SKKN developing 11th grade students’ oral presentation skill through project based learning a case at a mountainous high school

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
English has become an international communicative language in the world. It has
been used widely in many different fields such as economics, politics, culture, science,
technology, education and tourism. It can’t be denied that English is one of the most
important means of communication. Therefore, teaching and learning English is more
and more essensial.
In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject in the syllabus of many
schools, colleges and universities. It has been taught and learnt throughout the country.
However, the fact is that the speaking English skill has not been effective yet, especially
oral presentation. Students graduating from high school or even from university are
unable to “speak” English, because we have not given them enough practice in speaking
English. Most of the students do not find speaking a rewarding task. We cannot learn
speaking by observation. Speaking is the most difficult in the four skills. Reading,
listening and writing can be learning with a teacher or on one’s own, with books.
However, speaking requires immediate comprehension and real time reaction. I think that
the way of teaching by oral presentation will motivate student and encourage them to
practice English in the classroom.
At Doluong 3 high school, many students are not interested in speaking lessons as
well as they can not speak English well after leaving school even though they have learnt
English for a long time. Moreover, the teachers of English find it difficult to encourage
their students to make oral presentation in the process of teaching speaking skill.
To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Do luong 3 have
been trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching English. They
have always tried to catch up with the world’s latest frameworks of English Language
Teaching. As in other schools, teachers of English in Do luong 3 are now approaching
project based learning to teach English to students. They hope to provide students with a
means of communication, namely English which is vital for them to be successful in their
job and to fulfill their social demands in the time of globalization.
Therefore, it is really essential to know whether the project based learning has the

good effects on teaching oral presentation skill to the 11th graders of Do luong 3 High
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school. With the aim to access the method on teaching oral presentation through the
Project based learning, I would like to choose the topic “Developing 11th
grade students’ oral presentation skill through project-based learning: A case at a
mountainous high school” to find out the answer, and further, to help improve the
teaching of oral presentation at my school.
In this study, I would like to speak about developing students’ oral presentation
through Project based learning in English language classrooms and its impact in speaking
skill. I think that the use of oral presentations in EFL classroom is important because of
its positive impact on students’ proficiency level. Some students do not like to speak in
the classroom. In addition, they do not have the opportunity to speak this language
outside. So if student do not practice English in the classroom, may be they do speak it
never. I know that I cannot learn to speak any language with observation. Therefore, I put
forward that the use of students’ oral presentation may develop students’ speaking level.
When we have students give an oral presentation in front of class is one technique
to improve students’ oral proficiency. Teachers can use oral presentation as a technical
way to deal with students’ problems in speaking. Oral presentation activities provide an
excellent opportunity for the learners to develop this skill, speaking several minutes in a
structured way, delivering into various aspects of a single topic.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study has been designed to investigate the use of oral presentation in English
classes for the 11th students at Do luong 3 upper secondary school. In general, it has two
purposes.
Firstly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the use of oral presentations in
the classroom. Secondly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral presentations through
project based learning on the students’ performance in English lessons. Finally, it is to
provide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use of oral presentations in their

teaching with a view to better their students’ speaking skill.
Our objective is to show how project based leaning can help students enough
practice to develop oral presentation skill in speaking English language.
1.3. Scope of the study
Although there are many different ways to motivate students to learn English, all
these issues cannot be fully covered in this paper. Due to the limited time and the length
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of the thesis, I focus on exploiting students’ attitudes toward the use of PBL and its
effectiveness in teaching the oral presentation skill. The subjects of the study include
forty 11th graders at Do Luong 3 high school.
1.4. Significance of the study
The main goal of study is how to make student perform well in classroom, by
preparing activities where they will speak as much as possible. We will focus on the use
and effectiveness of the project based learning during the courses, and how will facilitate
the students’ oral presentation skill.
This study is important to give the teacher some ideas for how to deal with
students who do not want to practice in classroom. The use of oral presentation can help
students of English language for being able to speak it, because in our universities we
rarely learn how to speak. Oral presentation in EFL classes give students a confidence to
speak in public and help them in enhancing their proficiency. Moreover, this study is
important for both teachers and students’. Oral presentation can be an enjoyable activity
for them. It gives a break away from textbooks.
1.5. Research Questions
This study attempts to answer the following questions:
1. What are the attitudes of 11th graders towards the use of Project-Based Learning?
2. Does Project-Based Learning help 11th graders to develop their oral presentation
skill ? If so, to what extent?
1.6. Design of the study

