An investigation into efl teachers perceptions of project based learning activities in new engligh textbooks at some lower secondary schools in quang tri

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY - HO THI THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS AT SOME LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY - HO THI THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS AT SOME LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC.PROF.DR TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ - HỒ THỊ THU HÀ NGHIÊN CỨU NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ HOẠT ĐỘNG DẠY HỌC THEO DỰ ÁN TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH MỚI TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ Ở QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS TS TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUẾ, 2019 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due references are made Hue, …/… / 2019 Signature Ho Thi Thu Ha i ABSTRACT This study mainly focuses on exploring EFL teachers' perceptions of project-based learning (PBL) activities in new English textbooks at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri The study also attempts to investigate the practice of teaching PBL activities in these textbooks in terms of its benefits and challenges In addition, this research finds out the possible suggestions for improving teaching PBL activities The study uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches The data collection instruments include questionnaires and interview The participants of this research are 20 EFL teachers who currently work at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri Findings from both of research approaches indicate that teachers have an overall understanding of PBL activities Besides, through the implementation of PBL activities in their class, the benefits and challenges that EFL teachers have encountered are also pointed out Accordingly, some of the main challenges are the limitation of time and fixed school syllabus, students' attitude, teachers' professional skills, inadequate school facilities, little financial encouragement from schools Basing on these findings, recommendations for teachers and educational administrators are made to enhance the success of PBL in teaching and learning English language ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Tran Van Phuoc for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge which has helped me a lot all the time of conducting this thesis My sincere thank also goes to all the English teachers from secondary schools in Quang Tri province who spent their time finishing my research questionnaires Without their passionate participation and input, the survey could not have been successfully conducted Last but not least, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents, my classmates and my friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis This accomplishment would not have been possible without them Thank you iii TABLES OF CONTENTS Page Statement of Originality i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Tables of Contents iv List of tables vii List of figures viii List of abbreviations ix CONTENTS OF THESIS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Structure of the research CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Project work 2.1.2 Project-based learning 2.1.3 Project-based learning activity 2.1.4 Benefits and challenges of project-based learning 2.1.4.1 Benefits of project-based learning 2.1.4.2 Challenges of project-based learning 11 2.1.5 Teachers' roles in project-based learning 12 iv 2.2 Review of previous studies 13 2.2.1 Review of the studies worldwide 13 2.2.2 Review of the studies in Vietnam 15 2.2.3 Literature gap 16 2.3 An overview of the new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7, 8,9) 17 2.4 Chapter summary 18 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Research context 19 3.1 Research approach 19 3.2 Research participants 20 3.3 Data collection instrument 20 3.3.1 Questionnaires 20 3.3.2 Interview 21 3.4 Data collection procedures 22 3.5 Data Analysis 22 3.6 Chapter summary 23 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24 Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9) 24 4.2 Teachers‟ perceptions of the practice of teaching project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9) 28 4.3 Suggestions for improving teaching project-based learning activities 44 4.4 Chapter summary 47 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 48 v 5.1 Summary of the key findings 48 5.1.1 Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activities 48 5.1.2 Teachers' perceptions of practice of teaching project-based learning activities 49 5.1.3 Suggestions for teaching improvement 50 5.2 Implications 50 5.2.1 For teachers 50 5.2.2 For educational administrators 51 5.3 Limitations of the study 51 5.4 Recommendations for further studies 52 REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES 58 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activity Table 4.2 Aims of using project-based activities in teaching English Table 4.3 Types of project-based learning activities Table 4.4 Requirements of developing a PBL activity Table 4.5 The most frequently used PBL activities in new English textbooks Table 4.6 Teachers‟ roles in teaching project-based activities Table 4.7 Work arrangement in implementing PBL activities Table 4.8 Sources of reference materials for PBL activities Table 4.9 Benefits of project-based activities for students Table 4.10 Frequency of teachers' giving feedback on students' project works Table 4.11 Challenges in terms of teachers' professional skills when assessing PBL vii many types of assessment such as portfolio and peer assessment to measure students' performance Besides, up to 85% of participants said that they always commented on students' product When teaching PBL, apart from the benefits, teachers met various difficulties in teaching as well as assessing project-based activities in terms of students' attitude and professional skills A large number of teachers (60%) admitted that students' shyness and lack of creativity was the main challenging