Nhận thức của giáo viên trung học phổ thông về việc sử dụng dạy học dự án trong sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh thí điểm

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HOÀNG THỊ HÀ XUYÊN HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ P

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

HOÀNG THỊ HÀ XUYÊN

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED

LEARNING IN THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Nhận thức của giáo viên trung học phổ thông về việc sử dụng phương pháp

học dự án trong sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh thí điểm)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

**********************

HOÀNG THỊ HÀ XUYÊN

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED

LEARNING IN THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS

(Nhận thức của giáo viên trung học phổ thông về việc sử dụng phương pháp

học dự án trong sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh thí điểm)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr.Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not be completed without the help of a number of people From

my deep heart, I would like to express my thanks to all of them

First of all, I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my beloved supervisor, Dr Vu Thi Thanh Nha, for her enthusiastic and careful guidance as well

as her encouragements she gave me while I was doing this study

Second of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to my respectful lectures in Faculty of Post-Graduated Department at University of Languages and International Studies for their devotion and their useful lectures

Last but not least, I would like to give my great thanks to my friends and all teachers for their willingness to take part in my research

ABSTRACT

This study explored high school teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning

in the new English textbooks The specific areas of investigations were teachers‘ perceptions about (1) PBL‘s definitions, PBL‘s benefits for students in language learning in terms of motivation, improvements in language skills, learning autonomy, teamwork skills and teachers‘ roles in PBL, (2) their challenges in implementing PBL The findings from questionnaires and interviews reveal that teachers had a clear understanding of PBL was and a positive attitude to the benefits

of PBL for students in language learning Also, the results of the study show that teachers encountered with three main challenges when implementing PBL : students‘ ability, time for preparation and schools‘ facilities Basing on these findings, suggestions are made to enhance the success of PBL in teaching and learning English language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration I Acknowledgement II Abstract III Table of contents IV List of abbriviations VI List of figures and tables VII

PART A

INTRODUCTION 8

1.Rationale for the study 8

2.Aims of the study 9

3.Research questions 9

4.Scope of the study 9

5.Method of the study 9

6 Design of the study 9

PART B CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 11

1.1.Teacher cognition 11

1.1.1.Definition of teacher cognition 11

1.1.2.The importance of teacher cognition 12

1.1.3.The relationships between teacher beliefs and classroom practice 12

1.2.Project-based learning 13

1.2.1.Definitions of project-based learning 13

1.2.2 Characteristics of project-based learning 14

1.2.3.Benefits of project-based learning 15

1.2.4.Challenges of project-based learning 17

1.2.5 Teachers’ roles in project-based learning 18

1.3.The previous studies of project-based learning in English language teaching 19 1.4 An overview of the new English textbooks 21

2.1.Context of the study 29

2.2 Research questions 29

2.3.The study 30

2.3.1 Participants 30

2.3.2 Data collection instruments 30

2.3.3.Data collection procedure 32

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS 34

3.1.The findings from questionnaires 34

3.1.1.Teachers’ background information 34

3.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions of PBL and their challenges in implementing PBL 35

3.2 The findings from interviews 44

3.2.1.Teachers’ perception of project-based learning in the new English textbooks 44

3.2.2 Teachers’ challenges 48

PART C CONCLUSION 51

1.Summary of the key findings 51

2 Implications 53

3 Limitations of the study 54

4 Suggestions for further study 55

REFERENCES 56 APPENDENCES I

APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 V APPENDIX 3 VI APPENDIX 4: VII APPENDIX 5: X APPENDIX 6: XI

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

ELT: English Language Teaching

MOET: The Ministry of Education and Training PBL: Project-based learning

SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Teachers‘ teaching experience 34

