Application of the project based learning method to develop english skills in small groups in tran mai ninh secondary school

THANH HOA CITY TABLE OF CONTENT THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Rationale page 2 Aims of the study INITIATIVE page 3 Research questions page Subject of the study page Research method page Scope of the study page Application of the project-based learning method to develop English skills in small groups Significance of the study page in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school page Structure of the study CHAPTER II: PROBLEM SOLVING Literature review Findings Research results page Writer: Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang Position: Teacher page page 15 School: Tran Mai Ninh Secondary School CHAPTER III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Subject: English page 17 APPENDIX page 19 REFERENCES page 21 THANH HOA – 2020 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Today the demand for using English to study, research, work and live in domestic and international conditions is increasing in both quantity and quality Especially in the context of fast and strong integration, such demand becomes even more urgent for not only individuals but also the whole nation These necessities for teaching and learning foreign languages require a comprehensive change in all levels and disciplines, materials, facilities, methods, attitudes, motivation of all objects involved in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages, in particular, English To meet these requirements, the Ministry of Education and Training has implemented the national foreign project 2020 according to No.1400/ QDTTg dated September 30, 2008 The project has set out the general goal of “comprehensively renovating foreign language teaching and learning in the national education system " By 2020, the majority of Vietnamese young people will be able to use foreign languages independently, confidently communicate and work in an integrated, multilingual and multicultural environment; making foreign languages a strength of Vietnamese people, serving the country's industrialization and modernization” To achieve that goal, the Ministry of Education and Training has taken many specific measures, in which the innovation of textbooks is one of the solutions to help teaching and learning English to have many positive changes The new Pilot English Series is one of the documents being taught at many schools in Thanh Hoa city In the set of books, a remarkable difference from the old series is the Project section, also known as the group’s exercise or project after each unit of lesson To learn more about this section as well as promote the maximum of efficiency that it brings back we have carried out and study the topic: "Application of the project- based learning method to develop English skills in small groups in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school” Aims of the study With the above questioning, this study aims to achieve the following purposes: - Research the students’ attitudes towards Project-based learning to develop English skills in small groups - Research the effective extent of the application of the assignments for the development of skills in the use of English for students in grades at Secondary Tran Mai Ninh - On the basis, some notes are drawn when applying teaching and learning directions through projects for teachers as well as students Research Questions To achieve the above purpose, this study was undertaken to answer these following questions: What is your attitude towards learning through the project assignments? To what extent does the project-based learning to improve the students’ use of English in small groups? Subject of the study The research object of this topic is the method of learning through large exercises (Project-based learning) Research Methods The purpose of this study is to find out how their attitudes towards learning through project assignments and whether learning English through Project-based learning to improve their abilities to use English in small groups effectively or not As described above, we selected survey methods (survey) for this study Based on the purpose set out in section 1.3 above, this is actually a descriptive study (Descriptive study) In the opinion of Best (1970), descriptive research in education is concerned with issues such as: existential conditions or relationships; practical ways are popular; the subject's current beliefs, conceptions or attitudes; ongoing processes; effects people feel; or trends are becoming clear (p.156) With the above definition, it is completely appropriate to choose descriptive research methods to achieve the goals set out in this research The data collection methods used in this study include: a) student survey questionnaires; b) observe, record and c) interview students Scope of the study As stated above, this study was implemented to find out the attitude of the children and assess the effectiveness of this approach The number of participants is quite limited, who are students of a pilot English class taught by the researcher and the teacher as well Consequently, generalization is not in the scope of this study Significance of the study Some researchers argue that learning through project assignments is ineffective and students are not interested in this new direction (Felix, 1999; Levy, 1997) Moreover, the researcher must be very careful to avoid problems that may arise such as the active participation of the project implementers, the evaluation process, implementation time, To clarify the above concerns, this study gives necessary insights into learning through projects, its applicability to other subjects in general and English in particular in the current teaching and learning context in Vietnam More importantly, the findings of this study will help English researchers and teachers to have ways to appropriately apply this pathway to improve students' language skills Structure of the study The study consists of three parts: Part one: Reasons for choosing the topic: Introduction of the general