Ứng dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án nhằm phát triển kĩ năng nói tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 10

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITYSCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VU THI HONG VAN APPLYING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS Ứng dụng phương pháp dạy

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

VU THI HONG VAN

APPLYING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS

(Ứng dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án nhằm phát triển

kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

VU THI HONG VAN

APPLYING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS

(Ứng dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án nhằm phát triển

kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10)

M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION)

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

I, Vu Thi Hong Van, certify that the thesis named “Applying Project-Based

Learning to improve English speaking skills for the tenth-grade students”

performs the result of my own study for Degree of Master of Art at School ofForeign Languages, Thai Nguyen University I also declare that the thesis has notbeen submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions

Thai Nguyen, 2020

Student

Vu Thi Hong Van

Secondly, I am also very grateful to all the teachers and tenth-grade students

at Nguyen Hue High Scholl for their wholehearted support in my lessons,enthusiastic participation in tests and immediate reply to my survey questionnaires

Last but not least, I want to give my deepest gratitude to my family andfriends who are always willing to help me in my writing process with their greatsympathy and considerable encouragement

In today’s trend of international integration, English is considered as a meansfor learners to have fastest access to the world’s cultures and knowledge Theteaching and learning of English need to be renewed in accordance with positivelearning methods to be more suitable and meet the needs of society Project-BasedLearning is regarded as one of those effective teaching methods

In an effort to improve English speaking skills for students in grade 10 atNguyen Hue High School by applying Project-Based Learning, this research solvedtwo questions: (1) the attitude of students toward the use of Project Based Learning

in their English lessons; (2) the effects of applying Project-Based Learning tostudents’ English speaking skills There were two tests and questionnaires for thestudents in grade 10, an interview with six students to be selected as the tools fordata collection and analysis of the study Researching finding presented that thestudents taking part in lessons applied Project-Based Learning had positiveattitudes Besides, it was exposed the advantages of Project-Based Learning whichoffered benefits to improvement in the students’ speaking English skills According

to the findings, there would be some implications to be given for the teachers aswell as the students With all these data, this research is expected to be effective inhelping both teachers and students in teaching and learning English speaking skills

Keywords: Project-Based Learning (PBL), speaking skills, high students

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table

Table 1: The results of pre-test and post-test 35

learning speaking skills 40Chart 2.3: Students’ difficulties when implementing Project-Based

Learning 41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBRVIATIONS iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Significance of the study 3

3 Research aim and objectives 3

4 Research questions 4

5 Methods of the study 4

6 Scope of the study 4

7 Structure of the study 5

PART 2 DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1 Speaking skills 6

1.1 Definition of speaking skills 6

1.2 Functions of speaking 7

1.3 The importance of teaching speaking skills 8

2 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 9

3 Project-Based Learning 11

3.1 Definitions of Project-Based Learning 11

3.2 Key features of Project-Based Learning 12

3.3 Stages in project work 14

3.4 Teacher’s and students’ roles in Project-Based Learning 15

4 Project-Based Learning in speaking skills 17

5 Previous studies 18

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22

1 Methods of research 22

2 Setting of the study 23

3 Participants 25

4 Research design 25

5 Data collection procedure 26

6 Data collection instruments 31

7 Data analytic method 33

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

1 Analysis of the speaking tests 35

2 Students’ evaluation of the application of Project-Based Learning 38

2.1 Students’ attitudes towards Project-Based Learning 38

2.2 Students’ ideas on the advantages of Project-Based Learning 39

2.3 Students’ opinions on the difficulties when implementing Project- Based Learning 41

3 Analysis of the interview 42

3.1 The benefits of Project-Based Learning 42

3.2 Students’ opinions on the drawbacks of Project-Based Learning 43

4 Discussion of the findings 44

4.1 Achievement 44

4.2 Students’ review of the application of Project-Based Learning 45

5 Summary 47

PART 3 CONCLUSION 49

1 Recapitulation of the research 49

2 Recommendations of the study 50

2.1 The teachers 50

2.2 The students 50

2.3 The school administrators 50

3 Limitations of the study 51

4 Suggestions for further research 51

REFERENCES 53APPENDICES IAppendix 1 - A SAMPLE DESCRIPTION OF A PROJECT IAppendix 2 - THE PRE-TEST FOR STUDENTS XIIIAppendix 3 - THE POST-TEST FOR STUDENTS XVAppendix 4 - RATING SCALE FOR SPEAKING TEST XVIIAppendix 5 - THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS XXIAppendix 6 - INTERVIEW QUESTIONS XXVAppendix 7 - TRANSCRIPTS OF THE INTERVIEWS XXVI

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

In this part, the writer mentions the background to the problems and the reasons for choosing the topic As a consequence, the necessity of delivering the research and the importance of the application of project-based teaching in teaching English speaking skills is revealed The aims and the significances of the study are also stated The final section will show the scope and methods of the study which presents the number of participants and the time of the intervention.

