An investigation into the effects of project work activity on 6th graders’ motivation

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI CONG TU AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF PROJECT WORK ACTIVITY ON 6TH GRADERS’ MOTIVATION MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI CONG TU AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF PROJECT WORK ACTIVITY ON 6TH GRADERS’ MOTIVATION Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong Nghệ An, 2017 Acknowledgement I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to Associate Professor Doctor Ngo Dinh Phuong, my supervisor for his continual understanding, support, interest and trust in my success for managing this thesis during the study He always motivated me with his invaluable comments, organized and hard working personality Without his encouragement and inspiration this study would never come true My special thanks go to all of the 6th graders and English teachers at Ha Huy Tap Secondary school who are always willing to take part in the study seriously and the contribution to the survey truthfully in order to results in the answers and findings for this research Finally, I would like to extend my greatest gratitude to my colleague and my family who always encouraged me to attend this program and their continual support, patience, and trust in me so that I could complete this thesis Abstract This research is implemented to investigate the attitudes of the 6th graders and teachers towards a new learning activity in innovated text book Tiếng Anh – project work activity and the factors motive students in order to find out its effects on students’ motivation in English learning Data used in this study were collected through Likert scale questionnaires and students’ interview Data collected with the questionnaire was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics For this purpose, SPSS (Statistical Programming for Social Sciences) software was used to analyze the questionnaire Data collected through interviews were analyzed qualitatively The results of the students’ questionnaires revealed that most the 6th graders appear to welcome this new fresh activity in their English classroom with positive responses such as project work activity enhance their creativity, interesting learning atmosphere, their brave in speaking, etc The results from the questionnaires also uncover the factors which motivate students in English learning like cooperation, learning autonomy and others With the aim of finding the effects of project work activity, the combination of teachers and students’ view towards the activity was employed and showed key findings as vocabulary improvement, team working and social skills Finally, the research suggests some pedagogical implications of the effects of project work activity on students’ motivation in English acquisition Table of Contents Acknowledgement .2 Abstract .3 List of table List of Abbreviation Introduction Chapter 1: Introduction .9 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study .11 1.3 Research question .11 1.4 The scope of the study 11 1.5 The design of the study 11 Chapter 2: Literature review .13 2.1 PROJECT WORK 13 2.1.1 An overview of Project Based Learning 13 2.1.2 The use of project work in the teaching of English as a foreign language 14 2.1.3 The implementation of Project Work in textbook English .18 2.2 MOTIVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING 21 2.2.1 Definition of motivation 21 2.2.2 Motivation in foreign language learning 22 2.2.3 Classification of motivation 25 Chapter 3: Research methodology 36 3.1 Study design .36 3.2 Participants of the study .36 3.3 Instruments of data collection 36 3.3.1 Questionnaires 36 3.3.2 Interview 39 3.4 Statistical analysis procedures 40 3.4.1 Questionnaire data 40 3.4.2 Interview data 41 Chapter 4: Results and discussion .42 4.1 Results 42 4.1.1 Students’ attitude towards project work 43 4.1.2 Motivating factors of PW 46 4.1.3 Effects of project work on students’ motivation .52 4.1.4 Teachers’ view to the effects of project work on their students’ motivation 54 4.2 Discussion of main findings .57 4.2.1 Students’ attitude towards project work 57 4.2.2 Motivating factors of project work 58 4.2.3 Effects of project work on students’ motivation .59 4.3 Pedagogical implications 61 Chapter 5: Conclusion .62 5.1 Summary 62 5.2 Limitation of the study .63 5.3 Suggestions for further study .63 References 64 APPENDICES 73 List of table Table 3.1 Reliability coefficient in students’ questionnaire 39 Table 3.2.Reliability coefficient in teachers’ questionnaire .39 Table 4.1a Students’ attitude to the project work 43 Table 4.1b Students’ opinion on types of PW 45 Table 4.2 Factors relating to the topics of PW 47 Table 4.3 Factors relating to students’ cooperation 48 Table 4.4 Factors relating to students’ autonomy 49 Table 4.5 Factors