A case study of implementing project based learning in a listening speaking class of undergraduate english majors at the hcmussh m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE A CASE STUDY OF IMPLEMENTING PROJECTBASED LEARNING IN A LISTENING-SPEAKING CLASS OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGLISH MAJORS AT THE HCMUSSH A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN THI THAO Supervised by NGUYEN THI HONG THAM, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2019 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis which entitled “A case study of Implementing Projectbased Learning in a Listening-Speaking class of Undergraduate English Majors at the HCMUSSH” is my work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this paper does not contain materials published elsewhere or extracted on whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person‟s work has been used without acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis The thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh, June 2019 NGUYEN THI THAO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my appreciation and deep thank to all who have supported and stood by me during the time I conducted my thesis Firstly, I would like to sing out my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, PhD, with my greatest gratitude for her valuable guidance, advice, and encouragement She gave me great encouragement and inspiration when I was pregnant and gave a birth to my son, as well as when I got stuck in finding solutions for my thesis Undoubtedly, without her support, this thesis is far from being completed I need to emphasize that words fail me in expressing my indebtedness to her Next, I would like to send my deep thank to all the lecturers, who have laid my background knowledge at the Master program in Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities This background equips me with intensive knowledge in the scientific area as well as improve my personal skills to conduct research papers Then, my particular gratefulness is sent to all of the instructor and students of the class Language Skill 3B who have participated in the PBL implementation They were eager to join the course and answer the interview questions Last but not least, my words of appreciation are sent to my family for their endless love and care, and for being always supportive so that I could get the thesis done ABSTRACT Although project-based learning (PBL) approach has been illustrated to have considerable impacts on students‟ skill development, Vietnamese students‟ awareness on this approach seems to be still limited Therefore, this case study was conducted on an intact class of 33 English major students in the Vietnam National University Hochiminh City – University of Social Sciences and Humanities (hereafter HCMUSSH) It aimed at discovering the procedure to implement PBL in a class, the impacts of PBL on the development of the students‟ language skills and transferable skills, and their advantages and disadvantages while doing the projects The study employed semi-structured interviews with nine students and the instructor, six classroom observations, and document analysis basing on the students‟ end-products, such as posters, multimedia presentations, and the instructor‟s and peers‟ evaluation forms to collect data before conducting thematic analysis The findings of the study showed that the implementation of the projects into the course was conducted successfully following 10-step-procedure and five main features of PBL With the success of the implementation, the students‟ listeningspeaking skills improved after the projects The majority of them developed their thinking skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and social skills, such as communication, teamwork, and time management skills Meanwhile, some of them achieved improvement in their IT, leadership, and filmmaking skills, or finding information skills They also benefited from the instructor‟s assistance, accessibility of information, the school‟s facilities, and their peers‟ supports However, they encountered some challenges, such as time pressure, unfamiliar topics, competitiveness, and personal weaknesses Alternatively, the study also found that these difficulties bolstered the students‟ time management skills, problem solving, and critical thinking skills It then concluded that PBL is a fruitful method that provides students with a variety of benefits to develop their language and transferable skills Therefore, it is suggested that projects should be widely incorporated in curriculum Table of Contents STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Approaches to English Language Teaching 2.2 Language skill integration 2.2.1 Listening skills 10 2.2.2 Speaking skills 14 2.3 Transferable Skills 18 2.3.1 Definitions 18 2.3.2 Typical transferable skills 18 2.4 Project-Based learning approach (PBL) 20 2.4.1 History 20 2.4.2 Definitions 20 2.4.3 Key features of PBL 22 2.4.4 PBL in developing learners‟ skills 25 2.5 PBL in the Vietnamese contexts 29 2.6 Steps to develop a project in English language teaching and learning 30 2.7 Challenges in implementing PBL 33 2.8 Conceptual framework 35 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 37 3.1 Research methodology 38 3.2 Research settings and participants 39 3.3 Methods of data collection 40 3.3.1 Semi-structured interviews 40 3.3.2 Observations 41 3.3.3 Document Analysis 42 3.4 Data collection procedure 44 3.5 Data analysis procedure 46 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 50 4.1 The implementation of the projects in the listening-speaking class 50 4.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ listening-speaking skills 62 4.2.1 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ listening skills 62 4.2.