1 Rationale of the study

As globalization has an enormous influence on the world’s economy,politics, culture, society and education, English has become the most importantinternational language and widely used all over the world In Vietnam, English hasbeen known as a vital foreign language which improves Vietnamese people’s lifestyle as well as living standard with greater employment and job promotion withhigh salary, especially overseas study opportunities Recognizing the importance ofEnglish, the Vietnam government has planned to introduce English to be taughtfrom elementary school to university and to be a compulsory subject in GeneralCertificate Secondary Education Besides, Ministry of Education and Training hashad many solutions in order to improve the quality of English teaching and learning

We have carried out many changes and renovations in national curriculum, teachingmethodology, testing and assessment as well as other conditions to assert these tasks

to be done successfully

The core content of English teaching and learning helps students build anddevelop communication skills through practicing listening, speaking, reading,writing and linguistic skills (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar) Hence, one of themain approaches in English general curriculum is the communicative approach Thegoal of communicative language teaching is to develop learners’ communicativecompetence (Nunan, 1988) It is clear that to communicate effectively in onelanguage; English speaking skills should be developed along with the other skills sothat these integrated skills will enhance communication achievement both with

English native speakers and other members of the international community Due tothe significant role of speaking in learning English, Bailey (2005) described how toenhance the development of speaking by means of syllabus design, principles ofteaching, types of tasks and materials, and speaking assessment.

Methodology used in teaching second language has experienced manychanges for decades; however there is no single best method, and no one methodthat is best for a particular classroom Each classroom has distinct goals andlearners; therefore there are lots of foreign language teaching methods to be appliedwith different approaches and different purposes As a result, the best languageteaching methods depends on learning styles, particular contexts, stages of teaching,learning process and the goals of learning (Brown, 2000) Among the numerousmethods based on communicative language teaching, Project-Based Learning (PBL)has been considered to be an effective method in enhancing learners’ motivation.This method lets students explore actively, creates authentic language and useslanguage in real life situations The method also encourages student-centeredclasses that focus on developing skills for lifelong learning and collaboration amongstudents working on either small groups or as a class

In Nguyen Hue High School - a small school in a low living standardmountainous commune, a seven-year English teaching program for students hasbeen implemented since 2007 The Ministry of Education and Training sets the goalfor junior high school students in English proficiency to reach Level 3 according tothe 6-level foreign language competence framework for Vietnam, which means thatstudents are able to communicate in everyday situations with commonly-usedexpressions and elementary vocabulary However, teachers’ and students’remarkable difficulties, such as: no integration of the four skills in teaching andlearning, insufficient practice time allowed, teachers’ lack of training in thepractical skills of teaching to English as a foreign language learners, students’ poorpractice skills and low confidence or inadequate teaching equipment and facilities,and etc Hence, it is vital to apply a new and effective technique to improvestudents’ English learning, particularly enhance their speaking skills

Based on the explanation above, the writer is engrossed in conducting an

experimental research entitled: “Applying Project-based learning to improve

English speaking skills for the tenth-grade students” to stimulate the English

speaking skills for the tenth-grade students at Nguyen Hue High School

2 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this study is a small contribution to the theory of EnglishLanguage Teaching on the effects of applying Project-Based Learning on improvingstudents’ language competence of speaking skills at a high school Several previousstudies have also demonstrated that Project-Based Learning has positive effects onstudents’ speaking skills Hopefully, this research supports the theory of Project-Based Learning as well as achieves rewarding results

Practically, the study is firstly hoped to be an effective alternative way to letout students to more student-centered classrooms, and to help them improve theirEnglish competence, cooperation and their motivation in these classes Theresearcher expects to provide useful information and experience with Englishteachers whether or not Project-Based Learning becomes one of the most effectivemethods to develop students’ speaking skills With optimistic expectations, it mightpossibly be widely applied at a high school in order to make students interested inEnglish speaking and more confident to communicate with each other in the targetlanguage

To sum up, this study is built up to explore previous related theories to getbackground knowledge of Project-Based Learning along with to change andpromote educational situations

3 Research aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to enhance speaking skills for the tenth grade students by applying Project-Based Learning

To achieve the above objectives, the present research attempts to set the following objectives:

- To find out whether Project-Based Learning can encourage the 10th formstudents to improve their speaking skills or not

- To investigate the attitudes of the tenth-grade students towards theapplication of Project-Based Learning to their English speaking lessons.

