Improving english speaking competence through project based learning at a school of foreign languages in vietnam

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare the thesis entitled “Facilitating English speaking competence through project-based learning at a school of foreign languages in Vietnam” is the

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Cải thiện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh thông qua việc học theo đề án tại

một trường ĐHNN ở Việt Nam

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

Cải thiện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh thông qua việc học theo đề án tại

một trường ĐHNN ở Việt Nam

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601140111

Supervisor: Dr Dư ng Đ c inh

HANOI - 2017

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare the thesis entitled

“Facilitating English speaking competence through project-based learning at a school of foreign languages in Vietnam”

is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies- VNU, Hanoi, and this thesis is in total fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts This thesis has not been submitted for any degree and any other university or institution

Hanoi,2017

i Ng c nh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deep thanks to people who have assisted me when

I carried out the research

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Duong Duc Minh, PhD for his encouragement and guidance throughout the research

I also wish to thank all my teachers of Post-Graduate Studies Department, VNU for supporting me with a lot of knowledge and giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis

I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to the teachers and students at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University who have helped

me to collect the data

Finally, I am deeply indebted to all the support and encouragement that my family has so loving offered me

ABSTRACT

This study explored high school teachers’ perceptions of project-based learning

in the new English textbooks The specific areas of investigations were teachers’ perceptions about (1) P L’s definitions, P L’s benefits for students in language learning in terms of motivation, improvements in language skills, learning autonomy, teamwork skills and teachers’ roles in P L, (2) their challenges in implementing PBL The findings from questionnaires and interviews reveal that teachers had a clear understanding of PBL was and a positive attitude to the benefits

of PBL for students in language learning Also, the results of the study show that teachers encountered with three main challenges when implementing PBL : students’ ability, time for preparation and schools’ facilities asing on these findings, suggestions are made to enhance the success of PBL in teaching and learning English language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES viii

PART A 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research question 3

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Outline of the study 4

PART B 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Speaking skill 5

1.1.1 Definition of speaking 5

1.1.2 Speaking skill 5

1.2 Project-based learning 6

1.2.1 General definition of project-based learning 6

1.2.2.Major features of PBL 8

1.3 Previous research works 9

1.3.1 Advantages of PBL 9

1.3.2 Disadvantages of PBL 11

1.4 Summary 11

Chapter II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12

2.1 Research questions and subject of the study 12

2.1.1 Research questions restated 12

2.1.2 Subjects of the study 12

2.2 Research methods 13

2.3 Data collection instruments 15

2.3.1 Pre-test and Post-test 15

2.3.2 Observation 15

2.3.3 Questionnaire 16

2.4 Data collection procedure 18

2.4.1 Cycle 1 18

2.4.2 Cycle 2 19

2.5 Data analysis 19

2.6 Summary 20

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Findings 21

3.1.1 Research question 1: “How important is applying PBL integration in the curricula to English learning process of students at SFL?” 21

3.1.3 Research question 3: “Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what are some possible solutions?” 28

3.2 Discussion 30

3.2.1 The importance and the benefits of PBL integration 30

3.2.2 Students’ difficulties when working with PBL 32

3.2.3 The importance of suggested solutions 33

3.3 Summary 35

CHAPTER IV:IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 37

4.1 Implications 37

4.1.1 The role of teachers in PBL integration 37

4.1.2 The role of students in PBL integration 39

4.2 Limitations of the study 40

4.3 Suggestions for further research 41

4.4 Conclusion 41

REFERENCES 43

APPENDENCES I APPENDIX I: PRE-TEST FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX II: POST-TEST FOR STUDENTS IV APPENDIX III: SPEAKING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR B1 VII PPENDIX IV: STUDENTS’ SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST IX APPENDIX V: OBSERVATION SHEET FOR THE RESEARCHER XI APPENDIX VI: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE XII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PBL: Project-based learning

SFL: School of Foreign Languages

TNU: Thai Nguyen University

TS: Total Score

AS: Average Score

EOP: English Oral Proficiency

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 2.1 Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTagart, 1988) 13