The study contains four chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope and
organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter introduces a historical overview of the literature. The first is about oral
presentation. The next is about project based learning. The final is the application of PBL
in teaching oral presentation.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The subjects of the study were 40 eleventh grade students who were chosen
randomly from Do Luong 3 upper secondary school during the school year 2017-2018.
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Three instruments were used to collect data for the study: An oral performance test
(debate), an oral attitudes survey and a rating scale.
Additionally, this chapter will present the author’s suggestions on mentioned
problems and summarize all the main points raised in the paper, the limitations of the
study and some suggestions for further studies.
Chapter 4 : Findings and discussions
This part shows major findings and discussions and offers recommendations for
motivating students to do oral presentation through project based learning.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
That is a summary of the study in which limitations of the study and suggestions
for further research are presented.

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Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Oral presentation
2.1.1. Definition of oral presentation
Oral presentation is an extension of oral communication skill. It is where the
presenter shows their knowledge on a particular subject. The participant might choose the
title or the teachers give it to them. In order to talk about it to their classmate after this the
participant makes a small research to get more information about this topic. The presenter
is giving the most important information first, leaving the details for last. According to
Baker (2000, p. 115) oral presentation is like a formal conversation, speaking to group as
a natural activity. Most of people spending hours of their daytime, speaking to others,
however making an oral presentation that is a formal conversation, it is difficult task for
them. Oral presentation is part of spoken language. The purpose of this practice is to
communicate. It is design to inform or persuade. Oral presentation occurs in
organizational setting and with limitation in time. The audience is likely to be more
specialized than those attending a typical speech event.” There are different between
normal speech and oral presentation. The later is a type of speech, but the former is more
nature than oral presentation.
2.1.2 Types of oral presentation
2.1.2.1. Informative oral presentation
This type of presentation has a primary goal, which is to make the audience
learning something new. The speakers use in this type of presentation an informative
speech. The aim of informative presentation is to be communicating with the audiences
and giving them much information in a limited time. (Chivers, Shoolbred, 2007, p. 5).
Moreover, in this type of presentation the speakers use an informative speech to
explain a concept, instruct the audience, demonstrate a process, or describe an event in an
academic setting. In addition, speakers may be choosing the topic by themselves.
(Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p. 5)
In sum, the speaker’s aim of this presentation is to give the result of their research
in informative way.
2.1.2.2. Persuasive oral presentation

Persuasive speech is to influence the audience in their thinking about a topic,
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which may be given or chosen. According to Chivers and Shoolbred (2007, p. 3) in this
type of presentation, speakers need to have a strong content and present it in a clear way.
Baker (2000, p. 76) states that persuasive has three elements, which are:
* Logos
In persuasive presentation, the topic needs to be logical. Tacy (2008, p. 9) claims
that when speakers want to talk about their topic, they should organize the ideas from the
more important point to less one. Logos mean the speakers organize what they are going
to say from the beginning to the end in a logic way.
* Character (ethos)
Character or ethos is the speakers’ beliefs and personality. Ethos means the one
speak use their character to influence the audience.
* Passion (pathos)
Pathos is the speaker’s use of their emotions. It is the most important elements that
speakers can use, to make the audience support their argument; also, pathos can make the
audience change their opinions and take a positive action about the speakers’ topic. They
will have confidence in their performance and deal with any reaction.
2.1.3. The benefits of using oral presentations in the language classroom
Oral presentations have been shown to be extremely successful with respect to
improving learners’ second language skills, and increasing their autonomy. For example,
Girard, Pinar and Trapp (2011) found that using oral presentations in their classroom lead
to greater class interaction and participation, an increased interest in learning, and
noticeable improvements in their students’ communication and presentation skills.
For most language teachers the five major benefits to use oral presentations in the
classroom are:
 They are student-centered.
 They require the use of all four language skills.