4 Research questions

This research tries to explore the usefulness of applying Project-BasedLearning in teaching to improve speaking skills for senior high schools The areas

of investigation are formulated in the following research questions:

1 To what extent does Project-Based Learning improve the students’speaking skills?

2 What are the students’ attitudes towards Project-Based Learning?

5 Methods of the study

The method employed in the study is action research, in which Based Learning would be used directly in the class that the researcher is teaching.Besides, both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods areapplied into this research In term of qualitative method, the researcher useinterviews to gather students’ opinions toward PBL activities in class In term ofquantitative method, questionnaires and tests are applied The results from thequestionnaire and interviews will be regarded to the students’ general attitudetoward PBL, their perception on the effectiveness of Project-Based Learning ontheir speaking levels as well as speaking skills Means of pre-test and post-testscores would be counted to decide the effects of Project-Based Learning on thestudents’ speaking scores Both the methods are cooperative to each other At thesame time, the results from the speaking scores would be compared with the datacollected in the interviews and questionnaire

Project-6 Scope of the study

The study mainly focuses on the influence of Project-Based Learning onspeaking skills of students within the context of teaching and learning English as anoptional subject at Nguyen Hue High School

This research is carried out in English-specialized class with 40 tenth gradestudents at Nguyen Hue High School in the second term of the school year 2019-2020

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into three parts

Part 1 - Introduction relates to the rationale for the research Besides, it

shows the significance of the study, the aims and objectives, research questions, thescope, the methods and the design of the study

Part 2 - Development has three chapters.

Chapter 1 - Theoretical background and literature review supplies

an overview of theoretical background and previous studies involved in the researchtopic

Chapter 2 - Research Methodology describes the methods used for this

study, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysisprocedure

Chapter 3 - Findings and Discussion provides the findings and discussion

of the research based on results of the action research methodology

Part 3 - Conclusion comes up with the summary and limitations of the study

and adds some suggestions for further studies

PART 2 DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the literature on speaking skills, Communicative Language Teaching Approach and Project-Based Learning is described briefly In addition, it also mentions how Project-Based Learning helps promote students’ speaking skills

in the classroom.

1 Speaking skills

1.1 Definition of speaking skills

Out of the four language skills, speaking is regarded as the means whichlearners can communicate with others in order to gain certain aims or to expresstheir ideas, intentions, wishes, viewpoints and so on Besides, people who know alanguage are referred to as speakers of this language Therefore, many authors havecome up with different definitions of speaking

Byrne (1984:8) states that speaking is oral communication It is a two-wayprocess between speaker and listener and involves productive and receptive skills ofunderstanding Hence, there must be at last two participants in the process ofspeaking; they are a speaker who gives information and a listener who receivesinformation

Meanwhile, Chaney (1998:13) considers speaking as “the process of buildingand sharing meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a variety

of contexts Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching.”This indicates students are able to communicate with other so as to get or shareinformation as well as express what they think or feel

Moreover, Wilson (1983:5) defines speaking as “development of therelationship between speaker and listener In addition speaking determining whichlogical linguistic, psychological a physical rules should be applied in a givencommunicate situation” It implies that speaking is one of the central elements ofcommunication of an interactive process in which an individual alternately takes the

roles of speakers and listeners used to communicate information, ideas, and emotions

to others using oral language Consequently, the quality of students’ speaking is

influenced by the situation of students’ emotion; whether it is fluency or structure.The primary object of speaking is to communicate Therefore, to deliver the opinionefficiently the speaker is supposed to understand the meaning of all information thatwill be conveyed, he has to evaluate the impact of communication on the listener,and he has to comprehend the principle that makes up the basis of communication.

Other perception originates from Brown (1994) of which speaking is aninteractive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving andprocessing information There are three significant points within the definition ofspeaking skills First, by productive skill is concerned with the ability of a person toactively produce the language by matching the organs of speech such as the lips,tongue, teeth, vocal cords, larynx, pharynx, etc Second, to express meaning refers

to the purpose of producing language in verbal communication is to give opinionsand experiences in order that the speaker can convey meaning to the listener andothers Third, being able to be directly and empirically observed means that theimplementation of speaking can be directly heard or seen and empirically measured

in the speaking process by looking at the accuracy and efficiency of the speaker

From experts’ statements detailed above we can draw a conclusion thatspeaking is a process of oral activities produced in daily life as an important part ofcommunication in which verbal and nonverbal signs are used in sending andreceiving messages

1.2 Functions of speaking

According to the standard competence of speaking, learners are able toexpress the meaning of formal and constant transactional and interpersonalconversation in their daily life Transactional conversation as well as interpersonalconversation is called interpersonal functions of speaking, in which it helps to buildand maintain social relations, and the transactional functions, which concentrates onthe exchange of information Therefore, Jack C Richards (2008: 21) states threefunctions of speaking to succeed a communicative goal through speaking, they are:talk as interaction, talk as transaction and talk as performance In terms of form andfunctions, each of these communication activities is different and obviously needsdifferent approaches of teaching Brown and Yule (1983) defines that as follow:

 “Talk as interaction refers to what we normally mean by “conversation” anddescribes interaction that serves a primarily social function The focus is more onthe speakers and how they wish to present themselves to each other than on themessage.”