Figure 4.1 The Process of Project-Based Learning (Krajcik & Blumenfeld, 2006) 38

Table 3.1 Students’ opinions about benefits of P L 23

Table 3.2 Pre-test scores 23

Table 3.3 Number of errors per error type occurred in pre-test 24

Table 3.4 Result of observation on students’ presentation at week 8 25

Table 3.5 Post-test score 26

Table 3.6 Number of errors per error type occurred in post-test 27

Table 3.7 Students’ evaluation of difficult areas 28

Table 3.8 Students’ evaluation about the importance of suggested solutions……29

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English, which is considered one of the most dominant languages in the world, has never been a minor concern of the human being in general and Vietnamese people in particular It is seen as a useful tool for the purpose of connecting people

on the earth and the key to achieving success in a variety of fields More essentially, English is also the primary business language as well as prior standard for those who want to enter a global workforce, research or international market place Realizing the new trend, Vietnamese educators have made English a compulsory subject in the curricula at all schools including the primary, secondary and university levels Increasingly, language skills are top priority criteria for employees who want to get stable jobs in the modern life

Additionally, the practice of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in Vietnam is still lacking practical communicating environment and the fundamental application of second language (L2) is primarily bound to the classroom context, which is the same barrier to the majority of Asian contexts (Elam & Nesbit, 2012) Most classroom periods follow teacher-centered learning model, in which learners try to memorize vocabulary, grammatical rules, recite pre-fabricated dialogues and complete paper tests For instance, during an English lesson at high school on the topic “Making a phone call”, students are normally expected to keep in mind vocabulary related to greetings, giving information, and saying goodbye, then listen

to a dialogue and fill in the blank It means that they seem to have few opportunities to collaborate with group members or social interaction after school days In other words, “living and functioning in a first language (L1) environment while studying English compounds the disconnection between second language (L2) English”, as stated by arrs (2012, p.11)

Therefore, the way English is taught and learnt is still a big issue which demands researchers to spend large amounts of time and effort to discover the best

answers to this question Brown (2011) fully acknowledges that there should be a new language teaching method owing to the expanded scope of language teaching programs all over the world

Integrating project-based learning in the curricula at Thai Nguyen University in general and School of Foreign Language in particular is regarded as a useful and efficient strategy This is a new teaching method that arranges learning process based on certain projects According to Thomas (2000), complex tasks are displayed

in projects aimed at developing students’ ability in design, problem-solving and investigative activities In other words, this teaching method brings pupils a good chance to improve integrated skills such as language competence and other necessary expertise in the 21st century The outstanding advantages of this program are obvious, because it helps learners practice many skills at the same time (writing, reading, listening and speaking) while other subjects just focus in one or two competences As a result, this model makes great contributions to raising their studying results and learning important life skills

The reason why action research is employed is that this kind of method concerns with improving specific point in a teacher’s technique in a particular classroom using empirical measurement as stated by Richards and Platt & Platt (1992) Hence, this action research, conducted within fifteen weeks, was implemented to address the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) for promoting students’ motivation, personal skills, as well as studying achievements at School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University (SFL-TNU)

2 Aims of the study

There are two main purposes of implementing this research

Firstly, this study is designed to explore the importance and major advantages

of integrating project-based learning (PBL) in the curricula at SFL – TNU In other words, it is likely to be conducted with the purpose of examining whether or not using educational projects is an appropriate approach to support students’ language skills in general and enhance their English speaking skill in particular The study

also clearly exposes several unexpected difficulties which participants experienced during the process of working with projects at School of Foreign Languages

Secondly, this paper recommends several solutions to problems encountered (if any) while teaching and studying project-based subjects in order to decrease unexpected matters as well as raise the effectiveness of this method

3 Research question

1 How important is applying PBL integration in the curricula to English learning process of students at SFL?

2 To what extent can P L facilitate students’ speaking competence?

3 Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what are some possible solutions?

4 Scope of the study

This study mainly concentrates on the practical effectiveness of PBL integration

in the curricula at School of Foreign Languages Furthermore, not only strong points but also weak points of this approach will be shown so that educators are able

to solve the unexpected problems and raise students’ self-direction, motivation and results in English subjects at SFL-TNU

The participants joined in this research are a group of 84 sophomores whose major is English Education at SFL-TNU

5 Significance of the study

This research, among all research work, is constructed not only to explore previous related theories to get background knowledge of PBL but also to change and improve educational situations Implementing this practical study is highly supposed to point out pupils’ various learning difficulties in acquiring English as a second language; furthermore, it will make great contribution to clarifying the importance of applying PBL in curricula for non-native learners In addition, the finding results are likely to contain fruitful conclusions when revealing positive aspects along with weak points should be eliminated After that, the composition will suggest several solutions so as to improve both teaching and studying these

subjects As a result, this research aims at bringing students a good chance to practice integrated language competence with projects, enhance communication skill, strengthen collaborative abilities through discussions and peer assessments as well as apply their knowledge into real life contexts