relating to teacher’s facilitation 49 Table 4.6 Factors relating to assessments 50 Table 4.7 Factors relating to task value 51 Table 4.8 Students’ opinions on the effects of PW on their motivation 52 Table 4.9 Teachers’ view on the effects of PW on their students’ motivation 54 List of Abbreviation PBL: Project-based learning PW: Project work SLA: Second language acquisition ESL/ EFL: English as a second language/ English as a foreign language SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Introduction In the decade of educational reform and innovation recently, it is indisputable that approach, methodologies and techniques play as a key role in teaching and learning improvement There have been numerous studies carried out onto the effectiveness of approach, methodologies and techniques applied to enhance the quality of English language acquisition The project based learning approach offers to be one of the most effective learning tools to improve students motivation and interest in learning English In an attempt to investigate the effects of project based learning on 6th grade students’ motivation at Ha Huy Tap Secondary school, the study concentrates on the theoretical background of project based learning approach, students motivation in learning English; identification of the effects of project work activity on students’ motivation in their English class as well as suggestions for teaching and learning enhancement Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale It is undeniable that English is important in order to be able to integrate and globalize all over the world English is the language that most people in different countries use to connect with others For that reason, learning English can be considered the key to successfully communicate globally In the industrialization and integration era, there has been a need of changing in ways of teaching as well as the practical application in education Students nowadays are likely to immerse their lessons with practice and practical experience rather than theory and knowledge that they just learn in lessons They are interested in dealing with real subject matter by working on the real problems Project based learning has been considered as an innovative approach into modern teaching and learning According to the definitions found in Project-Based Learning (PBL) handbook for teacher (John W Thomas 2000), project based learning is a model for classroom activity that shift away from the usual classrooms practices of short, isolated, teacher-centered lessons PBL learning activities are long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centred, and integrated with real-world issues and practices It is a method that fosters abstract, intellectual tasks to explore complex issues It promotes understanding, which is true knowledge Thus, the role of Project based learning is truly indisputable There have been more common educators and educational affairs applying this approach into teaching such as PBL in Maths, Technology, Geography, etc In 2008, big changes have been made in foreign language curriculum in Vietnam Project based learning has been implemented in the innovating textbooks launched by national foreign languages project 2020 especially in English textbooks The aim of this change was to provide the students an environment in Keblawi, F (2005) Demotivation among Arab Learners of English as a Foreign Language The Reading Matrix, Inc United States Retrieved November 13 2005 from: www.reading matrix.com/ online conference proceedings 2005 Kolesnik, W B (1978) Motivation, Understanding and Influencing Human Behaviour Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon Krashen, S (1982) Principies and Practice in Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Pergamon Lambert, W E (1974) Culture and language as factors in learning and education In F F Aboud & R D Meade (Eds.), Cultural factors in learning and education (pp 91–122) Bellingham: Western Washington State University Larsen-Freeman, D (2000) Techniques and principles in language teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Lee, H-G (2011) Exploring a model of ESL motivation and 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instrumental and intergrative motivations as factors influencing Utar third-year Chinese undergraduates in learning ESL University Tunkua Abdul Rahman Yamamoto, Y & Kimura, S (2013), Teaching and Managing a Project-based English Course to the College Students in Diverse Levels of English Proficiency The Asian Conference on Education 2013 Official Conference Proceedings 2013 Ritsumeikan University, Japan 72 APPENDICES Appendix 1: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE Student’s name:……………………………………….Age:……… Class:…………………….School:………………………………………………… The reasons behind this questionaire is to find out your attitudes to project worsk in your English class