 “Talk as transaction refers to situations where the focus is on what is said ordone The message and making oneself understood clearly and accurately is thecentral focus, rather than the participants and how they interact socially with eachother.”

 “Talk as performance refers to public talk, that is, talk that transmitsinformation before an audience, such as classroom presentations, publicannouncements, and speeches.”

In English classes, three main issues are necessary to be solved in designingspeaking activities, and the researcher detected that PBL was actually anopportunity for students to achieve all types of talks

1.3 The importance of teaching speaking skills

In this globalized world, speech plays a great role in our daily lives, forinstances if we want to fulfill our desires and deeds; there is a need to share ourideas and thoughts with the people living around the world Particularly, inclassrooms where students’ ability to speak second or foreign languages fluentlywith the target language is the first priority, speaking is an important skill whichdeserves more attention in both first and second language because it reflectspeople’s thoughts and personalities

Speaking is an interactive task and it takes place under real time processingcompulsions, which means that learners will be able to use words and phrasesfluently without very much conscious thought Harmer (2001: 271) states thateffective speakers need to be able to process language in their own heads and put itinto coherent order so that it comes out in forms that are not only comprehensible,but also convey the meanings that are intended One of the reasons for includingspeaking activities in language lessons is to help students get accustomed to oral use

of language in English conversation Speaking activities supply exerciseopportunities in real life speaking in the safety classroom.

Furthermore, teaching speaking is a very important part of second languagelearning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficientlycontributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase oflife Therefore, it is important that language teachers take notice of teachingspeaking, rather than leading students to pure memorization, providing a richenvironment where meaningful communication takes place is desired With thisaim, Project- Based Learning can contribute a great deal to students in term ofgetting successful in three core functions of speaking Additionally, Project-Based Learning assists students in improving basic skills necessary for life Theseactivities in Project-Based Learning encourage students become more active in thelearning process and at the same time keep their studying more meaningful andenjoyable.

2 Communicative Language Teaching Approach

Throughout the history of learning and teaching languages with manydistinct approaches, such as: Grammar - Translation Method, Audio lingualMethod, the Total Physical Response, the Natural Approach, and so on,Communicative Language Teaching is the latest effect on teaching methodologywhich has been worldwide applied as an innovative and efficient approach to teachEnglish as a second or foreign language

Since the 1970s when CLT emerged as an approach to second languagepedagogy, there have been a number of researchers, educators and languagepractitioners began reflecting and discussing the notion of communicativecompetence According to Savignon (1984), CLT means different things to thedifferent people who practice it Savignon along with other language teachersstarted looking for an alternative to the Audio-lingual Method in the 1970s andgradually moved towards CLT In his research made in 1972, he showed thatstudents who had some regular amount of CLT in addition to audio-lingual teachinglearned better than students who had audio-lingual teaching only The audio-lingualmethod proposes that students learn from repetition and habit formation, but itincludes very little, if any, chances for real communication Then CLT has become

a favored research area, yet there is a limitation on understanding and practiceamong teachers and learners.

Nunan (1989: 194) also considers this method as a system for the expression

of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks andusing language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs ofthe learners; they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives Thelearner’s role is as a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator ofthe communication process Materials promote communicative language use; theyare task-based and authentic.”

Additionally, Brown (2007: 378) states CLT as “an approach to languageteaching methodology that emphasizes authenticity, interaction, student-centered learning, task based activities, and communication for the real world,meaningful purposes”

Furthermore, Brown (2007: 241) also gives four interrelated features of CLT:

 Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of CC(communicative competence) and not restricted to grammatical or linguisticcompetence

 Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic,authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes Organizationallanguage forms are not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enablethe learner to accomplish those purposes

 Fluency and accuracy are seen as complimentary principles underlyingcommunicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importancethan accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use

 In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use thelanguage, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts

In brief, CLT is affirmed to be the most used and well-known approach tohelp students communicate effectively Among many distinctive characteristics,learner-centered and experience-based teaching process becomes one of the mostoutstanding features Through CLT, students develop fluency and accuracy, use thefour skills interchangeably as they exist together in the real world, and generate anddiscover grammatical rules Additionally, students learn the target language throughlistening to other members in group activities Students also learn more vocabularyitems and grammatical patterns as well as enjoy increased motivation levels in pair

3 Project-Based Learning

3.1 Definitions of Project-Based Learning

The initial of PBL can be concerned with the progressive tradition advocated

by John Dewey Dewey mainly concentrated on the idea of “learning by doing” Healso argued that the classroom should be a kind of society and in the learningprocess the students should be encouraged to become the center