in terms of students' attitude As for professional skills, poorly equipped facilities were supposed to be the primary drawback which was pointed out by 70% of teachers 5.1.3 Suggestions for improving teaching project-based learning activities In terms of suggestions for schools/institutions, a large number of teachers proposed that the time for teaching PBL activities in school syllabus should be increased Besides, there should be more investment in modern equipment to support teaching and learning Referring the ways to encourage students' participation in PBL, 55% of participants suggested that teachers should prepare students with sufficient knowledge and specific skills so that they became more confident and motivated to express their own ideas Regarding the recommendations for developing teachers' professional skills, 60% of teachers suggested that teachers should be provided with adequate training courses for teaching and assessing PBL activities 5.2 Implications 5.2.1 For teachers Since PBL has proved to be an innovative teaching method which has brought a lot of benefits for both teachers and students, teachers should take advantage of this teaching model in teaching English language Some of students may feel bored and lose their motivation and enthusiasm by the end of the projects, thus teachers should raise students' interest and engagement in English through extra activities like English clubs, the English speaking contests Moreover, once students are provided good preparation in terms of language and skills, they will make attempt to fulfill their shortcomings Moreover, as not all students can projects successfully, teachers can adapt or even change the content of project-based activities in order to suit 50 their students‟ levels and give clear instruction to help students gain the best results More importantly, regarding assessment of PBL, teachers should set up clear criteria for assessing their students‟ projects and discuss and provide students with those criteria very early before teaching any project-based activities Using various assessment tools flexibly is also necessary to evaluate students' work accurately 5.2.2 For educational administrators As can be seen from the findings of the questionnaires, both teachers and students have encountered some certain difficulties due to the impact of external factors Therefore, some action from schools and institution should be done to improve the quality of teaching and learning First of all, time allocated for the lessons of project should be taken into consideration by the policy makers Secondly, professional training course or seminars about teaching and assessing PBL should be organized frequently to raise teachers' professional knowledge of this method Furthermore, there should be more concern in upgrading and equipping the school such as classrooms, laboratories, libraries, multimedia rooms, projectors and so on in order to correspond to specific demands of teaching and assessing project-based activities Suitable teaching syllabuses and the number of students in each class also need to be taken into account Moreover, school administrators should have some financial encouragement for the teachers who take part in extra activities enthusiastically 5.3 Limitations of the study Besides the objectives were achieved in the current study, the limitations are still unavoidable The study only focuses on the teachers' views, attitudes, thinking, knowledge on the practice of teaching and assessing project-based learning activities in terms of the benefits and challenges of this method However, it does not pay much attention to students' opinions so it is likely that there is a difference between teachers' statements in this study and students' achievements in the others Besides, the scale of the study is limited to EFL lower secondary schools teachers in Quang Tri only As a result, it is not potential to generalize the findings of the study to the reality of teaching project-based activities in other lower secondary schools in others provinces or cities in Viet Nam 51 Moreover, the number of participants in the questionnaires is only 20 and interview is 5, which may influence the reliability of the results of the study The study result would be more persuasive and impressive if there were more participants taking part in this survey 5.4 Recommendations for further studies As mentioned above, this study only focused on the teachers' perception of teaching of project-based learning activities Therefore, it is recommended that further study should explore the students‟ perceptions of implementing those activities and the practice of implementing project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6, 7, 8, 9) Moreover, there should be some investigations into teaching practice of the other skills and components of new English textbooks 52 REFERENCES Allan, B., & Stoller, F L (2005) Maximizing the benefits of project work in foreign language classrooms English Teaching Forum 43 (4) Retrieved from: http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/05-43-4-c.pdf Allen, L Q (2004) Implementing a culture portfolio project within a constructivist paradigm Foreign Language Annals, 37, 232-239 Beckett, G & Slater, T (2005) The project framework: a tool for language, content and skills integration ELT Journal Vol 59(2), 108-116 Beckett, G (1999) Project-based instruction in a Canadian secondary school's ESL classes: goals and evaluations Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of British Columbia, Vancouver Benson, P (2001) Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning Harlow, England: Longman Blank, W (1997) Authentic instruction In W E Blank & S Harwell (Eds) Promising practices for connecting high school to the real world Tampa, FL: University of South Florida BIE (2015) Gold standard PBL: 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(You can choose more than one option)  Giving students opportunities to integrate and apply all English skills throughout its activities  Improving students' ability to work by themselves and in a team; enabling them to interact more with their friends outside class  Extending their imagination in a field related to the unit topic  Improving students' higher order thinking skills, express their creativity, use new technology, increase their social skills and possibly learn other subject knowledge Others (Please specify) In your opinion, what activities below are the project-based learning activities? (You can choose more than one option)  Drawing pictures, maps, diagrams, and charts  Making a video  Presenting information in poster format  Giving Power Point presentations  Others (Please specify) In your opinion, what requirements should be concerned when designing project?  