Figure 2: Teachers‘ time of knowing project-based learning 35

Table 1: The performance objectives of the new textbooks 23

Table 2: Topics in English 10, English 11 and English 12 28

Table 3: Teachers‘ definition of PBL 37

Table 4: The benefits of PBL for students‘ motivation in English learning 38

Table 5: The benefits of PBL for students‘ improvements in language skills 39

Table 6: The benefits of PBL for students‘ learning autonomy 40

Table 7: The benefits of PBL for students group work 40

Table 8: Teachers‘ roles in implementing PBL 41

Table 9: Teachers‘ challenges in implementing PBL 42

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has paid more attention to teaching and learning foreign languages In secondary education,

the Approval of Chương trình giáo dục phổ thông môn tiếng Anh thí điểm cấp trung

học phổ thông (Pilot English Curriculum for Vietnamese Upper Secondary

Schools) Therefore, the new English textbooks namely Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh

11 and Tiếng Anh 12 are designed and promulgated by MOET The goals of the new textbooks are to help students develop their language ability and the communicative competence through four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) The contents and structures of the new textbooks are different from the old ones focusing on task-based approach ―Looking back and Project‖ is one section at the end of each learning unit, which is new to both teachers and students A project lesson focuses on a group activity, which requires students to closely cooperate with their friends in their own group to make a final product relating to the topic of each learning unit The results of project are presented in many different forms such as an article, a presentation or a PowerPoint The teacher acts as a guide for students, not

a one-way knowledge transfer as before Therefore, in order to see whether applying project is effective in the classroom or not, it is necessary to explore teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning because their beliefs may have an influence on their classroom practice in the future Here, teachers‘ perceptions include their attitude, knowledge, evaluation and thinking of project-based learning (Borg 2006) In fact, many studies about project-based learning have been conducted; however, studies on teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning in second language teaching are very limited That is motivation for the researcher to investigate high school teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning in terms of

2.Aims of the study

This study aims at investigating high school teachers‘ perceptions of using project-based learning in the new English textbooks The findings of the study will give suggestions for teachers‘ choice of teaching approaches used in their own classrooms Thus, it enhances English language teaching and learning and teachers‘ challenges will be addressed

3.Research questions

In order to achieve these aims, two research questions are:

1 What are high school teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning in the new English textbooks?

2 What are teachers‘ challenges in implementing project-based learning?

4.Scope of the study

Project-based learning in the field of second language teaching is a large topic However, this is just a minor thesis so the topic is narrowed in order to facilitate the research Also, the researcher is concerned with teachers‘ perceptions towards the benefits of project-based learning, their roles in the classroom as well as their challenges they face with during the implementation The participants of study include 30 teachers from nine high schools Thus, the results of study might not be generalized to all teachers who are piloting the new English textbooks in Vietnam

5 Method of the study

The study was conducted in the form of mixed research method In order to accomplish the study, questionnaires and interviews were employed to collect data

on teachers‘ perceptions of PBL associated to the benefits and the challenges of PBL in the new textbooks

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts as follow:

Part A: Introduction covers the rationale for study, aims, research questions, the

scope, and the design of the study

Part B: Development is organized around three chapters as follows:

Chapter I- Literature review synthesizes the theoretical framework of the study

related to teachers‘ general perceptions, project-based learning and an overview of the new English textbooks

Chapter II - Methodology, presents the context, the methodology used in this study

including the subject, the data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis

Chapter III – Findings consists of a comprehensive analysis of the data

Part C: Conclusion, offers a summary of the findings, recommendations,

limitations, and future directions for further study

PART B CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the theoretical issues related to the topic of the study This part will discuss about teachers‘ perceptions, project-based learning in terms of its definitions, features, benefits, teachers‘ roles and challenges in implementing PBL and an overview of the new upper-secondary English textbooks

1.1 Teacher perception/cognition

This section reviews the relevant literature in the area of teacher perception for the present study Drawing on the existing literature, an operational definition of teachers‘ cognitions offered, providing the author with the clear understanding of teacher cognition, which is the foundation of the study This is followed by an analysis of the importance of teacher cognitions in research

