Integrating language and work skills through project based learning a case of english for tourism

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND WORK SKILLS THRO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND WORK SKILLS

THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING – A CASE OF ENGLISH FOR TOURISM

(KẾT HỢP DẠY NGÔN NGỮ VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN THÔNG QUA HÌNH THỨC HỌC TẬP SỬ DỤNG CÁC BÀI TẬP LỚN – ÁP DỤNG

TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology

Code: 601410

HANOI, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THỊ MINH PHƯƠNG

INTEGRATING LANGUAGE AND WORK SKILLS THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING – A CASE OF ENGLISH FOR TOURISM

(KẾT HỢP DẠY NGÔN NGỮ VÀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHỀ NGHIỆP CHO SINH VIÊN THÔNG QUA HÌNH THỨC HỌC TẬP SỬ DỤNG CÁC BÀI TẬP LỚN – ÁP DỤNG

TRONG GIẢNG DẠY TIẾNG ANH DU LỊCH)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng, M.A

HANOI, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

KNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

Part I INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significant of the study 3

5 Method of the study 3

6 Organization of the study 3

Part II DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 An overview of ESP 5

1.1.1 Definition of ESP 5

1.1.2 Essential issues in teaching ESP 6

1.1.2.1 Needs analysis 6

1.1.2.2 Methodology for teaching ESP 7

1.2 The teaching and learning of English for Tourism as an ESP 8

1.2.1 English for Tourism as an ESP 8

1.2.2 Challenges in teaching English for Tourism 9

1.2.3 Towards an appropriate syllabus for English for Tourism 10

1.3 Project-based approach and the learning and teaching of EfT 11

1.3.1 An overview of PBL 11

1.3.1.1 What is a project? 11

1.3.1.2 What is PBL? 11

1.3.1.3 Merits and challenges of PBL 12

1.3.2 PBL approach and the ESP classroom 13

1.3.2.1 Rationale for implementing PBL in the ESP classroom 13

1.3.2.2 Process of project work 15

1.4 Summary 16

Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17

2.1 Background of the study 17

2.1.1 The course 18

2.1.2 The students 18

2.1.3 The teacher 18

2.2 Research questions 18

2.3 Research approach 19

2.4 Participants 19

2.5 Instrument 19

2.6 Procedure of data collection 20

2.7 Data analysis procedure 20

2.8 Summary 21

Chapter 3: THE PRACTICAL STUDY 22

3.1 Preliminary investigation 22

3.1.1 Data presentation of the preliminary questionnaires 22

3.1.2 Findings 26

3.2 Intervention 27

3.2.1 The design and aims of the travel guide project 27

3.2.2 Procedure of the project 28

3.3 Evaluation 29

3.3.1 Data presentation of the evaluation questionnaires 29

3.3.2 Findings 33

Chapter 4: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS 35

4.1 Research question 1 35

4.2 Research question 2 36

4.3 Research question 3 38

4.4 Summary 40

Part III CONCLUSION 41

1 Conclusion 41

2 Recommendations 41

3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 42

REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

GE: General English

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

PBL: Project-based Learning

HTTC: Hanoi Teacher Training College

EfT: English for Tourism

Part I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

From early 1960s, ESP, or English for Specific Purposes, has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today and gained a well-established position as a component of applied linguistics research (Dudley-Evans & St Johns, 1998) As the word

“specific” suggests, the nature of ESP is different from that of general English in a sense that ESP learners learn English for a certain professional or occupational purpose Therefore, teaching/learning ESP includes much more than the teaching of English through specific materials and content In fact, it combines the development of linguistic skills together with the acquisition of specific information Consequently, to ensure the success of ESP learning, the materials should be wisely selected and adapted and learning activities should be carefully designed, and more importantly, an appropriate teaching method should be adopted

With regard to language learning approaches and methods, the concept of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) have been developed and adopted by a number of scholars since 1970s Closely allied to CLT are a number of concepts which reflect certain types of learning and teaching such as interactive learning, learner-centred instruction, task-based learning, content-based learning, and cooperative learning (Brown, 2001) These variations of CLT prove effective in many contexts as students can not only learn the language but also develop certain

personal and social skills through learning Also originated from these learning types,

Project-based Learning is a “flexible methodology allowing multiple skills to be developed in an integrated, meaningful, on-going activity” As Thomas J W (2000) summarizes, research on PBL have shown clearly the benefits of PBL: (i) gains in student achievement, (ii)gains in students’ problem-solving capabilities, (iii) gains in students’ understanding of the subject matter, and (iv) gains in understanding relating to specific skills and strategies introduced in the project Given these merits and the nature of ESP, PBL will be an ideal choice for ESP teaching

and learning

In the recent years, the ESP movement in Vietnam has been rapidly developing due to the existence of diverse needs of the learners Currently, all university students must learn the ESP that suits their learning branches For example, students at economics universities have to learn English for commerce, while students from the Information Technology universities have to learn English for IT However, a lot of questions have been raised over the quality of ESP teaching and learning at university as many students studying ESP show quite poor performance

on four language skills and a lot of graduates can not use ESP in their work This results in an unsolved problems that ESP teachers are encountering: How to design appropriate syllabus and authentic learning activities to enhance ESP learning?

