luận văn ca học tiếng anh the steps of conducting project – based learning in a languagec lassroom

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor,Tran Ba Tien, Ph D for his whole-hearted guidance, valuable comments, and support in the preparation and completion of this thesis My special thanks go to the organizers of this master course, especially Mr Ngo Dinh Phuong, vice director of Vinh University and I wish to thank all staff members at Department of foreign languages for their help and moral support I am also grateful to all students who are fully completed the questionnaires and sincerely provided me with valuable information for this study Without their participation and support, this thesis would never have come into existence Last, but not least, I express my thanks to my husband and all my friends who have continually encouraged me to complete my study i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT… TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF APPENDIXES ABSTRACT… i ii iii v vi vii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Rational Aims of the research The significant of the research The scope of the research The research questions The organization of the research Chapter 2 3 3 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4 2.1.5 2.1.6 2.1.7 2.1.8 2.1.9 1.1.10 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 The nature of writing The definition of writing The characteristics of written language Sub – skills of writing The process of writing Strategies in teaching writing Types of classroom writing performance Principles of teaching Writing Teaching writing in high school Accessing writing Feedbach on writing Project – based learning The definition of project – based learning The characteristics of project – based learning The significant of using project – based learning The steps of conducting project – based learning in a languagec lassroom 2.2.5 The role of the teachers and students in project – base learning 2.3 Relevant studies 2.4 Conceptual framwork 5 11 12 13 15 16 18 18 18 20 21 23 24 26 27 ii Chapter RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.4.1 3.4.2 3.4.3 3.5 3.6 Research methods Setting of the research Subjects of the research Data collection and data analysis technique Perception questionaires Classroom observation Written tests The techniques of the data analysis The research procedures Chapter 29 29 30 30 30 31 31 32 33 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results of studentss perception toward project – based learning approach 4.1.1 Benefits of project – based learning approach 4.1.2 Students’ autonomy 4.1.3 Students’ teamwork 4.1.4 Discussion 4.1.4.1 Students’ perception toward the project – based learnin 4.1.4.2 Students’ perception toward teamwork 4.2 Results of improvement in students’ writing performance 4.2.1 Identification of the Field Problems 4.2.2 Selecting the Problems 4.2.3 Determining teh Actions to Overcome the problems 4.2.4 Research process and Results 4.2.4.1 Report of cycle 1) Planning 2) Actions and observation 3) Reflection 4) Findings of cycle 4.2.4.2 Report of cycle 1) Planning 2) Actions and observation 3) Reflection 4) Findings of cycle 4.2.5 Discussion 35 35 36 38 39 39 40 43 43 45 47 48 48 48 49 56 60 61 61 62 67 71 74 4.2.5.1 The design of actions in cycle 74 4.2.5.2 The design of actions in cycle 75 4.2.5.3 The students’ score 76 iii Chapter CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 Conclusions Implecations Suggestions To the teacher To the students To the other researchers 79 80 81 81 81 81 REFERENCES 83 APPENDIXES… 86 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Questionnaires items on students’ attitude toward project – based learning 35 Table 4.2: Questionnaires items on students’ autonomy 36 Table 4.3: Questionnaires items on students’ teamwork 39 Table 4.4: A sample of students’ writing in the pretest 44 Table 4.5: Another sample of student’s wrting in the pretest 44 Table 4.6: The pretest mean scores of each writing aspect 45 Table 4.7: Problems found at class 11A4 of Nong Cong high school 46 Table 4.8: The actions implemented to solve the problem 47 Table 4.9: The action plan and the expected improvement to achve 49 Table 4.10: The mean score of cycle test for five aspects of text writing 58 Table 4.11: The sample of students’ writing on cycle 59 Table 4.12: The comparison between before and after implementation of Research 60 Table 4.13: The students’ end product of cycle 69 Table 4.14: Another students’ end product of cycle 69 Table 4.15: The mean score of Cycle test for five aspects of writing performance 71 Table 4.16: The change results of the improvement of the actions during the teaching and learnign process 71 Table 4.17: The results of Pre and Post test in Cycle and Cycle paired single statistic 77 Table 4.18: The details Quantive analysis of the Pre and Post test paired single Correlations 77 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The chart of writing process 10 Figure 2: The students’ project in cycle 58 Figure 3: Students project work in group 68 Figure 4: The chart of the mean of the test scores for five aspects of writing texg 76 Figure 5: The results of Pre and Post – test in Cycle and Cycle in mean scores 78 vi LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Course Grids .86 Appendix 2: Questionnaires for students 94 Appendix 3: Observation Checklist .101 Appendix 4: Writing Assessment Rubric .103 Appendix 5: The samples of Students’ Writing .105 Appendix 6: Students’ Score 108 Appendix 7: Photographs 118 vii ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to improve the writing skills of 11 th graders at Nong Cong High School through project-based learning It was expected that project-based learning could be used to improve the students writing skills of 11th graders at Nong Cong High School This research was classified as action research It was conducted in two cycles The main subjects of this research were 50 students of class 11A4 at Nong Cong High School The data obtained were qualitative and quantitative The qualitative data were gained from the questionnaires, writing tests and observation with the