1.1.1 Definition of teacher perception

Teacher knowledge, teacher belief or teacher perception/ cognition are not easy to define, operationalize and study There have recently been various conceptualizations defining different sub-areas under the term ‗teacher cognition‘ Borg (2003:81) states that teacher cognition is ―the unobservable cognitive dimension of teaching – what teachers know, believe, and think.‖ This definition with respect to language teacher cognition, according to Borg (2006), comprises beliefs, knowledge, theories, attitudes, assumptions, conceptions, principals, thinking, and decision-making, about teaching, teachers, learners, learning, subject matter, curricula, materials, activities, self, colleagues, assessments, and context Such definition unavoidably conveys that ―language teachers have cognitions about all aspects of their work and that this can be described using various psychological constructs which I collectively refer to as teacher cognition‖ (Borg 2006: 283) It is noted that these definitions of teacher cognition orient the researcher toward data collection, analysis and interpretation

during the process of study Next, the importance of teacher cognition in research will be discussed to explain why this paper want to explore it

1.1.2 The importance of teacher perception

There are a number of reasons for teacher beliefs to be of considerable importance in research First, it is likely that teacher cognition exerts a powerful long-term influence on teachers‘ instructional practices (Borg 2011; Burn 1992; Freeman 1992; Johnson 1992, 1994; Kagan 1992; Pajares 1992; Richards 1998, cited in Phipps, 2009, p.13) Beliefs greatly influence teachers‘ planning and instructional decisions Second, these beliefs seem to be very deep-rooted and may continue to influence teachers throughout their occupational lives (Borg, 2003) Third, beliefs are resistant to change and filter what teachers learn from teacher education Like other learners, teachers tend to ―interpret new content through their existing understanding and modify and interpret new ideas on the basis of what they already know or believe‖ (Kennedy 1991:2) Thus, beliefs influence on the way teachers assimilate and accommodate knowledge about teaching and learning (cited

in Phipps, 2009, p.13)

Therefore, understanding teacher cognition is important to our understanding

of teaching and the way teachers act Now, I will discuss the relationships between teacher beliefs and classroom practice in the following subsections

1.1.3.The relationships between teacher beliefs and classroom practice

There are many studies showing the relationships between teacher beliefs and their classroom practices Richards (1998) states ―A primary source of teachers‘ classroom practices is belief systems—the information, attitudes, values, expectations, theories, and assumptions about teaching and learning that teachers build up over time and bring with them to the classroom‖ (p 66) Johnson (1992, cited in Vilbulphol, 2004, p.39) concludes that there was a relationship between teachers‘ theoretical beliefs and their classroom practices From her examination on this relationship and the observation data, she found that the majority of defined

(emphasizing the practice of discrete skills, attending to the accuracy of language

production, and promoting memorization), rule-based (focusing on the learning of

grammar rules and the practice of structures in meaningful contexts) , and function- based (promoting the use of authentic materials, communication-oriented activities, and the appropriate use of language in real situations) approaches, which reflect their preferred teaching approach Most teachers favored the function-based approaches The researcher also reveals that teacher‘s reading and writing activities were designed in accordance with their beliefs

In conclusion, these studies suggest that second and foreign language teachers possess certain beliefs about second language learning and teaching which may influence their instructional practices Therefore, a study on teacher cognition will give us insights on how to support teachers in implementing project-based learning The main second content of this chapter is concerned with project-based learning, the key focus of the current study

1.2 Project-based learning

The focus of the study is project-based learning; therefore, this section explores the aspects of project-based learning including its definitions, features, benefits, challenges and teachers‘ roles in it

1.2.1 Definitions of project-based learning

Various authors have proposed many definitions of project-based learning Hedge (1993: 276) defines a project as ―an extended task, which usually integrates language skills work through a number of activities These activities combine in working towards an agreed goal and may include planning, the gathering of information through reading, listening, interviewing, discussion of the information, problem solving, and oral or written reporting, and display‖

Thomas (2000) states that PBL is a model that organizes learning around projects He also summarizes many different definition of PBL from other studies Particularly, the definitions found in PBL handbooks for teachers, projects are complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems, that involve students in

design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities; give students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extended periods of time; and culminate in realistic products or presentations (Jones, Rasmussen, & Moffitt, 1997; Thomas, Mergendoller, & Michaelson, 1999, cited in Thomas 2000, p.1)