 They provide students with realistic language tasks.
 They have value outside the language classroom.
 They improve students’ motivation.
One of the main benefits of using presentations in the classroom is that oral
presentations are student-centered. When students are asked to give an oral presentation it
is one of the few times in the language classroom that the students themselves have direct
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control of both the content and the flow of the classroom (Apple & Kikuchi, 2007). A
properly scaffolded presentation can result in multiple opportunities for students to
improve their English in a context in which the students themselves are acting as both
teachers and learners Interactions between the presenters and the audience provide both
sets of participants with numerous opportunities to practice their English abilities with
other students in an authentic manner.
Oral presentations also provide students with a process-driven activity that
requires them to use English, not just while they are giving the presentation itself, but
also while they are preparing to present.
Another benefit of oral presentations is that they require students to use all four
language skills; writing, reading, speaking, and listening. Most teachers recognize the
spoken component of presenting, as students are required to speak when giving their
presentations. If these students are given a simple task to do during the presentation, or
are expected to use the knowledge disseminated through the presentation for a specific
purpose, this will allow practicing their listening skills and confirm their understanding
by asking questions and interacting with the presenters. (Thornbury, 2005, p. 91).
The final benefit of using oral presentations in the language classroom is that they
can provide students with additional motivation to study English. One of the joys of
teaching a presentation class is seeing students gain confidence, self-esteem, and
autonomy while they are working independently, or as a small group, to produce and give
an effective presentation.

2.1.4. Students’ common oral presentation problems
Oral presentation is considered to be one of important skills of speaking, regarded
as one of the most difficult skill to master for the majority of EFL students who are still
incompetent to communicate orally in English. As Loama (2004, p. 1) states: “Speaking
in a foreign language is very difficult and competence on speaking takes a long time to
develop ˮ. So, during the oral classes, learners encounter many obstacles that hinder their
learning process of such a difficult skill.
Beside these linguistic factors such as: lack of vocabulary, mispronunciation,
grammatical mistakes, the use of the mother tongue, students may face with
psychological factors. These problems are speech anxiety and group boredom
Students often meet these factors as follows:
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2.1.4.1. Linguistic factors
2.1.4.1.1. Lack of vocabulary
The knowledge of vocabulary is the prior requirement that the students should
have about the language they want to speak. However, they face difficulty because their
vocabulary is limited, so they are unable to communicate effectively in the target
language. Students find themselves uncomfortable when they intend to express their
ideas in a clear manner. It is due to the lack of vocabulary and limited knowledge.
Hence, this inadequate vocabulary affects the rate of their participation in oral
activities and make them unable to share their ideas with others in a comfortable manner.
2.1.4.1.2. Pronunciation mistakes
They are defined by Kelly (2000, p. 11) as: “A consideration of learners’
pronunciation errors and of how these can inhibit successful communication is a useful
basis on which to assess why it is important to deal with pronunciation in the classroom.”
Besides the learners’ problems in vocabulary, there is a noticeable problem which is
mispronunciation of words, which leads to problems in reception or comprehension of
an utterance’s meaning; consequently, reduce their oral participation.

Pronunciation is the most significant skill in foreign language learning since it
helps EFL learner to be more competent in communication. Furthermore, the level of
pronunciation proficiency represents the main criteria that EFL students can be judged on
and assessed. Hence, they must practice the correct pronunciation forms and be aware of
the various rules of sounds as stress, intonation …etc. Morley (1991, p. 488) emphasizes
the importance of pronunciation in speaking proficiency: “intelligible pronunciation is an
essential component of communication competence ˮ.
Therefore, mispronunciation is a serious problem to overcome that non-native
English speakers face when they try to reach a high level of fluency. So, pronunciation
mistakes are one of the main factors that hinder the students’ freedom in classroom
interaction.
2.1.4.1.3. Grammar mistakes:
Grammar is an essential element of a language, According to Harmer (2001, p. 12)
grammar is defined as: The grammar of a language is the description of the ways in
which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that language
if grammar rules are too carelessly violated, communication may suffer […,] creating a
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good grammar rule is extremely difficult. Linguists investigating Native-speaker speech
…, over the years, devised various different systems to describe how the language works.
One of the most important aspects of being skillful in oral production is possessing
grammar knowledge; Therefore, inappropriate grammar leads to misunderstanding in
communication.
Moreover, EFL learners often prefer to keep silent rather than producing
ungrammatical structures because they are afraid of being ridiculed in front their teachers
and classmates.
Therefore, a grammatical mistake is one of the linguistic obstacles that prevent
EFL learners’ participation.
2.1.4.1.4. The use of the mother tongue