students Meanwhile, the quantitative data were gained from the writing tests that were conducted before the action implementation and at the end of every cycle There were several validity principles applied in this research; they were democratic validity, outcome validity, process validity, catalytic validity, and dialogic validity Furthermore, to test the trustworthiness these three triangulation principles were implemented: time triangulation, space triangulation, and investigator triangulation The results of this research showed that the implementation of projectbased learning in the English teaching and learning process was able to improve the students’ writing abilities Project-based learning can develop students’ motivation in learning the language It also provided feedback for them The various activities employed in PBL facilitated the students to understand the lesson more easily The group work conducted during the implementation of project-based learning gave positive impact to the students’ involvement and participation The students made good improvements in text organization, content, grammar, vocabulary and mechanics Moreover, the mean of the students’ writing score in the pretest was 4.73 meanwhile that in the post-test was 7.31 The improvement by 2.58 is significant according to the t-test The standard deviation of the students’ scores in the pretest was 0.903935 while that in the post-test was 0.773886 viii Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English has become a means of international communication and one of the most popular languages in the world It is used for almost all aspects of human life, such as mass media, business, sports, science and technology, education culture and so forth Many countries and governments, including Vietnamese government, realize that it is urgently needed in order to be able to compete with other countries in global context Therefore, the knowledge and skills of English are highly valued As a result, some educational institutions in Vietnam have introduced English since the pre-elementary level, although it is officially taught at the junior high school level as a compulsory subject Moreover, it is one of subjects tested in the national examination Most of all, writing performance is very significant because nowadays, people use not only verbal communication to communicate with each other, but also non-verbal communication In other words, writing is an essential form of communication and is used as a means of communication to connect people regardless time and places A good writing skill enables students to convey their thoughts and communicate their ideas so that those can be well-perceived by others Hence, writing is one of the most prominent skills which must be mastered by the English language learners In addition, writing performance is important because it determines students’ success in learning English On the other hand, writing skill is one of the indicators which can be used to measure students’ English ability This idea is further supported by Kingston et al (2002:3) who stated that the achievement of 10 112 APPENDIX STUDENTS’ SCORE Description : Pretest Day/Date : 7th October, 2016 Rater : The researcher ASPECTS No 10 11 12 13 Code Content Organization Language Vocabulary Use TOTAL Mechanics S1 2 2 10 S2 2 2 10 S3 2 2 10 S$ 2 2 10 S5 2 1 S6 2 2 11 S7 2 2 10 S8 2 2 10 S9 1 S10 2 2 S11 2 2 10 S12 2 1 S13 3 14 SCORE 5 5,5 5 3,5 4,5 3,5 113 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 S14 2 2 10 S15 2 2 S16 2 2 11 S17 2 1 S18 2 2 S19 2 2 10 S20 2 2 S21 2 1 S22 2 2 S23 2 2 10 S24 2 2 S25 2 2 10 S26 1 1 S27 2 2 S28 2 2 10 S29 2 11 S30 2 2 10 S31 2 1 S32 2 2 10 4,5 5,5 4 4,5 4,5 4,5 4,5 5,5 3,5 4,5 5,5 5 114 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 S33 2 2 10 S34 2 2 10 S35 2 2 10 S36 2 1 S37 2 2 11 S38 2 2 10 S39 2 2 10 S40 1 S41 2 2 10 S42 2 2 10 S43 2 1 S44 3 3 14 S45 2 2 10 S46 2 2 10 S47 2 2 S48 2 1 S49 2 2 S50 2 2 10 5 5,5 5 3,5 5 3,5 70 50 5,0 4,5 4,0 4,0 5,0 115 Description : Cycle test Day/Date : 22nd November, 2016 Rater : The researcher ASPECT No 10 11 Code Content Organizatio Vocabulary TOTAL SCORE Languag e Use Mechanic S1 2 12 S2 3 2 12 S3 2 11 S4 2 2 10 S5 2 2 10 S6 2 2 11 S7 2 12 S8 3 2 12 S9 2 2 10 S10 2 2 11 S11 2 12 5,5 5,0 5,5 6 5,0 5,5 116 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 S12 2 2 10 S13 3 15 S14 3 2 13 S15 3 2 13 S16 3 2 13 S17 2 2 10 S18 2 2 10 S19 3 2 11 S20 2 11 S21 3 2 12 S22 2 11 S23 2 2 11 S24 3 2 12 S25 2 11 S26 2 2 S27 2 11 7,5 6,5 6,5 6,5 5 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 4,5 5,5 117 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 S28 3 2 12 S29 3 2 13 S30 3 2 13 S31 2 2 11 S32 2 12 S33 2 11 S34 2 2 10 S35 2 2 10 S36 2 11 S37 2 2 11 S38 2 12 S39 2 2 11 S40 2 11 S41 2 2 11 S42 2 12 S43 2 2 10 6,5 6,5 5,5 5,5 5,0 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 5,5 118 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 6.5 S44 3 13 S45 2 12 S46 3 13 S47 2 2 12 S48 2 2 10 S49 2 2 10 S50 2 10 6,0 6,0 6,0 5 5,0 Description: Cycle Test Day/Date: 25th December, 2016 Rater: The researcher 119 Aspects Code No Conten 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Organizatio Vocabulary TOTAL Languag e Use Mechanics SCORE S1 3 16 S2 3 3 14 S3 3 3 14 S4 3 3 14 S5 3 3 14 S6 3 3 15 S7 3 3 15 S8 3 2 12 S9 3 2 12 S10 3 3 16 S11 4 3 17 S12 3 2 13 S13 4 3 18 S14 3 3 15 S15 4 3 17 S16 3 3 16 S17 3 3 14 S18 3 3 14 S19 3 3 14 S20 3 16 7,0 7,0 7,0 7,0 7,5 7,5 6,0 6,0 8,0 8,5 6,5 9,0 7,5 8,5 8,0 7,0 7,0 7,0 8,0 7,5 120 APPENDIX PHOTOGRAPHS 121 122 123 124 125 126 ... based learning towards the project – based learning towards the project – based learning towards the project – based learning towards the project – based learning Classroom observation The classroom... The definition of project – based learning The characteristics of project – based learning The significant of using project – based learning The steps of conducting project – based. .. characteristics of project- based learning Project- based learning shares the following features: 2.2.2.1 Project- based learning is an authentic learning Project- based learning is an experiential learning