English for Tourism is a new ESP for a relatively new course in Hanoi Teacher Training College, thus it is not surprising that both the administrators and the teachers are experiencing some teething pains In search of an effective teaching method, the researcher of this study, also

as a teacher of this subject, has formed a hypothesis that: “Project-based learning would help students not only learn the language but also develop their future work skills” and this is the

reason why this study is carried out

2 Aims and objectives

As mentioned in the rationale, the study is aimed at exploring the benefit of project-based learning in the teaching and learning of English for Tourism: whether or not this learning activity would allow teachers to integrate language and students‟ work skills in their teaching The objective of the study is to work out the answers to the following research questions:

 What are the benefits of project work in learning EfT, as perceived by the teachers and the students involved?

 How can work skills be integrated in the syllabus for EfT at the department of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Teacher Training College, by means of PBL method?

 What are the suggestions for effective project work in learning EfT, as recommended

by the teachers and students involved?

3 Scope of the study

Due to time constraint as well as the author‟s ability and working conditions, the study is limited to the following extents:

3.2 Form of project-based learning method:

PBL can have numerous variations in practice but the one studied in this thesis is group investigation and presentation

3.3 Work skills:

Working in the tourism industry calls for a great number of skills However, in this study, only some most typical soft skills such as presenting, communicating, problem-solving and group work skills, etc, are mentioned

4 Significance of the study

The research, first of all, would enable the teaching staff at English Department, HTTC to grasp the real situation of their students‟ language competence and needs in learning EfT With such a deep insight, they would be able to evaluate their current teaching method and thus make necessary changes to improve the effectiveness of the teaching and learning of this subject Moreover, if successful, the study would prove that PBL is a suitable and effective method and it would be introduced to other teachers at the college Hopefully, PBL would be adopted and implemented at larger scales with the purpose of developing students‟ future work skills

5 Method of the study

This is a qualitative action research carried out in the researcher‟s own class at HTTC, Hanoi The data was collected from preliminary questionnaire and evaluation questionnaire for students, semi-structured interview with another teacher from EfT team and the teacher’s notes and diary Data for the study was collected in the first term of the school year 2009 – 2010 and

then analysed by means of descriptive statistic devices and content analysis method Hopefully, with the combination of these instruments, the study would yield reliable findings

6 Organisation of the thesis

The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction which provides an overview of the study, Development which is the main part and consists of 4 chapters, and Conclusion which

includes summary of the study, implication, limitations and suggestions for further study

Four chapters in the main part are as follows:

1 Chapter 1: Literature review

In this chapter, various research on English for Specific Purposes in general and English for Tourism in particular, as well as Project-based Learning approach is reviewed to provide the theoretical background for the study

2 Chapter 2: Research methodology

The methods and procedures of the study such as participant selection, data collection methods, data analysis methods, etc, are presented in detail in this chapter

3 Chapter 3: The practical study

Under this heading, the main stages of the study: Preliminary investigation, Intervention, Evaluation are presented

4 Chapter 4: Discussion of the findings

In this chapter, the findings from the evaluation questionnaires, the teacher‟s reflection and teacher interview will be integrated and discussed so as to find out the answer to the research questions

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will briefly present a theoretical background of the study which includes an overview of English for Specific Purposes, the teaching and learning of English for Tourism as

an ESP, and an overview of Project-based Learning approach

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) see ESP as an approach rather than a product In this sense, ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology This

suggests that „the foundation of any ESP course, undoubtedly, is based on learner needs or the simple question: why does the learner need to learn a foreign language?‟ (pp 18-19) The

answer to this question has raised the importance of needs analysis in ESP teaching and ESP is

then an approach to language teaching in which “all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason for learning.” (p 19)

Strevens (1988) proposes a definition of ESP which makes a distinction between four absolute characteristics and two variable characteristics He thinks that ESP consists of English Language Teaching which possesses some certain absolute characteristics and variable characteristics Likewise, being aware of the current confusion among the ESP community, Dudley-Evans (1997) proposes an extended definition in terms of absolutes and variable characteristics by improving Strevens‟ definition substantially

On the whole, each of these definitions has both validity and weaknesses; thus it would be hard to find a satisfactory definition of ESP However, in general, most of these authors have come to an agreement that an ESP course would have the following features:

1 It is purposeful and aimed at the successful performance of occupational or educational roles by an individual or a group

2 It is based on an analysis of the students‟ needs and is tailor-made to meet these needs

3 It may differ from another language course in its selection of skills, themes, topics, situations, functions, language and methodology

1.1.2 Essential issues in teaching ESP

1.1.2.1 Needs analysis

The five key stages in ESP teaching include needs analysis, course (and syllabus) design, materials selection (and evaluation), teaching and learning, and evaluation Among these, needs analysis is the very first and perhaps the decisive factor in the success of any ESP courses

According to Johns, while teaching ESP, “all language teaching must be designed for the specific learning and language use purposes of identified groups of students.”(Johns, 1991,

p.67) Teaching ESP is therefore determined by different - professional/ occupational, social and other - needs of the learners In Nunan‟s view, needs analysis is the initial process for the specification of behavioral objectives It is from these objectives that detailed aspects of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures are derived Dudley-Evans and St John

believe that it is the “corner stone of ESP and leads to a very focused course” (p.122) Likewise,

in a definition of ESP course, Hutchinson and Water (1987) state that ESP is an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners Richards (1984) also points out the significance of NA as follows:

“Needs analysis serves three main purposes: it provides a means of obtaining wider input into the content, design and implementation of a language program; it can be used in developing goals, objectives and content; and it can provide data for reviewing and evaluating an existing program.” (p.5)