It is obvious that EFL learners often use the mother tongue inside and outside
classrooms because they are less exposed to the target language and feel demotivated to
communicate. Students tend to borrow words from their native language when they fail
in expressing their thoughts in the foreign language due to the lack of vocabulary in this
language. According to Baker and Westrup (2003, p. 12): “Barriers to learning can occur
if students knowingly or unknowingly transfer the cultural rules from their mother tongue
to a foreign languageˮ. Therefore, the use of mother tongue lessens the students’ speaking
capacity and leads to breakdown of communication in the classroom. In addition, they
will find it difficult to use the target language accurately if they keep on borrowing words
from their native language which is caused by the lack of foreign language vocabulary.
2.1.4.2. Psychological factors
2.1.4.2.1. Speech anxiety
During the oral presentation, psychological sources were also held responsible for
language learners’ high as well as low levels of apprehension. There are various
psychological variables that make EFL learners anxious in setting where they are
required to speak English, to do oral presentation.
Impact of speech anxiety makes language learners frightened and shakes their
confidence which results in avoidance and withdrawal from speaking activities especially
oral presentation in EFL classes. One of the high apprehensive subjects of this study
revealed in response to the question of influence on anxiety on his language, “Due to fear
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I cannot speak well, otherwise when I am alone, I really make good dialogues. I think in
English alone. I think the main reason of my poor English is my confidence, my
confidence level is very low. I can’t speak in front of others even if I know the answer”.
“I am teaching tuition to my brother, I speak better English, I feel very confident at that
time. But in front of teacher and the classmate I forgot every thing”.
Both the statements of subjects who experience high anxiety clearly show that
anxiety cast negative influence on learners’ productive skills and EFL teachers need to

consider this multi-faced phenomenon.
2.1.4.2.2. Group boredom
Some EFL presenters have problem with memorizing information with English so
they try to get it by heart. By this way, the audience will feel bored when they have to
listen to what the speaker said it is look like that they are reading their information “word
for- word” from what the memorizing (King, 2002, p. 405).
Group boredom also results from listening to memorized speeches. A total
dependence on memorization is the pattern followed by most EFL presenters who usually
have trouble adapting information to spoken English for the audience. The audience feels
bored when they have to listen to a tedious reading or word-for-word memorized speech
from a presenter who reads rapidly and monotonously, losing command of their voice,
tone, and pacing. When the audience cannot follow the presentation, their attention drifts
and they lose interest. This makes the speaker feel less confident.
One can say that, students’ problems with oral presentations should take in
consideration. Find a solution of this problem is the rule of booth teachers and students.
2.1.5. Strategies for teaching oral presentation
Many students do not find oral presentation an enjoyable activity. They are afraid
when teachers ask them to prepare an oral presentation. According to Chivers and
Shoolbred (2007, p. 31), “Many students feel highly nervous about undertaking class
presentation.”
Moreover, students have a fear from give an oral presentation because they have
not experience. In addition, some of them do not have a confidence in their abilities.
(King, 2002, p. 406). When students have been asked about what a good presentation is,
they have related it to a clear speech, correct language and when the audience get the
main idea. Therefore, it is important to teach students how to make an oral presentation
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because most of them have not clear ideas about how to do it.
Oral presentations are become more important part of language teaching,