6 Outline of the study

This paper’s content will be arranged in an order which reveals information from

theoretical to empirical

PART A: INTRODUCTION, gives an overview of the study More particularly, it

includes statement of the problem, the main reasons leading to this research, intentional aims, objectives as well as brief description of scope and significance,

methods, and design of the inquiry

PART B: DEVELOPMENT is organized around three chapters as follows:

Chapter I: LITERATURE REVIEW, clarifies theoretical background and related

preceding studies relevant for the research Both positive impacts and disadvantages will be exposed in this section

Chapter II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, focuses on eliciting research

questions, research methods, data collection and data analysis

Chapter III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, helps to clarify the effectiveness of

project-based learning at SFL In addition, not only good points but also weak points and solutions are clearly shown

PART C: CONCLUSION, briefly summaries the main points of the paper,

provides essential findings, displays existing limitations together with implications and gives suggestions for further studies

Finally, REFERENCES and APPENDICES are also listed sufficiently at the end

of the research

PART B CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims at providing readers an overview of language learning, especially in acquiring speaking ability together with challenges which students usually have when studying a foreign language In addition, background information about PBL and preceding studies will be displayed specifically

1.1 Speaking skill

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking, one of the two important productive skills, has been defined in a variety of ways by different researchers; thus, it is very difficult to choose which is the most exact one

According to Bygate (1998), speaking skill can be seen as the production of auditory signals to produce differential verbal responses in a listener In other words, it is regarded as the human’s ability to combine sounds in a systematic way

so as to form meaningful utterances

Under a top-down view, Eckard and Kearny (1981), Florez (1999) and Howarth (2001) consider speaking as a two-way process relating to a true communication of ideas, information and feelings, cited in the article of Leong & Ahmadi (2017) Besides, taking its form and meaning into consideration, Burns and Toyce (1997) define speaking as an interactive process of constructing sense that involves receiving, producing and processing collected data

In brief, speaking is an action of conveying information or expressing one’s feeling in speech with its various forms which are dependent on particular contexts

1.1.2 Speaking skill

As stated by Freeman (in Risnadedi, 2001,pp 56-67), speaking skill is one of the students’ most important abilities in expressing their ideas orally which can be assessed through the scores of speaking tests or examinations He also claims that speaking is much more complicated and difficult than people assume because it is not only an oral trail of abilities that it got from vocabulary and structure

It is obviously that this language competence plays a vital part in life due to its importance according to the idea of Johnson (1997) Firstly, it has an enormous role

in language learners for the purpose of informing and communicating with others Secondly, to become a well-rounded communicator or an outstanding person, they must be professional in making any speech Last but not least, mastering the way to speak in front of the public has a great benefit on enhancing career opportunities for those who have just graduated from colleges or universities

1.2 Project-based learning

1.2.1 General definition of project-based learning

There are a range of terms which both refer to project-based learning such as experiential learning and negotiated language learning (Eyring, 2001; Legutke & Thomas, 1991), project method (Kilpatrick, 1926), project approach (Diffily, 1996) and investigative research (Kenny, 1993)

Additionally, many specialists from various countries have afforded to give definitions of this approach

PBL is defined as an oriented model which requires students to explore matters ending in authentic results More specifically, projects can be expanded in terms of scope as well as involved aspects with the aim at increasing learning opportunities

at school The writer also emphasizes that learners should be acted and experienced

in some important roles like decision maker, problem solver and investigator (Blumenfeld, 1991)

According to Legutke and Thomas (1991, p.160), PBL is not an available method but an "educational philosophy which aims at providing the direction, and some possible routes, to a more democratic and participatory society" In other words, it is the learners' duty to base on instructional steps to create their own products and deal with troubles by themselves

Also, Beckett (2002) regards a project work as a lasting activity which consists

of both personal and collaborative tasks, namely building up inquiry questions and

schedule as well as gathering and analyzing data He states that students have a choice to report collected information in oral or written form

In addition, it is claimed by Haines (1989) that projects, multi-competence operations, attach special importance to topics rather than small details Learners play a vital part in choosing appropriate fields and working approaches so that they can control the "end product" The writer convincingly concludes that project method helps students to "recycle" their existing knowledge by giving them "natural contexts"