Dudley-Evans and St John in their “Development in ESP” (1998) suggest that needs analysis can be done through a variety of means such as pre-course information questionnaires, structured interviews, observation, analysis of authentic texts, discussion, and record-keeping These suggested methods have their own strengths and weaknesses but if utilized appropriately, they can provide useful and reliable data for the process of needs analysis Hopefully, with a smooth beginning, the whole ESP course will run successfully

1.1.2.2 Methodology for teaching ESP

With respect to methodology for teaching ESP, it still remains a controversy as there are different, even quite contradictory, arguments about this In fact, it is not easy to offer a specific methodology for ESP teaching and thus a number of different arguments are generated

Martin (1992) considers task as the basic unit of ESP curriculum and methodological organisation In his view, tasks are the purposive activities within situations which “involve people undertaking communication work for a purpose” (p.189) Task may range from simple,

brief accuracy-focused language exercises to complex, lengthy simulation activities such as group problem-solving or decision-making (Breen, 1987) Therefore, tasks can be very useful in language learning It can‟t be denied that the idea generated by Martin could be really valuable

to ESP teachers in the sense that in ESP classrooms, tasks can be devised and used as an efficient tool to promote learning

Another aspect of teaching methodology that is also commonly touched upon by linguists is

the combination of language and content in ESP teaching Generally, the ESP teacher has a

good knowledge and command of how language is used in different situations but is not an

“expert” in the students‟ specialist field Brennan M and Naerssen M in “Language and content

in ESP” (1989) highlight the importance of combining language and content in ESP teaching and suggest a solution that ESP teachers should coordinate closely with the content teachers through both formal and informal channels of communication Similarly, Coleman in his

“English teachers should attend” (Issues in ESP: p.x) focuses in particular on the question of

establishing the necessary degree of cooperation with the content teacher for whose instruction the ESP course is a preparation

In summary, the discussion of some linguists‟ arguments about ESP teaching methodology can be of great help in guiding the ESP teachers to choose an appropriate method for their own

teaching context Two important points that ESP teachers should bear in mind are: the combination of language and content in teaching and the use of various tasks of different levels

of difficulty especially those that reflect the learners‟ specialist world These ideas are quite

clearly reflected in course book design as it can be noticed that most ESP course books are designed under such approaches as content-based, task-based, situational, or the combination of these approaches

In practice, what classroom tasks or activities should be employed to promote ESP learning, and content/subject learning in particular? Dudley-Evans and St John suggest two particular examples of subject learning approaches that have been adopted in ESP situations: case study and project work These authors point out the main difference between case study and project work: in the former, the resource materials which generate language and skills development are often given to students while in the latter students have to do this by themselves Thus, in a

project “the degree of involvement and ownership is much higher” (p 195) and obviously,

“project work can be very rewarding” (p.195) The issue of project work and its use in language

teaching will be dealt with in details in later parts of the thesis

1.2 The teaching and learning of English for Tourism as an ESP

1.2.1 English for Tourism as an ESP

ESP is often divided into EAP (English for Academic Purposes) and EOP (English for Occupational Purposes) Further sub-divisions of EOP are sometimes made into business English, professional English (e.g English for doctors, lawyers) and vocational English (e.g English for tourism, nursing, aviation, etc) At the early development stage, ESP generally referred to EAP Recently, English has become really necessary to obtain a job, get promoted and perform effectively in the world of work Accordingly, this demand has generated the incursion of a new linguistic branch within the field of ESP, namely, English for Occupational

Purposes or EOP (Dominguez & Rokowski, 2005) EOP can be defined as “the portion of the curriculum which prepares students for gainful employment in occupations ranging from low- skilled to sophisticated jobs in technical fields” (Anthony, 1997, p.56)

Among the many vocational and professional areas that go to make up the world of English for Specific Purposes, or more specifically EOP, English for Tourism must surely be one of the most attractive since all of us are tourists on countless occasions throughout our lives In other words, tourism is a popular and familiar field in people‟s daily life Therefore, EfT is somewhat different from other ESP branches in a way that the type of English used in this field is not too

“specific” In English teaching, EfT teachers can bring their own real experience and opinions to

the language classroom

In the field of English for Tourism, there have been a few studies mostly focusing on the analysis of the required skills and needs in workplace, adequacy and appropriateness of instructional materials and strategies, and involvement of students in the procedure of syllabus design However, as regard the teaching of EfT as an ESP, it seems that little has been done to work out an effective approach to enhance the development of EfT students‟ future work skills This research, in an attempt to try out a solution to improving the teaching and learning of EfT, will focus on supplementary activities for EfT learning Before that goal can be achieved, a thorough analysis of problems in teaching this subject should be done

1.2.2 Challenges in teaching English for Tourism

The first challenge that EfT teacher often face is the lack of background knowledge about tourism industry Most teachers of English for Tourism have little, if not no, knowledge about

travel and hotel industry, nor do they have experience of working in this field This is understandable as most of them are just the General English teachers who have to shift to the role of an ESP teacher This causes great difficulties for them when getting accustomed with the terms or specific notions in the field For example, even though the teachers have to work with students on facilities in a five-star hotel, many have never been in such hotels and enjoyed such facilities Therefore, they cannot even tell the differences between a suite and a luxurious room

To overcome this challenge, some specialists have suggested that there should be some kind of cooperation between ESP teachers, or EfT teachers, and the content/subject teachers or even the tourism companies (Afzali K (2009) ; Cubo B N (2008)) Yet in reality, few EfT teachers have time to do so and even when they try that, it appears ineffective