Demirhan (2002, cited in Baysura & Yucel, 2015, p.17), PBL is defined and described as an approach that (1) requires interdisciplinary study, (2) makes students take responsibility in a group or individually and study collaboratively on real-life problems based on a specific topic and their personal interests and skills, (3) gives teachers the roles of facilitating learning and guiding students, (4) results

in students‘ authentic products or presentations, and (5) integrates different approaches within the self PBL is a learning and teaching approach through which students gain new knowledge and skills while researching complex and realistic problems, designing and planning their own studies and performances, and producing authentic products In particular, the PBL approach contributes to their subject-matter knowledge, problem-solving skills, and self-directed learning

In summary, there has not been a universal definition of project-based learning To better understand what project-based learning is, it is necessary to look

at the characteristics of PBL in the following section

1.2.2 Characteristics of project-based learning

Many different researchers show characteristics of project-based learning Stoller‘s (2007: 4-5) identifies six main features of Project-Based Learning as follows:

First, ―Project work focuses on content learning rather than on specific

language targets Real-word subject matter and topic of interest to students can become central to projects.”

Second, “Project work is student-centered, though the teacher plays a major

role in offering support and guidance throughout the process.”

Third, “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.”

Fourth, “Project work leads to the authentic integration of skills and

processing of information from various sources, mirroring real-life tasks.”

Fifth, “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.”

Sixth, “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.”

With its distinctive features, PBL has drawn a lot of attention from researchers The current study focuses both on benefits and challenges of PBL Therefore, these issues will be discussed in the two following subsection

1.2.3.Benefits of project-based learning

Project-based learning offers a wide range of benefits to both students and teachers In terms of students, numerous benefits of project work have been cited in the relevant literature Researchers of this domain assert the great contributions of project work to language learning, motivation, stimulation, self-esteem and autonomy and social aspects

Haines (1989, cited in Gallacher 2004, p.1-3) summarizes some advantages

of project-based learning consisting of (1) motivation-learners are increased; (2) all four skills are integrated; (3) Autonomous learning is promoted as learners become more responsible for their learning; (4) there are learning outcomes-learners have an

end product; (5) authentic tasks are given to learners; (6) interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group; (7) content and methodology can be decided between the learners and the teacher and within the group themselves so it is more learner-centered; (8) learners can get help from parents for the project work thus involving the parents more in the child‘s learning; (9) a break from routine and the chance to do something different; (10) a context is established which balances the need for fluency and accuracy

According to Fried-Booth (2002), project-based learning is a shift from teacher-centeredness to learner-centeredness, which enhances learner autonomy, with the characteristics of allowing students to select the topics they are interested

in, providing opportunities to take on leadership roles, and giving them responsibility for their own learning In addition, project work gives students a chance to discuss features of the project such as the theme, product, and procedures

to accomplish the product, and individuals‘ roles and responsibilities in the group Project-based learning contrasts with traditional teacher-centered classroom education; with its democratic learning characteristics, students are free to make educational decisions in the classroom By choosing, organizing, and carrying out a project of their own choice, students take responsibility for their own learning These characteristics of project work make students more autonomous and independent in the face of traditional ways of teaching Besides, Fried-Booth (2002) notes that how much a student benefits from project work depends on how much the student is involved in the exercise For project-based instruction to help students promote communication and collaboration with community members, they need to carry out outside classroom activities Therefore, project work is a means to develop students‘ social skills Hedge (2000) shows that project work fosters students‘ imagination and creativity, self-discipline, responsibility, collaboration, research skills and cross-curricular work through utilizing information learned in other subjects

In terms of teachers, project-based learning helps them enhance professionalism and collaboration among colleagues, opportunities to build relationship with students Moreover, many teachers can help to diverse students realize that the traditional instructional methods and approaches in the classroom are not effective and then introduce them a wide range of learning opportunities in their classroom (Thomas, 2000)

1.2.4 Challenges of project-based learning

Apart from the existing benefits of project-based learning, it brings students and teachers some unexpected difficulties during the process of implementation Particularly, Westwood (2008: 34-35) shows that students may face with the following challenges

1 Students lack necessary skills for researching and collecting information

2 Students’ learning and contributing to give the impression of productive

project work may be very little

3 Due to a weak understanding of the topic of projects, the production of posters, models, charts, recordings, photographs and written report on display is challenging for students