Moreover, researchers are advised to consider typical types of projects when defining PBL The first type named structured project in which teachers give their pupils available and specific methods Thus, students just follow the indicated way for finding and tackling information Besides, a semi-structured research method shows both project area and methodology providing that learners must be much more active and responsible for their studying process In general, not only teacher but also students take charge in this kind of method

Thirdly, learner-centered language target is the characteristic of an unstructured project That means they are free to create and manage the learning timetable, content and methodology (Petersen, 2004)

In Petersen's viewpoint, the diverse ways of collecting data and where it is found also produce a number of projects One of them is correspondence research through which messages are sent between people by using letters, phone calls and email Another type is survey project that allows students to search for their favorite survey instruments, to gather necessary document and to analyze assembled ones Last but not least, production project requires learners to work with materials such

as boards, chalk, posters, slides and other visual and audible aids Then, they are also asked to hand in reports, narrative work and brochures or to give a short oral presentation

In conclusion, there are many kinds of projects and ways for defining PBL, so teachers should take them into consideration to apply this method at school effectively

1.2.2 Major features of PBL

There are several typical characteristics of PBL combined by Legutke and Thomas (1991) that emphasize the outstanding features of this teaching approach It provides multi-skill activities in which learners play a vital part in choosing appropriate fields and working approaches so that they can control the “end product”

 Topics and assignments originate from the real life

 Action plan is built up and organized carefully in which sub-topics, problem areas, anticipated troubles and solutions are given according to the project ideas

 PBL brings a great educational meaning itself The reason is that students' learning skills are improved considerably through group-working process, discussion, implementing the study and applying new insights to new cycles of experimentation

 Each project orient its duty is to put "interdisciplinary approach" into practice

 Project work regards each learner's self-control and self-direction as an obvious thing

 Collaboration skills and activeness of group members make a great contribution

to group's final success when doing project tasks

 Project learning has investigative characteristics and inherits significant value of cognitive learning style

 Learner-centered principle is the crucial target if project learning It makes way for students to develop and explore their hidden talents, abilities and interests

 Project learning attaches special importance to the ending products and achievements

 Participating in PBL, teachers and pupils have a variety of chances to experience many exciting roles like manager, monitor, researcher, audience, participant, actor, writer or secretary

 Learners are considered as partners They are able to contribute to the learning process and content because of being supported with convenient conditions

(Legutke and Thomas, 1991, pp.158-160)

Furthermore, an author named Bryson (2013) shows that P L’s features can be briefly summarized in the six ’s following terms:

 Authenticity: Projects designed at schools are usually practical and applied

programs These approaches put the passion on students and enable them to work with “real world issues” Therefore, learners are likely to get excited with the topic they are caring about

 Academic rigor: This feature refers to the basic requirement of PBL that asks

students to keep in mind content standards and to think of the topic critically

 Adult connections: Projects with adult connections characteristic inspire

students through the meaningful involvement of adults beyond the classroom

 Active exploration: This vital feature aims at motivating learners’ creativity,

enthusiasm and willingness while learning subjects centered projects

 Applied learning: Working with projects, pupils have to interact with various

circumstances and use the target language immediately as well as apply useful skills

to come up with the employer’s expectation

 Assessment practices: It is considered to be a good chance for students to

receive useful evaluations and feedback not only during but also after the process of

working with projects

Project-based learning owns a wide range of features which support students’ learning process Therefore, teachers are recommended to master these characteristics and apply them to teaching method efficiently

1.3 Previous research works

1.3.1 Advantages of PBL

The idea of integrating PBL in English classroom is rooted from social constructivism theory which gives prominence to culture and context in constructing individual and social knowledge (Kim, 2001) It means that both reality and knowledge are derived from human activities as well as learning, seen as

a social process, cannot separate individually but occurs when engaging in social

activities included hands-on project-based methods and discipline-based cognitive tools so as to construct general meaning not only from individual learner but from collective view of the entire class as stated by Ernest, 1999; Gredler, 1997; Prat & Floden, 1994, cited in Kim, 2001 Cicconi (2014) mentioned Vygotsky as the

person who advocates this philosophical theory, had a practical implementation

by assigning peer tutor to struggling students in a Math class At the beginning, the peer tutor gives instruction to their partner and gradually reduces suggestions Consequently, those students have reached MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) level and are no longer struggling