The second drawback in teaching EfT is limited access to appropriate published teaching materials Though, at first glance, the materials appear quite abundant and could cover the

complexities in nature of the field However, upon carefully investigating the materials, it turns out that the available material can only cater for the needs of training courses aimed at those already employed in the sector For those who teach English in one of the numerous tertiary education establishments offering an initial qualification of a broader nature, the published course books may soon prove to be of only limited value The reason is that most of those are too job-specific; thus, they reduce ESP to a specialised foreign language phrase book (Walker R., p.19) Furthermore, with regard to linguistic features, most books are designed at elementary

level while students nowadays often enter university with quite a high level of English proficiency Therefore, the use of these books can be highly demotivating for the tertiary students especially the more serious ones

The last difficulty is inappropriate approach in course book design in most publications

on Tourism This limitation, to some extents, is connected with the second one in the sense that

most published materials are of little value for tertiary students Most are written under a single

functional approach, which seems to be mostly helpful to the vocational workers such as a

receptionist, a waiter, or a tour guide who need the minimum language needed to survive in a first job or on industrial placement In fact, students of tourism need more than just the common expressions employed in the field; they need to widen their background knowledge about wider

issues of tourism; get to know about “the genres and discourse patterns used in the targeted professional settings” (Cubo N.B, p 287); and develop their learning as well as future work

skills Just like any other ESP branches, EfT requires an integrated syllabus which can help students to develop multiple skills

1.2.3 Towards an appropriate syllabus for English for Tourism

In “Development of students‟ English for Special Purposes Competence in Tourism Studies

at Tertiary Level” by Luka I (n.d), a thorough analysis of theoretical literature concerning different syllabus types, their advantages and disadvantages was done in order to choose the most appropriate syllabus for an ESP course for tourism students A conclusion was drawn out

that the integrated syllabus should be designed Topical syllabus was chosen as the leading

syllabus and situational, task-based and process syllabus was used as the supplementary ones The use of topical and situational syllabus ensures its content correspondence to the requirements of the tourism industry The elements of the task-based syllabus help to develop students‟ communication skills, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, but the elements of process syllabus enable its innovative approach as the content teaching-leaning methods and teaching aids are selected in cooperation between students and an educator (pp 3-4)

1.3 Project-based approach and the teaching and learning of English for Tourism 1.3.1 An overview of PBL

1.3.1.1 What is a project?

Numerous authors have approached the definition of project by identifying the features and structure of project work

Carter and Thomas (1986, p 196) characterized project work with three features referring to

the venue, the inter-disciplined characteristics and students‟ autonomy: i) it takes place outside the classroom; ii) is cross-curricular and; iii) allows learners to set their own targets as they proceed

Thomas (2000) cited Jones, Rasmussen, & Moffitt (1997) and Thomas, Mergendoller, & Michaelson, (1999) to provide a definition of projects:

“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 relatively autonomously over extended periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations” (p.1)

From these definitions, it can be concluded that projects have two essential components: a

driving question or problem that serves to organize and drive activities and culminating product(s) or multiple representations as a series of artifacts, personal communication or

consequential task that meaningfully addresses the driving question (Brown & Campione, 1994)

1.3.1.2 What is Project-based Learning (PBL) approach?

A number of definitions of PBL can be found in literature According to Harris & Katz (2001), project-based learning is an instructional method centered on the learners Instead of using a rigid lesson plan that directs a learner down a specific path of learning outcomes or objectives, PBL allows in-depth investigation of a topic worth learning more about Bransford & Stein (1993) see PBL as a comprehensive instructional approach to engage students in sustained,

cooperative investigation Donna, M & Duzer, V C (1998) defined PBL as “an instructional approach that contextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products

to develop” (p.1) Accordingly, the essential feature of project-based approach is a tangible

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

Rooted in constructivism, constructionism and cooperative/collaborative learning, based learning has very strong theoretical support for successful achievement However, it is also very important to note that PBL is not a pure constructivist model but a combination of

project-multiple methods of instruction 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

1.3.1.3 Merits and challenges of PBL

 Autonomous learning is promoted as learners become more responsible for their learning

 There are learning outcomes - the ends of the projects are tangible and this can add more motivation to students‟ learning

 The tasks are authentic and therefore, students‟ learning is connected with real world activities

 Interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group

 Content and methodology can be decided and negotiated between learners and the teacher

so learning is more learner-centered

 A break from routine

 A context is established which balances the need for fluency and accuracy

(Adapted from Haines, 1989)

* Challenges of PBL

Though PBL is considered a profitable learning strategy, its implementation faces several challenges as projects are complex endeavors involving many different activities In fact, there

still exists a lot of criticism concerning the successful use of project-based instruction Beckett

G H & Slater T point out that according to Eyring (1989)‟s study, the students from the project

class appeared to be “dissatisfied with the project approach to teaching ESL because they did not think that these tasks were worthwhile pursuits in ESL classes” (p 109) A similar finding

was also uncovered in Beckett (1999) and Moulton and Holmes (2000) The reasons for student dissatisfaction with the PBL are quite complex, reflecting potentially different philosophical, cultural and linguistic beliefs held by the teacher and the students