4 Individual members of different groups do not have a general understanding

of the whole topic given by their teacher

Hutchinson (1992) mentions mixed ability class as a problem in PBL He argues that in traditional lessons very often the brighter students "steal" the teacher´s attention and time for themselves because they are self-confident, more active and faster in answering teacher´s questions In project work these students can work independently, occasionally asking the teacher to supervise or help; meanwhile the teacher can devote his time to those who need it most, to slower or

less confident students

Marx et al (1997) also describes the difficulties encountered by teachers such as times for preparation, classroom management, subject depth and evaluating students‘ knowledge after doing project Eyring (1997) warns teachers that if the

main curriculum is based on project work, excessive absence and tardiness, excessive quietness in some students, the gap between the needs and demands of the extremely high and extremely low-level students, lack of cooperation among students, and lack of initiative Some students may be lazy and do not want to do anything in a group, which may demotivate the enthusiastic students The problems mentioned above affect the success of a project-based classroom because students may depend too much on the teacher or themselves, rather than on each other, in the case of such pitfalls Teachers‘ roles will be mentioned in the next section

1.2.5 Teachers‟ roles in project-based learning

Haines (1989, cited in Gallacher, p 5) outlines teachers‘ stage-by-stage role

in project-based learning implementation In the first step, the teacher should stimulate students‘ interest and then elicit their ideas for or the thematic direction, working method, timetable, and suitable final product and resource implications The teacher should play a role as a facilitator providing a source of ideas and advice for students or a referee helping to resolve problems, a chairperson during group‘s reports to the whole class Finally, the teacher takes a role of organizer or evaluator

to give efficient organization of displays and productions

Project-based learning is only possible in classrooms where teachers support students by giving sufficient guidance and feedback The teacher must thoroughly explain all tasks that are to be completed, provide detailed directions for how to develop the project, and circulate within the classroom in order to answer questions and encourage student motivation In order to create successful units focused on project-based learning, teachers must plan well and be flexible In this approach to instruction, teachers often find themselves in the role of learner and peer with the students Teachers can assess project-based learning with a combination of objective tests, checklists, and rubrics; however, these often only measure task completion The inclusion of a reflective writing component provides for self-evaluation of student learning (Bie, 2003)

In brief, the aspects of project-based learning are discussed in the second section of chapter two The final section will look specifically at the previous studies on PBL in language teaching, the focus of the present study

1.3.The previous studies of project-based learning in English language teaching

The purpose of this part is to review literature relating to applying based learning strategy in teaching and learning English as a foreign language and its impacts on developing language learners' achievement and teachers‘ perceptions

project-of PBL

Students‟ achievement in second language learning

Regarding language learners‘ achievement, Gardner (1995) implemented a video documentary project at the University of Hong Kong that was intended to allow students to exercise their academic listening comprehension and note-taking skills The results were generally positive in that students improved not only their listening and note-taking skills, but also their writing skills Similarly, Wanchid and Wattanasin (2015) did video project at King Mongkut‘s University of Technology North Bangkok The findings shows that the students had highly positive attitudes toward project work in the English course as it offers considerable benefits to the students especially in terms of teamwork and learning autonomy The benefits also stated by the students were that the video project was useful, allowed them to use their creativity, involved the use of technology, enabled them to work with friends, and encouraged them to use and practice English more

Hilton-Jones (1988) discussed a six-week project-based learning English language course in the U.K., which had a group of West German teenagers practicing listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in English The results showed that they were able to improve their language learning needs with a project

In Wilhelm‘s (1999) study, most of the students felt great satisfaction in the opportunity to negotiate meaning with native speakers and to take the responsibility for their own learning They indicated that the only pitfall of project work is its stressful character due to the heavy workload In this study, projects classes were

categorized in accordance with the students‘ TOEFL scores In addition, all the students in project classes were given instruction in areas such as trust development and interpersonal relationships, demonstration of the student and teacher roles, a model for the collaborative learning approach, giving peer feedback and negotiation, and a well-balanced grading system