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ speaking skills 65 4.3 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ transferable skills 71 4.3.1 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ critical thinking skill 71 4.3.2 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ problem-solving skills 74 4.3.3 PBL and it impacts on the students‟ creativity 76 4.3.4 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ teamwork skills 80 4.3.5 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ communication skills 83 4.3.6 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ time management skills 85 4.3.7 PBL and its impacts on the students‟ other skills 86 4.4 The advantages and disadvantages the students encountered 88 4.4.1 The students‟ advantages 88 4.4.2 The students‟ disadvantages and their solutions 93 4.5 Summary of main findings 96 4.6 Discussions 97 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 109 5.1 Conclusion 109 5.2 Pedagogical implications 111 5.3 Limitations of the study 113 5.4 Suggestions for further research 113 REFERENCES APPENDICES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: 10 steps to implement a project, advocated by Stoller (1997)…….………31 Figure 2.2 Conceptual Framework ……………………………………… ……………… 35 Figure 3.1 Thematic Network for Data analysis…………………… ………………………47 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Summary of the Research Methodology ………………………………… …….37 Table 3.2 The Procedure of Data Collection of the Study ………………………………… 45 Table 3.3: Data coding ………………………………………………………………………46 LIST OF ABBREVIATION HCMUSSH: Vietnam National University Hochiminh City – University of Social Sciences and Humanities PBL: Project-based Learning CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Project-based learning (PBL) is regarded as one of the most promising teaching approaches for preparing students with necessary skills for the 21st century (Boss, Larmer, & Mergendoller, 2013) In the field of English language teaching and learning, for example, PBL has considerable impacts on students‟ language skills development Moreover, it promotes students‟ transferable skills However, it may also cause many challenges for both students and teachers (Hsieh, 2012) Therefore, this study was conducted in order to investigate impacts of PBL on students‟ language and transferable skills The first chapter will introduce the background leading to the study, the aims, significances, and the scope of the study 1.1 Background of the study The role of English has become more important than ever It is an essential tool for the integrating process (Kirkpatrick, 2015), a “lingua franca” for Asia, an official language for the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Kirkpatrick, 2012, p 131) It is also considered a “visa” for Vietnamese people to integrate into the world (Le, H D, 2015) Therefore, to acquire and become fluent in English language is a must for Vietnamese people Many attempts have been made to improve Vietnamese learners‟ command of English language In 2008, The Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam launched a project, so-called the National Foreign Language Project 2020, aiming at improving foreign language competence for Vietnamese people As a part of the project, a lot of training has been provided to improve the quality of English language teachers around the country It also encouraged educators to actively renovate curriculum, update teaching approaches, and apply technology in their teaching However, in order to develop English language competence for Vietnamese learners, to qualify current teachers seems not to be adequate It is also important to instruct future English language educators who are currently being trained in tertiary institutions, “not only to model an approach that teachers in training may subsequently use with language learners later in their careers, but also to reinforce the content of the teacher-training curriculum” (F Stoller, 2006, p 22) Therefore, the most effective and practical teaching methodology should be employed to develop both their language and transferable skills Among several types of foreign language teaching approaches, Project-based learning is considered to benefit learners‟ language skills and essential transferable skills development such as critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and so on (Hsieh, 2012; Maulany, 2013) The approach is student-centered and underscores the constructivism where students learn new skills and knowledge by doing projects It promotes students‟ active roles while studying, as they play key roles in learning process On the one hand, students take responsibility of what they want to learn, and what is necessary for their future job On the other hand, it bolsters students‟ independence in when and how to tasks to achieve results under teachers‟ instructions Therefore, the approach equips students with skills to meet high demands of future workforce In other words, students develop working skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, time management skills when learning by doing projects However, there are still some barriers preventing PBL from being popularly implemented in Vietnam Firstly, the exam-oriented teaching system is still widely used Standardised tests are often used at the end of each course to evaluate students‟ achievement instead of eveluating their progress In higher education institutions, although students now have more opportunities to be assessed during learning course, final exams at the end of each course is still popular Moreover, most of teachers have not been well trained in using project-based learning to teach in class Many of them are not willing to apply new method in their teaching practice partially because “less teacher talk requires more teacher time” Cornell and Clarke (1999, p 94) In terms of students, as their challenges and advantages have not been well clarified in the literature, they not have enough prior experience to be ready for the project-based learning class Besides, the lack of agreement in the teachers‟ and students‟ attitude toward this approach still exists (Beckett, 2002) Some still show dissatisfaction with PBL though “most project-work proponents assert that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages” (Alan & Stoller, 2005) In addition, using English to communicate orally effectively seems to be a question to generations of educators and learners in Vietnam Although a number of