As for the students, a number of difficulties have been reported in Thomas (2000) The first

and most prevalent challenge is their lack of necessary skills to conduct a scientific study such as

initiating inquiry or generating meaningful research questions, managing complexity and time, analyzing data and developing a logical argument to support claims Another challenge to

students is access to technology and needed materials and the last difficulty pointed out by those studies reviewed in Thomas (2000) is ineffective groupwork, or the failure to work

collaboratively with other members in their groups

The teachers, likewise, encounter a number of difficulties during the implementation of the

project method which are described quite clearly in Marx et al (1997) These include time allocation, classroom management, balance of control, support of student learning, technology use, and assessment Obviously, projects are often long-term activities and they may take longer

than anticipated and classroom management will become much more complicated In addition, the PBL method places emphasis on enhancing students‟ autonomy in making their own decisions; therefore, it can also be high-risk in maintaining control of the class Teachers must

be able to decide how much, when, and where they should control over students‟ learning Furthermore, given the complex nature of project work, designing methods of assessment isn‟t

an easy task

In brief, designing a PBL course is such a highly demanding pedagogical task and challenges are unavoidable for both teachers and students However, as long as the teacher makes careful planning and is flexible in his/her teaching, project work can bring learners challenging but exciting and meaningful experience

1.3.2 PBL approach and the ESP classroom

1.3.2.1 Rationale for implementing PBL approach in ESP classroom

Since the mid-seventies, as ELT has espoused principles of learner-centered teaching, learner autonomy, the negotiated syllabus, collaborative learning, and task-based learning, English language educators have explored and exploited the tradition of project work and it is now part of the curriculum in many contexts Numerous advantages of using project work in the English language classroom are well-documented in literature Fried-Booth (1997) feels that project work within ELT has gained currency in recent years as a way of encouraging students

to use “real life” language in authentic situations Zakari K in his article “Incorporating project

work into the classroom” points out some advantages of using project work in an ELT classroom as follows:

 Motivation is increased

 All four skills are integrated

 Autonomous learning is promoted

 Tasks and language input are authentic

 Interpersonal relations are developed

 Content and methodology are negotiated

Fried-Booth in her “Project work” also describes in details the “layer approach” to show that “project work can provide a useful way of integrating the four skills” (Fried-Booth, 1986,

p.8) She explains that however long or short the project may be, it will pass through certain stages of development, each of which involves some or even the combination of all language skills The initial stages of the project, for example, may provide learners with an opportunity to develop speaking and listening skills rather than reading and writing However, once the project

is under way, the learners will use all four skills simultaneously She also points out that project

work helps to “bridge the gap between language study and language use” (p.7) Therefore, it

can be a valuable means of extending the communicative skills acquired in the classroom

Beckett G H and Slater T in their article “The Project Framework: a tool for language,

content, and skills integration” believe that “project-based instruction is a valuable way to promote the simultaneous acquisition of language, content, and skills” (ELT Journal Vol 59/2

April 2005: 108) They even introduce a methodological tool called “the Project Framework” which is influenced by Mohan‟s Knowledge Framework (Mohan: 1986) with the purpose of showing students the language, content and skill development occurring through project work

In the previous parts of the thesis, it has been pointed out that an ESP course requires a methodology that allows the combination of language, subject matter, and communicative skills necessary for the learners‟ specialist field Obviously, taking a constructivist point of view, project work should be incorporated into the ESP class in general and EfT class in particular

However, teachers should bear in mind that project work is not a “replacement for other teaching methods” but rather “an approach to learning which complements mainstream methods and which can be used with almost all levels, ages and abilities of students” (Haines,

1989, p.47)

1.3.2.2 Process of project work

Project work is multi-staged and the division of stages may vary from researcher to researcher Stoller (2002) divides the process of project work development into five stages:

Selection of topic and idea generation, organisation of ideas and identification of areas of enquiry; research and information gathering; compilation and analysis of information; publication, presentation and evaluation of project Hedge (1998) gives very clear guidance on how to carry out a practical project which include six stages: orientation; preparation and planning; implementation; collation; presentation; and reflection Within the context of English

language teaching, I take Diana Curtis‟ view which divides the project into three phases: orientation and planning; research and implementation; sharing results

Phase 1: Orientation and planning

According to Curtis (2001), this phase involves initial discussion of a topic in certain groups All students are involved by brainstorming, sharing ideas related to the topic, making the final decision During this phase, new issues and topics that are appropriate for language learning may arouse (Moss & Van Duzer, 1998) and it is these ideas that help them to study the language better Gallacher (n.d) proposes some guidelines that teachers can use to help their students work out their plan:

 What they want to include in the project

 What form it will take

 Who will be responsible for what

 An idea of the time it will take to introduce each part of the project

 Any material or resources they might need

Phase 2: Research and implementation

After making the final decision on the project topic and working out a plan for the project, students move on to the next phase This phase involves mostly such activities as research, fieldwork, sessions with experts and various aspects of gathering information, reading, writing, drawing, and computing (Curtis, 2001) This is an important stage for language learning and skill development as various skills will be needed for the completion of the project Although students work mostly on their own or in their group, the teacher must be aware of and perform their role as an instructor, a consultant, a facilitator, and even a group member He/She must decide on when, where and how much he/she should support the students This support, in Moss and Van Duzer‟ s view, may take the form of language structures and skills, problem-solving strategies, and methods for developing plans (Moss and Van Duzer, 1998)

Phase 3: Sharing results

This is the final phase occurring when students have accomplished their project and it can be

in the form of group presentation or disseminating the results in the larger community (Moss

and Van Duzer, 1998) Hedge (1998) uses other terms, presentation and reflection, and makes a

clear distinction between these two ways of sharing results Students will „listen‟ to others presenting in the former and „read‟ other writing in the latter However, these authors and some others such as Curtis (2001), Gallacher (n.d) share a belief 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, can improve their presentation skills and, by attending other groups‟ presentation, can learn a lot from others