Further developments of the Project-Based education as a pedagogy laterwere based on the experience- and perception-based theories on education proposed

by various theorists

According to Haines (1989: 1), PBL is defined as follows:

“… [Projects are] multi-skill activities focusing on topics or themes ratherthan on specific language targets Of crucial importance is the part which thestudents themselves play in the initial choice of subject matter and in the decisionsrelated to appropriate working methods, the project timetable and the eventual “endproduct” Because specific language aims are not prescribed, and because studentsconcentrate their efforts and attention on reaching an agreed goal, project workprovides students with opportunities to recycle known language and skills in arelatively natural context Projects can be intensive activities which take place over

a short period of time, or extended studies which may take up one or two hours aweek for several weeks”

Besides, Fried-Booth (1986:8) uses the term “project” with a view toindicating that language tasks arise naturally from the project itself, “developingcumulatively in response to a basic objective, namely, the project.”

Moreover, Hedge (1993) characterizes projects as extended tasks whichusually integrate language skills by means of a number of activities These activitiescombine in working towards an agreed goal and may include the following:planning, the gathering of information through reading, listening, interviewing, andobserving; group discussion of information; problem solving; oral and writtenreporting; and displaying

It is also defined as “an instructional approach that contextualizes learning

by presenting learners with problems to solve or products to develop” (Moss &Van Duzer, 1998) As the result, project work brings many chances for students

to use and stimulate their creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, self -study,and other study skills

Whereas Katz & Chard (2000) show that Project-Based Learning is a veryefficient approach which lets the students throw out opinions about the topicscovering fields of interest, ask questions, estimate, develop theories, use differenttools, use the skills achieved in the context of a real and meaningful life andencourages learners to solve problems and answer questions in a creative way in theclassroom and outside

It is clear that the definition of PBL is changing from time to time However,there is a conclusion drawn from the above definitions is that Project-BasedLearning is capturing learning experiences that affect students in complex, real-world projects through which they advance and apply both skills and knowledge.The outcomes can be recognized up front but occasionally are only experiences toassign resources such as materials or time

3.2 Key features of Project-Based Learning

The features of PBL appear to be consistent among educators and researcherswho studied and applied this teaching method Stoller’s (2007:4-5) assembled studyfor the common characteristics of PBL as follows:

1 Project work focuses on content learning rather than on specific language targets Real-world subject matter and topics of interest to students can become central to projects

2 Project work is student-centered, though the teacher plays a major role in offering support and guidance throughout the process

3 Project work is cooperative rather than competitive Students can work on their own, in small groups, or as a class to complete a project, sharing resources, ideas, and expertise along the way.

4 Project work leads to the authentic integration of skills and processing of information from varied sources, mirroring real-life tasks.

5 Project work culminates in an end product (e.g., an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board display, a report, or a stage performance) that can

be shared with others, giving the project a real purpose The value of the project, however, lies not just in the final product but in the process of working towards the end point Thus, project work has both a process and product orientation, and provides students with opportunities to focus on fluency and accuracy at different project-work stages.

6 Project work is potentially motivating, stimulating, empowering, and challenging It usually results in building student confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as well as improving students’ language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities.

From the key features of Project-Based Learning, there is a wide range ofbenefits to students along with teachers to be more explained A growing body ofacademic research takes care of the application for Project-Based Learning inschools in order to engage students, reduce absenteeism, improve cooperativelearning skills and stimulate academic performance (George Lucas EducationalFoundation, 2001)

In Project-Based Learning, students are allowed to choose project topics For

a project to have the required scientific level, students must be very serious whenperforming They must be given responsibility as well as opportunity todemonstrate their ideas and be involved in the decision process in which the project

is selected At the beginning of the project, students will tend to explore, and desirethe need to choose a topic or research issues so as to create openness This willmake learning difficult to predict, which is a primary feature of Project-BasedLearning Through research and exploration, students will acquire metacognitiveskills, such as: analyzing new problems, finding and deciding to select information,summarizing, reporting, or drawing conclusions Additionally, each topic beginswith the real world in which they live, which creates inspiration for them to carry

out the project The children’s world is imaginative and formed through the society

in which they live Every time makes a difference That is the reason why Based Learning is a unique, diverse and highly effective way of learning

Project-Meanwhile, teachers gain numerous benefits like enhance professionalismand collaboration among colleagues, and opportunities to build relationships withstudents (Thomas, 2000) Furthermore, a lot of teachers are satisfied to achieve amodel that accommodates different learners by proposing a wider range of learningopportunities into the classroom

In a nutshell, Project-Based Learning is a style of active learning andinquiry-based learning It contrasts with paper-based, rote memorization, or teacher-led instruction that simply shows established fact or portrays a smooth path toknowledge by instead posing questions, problems or scenarios