Vietnamese students achieve high scores in written tests in local and international examinations, most of learners are still encountering considerable difficulties to speak English fluently Also, in spite of extrinsic pressure of using spoken English in studying and working, learners are easy to lose their learning motivation The reasons come from inappropriate or ineffective teaching methods, students‟ inadequate background knowledge, and students‟ unawareness of the importance of English language (Tran & Baldauf Jr, 2007) Therefore, there comes an urgent need to train prospective teachers with approaches which inspire learners to talk, appeal to learners‟ interests, and raise their awareness about the importance of English in future workforce For these reasons, this study chose PBL – one of the promising practical teaching approach to apply for a Listening-Speaking class with the hope of filling the said gaps and to provide a better understanding of using PBL in teaching language in higher education in Vietnam 1.2 Aims of the study As mentioned earlier, many studies have been conducted on PBL (Alan & Stoller, 2005; Felipe, Amouroux, Pham, & Stojcevski, 2016; Hsieh, 2012; Maulany, 2013; F Stoller, 2006) However, in Vietnam, the implementation of PBL in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) has been hampered by the reluctance of both teachers‟ and students‟ on the transition from teacher-controlled to learner-centered approach (Nguyen, K V., 2015) Little attention has been paid to the process in which PBL is implemented into curriculum In addition, how the approach helps students develop their language skills and transferable skill and the evaluation of impacts that students can gain from experiencing PBL have not been - all members are comparably excellent in speaking and presentation skills ZEBRA IE4 - deep and exhaustive research of the movie -creative communication mode in turn-taking -short but precise and attractive presentation PERFECT PITCH IE5 -all members produced good speech with proper pronunciation and speaking manner -beautiful designed poster, very vintage reaches and surpasses -the part about zombie description should be shortened and more animated Speakers must make the audience feel how scared or disgusting zombies are IE7 -some parts are too long Remember fewer words stay longer in listeners‟ minds IE9 -the idea of the presentation is very original with deep analysis and insights into the issues -the picture illustration should be carefully chosen -the conclusion is abrupt without any contact information to interest audience I am your fans and loyal customer in the future if you intend to put it into real life # teameattofit , #MC fan, # MC cute, #youareawesome The instructor’s evaluation form report and coding Appendix Observation Scheme No Skills Listeningspeaking skills Critical thinking Problem solving skill Creativity Winner Perfect Pitch Glasses Sky Zebra Teamwork Communication Information Technology Time management Other skills Comments: Students’ strengths _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Students’ Weaknesses _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Striking features _ _ _ _ _ Things need considering _ _ _ _ Appendix Questions to Interview the students Thank you very much for joining with me in this interview You have already had some experience in doing projects, so today we will discuss a little bit about the projects Questions What you like about doing the projects? Are there any differences between the class with the projects and classes that you usually participate in? What are they From which sources could you learn in the project class? Could you explain in detail? Your course is Listening-Speaking course Do you think that doing projects can help you to improve listening skill ability? If yes, how? If No, why not? Can these projects help improve your speaking skill? If yes, in what ways? If no, why not? Could you explain in detail? Which aspects of speaking skills can projects help you improve? Do you think it improved your listening-speaking skills? How? Besides language skills, which transferable skills (public speaking, critical thinking, etc.) can projects help you to improve? How? Could you explain in detail? What were your advantages/opportunities when conducting the projects? What challenges or difficulties have you encountered during conducting the projects? How have you overcome those challenges, your strategies/ suggestions? Do you have any suggestions to make the implementation of the projects better? Do you think project-based learning should be incorporated in your curriculum? 10 Generally, how you feel about doing projects while studying? 11 Are there any other issues about project-based learning we haven‟t mentioned that you would like to discuss? Appendix Questions to Interview the instructor Questions: Have you ever used the PBL approach before? If yes, how did you use it? If no, will you use this approach in the future? Let‟s talk about the students‟ performance in the two projects Are you satisfied with the students‟ performance in their presentations in the two projects? What are your comments? This course is a Listening-speaking course Do you think the projects can help students improve their listening skills? If yes, in what ways? What aspects of listening skill can be improved, in your opinion? If no, why not? Do you think that projects can help students improve their speaking ability? If yes, in what ways? What aspects of speaking can they improve, in your opinion? If no, why not? Do you think the projects improved the students‟ listening-speaking skills? How? Besides language skills, what other transferable skills (public speaking, creativity, teamwork, etc.) can the projects help the students improve, in your opinion? How? Could you explain in detail? What advantages did the students have when they were conducting the projects? What were their disadvantages when conducting the projects, in your opinion? What were your advantages when implementing the projects in your class? What were your challenges/ disadvantage when implementing the projects in your class? 