The teacher, again, plays an important role as it is he who will make a summary and comment on the presentation By doing so, he 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

1.4 Summary

This chapter has highlighted the key issues in teaching ESP and EfT as well as project-based learning approach The literature review shows that PBL, having quite a lot of potential benefits, can be an effective approach in teaching ESP in general, and in teaching EfT in particular A thorough review of the benefits of PBL also strongly supports the hypothesis that project work

could be utilized in teaching EfT as a tool to facilitate language learning and develop students‟ work skills With this theoretical background, it is hoped that the study would yield satisfactory results

Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents a detailed description of how the research was carried out including the background of the study and the methods and procedures of the study

2.1 Background of the study

2.1.1 The course

English for Business and Tourism is a newly-born course at Hanoi Teacher Training College, a reputational teacher training institution in Hanoi as well as nation-wide The course came into being in the school-year 2007 – 2008 with the objective of equipping students with the most basic knowledge of business matters and hospitality industry through the medium of English Students attending this course must specialize in two major subjects throughout the whole course (6 semesters): English for Business and English for Tourism

With regard to the course book, some books have been utilized such as “Be My Guests”,

“High Season”, “English for International Tourism”, among which the last one is used as the

main course book “English for International Tourism”, published by Pearson Longman Press, is

a multi-level series of course book for students who need English for professional communication within the hotel and tourism industry In the previous year, a thorough analysis

of the course book was done by the teaching staff and it has been concluded that this book can

be adopted but adaptation must be made to some tasks/activities and supplementary materials and learning activities should be added

2.1.2 The students

There are two most remarkable characteristics of the students who are attending the English for Business and Tourism course: their English ability and their learning conditions and motivation To begin with, those students‟ English level is, on average, not very high even though English is their main subject when preparing for the entrance examination Most of them attend this course because they did not pass the entrance examination into university and this is the reason why some students are not highly motivated Some others may not concentrate on their study since they are also preparing for the next year entrance examination

However, these learners also possess some certain favorable conditions for learning Most of them are from Hanoi city where access to high quality education, the internet as well as other modern facilities is not a problem Most are quite active and appear to be easily fascinated by the attraction of new knowledge about the different places and cultures, especially if assisted with the computer and internet tools Therefore, they are likely to be more motivated and make progress if the teachers know how to design and implement appropriate learning activities

2.1.3 The teachers

Hanoi Teacher Training College is small-sized so the number of teaching staff of the college, and of the department in particular, is not very big There are only about 18 teachers in the Foreign Language Department so some teachers must be responsible for lots of specialized subjects in English For this new subject, English for Tourism, only two teachers, including the researcher of this study, are in charge of making the program, selecting the course book, and teaching the students None of them have ever taught ESP before and this is perhaps the first time they have been exposed to the use of English in tourism and hospitality industry It can be said that they are taking on quite a hard task

However, both teachers possess some certain strengths to fulfill their task successfully First, they are quite young and they were even classmates when they studied at the college Therefore, they are getting on quite well and perhaps cooperating to work out a solution for the course is not a big problem for these two teachers Furthermore, both are in favor of communicative teaching approach and quite active and flexible in designing and selecting teaching materials In the previous year, the researcher herself asked her students of another class to do some sort of group investigation and presentation with wall posters The experiment resulted in both benefits and problems She then discussed with her colleague and they decided to continue to use project work in the next school year, but with some modification and improvement It is hoped that with these efforts, the teachers can successfully utilize project work as a tool to promote EfT learning

2.2 Research questions

Upon analyzing the context and carrying out the literature review, three research questions arose:

 What are the benefits of project work in learning EfT, as perceived by the teachers and the students involved?

 How can work skills be integrated in the syllabus for EfT at the department of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Teacher Training College, by means of PBL method?

 What are the suggestions for effective project work in learning EfT as recommended

by the teacher and students involved?

2.3 Research approach:

The study is carried out under the approach of action research as this is more of an approach

to problem-solving, rather than a single method for collecting and analyzing data This strategy can 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

The action research cycle, as suggested by Nunan (1992), consists of seven steps, namely

initiation, preliminary investigation, development of research questions, intervention, evaluation, dissemination, and follow-up The study strictly follows the general steps of an

action research and the main steps will be dealt with in chapter three

2.4 Participants

The subjects of the study are 32 second-year students from Class 2B, Department of Foreign Languages, HTTC Most of them come from Hanoi; the rest from some provinces around this city Their level of proficiency in English can be roughly attributed to Pre-intermediate

The study also involves another teacher in English for Tourism team She has been teaching this subject for 2 years This teacher, along with the researcher, is making an attempt to find out

an effective teaching method to enhance students‟ learning as well as their motivation in learning this subject

2.5 Instruments

In order to get sufficient data for the study, a number of methods were employed:

* Questionnaires: This “vital tool in the collection of data” (Gajendra, 1999, p.117) seems to

be the easiest and most effective method for collecting data from students Two sets of questionnaires were designed: preliminary questionnaires which serve the purpose of needs

analysis, and evaluation questionnaires which help to reveal whether the method utilized throughout the semester is effective or not

* Interviews: In Kvale‟s view, qualitative interviews are “attempts to understand the world from the subjects’ point of view” (Kvale, cited in Gajendra, 1999, p.50) This is the reason why

they were chosen as the second instrument for the research The interview was structured and conducted with the teacher from English for Tourism team and followed by informal discussions

to further elaborate on the matter The purposes of this interview and discussion are (i) to explore the teacher’ attitudes towards and habit in implementing PBL in teaching English for Tourism, (ii) to reveal the difficulties that she encounters in her teaching and (iii) to get some recommendations on how to carry out tourism projects successfully