Teachers' knowledge on designing a project-based activity  Suitable content with students' different levels and learning styles  Students' mental preparation before implementing a project  School's facilities and equipments to support implementing projects  Others (Please specify) B EFL teachers' perceptions on how to implement project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9) Which grade(s) did you often choose to implement project activities? (You can choose more than one option)  Grade  Grade  Grade  Grade  All grades How often did you organize project-based activities in your class(es)? 59  Always  Often  Sometimes  Rarely  Others (please specify) How much time did you often give students to complete a project-based activity?  A period  - hours  A half of day  to days  Others (please specify) In which stage of your lesson did you implement project-based learning activities?  Warm - up  Pre -stage / Presentation  While-stage / Practice  Post-stage / Production  Others (please specify) ) What types of project-based learning activities did you use most frequently in textbook Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9?  Drawing pictures, maps, diagrams, and charts  Making a video  Presenting information in poster format  Making Power Point presentations  Other answers (Please specify) 10 Where have the project activities in Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9 been conducted?  Inside classroom  Outside classroom  Both inside and outside classroom  Others (Please specify) 11 In your opinion, what was the teachers' role when implementing projectbased activities in new English textbooks?  Facilitator 60  Adviser  Coordinator  Assessor  Others (Please specify) 12 According to you, should we teachers instruct students during implementing projects?  Not much necessary  Not necessary  Very necessary  Necessary  Others (Please specify) 13 In what patterns you often assign your students to project-based activities?  Individuals  Pairs  Groups of to students  Groups of more than students  Others (Please specify) 14 Which sources of project-based learning activities did you advise your students to consult ? (You can choose more than one option)  ready-made textbooks  magazines, newspapers and books  Internet  Classmate  Others (please specify) 15 Did you inform students about the projects‟ assessment criteria in advance?  Always  Sometimes  Rarely  Never  Others (please specify) 16 Which form of assessment did you use to assess your students' project activities?  Testing 61  Self- assessment  Peer assessment  Making a portfolio  Others (please specify) 17 How often did you collect and assess your students‟ project works?  Always  Sometimes  Rarely  Never  Others (please specify) 18 How often did you give feedback and comment on your students' project activities when they finished?  Always  Sometimes  Rarely  Never  Others (please specify) 19 After implementing project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9), what did your students benefit?  Students' vocabulary and sentence patterns were considerably increased  Students had more opportunities to practice English with their classmate  Students were able to integrate and apply English language skills (e.g listening skill, speaking skills, …)  Students became confident and active and their intrinsic motivation was increased  Others (please specify) 20 What difficulties have you encountered when teaching project-based activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9)? (You can choose more than one option)  Class time limit and fixed school syllabus  Different students‟ linguistic competence and learning styles  Students' unwillingness to take part in projects  Little or no financial encouragement from schools or institutions  Others (Please specify) 21 What difficulties in terms of students' attitude have you encountered when assessing project-based activities? (You can choose more than one option) 62  Students felt shy and lacked of creativity  Students were not familiar with group work  Students were nervous in communicating with target language  Students lost interest and motivation by the end of the project  Others (Please specify) 22 What difficulties in terms teachers' professional have you encountered when assessing project-based activities? (You can choose more than one option)  No scientific assessment tools for measuring students' progress in language competence  Class time limit (no class section for presenting project works)  Poorly equipped facilities (no recorder, no rooms used for testing, etc.)  Student's individual involvement may not be evaluated accurately  Others (Please specify) C Suggestions for improving teaching project-based learning activities 23 In your opinion, what should schools or institutions to support teaching PBL activities? (Please write your answer below) 24 According to you, what should teachers to motivate students' participation in PBL activities? (Please write your answer below) 25 What should be done to develop teachers' professional skills in teaching PBL? Thank you for your cooperation! 63 APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For lower secondary school students) What is your definition of project-based learning? What activities can be considered as PBL activities? How many students in a group did your teachers assign to project-based activities? How often did your teacher assess your group's project works? How did they assess them? Which source of information did your teacher advise you to consult? What benefits you think project-based activities bring to you? What difficulties have you encountered when implementing project-based activities? 64