10 In your opinion, what should be improved for better implementation of projects in the future? 11 Generally, how you feel about this approach (in term of teacher‟s role)? 12 Are there any other issues about PBL we haven‟t mentioned that you would like to discuss? Summary of date and duration for interviews Interviewees Date Duration S1 10:40 am 16/01/2017 40 minutes S2 2:20 pm 16/01/2017 38 minutes S3 3:02 pm 16/01/2017 45 minutes S4 4:24 pm 16/01/2017 37 minutes S5 1:49 pm 18/01/2017 45 minutes S6 4:13 pm 18/01/2017 30 minutes S7 4:49 pm 18/01/2017 33 minutes S8 9:00 am 19/01/2017 43 minutes S9 5:36 pm 20/1/2017 47 minutes The instructor 9:20 pm 20/1/2017 45 minutes Appendix Guidelines for project I Project name: Compare and contrast two films of similar types Details: Each group designs a poster to compare and contrast two films of similar types Strongly suggest to choose one Vietnamese film to compare and contrast with another country‟s film You may:  Choose a typical Vietnamese film that you like, then, compare with one typical film of the similar kind made in another country; or choose two foreign films of the similar types (action movie – action movie, romantic – romantic, documentary – documentary, etc.);  Compare and contrast the Vietnamese film industry and other country‟s film industry (history, development, etc.)  Compare and contrast typical characteristics of Vietnamese films and other country‟s, (characters, plots, audiences, etc.) In addition, you are encouraged to:  Show your preference  Suggest what Vietnamese films should to attract more audiences After designing the poster, each group will have 12 (for groups of six) or 15 (for groups of seven) minutes to present your poster orally Each member will be in charge of one part You will be assessed in terms of: - Preparation (e.g clear and well-designed poster) - Your ideas (creative, innovative, informative) - Critical thinking skills (tight and clear organization, impressive and related evidence, analyzing context, making assumptions, clear conclusion, etc.) - Speaking skills (pronunciation, language use, structure, delivery) - Communication skills (delivery, supporting materials, central message, etc.) - Teamwork (group discussions, constructive team climate, responding to the conflicts, etc.) - Problem-solving skills (problem identification, persuasive explanations, suggestions, etc.) Guidelines for project II Project name: STARTUP Details: Each group designs a multimedia project illustrating your plan for a startup business You can use PowerPoint presentation with video and images, or other software like Prezi, Keynote, Proshow Producer, etc to support your Oral Presentation The project may be about something that your group will produce or sell, such as open up a Language Center, sell products online, make and sell handmade products, etc The project should include: - Name of your project/ plan; - The market investigation (customers‟ demands, potential customers, etc.); - The management team - Financial funding - Products (name, procedure, etc.) - Vision - Etc In addition, you are encouraged to:  Show your creativity, and analytical skills  Show your critical evaluation of the market, the potential and practical conditions to develop your business After designing poster, each group will have maximum of 12 minutes (for group of 6) and 15 minutes (group of 7) to present your project orally Members will take turn to present You will be assessed in terms of: - Preparation (e.g clear and well-designed project) - Your ideas (creative, innovative, informative) - Time management skill - Critical thinking skills (good hook, tight and clear organization, impressive and related evidence, analyzing context, making assumptions, clear conclusion, etc.) - Speaking skills (pronunciation, language use, structure, delivery) - Communication skills (delivery, supporting materials, central message, etc.) - Teamwork (group discussions, constructive team climate, responding to the conflicts, etc.) - Problem-solving skills (problem identification, persuasive explanations, suggestions, etc Appendix Extract from audio recordings MC: So, this week, a new business plan from an entrepreneur comes with us They have been working long to run their venture.so let’s check out for who they are and what they need today OK, now let’s introduce yourselves please! Group of entrepreneur: Hello everyone, we are E-food company and I’m Ha - product manager, here is Minh – she is finance manager, and Mai Anh, she is web designer and marketing manager MC: Thank you Oh, So what we can know is E-food company Could you review the detailed products of your company and tell us why you are excited to that type Ha: Yes, in the circumstances that there are many people are using the detox diet in the wrong ways They skip meal, use the drug or over-exercise that can have bad effect on their health So we’re here to introduce you an efficient method to help you lose weight but also help you to better your health but you’re still allowed to eat freely It is the low-carb diet program And the purpose of our service is to provide customers with low-carb meal in days, weeks, or months MC: yes, that’s low-carb diet, one of the popular form to keep fit, but actually, most of people including me don’t know about what’s low-carb is So, Ms Trang, could you tell us what is low-carb, in scientific way? Trang – expert: Yes, low-carb is a common phrase you’ve usually heard nowadays So, basically, carbohydrate supplies energy for our body But if you eat too much, you can increase your chances of meeting blood pressure, diabetes, etc So low-cab diet is a diet programme that restricts carbohydrate by replacing those food that is easily digestible… Appendix Winner group’s Perfect Pitch group’s Tangible products of Project I Glasses group’s Zebra group’s Sky group’s Appendix Tangible products of project II Perfect Pitch group’s https://prezi.com/4d7hke 9t8f/project-3b2/ Zebra group’s https://prezi.com/dlpqm-2x1gbd/untitled-prezi/?utm_ Sky group’s https://prezi.com/h4opazmiytly/ii/ Glasses group’s https://www.slideshare.net/mucnuongchamtuong/glasses-groups-project/1 Winner group’s https://prezi.com/khignjlbxsbx/ipro-project/