foundations of the research such as: research aims, research methods, research subjects, research scope, Part two: Content - Rationale: Introducing an overview of the research history of the problem, summarizing the research results of the problem in relation to national and international researchers - Findings: Overview of the situation of the unit, presenting all data analysis to give answers to the research questions posed to achieve the purpose of the study Propose main measures to solve the problem - Discussion: discuss the research results and the effect of study Part three: Conclusions and recommendations: Conclusions are presented, and basic limitations, recommendations of this study as well as suggestions for further studies Finally, the references used in this study are accompanied by the facts, records, and products collected by the researcher during the study CHAPTER II: PROBLEM SOLVING I Literature review Project-based learning (PBL) There are many definitions of the way to teach through group’s assignments or projects Each definition points to an aspect that the author wants to address Carter and Thomas (1986, p.196) argue that learning through a group’s assignment or project requires three conditions: There is a problem to be solved, there is selfcontrol, and inter-disciplined characteristic among the members and students 'autonomy According to the above scholars, to ensure the three conditions on each group’s assignment or project, there must be the following characteristics: - Taking place outside of the classroom - Topics for the group’s assignment or project must be in the subject's curriculum - The learner must set out the plan and goals to be achieved by themselves after completing the project According to Moss, D and Duzer, VC (1998), the method of learning through projects is a highly instructive direction The teacher must create learners’ situations by stating a problem which students need to solve or by presenting a product model that students need to work on after completing the project Therefore, the most important point of this direction is being able to see, measure, a particular product or an optimal solution to a particular problem According to Thomas, (2000), learning through projects has the most general characteristic that it is based on specific tasks, specific activities, during a certain period of time and in the end the project will achieve a specific result To be more specific, projects are complex tasks, based on difficult ones or difficult problems that need to be solved In each project, the students must have plans, have many ways to solve the problem, choose and decide the appropriate solution, specific activities to solve the problem It is important to note that the project instructor should give the students the opportunity to work autonomously, a reasonable amount of time, and help them figure out what the product is supposed to achieve Each scholar has a different definition of Project-based learning (PBL), but they all draw the common features of this direction as follows: PBL must be part of the curriculum PBL must focus on questions and problems that need to be addressed in the subject's knowledge and skills standard PBL helps students see their own progress in implementing and completing projects PBL is to be done by the student itself PBL must be practical, not just plain textbook theories To this research, we have based on the theoretical framework given by the above scholars because these are theories that have been proven through research and have been recognized at prestigious conferences around the world At the same time, we have also chosen theoretical frameworks close to our research reality Types of large projects/ assignments for use in schools Mr Sarah North (1990) classifies the project into four main categories: Community Projects: Project from community where students live The main methods for dealing with this type of projects are: Observe, design questionnaires, observe and take notes Case studies: Project where students have to solve a typical problem In this project students will be provided with specific statistical information (which can be actual or hypothetical figures) Practical projects: Project in which the students must carry out a specific task such as creating a blueprint, build a model, conduct a pilot experience or create a real life product Library project: Project that uses information sources mainly from books, magazines in the library or by individuals, the mass media A typical feature of this type of project is that students will have to choose a specific topic, find all relevant material, read and synthesize solutions in form of presentations or writing In this research, we have applied the 4th type of project The first reason is that their time is very limited The second reason is that around them there are many sources of information, books, newspapers, in the library or from individuals’ sources as well as in other media It is also very important that this type of project saves travel costs and above all ensures the safety of students when performing tasks without direct supervision of the teacher The benefits of PBL According to scholar Gallacher (2004), PBL has the following advantages: - Increase motivation for learners - Four language skills are integrated - Help learners to be self-aware and responsible for their own learning - Achieve results after project implementation - Helping students get exposed to real situations - Mutual relationship between members in the group is established - The content and methodology conducted by teachers and students to discuss thus enhance the learner and the learner-centered - Create conditions for students to have support from their families in learning So parents will better understand their child's learning at school - Provide an opportunity for children to break down their learning habits and learn in a more creative way - Practical situations will help students have the experience and knowledge to present correctly and fluently Disadvantages of PBL Gallacher (2004) also pointed out the disadvantages of this approach, especially in