* Teacher’s notes and diary: Data was also collected by means of the researcher‟s notes and

diary during the implementation of the project The aim of this activity is to see the changes in the students‟ behaviors and attitudes in the classroom Clearly, this method will help the researcher to validate the findings she gets by means of the two above-mentioned instruments

In short, with the combination of these methods, it was expected that the researcher would

have “deeper understanding” and “broader perspective” of the information (Mertens, 2005,

p.21) so as to get more reliable results

2.6 Procedure of data collection

The process of data collection was carried out during the first semester of the school year 2009-2010

At the beginning of the semester, the preliminary questionnaires were delivered to the students of K2B The researcher, and also the teacher in charge of this class, had a friendly talk with the students about her study and asked them to help her with the data Students were instructed carefully on how to complete the questionnaires and explanations were given when necessary The results were then analysed and students‟ English competence, their experience and preference in PBL were revealed

After that, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the teacher and during the semester, the researcher constantly had friendly chats with or emails to her colleague for further information and recommendations A careful record of students‟ changes in their attitude and behaviors is also kept

At the end of the semester, when the tourism projects were completed, another set of questionnaires was delivered to students Based on the findings from the questionnaires and her notes and diary, the researcher came to a conclusion about the effectiveness of PBL application

in the teaching of English for Tourism Recommendations were also made to facilitate future study on this topic

2.7 Data analysis procedure

The data collected was analysed in different procedures:

 For the questionnaires: data was processed by means of descriptive statistical analysis

 For the teacher‟s notes and diary: a narrative reflection was written basing on these notes that the researcher has made throughout the implementation of the project

 For the interviews: A transcript was done and relevant information was integrated into sub-topics of the paper

2.8 Summary

In summary, chapter 2 has provided the most basic information about the study which has also been explained and justified properly The background of the study gives impetus to the researcher‟s decision of carrying out the study The action research approach is adopted, given the nature of the study The other parts of this chapter help clarify other aspects of the study such as participants, data collection instruments and procedure and data analysis methods

Chapter 3: THE PRACTICAL STUDY

In this chapter, the main stages of this action research will be presented under the following headings: Preliminary investigation (preliminary questionnaire), Intervention (the

implementation of the travel guide project) and Evaluation (evaluation questionnaire)

3.1 Preliminary investigation

3.1.1 Data presentation of the preliminary questionnaires

3.1.1.1 Students’ language experience and competence (Question 1, 2, 3)

Question 1: How long have you been learning English as a compulsory subject at school and college?

For the first question, only 6% of the students said

that they have been learning English for quite a short

time (1-4 years) while well over half of them have

been learning for 5-8 years and 41% even have

experience of learning English for more than 8 years

Clearly, most students have been learning English for

their ESP learning at the college

Question 2: How do you rate your English language skills?

their language skills as “fair” and none rate their listening, speaking and reading skill as “very good” Meanwhile quite a large number of students feel that their language skills are still “poor”

or “very poor”

Besides, it can also be noted that students‟ communicative skills (listening and speaking) are generally poorer than the other skills Very few students think that their listening and speaking skills are quite good (3.1% and 6.3% respectively) while many confess that their skills are still poor or very poor (56.3% for listening skill and 34.4% for speaking skill)

Question 3: How do you rate your following skills in English?

3.1.1.2 Students’ attitude towards the course book and their majoring field (Question

4, 5, 6, 7)

Question 4: How do you find the subject “English for Tourism”?

As can be seen from the chart, more than fifty percents (59%) think that this subject is OK and nearly one-fourth (22%) appear more interested, thus choosing “quite interesting” option However, there still remains a number of students (19%) showing their dissatisfaction with this subject when they said that it is uninteresting

Question 5: The course book you are using (English for International Tourism) is

Concerning the course book that they are

using, these students also show a positive attitude

Half of them choose “satisfactory” option and

as “quite good” and one student even say that it is

“very good” Only 16% think that the book is

poor and none choose the option “very poor”

Question 6: “The single use of the course book can provide me with enough background knowledge about tourism industry?” What is your opinion of this statement?

Though students like the course book, for the above-mentioned statement, only 16% agree while

a much greater number of students (69%) believe that the single use of the course book cannot cater for their needs of background knowledge The rest (21%) are not sure whether this is true or not in their case

Question 7: What would you like to add to the course?

Among various options, “a content

subject” seems to be the most needed

when 24 out of 29 students want to have it

added to their course Group presentation,

research tasks and written assignments are

chosen by almost the same number of

students (14, 13 and 11 respectively)

Only one student does not want to have

any extra subject or learning activity

3.1.1.3 Students’ attitudes towards PBL approach in learning EfT (Question 8, 9, 10)

Question 8: How familiar is project work (group investigation and presentation) to you at your

department?

A, I have done some and I know how to carry out a

B, I have done some but still don’t know how to

C, I have never heard of it but I would like to try it 3 9%

D, I have never heard of it and I don’t want to try

As can be seen from the chart, 91% of the students choose A and B, which means these

students have been familiarized with project work at the college However, 78% confess that

they still do not know how to carry out a project while only 13% think that project work is not a

problem to them Surprisingly, there still remain 9% who even have no idea of what project

work would be like but they would like to try it

Question 9: How would you like to carry out the project for the subject “English for Tourism”?