especially at high school nowadays. English learners need to be aware of this technique
because, it is been considered as an opportunity to improve their English. In the past,
teachers had been focused on giving the learner grammatical rules, vocabulary…etc the
communicative approach aim to teach students how organize the main idea about a given
topic in a logical coherent and also it aim to develop the students ability to produce in
English with the correct way (King, 2002, p. 406).
To conclude, the main purpose of teaching students oral presentation is to help
them rejecting the fear of making pronunciation or grammatical errors.
2.1.5.1. Teachers’ Role
The teacher’s role is not an easy one because oral presentation is challenging job
for teachers like in lesson planning according to King (2002, p. 207) “teacher move from
the traditional role of teacher as an authorities expert to the new role of facilitator of
learning”. In addition, teacher need to prepare their students for this work. In addition,
develop their interaction skill. According to Xinaming (2005, p. 120), “teachers…still
play a key role in the background, as a facilitator, research guides, ultimate references,
and source of encouragement”. The teacher’s role in oral presentation is an a guide,
organizer consultant resource person, and supporter this role involve also organizing into
groups, preparing details, more information about the topic, helping them to learn how to
use visual aids in their presentation and finally evaluation the students performance (King
2002, p. 407-408)
2.1.5.2. Students’role
A student is ready to learn in a real world project format if he or she is qualified to
participate in a team project, and has realistic expectations about the process. Students are
not fully formed people, much less fully functioning managers. One cannot expect
students to be qualified to complete a project. But some students are more qualified, or
ready to participate in project learning, than others. Students should be relatively mature,
use good judgment, be willing to negotiate, and be willing to “go the extra mile” to get
the job done (Papamarcos, 2002). Students should also have a desire to gain experience
or to serve a client as sufficient reward for their extra effort.
Students should bring some technical, interpersonal, communication and creative

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thinking skills to the project. They should be willing to subordinate their personal
preferences to the decisions of the team, and be willing to compromise in order to
achieve a group consensus. Students should be trustworthy in terms of their ability to
represent the university to their client, and to keep client information confidential as
needed.
Students also need to begin a project with realistic expectations about the process.
Students must replace their “traditional” course expectations with an awareness of the
characteristics of a project. Real world problems that are inherently ambiguous have no
obvious action plan and no right or wrong answer. Indeed, the opportunity to learn about
the ambiguity of real world projects, and how to deal with it, is a benefit to students of
doing projects.
The author has found that student satisfaction ratings of courses that feature real
world projects are a bimodal distribution. Many students have rated a course with real
world projects highly while many any other students rated it very low: “You either love it
or you hate it”. Dissatisfied students cite a number of factors, including bad experiences
with their team, a bad client, and unhappiness with the project process.
Each student should know in advance that his or her initiative will determine the
success of the project, that one’s performance (and grade) is linked with one’s teammates,
that the project process will be ambiguous, that the project outcome has no right or wrong
answer, and that the project will involve a client who is a potential “wild card” in the
process. Despite the warning, some students will not thrive in a real world project
environment and will give the course a low rating. Students find it difficult to have
realistic expectations about something that they have never experienced, such as a real
world project. Another reason for low ratings is that students knew what to expect, and
didn’t like it, but took the course because it was their only option to earn credit.
In summary, students should have the opportunity to self select, or be selected, to
participate in a real world project based on their aptitudes and preferences. And students

should be told up-front about the challenging features of a project.
2.1.5.3. Evaluation of oral presentation
The first evaluation of an oral presentation is on the speaker itself. The teacher
needs to evaluate the performance of these students by looking for their pronunciation,
then teacher move to the kind of information that is included in the presentation
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(Xinaming, 2005, p. 120). However, in this practice the true evaluation is the speakers’
ability to answer the questions, which the audience have been asked.
During the research, to collect the data, the two instruments were employed: the
questionnaires about using PBL for the students, the teacher’s observation sheet based on
an oral presentation rubric of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). The
questionnaires findings showed that the attitudes of 11th graders towards the use of
project-based learning and PBL helps to develop their oral presentation skills.
Teachers should try to be positive in their evaluation and avoid criticism of
students’ practice that improves by time. In addition, students need to learn how to do it
by experience.
Conclusion
To conclude, oral presentation is another way for communication skills. If it is
well prepared, structured, and organized, it will be beneficial and enjoyable activity for
learners. This practice is one of speaking activities that aims to develop the students’
proficiency level in English and to help them to build self-confidence in their ability to
speak in public.
Oral presentation is one type of communication which aims to develop the
students’ ability to perform in English. The aim of this activity is to enhance students’
proficiency in oral speaking skill. At the end of their presentation, students should be
aware how to communicate effectively of many methods of teaching oral presentation.
Project based learning is now becoming popular in teaching communicative skills. The
next section will discuss the PBL.