Beckett (2002) clearly states that project-based instruction gives learners motivation to acquire knowledge, to improve problem-solving ability, and to develop both independent and co-operative working skills

Besides, this teaching approach creates a convenient condition for students to have “increased attendance, growth in self-reliance, and improved attitudes toward learning” (Thomas, 2000, p 27)

Hilton-Jones (1988) held a six-week project-based English-language course and she was pleased with the considerable results Her program motivated the learners to enhance reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in English and enabled them to see their language learning needs through project-based activities

It is also necessary to mention the remarkable effectiveness of PBL on difficulties faced by primary school students during an eight-week project Participating activities related to the topic “sea animals”, ninety-four pupils admitted that they preferred experiential learning to traditional teaching because it

enabled them to be more communicative, creative and responsible for their own learning (Filippatou & Kaldi, 2010)

to a conclusion that “implementing project work required a flexible attitude toward plans on the part of the instructors” (p.125)

A group of eleven experienced US science teachers participated in the research

of Krajcik et al (1994) with the purpose of investigating common challenges while

using project-based instruction They declared that students had to broaden their mind toward great perspectives instead of narrowing their thinking as the unit progressed This prevents them from concretizing big topics and sometimes, they even miss out several details while completing a large-scale assignment

Not only referring to disadvantages, the study of Filippatou & Kaldi (2010) also indicated undeniable limitations of PBL Due to the classroom size (94 students of mixed learning abilities), sometimes they produce a debate instead of discussion or collaboration

1.4 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter provides readers an overview of language learning including its definition and common challenges of students when studying English Then, theories about project-based learning are displayed Not only P L’s popular definitions but also this method’s major features are given clearly Finally, the researcher broadens the content of this part by showing preceding studies with both advantages and disadvantages of PBL integration This session reflects the actual picture of implementation and effectiveness of project approach through time

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the main research questions and subjects of the study first 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

2.1 Research questions and subject of the study

2.1.1 Research questions restated

The study concentrates on dealing with four questions, these are as follows:

4 How important is applying PBL integration in the curricula to English learning process of students at SFL?

5 To what extent can P L facilitate students’ speaking competence?

6 Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what are some possible solutions?

2.1.2 Subjects of the study

There will have 84 students who all agree on the implementation of the proposed program taking part in this research The participating students, with both females and males from English Education Class – Course 38 are from School of Foreign Languages, TNU

The reason for choosing those participants is that they all finished three semesters at university, so they were expected to be at the elementary level Moreover, they have just graduated from their high school for 1 year Thus, it is quite easy for them to make comparison between learning at school and at higher education level In addition, this group is considered suitable ones because they have recently fulfilled the exam for the subject “English Oral Proficiency” and

“English Written Proficiency” which reflect their current competence in language uses, especially English speaking ability

2.2 Research methods

Action research is employed as an appropriate approach for this study since this method highly concerns with improving specific point in a teacher’s teaching strategies in a particular classroom using empirical measurement (Richards and Platt & Platt, 1992) So as to fit the aim of this study, the researcher combines three instruments: tests (pre-test, and post-test), observation, and questionnaire The pre-test is designed to measure the chosen sophomores’ English speaking competence before and after working with PBL by giving them topics to talk in pairs within one minute and a half Then it is the researcher’s job to use observation method to evaluate interaction between those students, and between students and teacher with the aims at evaluating their improvements after working with PBL at the end of cycle 1 Finally, after fifteen weeks, questionnaire was delivered to collect students’ attitudes toward PBL during the class period to assess the effectiveness of PBL courses

This study was carried out with the two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that includes following process: plan, action, observation, and reflection The diagram of the research cycles is represented as this:

Figure 2.1 Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988)

Guided by the above procedure, the researcher took the following steps:

Step 1: Plan

Initially, the researcher was expected to assess students’ current speaking competence and identify some difficulties or issues which need changing Besides, essential materials used in this study were also developed at this stages including: questionnaire, tests, and observation sheet Meanwhile, the course syllabus and lesson plan were built so as to help students match the expected outcomes

Step 2: Act

It is time for the researcher, also the teacher, to introduce an overview of the course English Excursion Project and to carry out some intended strategies Students will be shown examples of the real tours with necessary criteria to include such as brief introduction, foods and drinks, destinations, traditional costumes, transportations, and even ticket price for each local tour Moreover, the researcher divided 84 students into smaller groups of five to discuss and role-play as tourists and guides in order to accomplish recommended parts of an excursion project During this period, all pupils were forced to cooperate, share ideas and create a common product