The chart indicates that most students (72%) prefer

to work in groups when doing tourism project while only 2 out of 32 students (6%), would like to work on their own Pairwork is favoured by 7 students which accounts for 22% This is understandable, given the nature of project work that it is often long-term and involves lots of out-of-class activities, thus calls for the

collaboration of some individuals

Question 10: How would you like to demonstrate your final product?

When asked about their preference of final

product demonstration form, about two-thirds of the

students choose “oral presentation with PowerPoint

slides” “Written assignment” is favored by 18.8% and “oral presentation with wall posters” is

the least attractive form with only 12.5% choosing it

3.1.2 Findings

The result of the survey reveals, first of all, that students‟ language competence can not meet the demands of the course Although most students have been learning English for quite a long time, their language skills are not very good and it seems that their communicative skills (speaking and listening) are not as good as the other skills This is perhaps due to their learning tradition at high school which is mostly grammar-based and mainly prepares students for the university entrance examination In addition, their soft skills haven‟t been developed properly Almost all students are not confident of their communication, presentation and problem-solving skills in English Perhaps, the syllabus and teaching tradition do not put them in an authentic environment in which they can develop these skills This situation has raised the needs of a teaching and learning method which can help students to improve their language skills and develop their soft skills as well

Another finding from the preliminary questionnaire is EfT students‟ quite favorable attitude towards the subject and the course book Nevertheless, they are not satisfied with the book and would like to have more supplementary materials and activities Clearly, it is the teachers‟ job to motivate students and make the EfT lesson more interesting and beneficial to them In other words, necessary adaptation to the course book and the design of meaningful learning activities are really vital in this case

The last finding is related to the use of project work in learning EfT In fact, PBL is not a new concept at the department as the students have done several projects both in Vietnamese and in English However, how to make a project successful is still a challenge to them Considering the findings from the preliminary questionnaire, combined with the ideas from the teacher interview, the researcher decided to implement PBL in teaching EfT and the type of

project work chosen is group investigation and presentation After the projects were completed,

the researcher combined a lot of data collection methods to check if this learning approach really works in her own context

of groups, and some additional activities during the implementation of the project The purpose

of these changes is to create a more authentic situation and motivate students with curiosity and fun in their learning The detail of the project will be dealt with in the following part

3.2.1 The design and aims of the project

Design:

The class is divided into 4/5-member-groups and each acts as a tourist company with its own name, logo, and slogan selected or designed by group members The task that these “companies” have to perform is to work on a given topic which is based on the themes in the course book but with some modifications to suit with Vietnam‟s tourism context The groups will search for information; make a written assignment to hand in and a PowerPoint presentation to be given at the end of the semester Their final presentation should be like that of tourist guides and thus must be informative, creative and persuasive to the tourists (the teacher and other groups)

3.2.2 Procedure of the project

Phase 1: Orientation and Planning (week 1,2)

As this learning activity is learner-centered and involves lots of out-of-class activities, the orientation and planning stage plays an essential role that can determine the success of the

projects This stage of the project takes place during the first two weeks of the semester and may consist of some following activities:

1 A needs analysis is done by means of mini survey questionnaires for students to explore students‟ language experience and competence, their evaluation of the course book, their expectations in learning EfT and in carrying out tourism projects This will be a foundation for the teacher‟s adaptation in teaching the course book and designing the travel guide projects

2 Students are instructed to form groups; choose their company names, logo, and slogan; and select their topics

3 Students are given clear instructions on how to carry out the project and how their projects will be evaluated, what individual assessment will be like

Phase 2: Research and implementation (week 3,4,5,6,7,8)

This is the most important phase of the project and involves a variety of activities such as group work, individual research, teacher consultation, etc Students have to search for information individually, organize group meetings themselves, and have to be in agreement about the outline, organization and content of their project Therefore, to make their project successful, students need to be active, creative and cooperative The teacher, likewise, needs to

be responsible and willing to support students when necessary He/she should devote 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

One important task that all students have to fulfill during this phase is completing the weekly review and having it signed by the teacher every week The aim of the students‟ weekly review

is twofold First, it helps the teacher to make sure that his/her students are really working and they are going in the right direction Second, it helps students to make a habit of self-studying and to progress in their study

Phase 3: Sharing result (week 9,10)

This is the last but not least important phase in which groups take turns to give presentation

to the whole class Their performance must be like that of tourist guides from certain tourist companies and the teacher and other groups will act as the tourists Normally, each group has about one period for sharing results in which 30 minutes is for their oral presentation and the rest (15 minutes) will be for class discussion and teacher‟s feedback and consolidation of the

topic Two most important objectives that all members need to achieve by the end of the project are as follows:

- report what their group has 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, he/she must be fully aware of their important role and the duties they need 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 (see Appendices)

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

3.3 Evaluation

3.3.1 Data presentation of the evaluation questionnaires

3.3.1.1 Students’ evaluation of their project (Number 1, 2, 3, )

1 I am now quite familiar with project work

and I know how to carry out such a project

(3) 10.3%

(21) 72.4%

(3) 10.3%

(2) 6.9%

(0) 0%

2 After finishing the travel guide project, I

feel more interested in the subject “English

for Tourism”

(5) 17.2%

(19) 65.5%

(4) 13.8%

(1) 3.5%

(0) 0%

3 I would like to do more projects on

tourism in the future

(9) 31.0%

(12) 41.4%

(7) 24.1%

(1) 3.5%

(0) 0%

Note: 1:Definitely agree 2:Mostly agree 3:Neither agree nor disagree

4:Mostly disagree 5:Definitely disagree