English classes that are primarily in their mother tongue This teaching and learning approach also encounters many obstacles for the classroom with proficiency differences among students According to researcher Thomas, (2000), there are three major obstacles to applying PBL Two of the three obstacles are related to the student Some students are incapable of working in groups and some students not have the skills to conduct scientific research such as asking research questions, solving difficulties in the real process project, analyze data as well as have critics to protect their opinions Procedures to conduct PBL The steps of a project are divided into different phases depending on the scholar In this paper we have chosen Gallacher's (2004) process because it is close to our actual research This scholar divides the PBL process into three phases: Stage 1: Orientation and planning The purpose of this phase is to help students identify the theme of a project and develop an implementation plan During this stage, the teacher should help the students to ask specific questions such as: What problem should be solved in the project and how many parts are there? How will the project be conducted? Who will assume what responsibility? What is the running time for each section? What resources will need to be used? Phase 2: Research and project implementation During this stage, students have to conduct research and propose specific activities such as: problem identification, research area, meeting with experts, searching documents, reading documents, writing, drawing reports, drafting on computers, During this period, teachers must support students in terms of methodology, language, and experience in group work The prompts for class lessons will be very helpful for students in the project assignments they on their own Stage 3: Exchange results This activity takes place once the children have completed the project The sharing of the research results can take place in the form of presentations between group members or between groups Mutual evaluation among members (in addition to the evaluation of teachers), within groups or between groups can be based on criteria such as content, layout, language of expression or presentation This evaluation process can be for the purpose of scoring or exchanging knowledge, evaluating the effectiveness of the project II Findings Background knowledge a An overview of teaching and learning English at Tran Mai Ninh Secondary School School Secondary Tran Mai Ninh has teachers at the age between 35 and 45 Most of the teachers have many years of experience, with formal training, professional qualifications, including masters and bachelors From the school year 2015-2016 under the direct direction of the Thanh Department of Education and Training, the school has applied a pilot textbook program issued by the Ministry of Education and Training within the framework of the foreign language 2020 Project The number of students per class ranges from 40-45 students The teachers assigned to teach these pilot classes are highly qualified, responsible and have at least years' teaching experience As mentioned above, this study carried out over 92 students in grades 7C and 7H at Tran Mai Ninh Secondary School in the year 2020-2021 Most of the students have learning capacity, good sense of learning and a high sense of responsibility The school has a full range of facilities, materials and books to help children learn the subject in the best way In summary, Tran Mai Ninh Secondary School has full facilities, qualified teachers and students to study under the pilot textbook program in which the learning path through Project-based learning is introduced b Problems need to be solved Although students participating in this study have substantially enough linguistic capabilities to study the pilot textbook program, they still have many limitations in report writing and presentation abilities in English in front of the class Classroom speaking hours not meet the speaking skills requirement for all students because the number of 45 students in a language class is too crowded and 45 minutes is too little for speaking skills With writing skills, teachers also have enough time to teach the students about the contents of textbooks There is insufficient time for the teachers to guide the students to write reports in English Moreover, with today's requirement of learning English is to use English as a means of communication, not merely as a subject, making presentations in English and writing reports become very important in the trend of today's society To solve this problem, we have adopted a learning method through project assignments to improve students' ability to use English in small groups Specifically, the ability to use English in this research scope is the ability to present and write a report in the form of a text Measures have been taken to solve the above problems In the first week of the new school year, the teacher helps the students of classes 7C and 7H to study a pilot textbook and choose the most suitable topics in in the textbook for projects Main topics are as follows: Theme 1: My Hobbies Topics: Types of hobbies Favourite hobbies Benefits of hobbies Theme 2: Health Topics: Health problems Health tips 10 Health for teenagers Theme 3: Vietnamese food and drink Topics: Traditional food and drink in Vietnam Ways to make a kind of food and drink Favorite food and drink The teacher instructs the students to the following steps: - Students choose their friends to create groups according to their interests, with about students in each group - Groups meet and discuss about the topics - Each group will unify its outline and content according to the selected topic - According to the assignment, each group looks for information on relevant topics on books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, in order to solve a specific problem related to the chosen topic Each group writes a 500-word essay about the content assigned in English, including a summary of information gathered and the group's opinion on that information - Each group should rewrite their