3.3 Stages in project work

The implementation of Project-Based Learning was done in four stages.They are speculation, designing the project activities, conducting the projectactivities, and evaluation

The first stage called speculation consists of selection of project theme andsensitization about it, focusing on exciting interest and stimulating a climateconductive to speculation and dialogue among all groups’ members and the teacher.The initial stimulus may emerge from the curriculum, or after a discussion about acontemporary local or wider topic of interest, or from reading a newspaper ormagazine article (Brinia, 2006: 79)

The second stage, which is designed the project activities, includes formation

of groups and assigning of roles, decisions concerning methodology, sources ofinformation, activities that will take place, and places outside the classroom thatstudents will visit The better organized and more analytical the structuring of theactivities, the easier and faster the research will be conducted (Fragoulis, 2008)

The third stage known as conducting the project activities shows that thegroups implement the activities designed in the previous stage Students gatherinformation, process and categorize it If deemed necessary, there may be intervals

of information and feedback, in which students discuss issues related withcooperation among group members, problems of personal relations, and possiblechanges in group composition.

The next phase is synthesis and processing of information gathered The finalproducts are displayed in the school or the wider community, and become astimulus for thought and action for other students, teachers and local community.The project moves away from school and becomes social intervention, connectingthe school with the community and real life (Fragoulis, 2008:35)

The fourth stage considered evaluation refers to the assessment of theactivities from participants and discussion about whether the initial aims and goalshave been achieved, implementation of the process, and final products (Brinia,2006:82) Evaluation also entails assessment of the experience at individual andgroup level, identification of errors and problems, but also appraisal of the richcognitive and experiential material gathered Evaluation includes evaluation fromothers, as well as self-evaluation

Although there are many studies focusing on the theoretical underpinningsfor project-based learning in foreign language teaching, there are relatively fewempirical studies linking theory with practice, evaluating the impact of projectwork in the context of foreign language instruction In this context, our studyexamines the practical aspects of implementing project work in primary schoolsettings, reporting difficulties encountered, benefits from project work, andpedagogical implications

3.4 Teacher’s and students’ roles in Project-Based Learning

Ideally, the students are people who decide their projects, but because inlower-level classes students often lack the required language skills or confidence topromote project themes, the teacher has to listen to them and manage to describesome underlying issues that are significant to the students, as well as take notice oftheir needs, interests, cultural background, jobs, etc

In classrooms with beginner level students, the teacher may have to take afairly active role, supplying examples of previously completed projects to boost the

students to produce their own With more advanced classes, however, it is easier toget the class to develop a project that meets a need they have identified In thesesituations, the teacher takes the role of a facilitator (Gaer, 1998) Students mayselect projects concerned with several topics in their textbooks or wholly be asource of entertainment and a break from daily classroom activities.

As Wentzel and Brophy (2014) describe, students’ motivation should be atthe center of project design since the students must see value in a project so as to bewilling to enroll in it

When outlining a project, the linguistic objectives and the content standardswhich will be dealt with are teachers’ main purposes The choice of the topic is alsohugely important; it must be up-to-date, stimulate the students and make theminterested throughout the project It is crucial to involve the students in planning anddecision making because this will assist them improve a feeling of ownership of theproject After having a discussion to come an agreement on the theme of the projectand determining the last outcome of the project (e.g., written report, brochure,handbook, oral presentation, video, multimedia presentation, theatricalperformance), the teacher has also to design a timeline for project components andprovide the students with aids in order to define a specific flexible schedule to carryout the project

Firstly, to improve realistic and authentic issues and materials is the teacher’sinitial role in PBL, and as soon as this task has been accomplished, the teacher turnsinto a guide while students engage in addressing the problem The teacher can help

by leading the students to information that will respond their questions, butquestions should not be answered clearly and given their nature Students have tosee the teacher as a counselor so the teacher should not try to handle everything andmust leave some autonomy to the students Besides, winning the appropriatebalance between teachers’ guidance and students’ autonomy improves the benefits

of project work in the language classroom

Language-improvement activities are planned by the teacher in order to helpstudents successfully present the project’s final outcome These activities mayconcentrate on skills for prosperous oral presentations, persuasive arguments,

editing, and so forth Additionally, after activating teacher-guided previousactivities, students start to assemble and analyze the collected data They work ingroups to arrange the information and then consider the value of the data gathered,deciding whether to keep some or discarding others.