Step 3: Observe

In this stage, the researcher’s job was to observe and record any progress made by students in speaking and note down those information in her observation sheet The careful attention should be paid to both the student-teacher interaction and student-student interaction so as to find out strength as well as weaknesses of their performance and apply innovative solutions to deal with undesired problems

Step 4: Reflect

At the end of each cycle, it was indispensable for researcher to recite what had happened in the PBL class in terms of good effectiveness and some existing weaknesses This step had the purpose of evaluating the process’ results, then drawing out suggestions or solutions for the next cycle

2.3 Data collection instruments

This study follows the descriptive research method which combines characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative method It can be seen as an effective way to describe the actual picture of numbers and statistics rather than explain it In general, descriptive methodology is considered to be appropriate and useful to educational fields as well as to the understanding nature and function of the research (Jonassen, 2001)

The three data collection instruments were used: pre-test and post-test questions, observation, and questionnaire The questionnaire together with observation collected the quantitative data while the tests collected the qualitative data

2.3.1 Pre-test and Post-test

It is claimed by Halova and Kobilarov (2010) that the test method can be seen

as an appropriate instrument to measure and compare students’ language skills (especially speaking skill) before and after the intervention of PBL That is because using tests helps researcher not only collect information but also evaluate the effectiveness of the applied method

Both pre-test and post-test share the same form, length and level of difficulty Particularly, the pre-test was took place at the beginning of the course and it is also located in the first step of cycle 1 It aimed at measuring pupils’ baseline speaking level before working with PBL by giving them topics to make conversations in pair within one minute and a half In contrast, the post-test that was delivered to students

at the end of cycle 2 explored the progress made by those participants after 15 weeks of English Excursion Project This test included more complicated topics and situations than those in the pre-test

2.3.2 Observation

The researcher took an observation in a group of 84 students who were divided into 2 smaller groups during periods of “Excursion Project” subject at school This

methodology aimed at getting objective evaluation about students’ improvement after working with PBL, at the end of cycle 1 In other words, the investigator would like to know whether students really enjoyed and felt interested in PBL or not and compare its positive benefits with traditional teaching method More specifically, the researcher evaluated those pupils in terms of five main criteria during the periods They are “ ttentiveness and enjoyment”, “Flexibility when solving practical situations or problems”, “Practice of four language skills and other competence”, “ bility of group working”, and “ bility of independent working”

Consquently, the researcher decided on what methods should be applied in the rest periods of the subject as well as what should be changed or focused in the lesson plan so as to raise students’ speaking ability at the end of the P L course

2.3.3 Questionnaire

Instead of using quantitative test, the researcher chose qualitative test with the purpose of assessing the frequency of item non response or implausible answers included in the questionnaire, then finding out an idea of the relevance of errors Consequently, after collecting real results from students’ work, the researcher is able to know more about learners’ difficulties and the underlying reasons

In this study, questionnaire was designed for the purpose of investigating students’ perspectives and evaluation about the importance and the effectiveness of PBL All of the questions having the use of grammar and structures at the elementary level mainly focused on exploring their opinions about this studying method This was a good chance for learners to reflect their subjects’ content and effectiveness It was distributed to 84 students by the researcher The participants were required to circle to multiple questions, answer some open-ended questions, and put a tick on the given Likert-type scales (1 – 5/ VD – VE/ SA – SD)

To make sure that the students answer the questionnaire by themselves, they were asked to complete the questionnaire in the classroom after an English lesson

To avoid the misunderstanding, the researcher also explained and gave very clear

instruction as well as the purpose of the questionnaire In addition, the students were supported during the time they filled out the questionnaire in case they needed necessary help

Particularly, ten questions were given to the participants which were completed within 20 minutes In the first two questions, it was the students’ job to answer the year numbers of learning English and the average mark for the two subjects “English Oral Proficiency” and “English Written Proficiency” at university Next, they were asked whether PBL is important or not The sixth question required them to show their opinions and approval degree in terms of benefits got from project approach The next two questions asked for ranking some given elements in the range of difficulty and showing attitudes about the importance

of suggested solutions according to the level from 1 to 5 Last but not least, the investigator wanted to know the successful percent of P L integration and students’ additional recommendation to increase this method’s effectiveness The process of calculation and analysis can be described as following:

ll of the answers got from sophomores’ questionnaires were summed up and calculated by giving certain points for each item and working out the total score (TS) More specifically, with the “ enefits of P L’, the researcher gave