feelings about learning English through this exercise (There are specific examples) In this section, students must clearly state both the problems (if any) and how to overcome them All must be written in English The teacher guides students on how to carry out a project, the steps to proceed, and the assignment of team members At the same time, the teacher guides the students how to write their reports and how to present their reports The group’s product needs to be submitted is a report on the results of the project their team worked on in the form of Word, a Power point slide that summarizes the project's progress, a video clip of the project group presentations in English Before submitting to the teacher, groups will be assigned to cross-evaluate groups in the form of reviews and scoring 11 The teacher evaluates based on the working style, the layout of each project and the problem solving method of each project without paying much attention to spelling and grammatical errors for the article In the presentation, the teacher pays much attention to the persuasion of the project through the presentation of fluency in confidence, stress, proper intonation, and communication with listeners through gestures and manners Implementation time of each project is weeks After completing the first project, groups of students submit papers to teachers with cross-group assessments The teacher looks at the products of the groups with the comments and gives the most common notes for each group to learn from lessons for the next exercises The teacher in charge invites the cooperation of other teachers in the professional group to comment and evaluate their products The groups draw from experience to find out what has been done and not yet done and continue to prepare for the next task In Term 1, each group will three projects with three different topics Data collection methods To collect data, we used survey questionnaires including criteria to evaluate a text and a presentation There are many criteria for evaluating a text and a presentation, but we build our own criteria based on the most common criteria of researchers and research facts The above survey questionnaires are distributed to groups for cross-evaluation of three projects they have implemented The teacher chooses randomized groups in 20 research groups Retrieve the questionnaires and obtains the following results With the writing section consisting of set criteria, the groups have achieved the number of criteria through projects according to the summary table below Group Project Project Project 12 One Two three Four Year Six Seven Eight With the presentation 6 7 7 of 10 set criteria, the groups achieved 8 8 the number of criteria through the projects as shown below Group Project Project Project One 10 Two three Four 10 Year Six Seven 10 Eight 8 In addition, after the groups completed their projects, the teacher gathers their ideas through questionnaires They write their ideas on paper within 15 minutes of the last English class in term Of the 92 students participating in this learning pathway, 88 (95.6%) of the students think that this kind of learning is interesting, giving them the opportunity to selfexplore and learn about the topic that they choose as well as understand more about the topic of other group members These students also believe that through projectbased learning, their writing skills and speaking skills have been greatly improved Vocabulary on the chosen topic increases significantly and students have the opportunity to use those words to practice speaking and writing Especially they feel confident when speaking English because they have prepared well on the topic Most of the children interviewed say that this method of learning also helps them improve their teamwork skills, document collection skills, computer working 13 skills and many other skills Most of them want to continue to learn through projects in the following school years III Research results The research aims to answer the research questions: To question 1: “What is your attitude toward learning through the project assignments? According to the data sheets collected through the survey and the questionnaires from the students, I can conclude that the majority of students are very interested in participating in the learning process through the projects They have learned many skills and in particular their speaking and writing skills have improved significantly Moreover, they really want to learn through this path in the next school years To question 2: “How effective is learning English through large exercises to improve English ability in small groups?" Through a preliminary survey, the researcher has seen the initial effects of learning methods through project assignments in developing English skills in small groups This method gives the students the independence and creativity in understanding background knowledge, actively using English as a means to learn about problems of social life It is more important to help children confidently speak and write English about real issues, not just the theory or formulas in books Thereby, they can gradually build for themselves a positive attitude, the right motivation, appropriate measures and means to be able to self-study and self-study to meet the requirements of the new era That is also the goal that educators as well as those directing the implementation of the foreign language project 2020 14 CHAPTER III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Conclude In this study, the author has given the theoretical framework of the learning direction through major exercises of researchers around the world to serve as a basis to apply the application to 92 students by the author fake direct teaching The purpose of the study is to find out what students' attitudes toward this pathway are and to what extent they are effective The author used methods of survey, observation and interview to collect data 15 According to the answer to the research question above, this learning path is loved by the majority of students because it creates opportunities for them to actively study creatively, helping