as well as to identify which factors of project works motivate you and how project works motivate you in your English class Please be as frank and as accurate as you can in your answers Your answers will not be read by anyone except the researcher and will have no bearing on your test marks Your answers can be in Vietnamese Thank you for your cooperation I Students’ attitudes to project work in your English class No Strongly Item disagree 1.1 The project work lesson makes me use my creativity 1.2 The project work lessons are practical and useful 1.3 I am eager to participate in project work lesson 1.4 I feel braver to open up 1.5 Project work lessons make my English studying more interesting 1.6 I can increase the skills of collaboration with my classmates 1.7 I can consolidate my knowledge through project work 1.8 My essential skills in English learning are improved considerably after each project work lessons 73 Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly Agree II Students’ opinion towards projects assigned No Strongly Item Disagree Not sure Agree disagree 2.1 Description 2.2 Drawing 2.3 Designing a Yearbook page 2.4 Description 2.5 A Quiz game show 2.6 Letter writing 2.7 Interview 2.8 Description 2.9 Poster 2.10 Poster 2.11 Product handmade 2.12 Draw and show Strongly Agree III Factors motivating students in their English lessons using project works No Strongly Item disagree 3.1 3.2 3.1 I have closer relationship with my group members after the lesson 3.2 Most topics are familiar to my life 3.3 3.3 I can conduct the project easily because most information is accessible 3.4 3.5 3.4 I completed the project independently with support of my teacher and peers I can choose my role in the group 74 Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly Agree 3.6 3.7 My teacher often encourages me and supports me to plan the ideas We receive positive comments and assessments from teacher and other groups 3.8 3.9 3.10 I can remind the knowledge I have learnt and background knowledge to conduct my task I make a lot of effort to think about the ideas and plan my project I often have time to collect information and make a choice of selecting information 3.11 Most groups in the class will show the product after the lesson 3.12 3.13 We often gives our own assessment about the product before others’ assessments The teacher often points out the weakness in our product IV Effects of project works on students No Strongly Item disagree 4.1 The pleasure I experience when I find some my key strengths and weaknesses in my English skills after the lesson 4.2 I feel more confident to speak English in front of many people 4.3 The satisfaction when I improve my skills of organizing and planning my writing in English 75 Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly Agree 4.4 The pleasure I experience when I speak English more naturally 4.5 The high feeling I have when I improve my skills of using body language and eye contact as well as movement while speaking English 4.6 The pleasure I experience when I improve my social skills 4.7 I know how to solve a problem better 4.8 I improve my pronunciation 4.9 My repertoir of vocabulary is expanded 4.10 I get acquaited with collaborating with my teammate to complete a task PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH (bản tiếng Việt) Họ tên học sinh:……………………………………….Tuổi:……… Lớp:…………………….Trường:……………………………………… Phiếu điều tra nhằm lấy ý kiến khảo sát học sinh hoạt động dạy học dự án (Project work) tác động hoạt động học tới Động lực học tập học sinh khối lớp mơn học tiếng Anh theo chương trình Các thông tin câu trả lời mà bạn cung cấp quan trọng việc khảo sát Dữ liệu khảo sát phục vụ mục đích nghiên cứu, khơng ảnh hưởng tới kết học tập hay điểm số môn học học sinh I Ý kiến học sinh hình thức học dự án STT Hồn Nội dung 76 Khơng Khơng Đồng ý Hồn tồn đồng ý khơng tồn chắn đồng ý đồng ý 1.1 Bạn sử dụng trí sáng tạo học dự án 1.2 Các hình thức dự án thực tế hữu ích 1.3 Các học dự án thu hút bạn nhiều 1.4 Bạn cảm thấy mạnh dạn học dự án 1.5 Giờ học dự án giúp cho việc học tiếng Anh bạn thú vị 1.6 Bạn nâng cao khả làm việc nhóm với bạn bạn 1.7 Bạn mở mang nhiều kiến thức sau học dự án 1.8 Bạn cảm thấy kỹ Nghe, Nói, Đọc, Viết tiến sau buổi học dự án II Ý kiến học sinh dự án thực STT Loại hình dự Tên dự án án Hồn Khơng Khơng tồn thích khơng thích 2.1 Description Your dream school 2.2 Drawing A crazy house 2.3 Yearbook My class yearbook page 2.4 Description What is your neighborhood? 77 chắn Thích Rất thích 2.5 A Quiz How well you game show know Vietnam? 