Teachers‟ perceptions of PBL in second language teaching

Although the research on language teacher cognition has now become a established domain of inquiry (Borg, 2003, 2006) literature on teachers‘ beliefs regarding project-based learning implementation is still very limited Beckett (1999) showed the scarcity of studies on both project-based learning and teacher and student perceptions of project work She indicated that the two ESL teachers participating in project work in her study, which was carried out in a Canadian secondary school She also mentioned that teachers were impressed by the creative studies of their students and evaluated project-based instruction favorably since it allowed them to integrate language, content and skills in a communicative way and

well-to promote critical thinking, problem solving and cooperative learning skills They were also satisfied with the result that the students were able to discover their strengths and weaknesses as learners

In contrast to the positive attitudes in the studies above, Eyring (1997) shows the relatively negative results There was one teacher coordinating PBL in an ESL university context in the U.S In spite of being impressed by the final product, she had many complaints about the process of project She stated that it was very demanding to negotiate the curriculum with the students and get them involved in project at all level because of their lukewarm responses in general Though the teacher believed that she tried her best to guide project work for students, they did not understand and accept input offered in a relatively democratic way Besides, they showed much less respect to her compared to her previous students She suggested that it would be better to revert to a more teacher-directed approach

including traditional ESL activities focusing on reading, vocabulary and grammar to provide students with something concrete that they can say they have learnt

Harris (2014) examined middle school teachers‘ perceptions associated with the implementation of project-based learning He explored the challenges teachers faced with when implementing project-based learning, the ways they responded to

was conducted at a suburban middle school outside Pittsburgh, PA with forty-nine teachers‘ participations Questionnaires was employed to collect data The findings showed that teachers perceived that time, meeting state accountability requirements, addressing the standards, implementing the project within the school‘s schedule and designing a lesson plan were most challenging when implementing project-based learning The study also found that teachers either knew how to respond to

skills, teachers perceived that project-based learning addressed more effectively than traditional methods Students gained many skills in PBL including communication, collaboration, creativity, innovation, critical thinking and problem solving The next section will give an overview of the new English textbooks

1.4 An overview of the new English textbooks

This section will provide a brief overview of the new English textbooks

namely Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 which are being piloted in

nine selected high schools in Vietnam

November, 2012, the Minister of Education and Training signed Decision No

5209/QD –BGDĐT on the Approval of Chương trình giáo dục phổ thông môn tiếng

Anh thí điểm cấp trung học phổ thông (Pilot English Curriculum for Vietnamese

Upper Secondary Schools) Methodologically, the new English textbooks are claimed to adopt the communicative approach to language teaching in order to help students use language (vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar) to develop the

communicative competence through four skills ( listening, speaking, reading and writing) (MOET, 2012)

The specific objectives of the new textbooks are that after graduating from

high school, students “Can understand the main points of clear standard input on

familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken Can produce simple, connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest Can describe experiences and events, dreams and hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.” (Van

2016: 14) In order to accomplish those objectives, the specific objectives of the textbooks are classified into the performance objectives through four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing (Grade 10: level 3.1; Grade 11: level 3.2; Grade 12: level 3.3) (see Table 1 below)

Table 1: The performance objectives of the new textbooks

-Understand the main points of selected radio news bulletins and

material on topics of

between 240 - 260 words

- Understand the main points of clear standard speech on

delivery is slow and

TV programs or podcasts on current affairs or topics of

when the delivery is relatively slow and clear

- Listen to a simple narrative and form

what will happen next

close simple

-Ask for and give detailed directions

-Give or seek personal views and opinions in

an informal discussion with friends

-Deal with most situations likely to

events, dreams, hopes and ambitions

reactions

220 - 250 words

- Understand the main

points in short texts

- Text length between

on a current topic or event and understand the overall meaning of the text

description of events, feelings and wishes

school authorities) -Understand a variety

of texts that consist

procedures to follow

in applying for a job)