to improve not only language skills but also There are many other skills Research has shown that this approach has had the first step in improving students' English skills Suggestions for applying PBL The teaching method through projects is a relatively new concept for secondary schools in Thanh Hoa This study shows that the application of this teaching method is completely appropriate in the context of teaching and learning English in Thanh Hoa in the new era The reason is that students really enjoy participating in this learning process and its effectiveness is seen at a much higher initial level than traditional teaching methods However, this teaching method also has some limitations The biggest limitation is whether it is effective or not depends on the cooperation and activeness of students in each project In order for this method to be as effective as possible, one of the decisive factors is that teachers need to have a firm grasp on how to perform, have detailed instructions to help them build appropriate strategy to solve the problem Furthermore, teachers need to provide students with the basic knowledge and help they in the implementation process Besides, the most important thing is that teachers must have a firm grasp of learners' knowledge, teaching methods, professional knowledge, have a passion for the subject They are also open to students and work as the co-learner, not the instructor Only by that way can the motivation of students arouse to self-study and research Limitations of research This study has certain limitations - Firstly, the sample is limited (8 groups of students per group with survey measures) and 92 students for the questionnaire and interview The study is also only performed on students who are selected for the pilot English book class Therefore, the results of this study cannot be generalized without 16 mentioning the characteristics of participating students such as their motivation, attitude and English proficiency - The second limitation is that this study uses a rather rudimentary data collection tool, so the researcher can only provide information on the surface of the problem For a more in-depth research result, more effective research methods should be used such as action research Some suggestions for further studies For follow-up studies, experimental or action research should be done to assess the effects of the teaching method through project assignments on the ability to use English of students Another suggestion is that case studies can also be used to point out the effects as well as challenges of this method for the current foreign language teaching and learning context in Thanh Hoa * I hereby declare that this research is due to the experience I myself have written COMMENTS AND ASSESSMENT Thanh Hoa, March 25th 2021 OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL The author Nguyễn Thị Thúy Hằng APPENDIX A Evaluation sheet for Presentation TRƯỜNG THCS TRẦN MAI NINH Môn: Tiếng Anh- Lớp PHIỀU ĐÁNH GIÁ, CHẤM ĐIỂM THUYẾT TRÌNH I THƠNG TIN CHUNG: Nhóm thuyết trình: Nhóm chấm điểm: Đề tài thuyết trình: 17 II PHẦN ĐÁNH GIÁ, CHẤM ĐIỂM Tiêu chí Mơ tả tiêu chí Nội Bài thuyết trình có bố cục rõ ràng (giới thiệu nội dung chính, kết luận vấn đề) Đảm bảo đầy đủ kiến thức vấn đề cần trình bày Thơng tin đưa xác, khoa học Trả lời tốt câu hỏi thảo luận thêm (do giáo viên học sinh khác đặt ra) Có sử dụng cơng cụ, thiết bị hỗ trợ trình chiếu (powerpoint, tranh ảnh, sơ đồ ) dung Hình thức Phong cách Thời gian CĐ TB Điểm K T TC XS ./ 40 ./ 20 Phong thái tự tin (đứng thẳng, nét mặt vui tươi), có sử dụng ngơn ngữ thể (tay chỉ, giao lưu ánh mắt với người nghe ) Nói trơi chảy, mạch lạc, khơng bị ngắt quãng Tốc độ nói vừa phải, nhấn giọng điểm quan trọng Nộp thuyết trình cho giáo viên trước thời điểm thuyết trìn 01 ngày Thời gian thuyết trình vừa đủ, khơng vi phạm thời gian tối thiểu tối đa cho phép / 20 ./ 20 A Evaluation sheet for Writing TRƯỜNG THCS TRẦN MAI NINH Môn: Tiếng Anh- Lớp PHIỀU ĐÁNH GIÁ, CHẤM ĐIỂM VIẾT I THƠNG TIN CHUNG: Nhóm thuyết trình: Nhóm chấm điểm: Đề tài thuyết trình: II PHẦN ĐÁNH GIÁ, CHẤM ĐIỂM Tiêu Mô tả Điểm 18 chí tiêu chí Nội Bài viết trả lời hết yêu cầu cụ thể đề Những ý bổ trợ, ví dụ minh hịa phù hợp vời yêu cầu đề Bài viết có chia tách đoạn hợp lý, rõ ràng Bài viết có liên kết chặt chẽ đoạn, sử dụng từ nối linh hoạt hiệu Sử dụng đa dạng từ vựng, sử dụng linh hoạt cụm từ, khơng lặp từ Khơng có lỗi tả viết dung Bố cục Từ vựng CĐ TB K T TC XS / 25 / 25 / 25 Ngữ pháp Sử dụng linh hoạt cầu trúc ngữ pháp, kết hợp linh hoạt câu đơn, câu phức câu ghép Khơng có lỗi sai ngữ pháp (cấu trúc, lỗi dấu câu, ) REFERENCES J.W Best, Research in education New Jersey: Prentice-Hall and Englewood Cliff, 1970 J.W Thomas, a review of research on project-based learning, 2000, http//www.autodesk.com/foundation Barron, B J S., Schwartz, D L., Vye, N J., Moore, A., Petrosino, A., Zech, L., Bransford, J D., & The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1998) Doing with understanding: Lessons from research on problem- and project-based learning The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7, 271-311 / 25 Bartscher, K., Gould, B., & Nutter, S (1995) Increasing student motivation through projectbased learning Master's Research Project, Saint Xavier and IRI Skylight (ED 392 549) Diehl, W., Grobe, T., Lopez, H., & Cabral, C (1999) Project-based learning: A strategy for teaching and learning Boston, MA: Center for Youth Development and Education, Corporation for Business, Work, and Learning 20 ... study the topic: "Application of the project- based learning method to develop English skills in small groups in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school? ?? Aims of the study With the above questioning, this... of the assignments for the development of skills in the use of English for students in grades at Secondary Tran Mai Ninh - On the basis, some notes are drawn when applying teaching and learning. .. through the project assignments? To what extent does the project- based learning to improve the students’ use of English in small groups? Subject of the study The research object of this topic is the