Secondly, to monitor the students and the progress of the project, as well as

to determine the final outcome is another role of the teacher The students should bereminded to supply feedback on the project experience and to indicate the languageand the subject problem achieved during the project This will become an aid of theteacher to identify the disadvantages of the project and make it more detailed eachyear In the final stage of project work, the teacher also provides students withfeedback on their language and content learning

Last but not least, the teacher should remember when applying projectbased learning is to require students to provide feedback on the projectexperience This will help the teacher see the drawbacks of the project and make

it more elaborate each year

Project-Based Learning Handbook by Markham (2003) defines teacher’s role

as follows: “At the heart of successful PBL is teacher’s ability to support and directstudents This requires instructional, organizational, interpersonal andcommunication skills, as well as the ability to define the agenda for the class andpush a project through to a successful conclusion It also includes being sensitive tothe fact that students finish work at different rates, with different abilities,aptitudes, and learning styles” Overall, efficient Project-Based Learning demandsthe teacher to take over a different role The teacher’s role is not controlling, but heplays the role of a guide, advisor, coordinator and facilitator In other words, incarrying out the project method the central point of the learning process shiftsfrom the teacher to the students, from working alone to cooperating to work ingroups

4 Project-Based Learning in speaking skills

When implemented in the classroom, Project-Based Learning brings manybenefits In general, some of them are increase motivation and improved problem-solving abilities, collaboration and communication skills, creative and critical

thinking skills, medial research skills as well as resource management skills As forteaching speaking skills, there are many advantages in implementing the Project-Based Learning Fragoulis (2009:92) stated the following benefits:

1 Project-Based provides contextual and meaningful learning for students

2 Project-Based Learning can create an optimal environment for practicingspeaking English

3 Project-Based Learning makes students actively engage in project learning

4 Project-Based Learning enhances students’ interest, motivation,

engagement,

and enjoyment

5 Project-Based promotes social learning that can enhance collaborative skills

6 Project-Based Learning can give an optimal opportunity to improvestudents’ language skills

Thus, it can be seen that Project-Based Learning creates opportunities forstudents to synthesize knowledge from many fields of study, and apply creatively inreal life; thereby it helps them to feel more confident about their communication,especially communication with foreigners in English

In addition, Project-Based Learning helps students to self-study, exploreknowledge through topics close to them, thereby students can consolidate Englishtopic-related vocabulary, improve communication skills and ability to speakEnglish, build skills of cooperation, communication and independent learning,prepare students for life-long learning career and face challenges in life

No less important, Project-Based Learning helps students who are hesitant tocommunicate, or fell ashamed or afraid to speak English become more confident,especially weak students who have little or no opportunity to express themselvesfrom can practice speaking English more

5 Previous studies

The roots of PBL lie in the long standing tradition called “learning by doing”which was initially promoted by John Dewey, an American philosopher,psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential ineducation and social reform However, the emergence of a method of teaching and

learning known as PBL is the result of two important developments over last 25years.

There are a lot of different documents on this method However, regardingthe research matter of developing speaking skills with PBL for the students in highschools, the researchers were able to find out the following related studies.

The first is “Project based learning techniques to improve speaking skills”

by Herlina Dewi (2016) The researcher conducted a classroom based actionresearch study to improve the quality of her teaching performance and to improvethe students’ speaking skills using the PBL Technique with the year eleven,accounting one class at SMKN 1 Banda Aceh The objectives of this study are asfollows: (1) to improve the EFL speaking skills of the grade eleven, Accountingone students of SMKN 1 Banda Aceh in the 2014/2015 academic through theimplementation of the PBL technique (2) to find out if the results i.e the scores

of the students for speaking EFL will improve after using the PBL technique withthe year eleven, accounting one students of SMKN 1 Banda Aceh (3) to describethe processes used to implement the PBL technique to help the teacher to teachspeaking more effectively to the year eleven, accounting one students of SMKN 1Banda Aceh (4) to find out what the responses of the students will be towards theimplementation of the PBL technique in the speaking EFL class with year eleven,accounting one students of SMKN 1 Banda Aceh Based on the results of thisresearch and the discussions above, the researcher has concluded that theapplication of the PBL technique could improve the students’ speakingachievement Besides, the students had positive responses in their speaking class,such as: motivation, happiness and confidence

The second one is “Improving Speaking Skill of Tourism Vocational HighSchool Students Through Project” by Ruth Olivia Angelina Pakpahan The quasiexperimental research was conducted in this research involving 64 tourism students.There were 32 students for each experimental and control groups Project basedlearning was implemented for English teaching in experimental group, while thecontrol group was taught using conventional method In conclusion, implementingproject based learning to teach speaking is effective to improve tourism students’speaking proficiency

Additionally, Yang and Puakong (2016) carried out a study to the impact ofPBL on non-English major Chinese students in a university The research points outthat the experimental group in PBL made more improvement in English speakingtest than the control group Furthermore, the study affirms that PBL not onlyprovides the students with the authentic environment but also enhance the students’learning autonomy.