140 - 160 words

messages to friends or

acquaintances asking

for or giving them

news and narrating

events -Write simple

texts about experiences

or events (e.g about a

trip, for a school

-Reply in written form

to advertisements and ask for more complete

-Text length of

180-200 words

connected texts on a range of topics of personal interest and

according to four themes including our lives, our society, our environment and our

future These themes are repeated at each higher grade with increasing levels of

difficulty to help students enhance their communicative competences The themes

of textbooks reflect the cross-cultural values (Vietnamese, regional and American) across a wide range of contexts in Vietnam, in South-East Asia and in some main English-speaking countries Each teaching unit covers a topic (see Table 2)

Anglo-In respect to how a unit begins and ends, depending on grade, length of text and the degree of language difficulty and complexity, a unit of grade 10 to grade 12 begins with a dialogue about the topic which incorporates phonological and lexical items related to the topic, specific functions and notions, and grammatical structures realizing them These language elements and language functions and notions are then practiced and expanded in one or two lessons that follow before students are taught four macro-skills (reading, speaking, listening, and writing) and some cultural contents related to the topic of the unit Especially, each learning unit ends with a project, which provides students with an opportunity to use the language, and skills they have learned to perform communicative tasks in real contexts degree of language difficulty and complexity (Van, 2015) As mentioned in the introduction part, a project lesson is a group activity that requires students to work closely with their friends in their own group to make a final project in relation to the topic of each learning unit The final products will be presented in different forms like an article, a presentation or a power point At the same time, they are asked to integrate four main skills to report their results in front of the class They are also encouraged

to use words and grammars from the previous lesson to do their project Topics of the project lessons are relevant to the topic of each learning unit shown in Table 2

Table 2: Topics in English 10, English 11 and English 12

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology selected in the study In the sections below information about the context and the subjects of the study, the research questions, the data collection instruments, the data collection procedure, and the data analysis procedure will be presented

2.1.Context of the study

This paper explored high school teachers‘ perceptions towards implementing PBL in the new English textbooks The setting, therefore, was conducted at 9 high schools from different provinces in northern Vietnam

namely Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc and Hanoi capital where

the new English textbooks have been piloted now

According to the rules of Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training‘s National Foreign Languages 2020 Project, high schools must have good conditions for applying the new English textbooks such as teachers‘ competence, students‘ competence and facilities Nine high schools chosen in this study partially satisfy requirements of the Project As surveyed, some schools were well equipped with IT room, projector and library supporting for the process of teaching and learning the new English textbooks as well as other subjects However, there were some classes

in these schools chosen to learn the new English textbooks because it depends on both teachers‘, students‘ foreign language competences and school‘s facilities For instance, the new English textbooks (English 10, English 11 and English 12) have been piloted in six classes at Xuan Truong B for 5 years but they have just been applied for all grades this year Conversely, the new English textbooks have been piloted for three classes at Thang Long high school Therefore, project-based learning is new to some teachers and cannot avoid challenges during the process of implementation

2.2 Research questions

As mentioned in section I.3, the study was carried out to find out the answer

to the following questions

1 What are high school teachers‘ perceptions of project-based learning in the new English textbooks?

2 What are their challenges in implementing project-based learning?

2.3.The study

The main contents of this section include participants of the study, the data collection instruments namely questionnaires, and interviews followed a procedure

2.3.1 Participants

The respondents for questionnaires were 30 teachers who taught in nine different high schools in city and rural areas In order to get cooperation from these teachers, first I asked my acquaintances (my ex-friends, my ex-teachers and my post-graduate classmates) who were teaching at nine high schools for a favor Finally, 30 teachers agreed to participate in the questionnaires Moreover, they were teachers receiving C1 level so their foreign language competences were very good They also had different years of teaching experience which was classified into three groups including less experienced teachers (1-4 years), experienced ones ( 5-9 years) and the most experienced ones(above 10 years) After completing the questionnaires, they were invited to participate in the interview but only four teachers agreed Some teachers said that they were so busy helping group of gifted students to prepare for English gifted students examination at the time of the study The others were busy taking care of their small children at home Unfortunately, however, there were two teachers left able to take part in the interview For some unexpected issues, one teacher got sick and the other had a sudden business trip overseas so they were not able to cooperate with the researcher