 4 points for Strongly Agree

 3 points for Agree

 2 points for Disagree

 1 point for Strongly Disagree

With the “ rea of Difficulties”

 4 points for Very Difficult

 3 points for Difficult

 2 points for Easy

 1 point for Very Easy

After that, the TS would be divided by 84 participants so as to find out the average score ( S) for each item of “ enefits of P L” and “ reas of Difficulties”

Consequently, the average score showed the level of agreement or difficulty to each mentioned item The results could be illustrated as following:

 From 3.6 to 4: Strongly Agree

 From 2.6 to 3.5: Agree

 From 1.6 to 2.5: Disagree

 From 1 to 1.5: Strongly Disagree

With the “ rea of Difficulties”

 From 3.6 to 4: Very Difficult

 From 2.6 to 3.5: Difficult

 From 1.6 to 2.5: Easy

 From 1 to 1.5: Very Easy

At last, several recommended solutions were shown in a table with their importance varied from 1 to 5 with the aim at collecting students’ opinions about these suggestions The researcher set certain marks for these ideas by prescribing that 1 point was “Not Important” and 5 points meant “Very Important” Then the TS and the S were also calculated exactly in order to indicate each method’s importance Those regarded as “Very Important” had the S from 4 to 5 The solutions with the S rated between 2.6 to 3.9 were “Important” ones and the left which ranged from 1 to 2.5 was “Not Important”

However, these answers were partly personal and subjective and that is the reason why pre-test were also carried out

2.4 Data collection procedure

2.4.1 Cycle 1

At first, pre-test questions and questionnaire were built upbased on the study’s purpose, participants’ psychology, and personal interactions which lead to contextually based results Then, the researcher piloted her study by giving students the pre-test at week 1 through the process of getting them to make short conversations in pairs so that the researcher can easily assess their current speaking

ability basing on speaking assessment criteria for B1 (Appendix III) From week 2

to 7, it was time for researcher to introduce students content of the course and speaking strategies, then had them work in groups and discuss to build up main parts of their own excursion project At week 8, all students who were divided in groups of five, presented an overview of their designed tour under the observation

of the researcher As a result, the researcher noted down both of their strengths and weaknesses in the observation sheet so as to make plan for better results in the next cycle

2.4.2 Cycle 2

Realizing existing weaknesses in students’ speaking competence, the researcher focused on applying some strategies to help them overcome those difficulties by providing them more chances to work in pairs and discuss with teacher and other students in other groups They were also required to role-play in some real-life situations which they may encounter in practical tours Moreover, each group had to design their own website to advertise their tours to national and international tourists This activity aimed at developing not only speaking but also social skills for pupils from week 9 to 14 Finally, at week 15, the researcher delivered students post-test with the same form as pre-test so as to assess their improvement after the intervention of PBL After that, the questionnaire was given to 84 students to collect their attitudes towards the importance and usefulness of PBL on their studying

2.5 Data analysis

With scores gained by participants (sophomores at SFL-TNU) from oral performance pre-test as well as their performance recorded in the observation sheet, the researcher analyzed, categorized and drew conclusion about those students’ real English speaking competence with remarkable strengths and existing weaknesses Afterwards, post-test results were also gathered so as to make comparison between students’ improvement after working with P L

To know the ability of students in pre-test and post-test, the researcher firstly computed the individual score by using formula recommended by Arikunto (2006):

M =

Where: M: Mean score

: Total marks of students

n: Number of students

For responses which have already been gathered from the questionnaire, the researcher calculated and analyzed statistics objectively by showing the average score for each item Particularly, each element was given a certain point corresponding with level of importance or difficulty

2.6 Summary

This chapter has provided a detailed description of the methodology employed

in this study In addition, restated research questions, subjects, data collection procedure and data analysis procedure have been covered The results and the interpretations of the data analysis will be reported in the next chapter

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In the previous chapter, the methodology of conducting this current study has been mentioned The fourth chapter is intended to expose all findings got from the process of analyzing data and discussion around the actual results of the research In other words, several findings and discussion will be presented clearly in this section

3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Research question 1: “How important is applying PBL integration in the

curricula to English learning process of students at SFL?”