In Vietnam, the researcher took notice of the thesis “Developing students’speaking skill through Project-based Learning” by Mrs Pham Thi Thu Ha, whocame from Vietnam National University, Hanoi, University of Languages andInternational Studies There were two main objectives listed in the research: to findout the tenth-grade students’ attitudes towards the use of Project-Based Learning intheir optional English lessons and to discover how the use of Project-BasedLearning in teaching English helps develop students’ English speaking skill On thewhole, with the analysis and evidences for the implementation of the thesis’ content

of the author conducted at An Lao High school, we could see that Project-BasedLearning assisted in changing awareness and students’ attitudes during speakinglessons, while also helping to improve their speaking skills

However, in the research conducted by Ngo (2014), it is concluded thatVietnamese teachers encounter difficulties in being a facilitator in PBL activities.Apart from that, students got a lot of problems in “enjoying autonomy” and

“accepting a new role of the teacher as a facilitator” Also, the research points outthat PBL is a totally contradictory to the traditional method of teaching and learning

in Vietnam; therefore, it will take a lot of time for both Vietnamese teachers andstudents to be familiar with this method

To sum up, most of previous researches on applying PBL method in teachingand learning English speaking for the students in different grades, evenly for thestudents in vocational high schools However, there does not appear to be anyresearched related to new curriculums for students who start learning new textbook

series used by Ministry of Education and Training from 2013 (K-12 students).According to the fact of teaching and learning English at Nguyen Hue High School,the researcher recognized that the biggest obstacle of the tenth grade students is thatthey are “lazy” and unconfident in speaking English due to lack of ideas and poorvocabularies These are the reasons why the researcher is very engrossed inconducting a research entitled: “Applying Project-based learning to improveEnglish speaking skills for the tenth-grade students”.

To sum up, this chapter has addressed the theoretical background for the whole study with firstly the basic knowledge of speaking skills and Communicative Language Teaching Approach, and secondly Project-Based Learning in teaching speaking skills; related some previous researches on this topic.

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of a thorough description of the study that points the effects of applying Project-Based Learning to tenth-grade students at Nguyen Hue High School in learning English speaking skills based on the framework given in the previous sections by making an effort to test the hypotheses.

1 Methods of research

Since the primary purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Based Learning on improvement English speaking skills, action research withmixed methods for data collection was adopted

Project-According to Parsons and Brown (2002), action research might be defined as

a form of investigation designed for use by teachers to attempt to solve problemsand improve professional practices in their own classrooms It involves systematicobservations and data collection which can be then used by the practitioner-researcher in reflection, decision-making and the development of more effectiveclassroom strategies

A Christine Miller (2007), meanwhile, considers action research to be anatural part of teaching Teachers are continually observing students, collecting dataand changing practices to improve student learning and the classroom and schoolenvironment Action research provides a framework that guides the energies ofteachers toward a better understanding of why, when, and how students becomebetter learners

Through the above definitions, we can see that action research is conductedwith three primary objectives: (1) to improve teaching activities; (2) to enhance theunderstanding of teaching activities; (3) to improve educational situations in theteaching process

This research solved my own problems in my teaching English speakingskills, and therefore it supplied my students with better opportunities to improvetheir English speaking skills

To find out answers for the research questions, both quantitative andqualitative methods are employed The used quantitative method contains pre andpost speaking test These tests were adapted from the model tests which evaluatesstudents’ speaking skills at A2 level given in Teacher’s book English 10, Book 1and Book 2 Both pre-test and post-test included 3 parts to categorise thecandidates’ English levels of speaking The scores then were given by theresearcher The criteria for making the speaking test were divided into 5 categories:message content, vocabulary and grammar range, pronunciation, fluency andcoherence and interactive communication Regarding qualitative method, theresearcher took advantage of interviews and questionnaires A Likert-scalequestionnaire would be given to the students in order to discover their opinions onProject-Based Learning lessons There were two large categories in thequestionnaire: the students’ attitudes toward Project-Based Learning and theirperceptions on Project-Based Learning lessons which specifically comprises oflessons’ topics, teacher’s instruction, learning activities and language resources.Besides, some outcomes in term of the students’ self-perceptions on theirdevelopment in speaking English would be used to compare with the results fromthe tests Moreover, six students were asked to participate in interviews Theinterviews would supply more in-depth opinion on the efficiency of the use ofProject-Based Learning in improving tenth graders’ English speaking skills.

2 Setting of the study

Nguyen Hue High School, located in Tam Diep city, is known as the firstnational standard school of Ninh Binh province’s secondary education withadequate equipment for teaching and learning Both the school administration andthe English group teachers has recognized the importance of developing languageskills for students, in 2015, the school started offering the trial version of English

10 (Tiếng Anh 10 thí điểm) textbook in some classes In the school year

2019-2020, the school has decided to select the trial version of English 10 (Tiếng Anh

10 thí điểm) program for all 360 tenth-grade students with a view to enhancing