential help All the participants were given twenty minutes to complete the questionnaire None were allowed to leave before the scheduled time so as to avoid them trying to rush to fill out the questionnaire in order to leave the class early

In the last phase, I collected all responses of the participants, and then checked the quality of the responses I just took the regular ones which complied with the given requirements of the questionnaire

Regarding the procedure of interviews, six respondents were deliberately chosen for the interview right after finishing the process of taking data from the questionnaire Students were informed that each interview would take no more than ten minutes, would be conducted in Vietnamese, and would be confidential Moreover, they learned that the interviews would be audio-recorded and that the tapes would be destroyed upon completion of the study Afterwards, the interviews took place in an informal atmosphere to minimize the participants’ anxiety

3.3.3 Data collection instruments

In order to get sufficient data for the study, a number of methods were employed This researchwas carried out with the assistance of different types of research instruments The exploited instruments included pre-test and post-test, questionnaires and interviews with the students I used various types of measurements with a view to achieving reliable data and bringing many advantages Following was the detailed description of the instruments used for data collection in this study

3.3.2.1 Pre-test and post-test

The first instrument which was employed in this study was tests It was claimed that the test method could be seen as an appropriate instrument to measure and compare students’ language skills (especially speaking skills) before the intervention of project-based teaching Both pre-test and post-test shared the same form, length, and level of difficulty The pre-test was taken at the beginning of the research before the application of the PBL It was intended to measure the students’ initial oral competence

The students were asked to talk about a topic they had learnt The contents and topics of the pre-tests were based on the ones they had learnt during grade ten namely “Technology and You”, “An Excursion”, “Music”, “Films and Cinema”, and “Historical Places” … The post-test included the topics of the projects the students had just carried out and in the six units they had learnt during the first term

of grade eleven However, the post-tests contained more complicated topics and situations than those in the pre-test All kinds of tasks in the tests were familiar to students, so that they would feel more confident while doing the test Thus, the test comprised three main parts:

 Part one: Social interaction - The examiner asked the candidate about his/ her name/her name, job, family, hobbies and some questions about a particular topic

 Part two: Individual long turn - The students were asked to present a given topic card with the cues and suggestions

 Part three: Discussion -A discussion between the examiner and the candidate

in which the student was asked to express his/ her opinions about a particular issue and extending the ideas related the topic in part two

(see Appendice 2 and 3)

The maximum point for the speaking test was 10 points and the mark of the test was the average mark of five following criteria:

 Message content (10 points)

 Vocabulary and grammar range (10 points)

 Pronunciation (10 points)

 Fluency and coherence (10 points)

 Interactive communication(10 points)

(see Appendice 4)

The post-test with the same form was conducted at the end of the research after applying project-based teaching (Week 17) The results of the two tests were compared and contrasted to measure the difference of the students’ oral competence between before and after the use of project-based teaching To ensure the validity of the tests, both the pre-test and post-test were brought to language test experts for consultation and were pre-tested before putting them into application

(For details of pre-test and post-test, see Appendices 2 and 3)

At Week 2 and Week 17, I invited two other teachers of English group in our school

to help me assess the students’ speaking skills Each test took us ninety minutes – two periods

3.3.2.2 Questionnaires

The second data gathering instrument which was employed in this study was questionnaire The questionnaire was given to the studentsafter the intervention (Week 18) The questionnaire was used to get information about the students’ attitude toward PBL and their changes or achievements in speaking skills after doing some projects as well as the difficulties the students face while carrying out the projects and giving oral presentation

The data collection procedure from the questionnaire included three phases:

Phase 1: The researcher piloted the questionnaire on a sample of people who

were similar to the target population and were motivated to spend some time to help her answer the items of the questionnaire, and then provide feedback This phase was conducted with the aim of collecting feedback about how the instrument worked, so the researchers made alternations and fine-tune the final version of the questionnaire

Phase 2: The author of the study administered the questionnaire on the target

population The researcher gave the instructions and asked participants to write their names down so that they could interview them later After that the questionnaire were delivered to all the chosen participants in their convenience so that they could

do the questionnaire more effectively

Phase 3: The researcher collected all responses of the participants, and then

checked the quality of the responses They just took the regular ones which complied with the given requirements of the questionnaire

The questionnaire (adapted from Likert scale) was written in simple manner and language to help them understand the questions clearly The researcher, however, was still present in class to answer any questions related to the questionnaire from the students In terms of format, the questionnaire mainly utilized multiple-choice questions In regards to the content, the questionnaire aimed to collect data to answer the two main research questions and try to understand more about the difficulties of the students when speaking English and doing the project The questionnaire was made up of four questions The first question tried to assess students’ attitudes towards PBL With the questions 2 and 3, the research wanted to explore the achievements the students get after following PBL method The question 2 mentioned the benefits of PBL in learning English speaking skills as well

as other skills In addition, third question helped the researcher explain how the students’ speaking skills improved according to five criteria The students’ difficulties during the implementation of the project are also explained in the fourth

question (For details of the questionnaire, see Appendix 5)