2.3.2 Data collection instruments

This study was conducted in the form of mixed research method; therefore, two key instruments used for data collection were questionnaires and

collection According to Dornyei (2003), questionnaires that is a relatively limited period of time to collect data, straightforward to process and analyze the data and appropriate for providing a general understanding of the subject matter

It, hence, would be very useful for the researcher to investigate the subjects‘ cognitions of PBL as well as their challenges during the process of implementation Moreover, in order to design the questionnaire well, the researcher based on Dornyei (2003)‘s framework In detail, the general feature

of questionnaires (length, layout, topic), the main parts of questionnaire (title, instructions, questionnaire items, additional information, final ―thank you‖), questionnaire content, closed-open ended questionnaire item were carefully studied Therefore, there were 40 closed-open items written in English and divided into two main parts in the questionnaires (see Appendix 1): 1) a section (2 questions) on the subjects‘ individual characteristics in terms of teaching experiences and time for knowing about PBL This part aimed at helping frame the context for other data associated with the study, 2) a section (38 items) in which one item related to the definition of PBL and three items of teachers‘ roles were designed by the author taking the aspects of project work in the literature into consideration The next 23 items (5-Likert scale: from strongly disagree to strongly agree) related to the benefits of PBL were adapted from Wanchild and Wattanasin (2015) and modified to suit with the study Eleven items (ranked questions) towards teachers‘ challenges were based on Harris (2014)

Moreover, in order to see how these questionnaires work in the process of data collection the study needed to pilot the questionnaires The researcher, hence, asked the supervisor to check carefully before delivering to the participants Also, an online paper of questionnaires was sent to a teacher via email to get feedback on time, content, structures and instruction Finally, the instruction needed making it clear Two items in the questionnaires were omitted because they could make some teachers confuse about the item For

instance, item related to teachers‘ roles (Your roles include control, evaluation

and shaping community) were likely to make teachers not understand what

“shaping community‖ was The style and layout of questionnaires were also

redesigned to keep them attractive in the respondents‘ eyes It aims to increase the quality and quantity of participant response (Dornyei, 2003)

Besides, in order to ensure that the instrument for the study was a reliable measure of teachers‘ perceptions of PBL, Cronbach‘s alpha is considered to be

an appropriate measure of internal consistency within an instrument (Pedhazur

& Schmelkin, 1991, cited in Wang, 2006, p.110) Therefore, the researcher calculated Cronbach‘s alpha with the help of computer

Interviews were chosen as a flow-up step after questionnaires to help the researcher gain an in-depth data about their perceptions and their challenges, which could be missed from questionnaires In order to construct the interview questions, the researcher based on Hatch (2002)‘s framework The researcher took the advantage of this ―formal, semi-structured, and in-depth interview‖ allowed me to come to the interview with guiding questions and meanwhile remain open to ―following the leads of informants and probing into areas that arise during interview interactions‖ (Hatch, 2002, p 94) Besides, in order to facilitate the process of interviews and to make the respondents not misunderstand questions, interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and then translated into English Besides, due to the long distance between the researcher and the subjects, the interviews were conducted via Facebook

The following section will discuss about detailed procedures for collecting data from teacher questionnaires and interviews

2.3.3.Data collection procedure

The first stage of data collection was questionnaires distribution As mentioned in section III.3.1, context of the study was taken in different high schools Therefore, 30 printed survey questionnaires were distributed to teachers in

they were taken a photo and sent to me via email by my friends Collecting the data started at the beginning of March, 2017 and intended to last about one month At the time of the study, however, there were many activities being prepared for celebrating Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union anniversary (26/3) and English gifted student examination in April, 2017 As a result, the collection of the questionnaires from the teachers took nearly a week but two of them were willing to take part in the interviews

The second stage was semi-structured individual interviews via Facebook Time for each interview was about appropriately 10 minutes on average When all the questionnaires were collected, the researcher started to analyze the data Next, the responses from questionnaires were entered into SPSS (version 20.) and descriptive statistics including frequency, mean and standard deviation were calculated for each item The researcher, then, analyzed the qualitative data gathered from interviews After the interviews were transcribed, the responses were categorized from the aspects of project work explored in the questionnaires These aspects fell into benefits, roles and challenges of PBL in the new English textbooks