2.6 Letters I have a dream 2.7 Interview How important is TV to you? 2.8 Description A game/ sport 2.9 Poster My Days Journey Around the World 2.10 Poster A future appliance 2.11 Product Making handmade something new from something used 2.12 Drawing and A description of their description own robot III Ý kiến học sinh yếu tố kích thích học sinh học dự án STT Nội dung Khơng Khơng tồn đồng ý tồn chắn đồng ý khơng đồng ý 3.1 Sau học dự án tình bạn bạn nhóm thân thiết 3.2 Các chủ điểm dự án gần gũi quen thuộc với bạn 3.3 Bạn dễ dàng thực dự án thơng tin gần gũi quen thuộc 3.4 Bạn tự hồn thành sản phẩm với hỗ trợ thầy cô bạn bè 78 Đồng ý Hoàn Hoàn 3.5 Giáo viên thường giúp nhóm bạn lên kế hoạch thực dự án từ ý tưởng 3.6 Bạn sử dụng kiến thức học để áp dụng vào làm dự án 3.7 Bạn tự chọn nhiệm vụ cho nhóm làm dự án 3.8 Bạn dành nhiều thời gian nỗ lực để lên ý tưởng kế hoạch cho dự án 3.9 Bạn dành nhiều thời gian để tìm kiếm chọn lọc thơng tin cho dự án 3.10 Đa số nhóm trình bày sản phẩm sau hồn thành dự án 3.11 Bạn nhận ý kiến nhận xét tích cực sau trình bày sản phẩm 3.12 Nhóm bạn thường yêu cầu tự đánh giá nhóm bạn trước giáo viên nhóm khác nhận xét 3.13 Giáo viên thường ý tới lỗi sai nhóm bạn trình bày sản phẩm IV Tác động hoạt động dự án tới lực tiếng Anh học sinh STT Nội dung Khơng Khơng tồn đồng ý tồn chắn đồng ý khơng đồng ý 4.1 Bạn nhận thấy điểm mạnh 79 Đồng ý Hoàn Hồn điểm yếu kỹ tiếng Anh sau buổi học dự án 4.2 Bạn cảm thấy tự tin phát biểu Anh trước nhiều người 4.3 Bạn biết xếp lên bố cục cho viết tiếng Anh bạn cách tốt sau buổi học dự án 4.4 Bạn nói tiếng Anh tự nhiên lưu lốt 4.5 Qua buổi trình bày sản phẩm dự án, bạn sử dụng tốt ngơn ngữ thể, ánh mắt cử điệu để thu hút ý từ người giao tiếp tiếng Anh 4.6 Kỹ xã hội phối hợp với người khác để thực công việc cải thiện sau buổi học dự án 4.7 Bạn học cách xử lý vấn đề tốt 4.8 Bạn cảm thấy âm giọng thục hay so với trước 4.9 Bạn học thêm nhiều từ cụm từ 4.10 Bạn làm quen cách làm việc nhóm với bạn bạn để thực công việc 80 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is developed to find out your attitude towards the effects of project work on your students’ motivation in their English lessons Your answers are invaluable to the researcher and will be data used in an MA thesis about project work Please state your sincere thoughts without skipping any items Your answers will be kept confidential Thank you in advance for your cooperation Rate your agreement with the following statements using scale below: strongly disagree disagree not sure agree strongly agree Your attitude towards the effects of project work on your students’ motivation No Strongly Item disagree Project work helps students feel more interested in learning English Students are enthusiastic to conduct project work Project work helps students become more active learners in classroom Project work helps students 81 Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly Agree become more independent learners Project work helps students become more cooperative in teamwork Project work helps students take their own learning responsibility Project work makes me become more creative Project work makes students become more confident to speak in front of the class Project work helps students speak English more naturally 10 Project work helps students improve oral presentation skills 11 Project work helps students improve their pronunciation 12 Project work helps students improve their writing skills 13 Project work helps students expand their vocabulary 14 Project work helps students consolidate their knowledge Appendix 3: STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW SAMPLE (English version) 82 Q1: What are your thought and feeling in general towards all the projects you have learnt during the course? ANS: ‘I like it very much when I can bring my project to the class and exchange information about it with my classmates I also learn many new words easier during the time I conduct my project.’ Q2: What you like most in the lessons using project? ANS: ‘I like presentation time most I always feel eager to give our presentation to the class and wait for the assessment from our teacher and our friends’ Q3: Are you motivated to projects? Why? Why not? ANS: ‘I find project interesting because we can share everything we know with each other so that we fulfill our project better’ Appendix 3: Câu hỏi vấn học sinh (bản tiếng Việt) Câu hỏi số 1: Bạn có cảm nhận hoạt động học dự án chương trình học bạn vừa qua? Câu hỏi số 2: Điều bạn thích thú học dự án? Câu hỏi số 3: Bạn có cảm thấy kích thích làm dự án khơng? Tại có? Tại không? 83 ... opinions on the effects of project work on their motivation The questionnaire for the teachers only focused on teachers’ view on the effects of project work on their students’ motivation Followings...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI CONG TU AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF PROJECT WORK ACTIVITY ON 6TH GRADERS’ MOTIVATION Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language... sets of data on the student participants’ attitudes toward project work, their opinions on the factors motivating them in their English lessons using project work, their opinions on the project they