3.1.1.1 Students’ typical difficulties when learning English

Question 4 in the pupils’ questionnaire was intended to explore what challenges they had to face up with when learning 4 basic language skills, especially speaking skill Among the listed elements, the majority of the class attendants got troubles with the following factors At first, “Having an informative and persuasive presentation about the chose topic” was their primary problem They said that delivering an informative speech was not easy; however, making it convincing was even harder To meet the demand, they must have large knowledge in various areas together with qualified presentation skills Next, many pupils got stuck in

“Completing a speaking task with right use of vocabulary and structures” Obviously, speaking is never simple and it requires learners to possess a great deal

of words and structures Sometimes, they could express what they meant but the words used were inappropriate Lastly, “Communicating with foreigners confidently” made them embarrassed lthough they had been equipped with common tips in communication, they found it challenging to have a natural conversation with native speakers The reason was that Vietnamese students had a few chances to meet and talk to foreigners directly, so they felt shy and ashamed to express themselves in front of strange people Moreover, they admitted that their pronunciation and ability of problem-solving were not skillful enough to deliver a fluent speech with foreign people

3.1.1.2 Students’ perception of PBL integration’s importance

According to the results got from the questionnaire, it could be concluded that almost all students agreed that PBL integration in the curricula at SFL – TNU was extremely important Of all the participants, 87 percent of them claimed that PBL was “Very important” The rest people (13 percent) considered it as an “important” method More remarkably, none said that it was “not important” Therefore, subjects around projects were regarded as a positive solution to reduce and solve problems encountered by learners when studying English

3.1.1.3 Students’ benefits getting from PBL integration

Generally speaking, PBL integration in the curricula brought students at SFL – TNU a lot of advantages in the recent years Subjects around projects could be considered as positive approaches which improved studying qualification The designed questionnaire gathered sophomore’s viewpoints about benefits of P L application into their speaking ability and it could be reflected in the following table:

Making students more flexible by letting them take

different roles (manager, monitor, researcher,

employee, etc.)

Increasing students’ confidence and communicating

skills

Noted: 3.6 – 4: Strongly Agree; 2.6 – 3.5: Agree; 1.6 – 2.5: Disagree; 1 – 1.5: Strongly Disagree

Table 3.1 Students’ opinions about benefits of PBL

ccording to the table, it is clearly that “Developing integrated language skills, especially speaking competence” had the highest average score (3.7) among the indicated factors eing at the second rank was 4 items: “Improving critical thinking and problem-solving competence”, “Making students more flexible by letting them take different roles”, “Increasing students’ confidence and communicating skills”, and “Having good chances to experience real-world situations” with the S of 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 respectively The lowest S (2.5) belonged to “Promoting independent and co-operative working skills”

3.1.2 Research question 2: “To what extent can PBL facilitate students’

speaking competence?”

3.1.2.1 Data collected from the pre-test

According to the pre-test results, the students’ mark in the class were divided into 5 major groups: excellent group (mark 9), good group (mark 8), fair to good group (mark 7), fair group (mark 5 to 6), and very poor group (mark 2, 3, and 4)

Table 3 2 Pre-test scores

The table showed that among all participants, no one achieved excellent marks (9-10) Being at the second rank, 8 students (9.5%) got mark 8 Meanwhile, the

number of students having mark 7 (16 students) was twice as much as those in the previous sub-group In contrast, 47 was the number of those who got mark 5 to 6 which belonged to fair level That means most participating students were currently

at average proficiency Finally, the remaining number of students who got very poor and inadequate marks was 13 which accounted for 15.5 percent The total marks of the pre-test were 478 and the average score of the class was 5.69

Number of errors on discourse management and

Table 3 3 Number of errors per error type occurred in pre-test

It is obviously that the table indicated the most common mistakes belonged to language use group with the statistic of 195 Besides, the was not much difference between the errors of pronunciation (106) and errors of intonation and stress (105) Discourse management and interaction ranked the third which were 57 errors It seemed that students had the least difficulties in speaking fluently with 29 errors during the oral test The total errors of all types were 492

ccording to the students’ pre-test core, the highest score was 8 and the lowest was 2 After getting the total score of the students, the researcher computed the students’ mean score by using the following formula:

Those data revealed that students needed to be helped in eliminating and narrowing down errors like language use, pronunciation, stress-intonation, and discourse management as well as interaction

478

84