2.2. Project based learning
Project-based learning has been investigated in a great number of studies on the
global scale over the last decade, but the application of this approach to teaching English
as a foreign language in Vietnam is still not popular. Project-based learning is a learning
method which focuses on the learner; the teacher acts mainly as a facilitator and
motivator. PBL emphasizes learning activities that are learner-centered and usually
integrated with real world concerns. With a view to achieving great successes in teaching
and learning under the credit-hour system, training workers of the twenty-first century
standard, PBL is also a beneficial approach to be applied at high school in Vietnam.
Aware of the importance of PBL, I make the best efforts to discuss the definitions and
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benefits of PBL in general and for 11th grade students of English in particular. I also deal
with the application of PBL in teaching oral presentation and suggest several language
learning projects.
This section discusses some of the theoretical basis for the research done in this
study.
2.2.1. Definitions of the project based learning.
Many definitions of project-based learning have been proposed by various authors.
Van Duzer (1995) and Moss (1998) define it as an instructional approach that
contextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products to
develop. As discussed, project-based learning (PBL) is a model that organizes learning
around projects which are complex tasks, based on challenging questions or problems,
involving students in design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative
activities; giving students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extended
periods of time; and culminating in realistic products or presentations. In addition, the
students develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both team-based
and independent work.
Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students

learn about a subject through the experience of problem solving. A project may be
connected to real professions through the use of authentic methods, practices, and
audiences. Multiple presentation modes gives learners opportunities to effectively use
various technologies as tools in the planning, development, or presentation of their
projects.
PBL requires varied and frequent assessment including teacher assessment, peer
assessment, self-assessment, and reflection. Assessment practices should also be
inclusive and well understood by learners, allowing them opportunities to participate in
the assessment process in ways not typically supported by more traditional teachercentered lessons.
The variety of definitions has provided the features of PBL. Thomas proposes the
five criteria of project-based learning: centrality, driving question, constructive
investigations, autonomy, and realism.
1. PBL projects are central, not peripheral to the curriculum.
2. PBL projects are focused on questions or problems that "drive" students to encounter
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(and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline.
3. Projects involve students in a constructive investigation.
4. Projects are student-driven to some significant degree.
5. Projects are realistic, not school-like.
With its distinctive features, PBL has drawn a lot of attention and support from
educators, teachers and learners. Research has provided evidence for more of its benefits
than drawbacks. I shall discuss the benefits in the following section.
2.2.2. Advantages of the project based learning.
English has been taught as a foreign languages in Vietnam for a very long time.
However, there has been little application of the project-based learning in teaching. In
fact, project-based learning offers many advantages and challenges when implemented in
the classroom.
Fried-Booth states that the process leading to the end-product of project-work

provides opportunities for students to develop their confidence and independence. As
dealt with in Stoller PBL provides opportunities for the natural integration of all four
skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Another advantage discussed is that the students have enhanced motivation,
engagement and enjoyment because project work progresses according to the specific
context and students’ interests. PBL thus enriches the lives and experiences of a learner
as he is required to establish contacts with individuals outside his regular links of
contacts.
In addition, PBL can develop many helpful skills for the students. Coleman
discusses an advantage relating to students’ increased social, cooperative skills, and
group cohesiveness. Adopting PBL projects in the classroom also helps reinforce social
relationships among team members. Thus, PBL provides learners with opportunities to
learn collaborative skills, stimulate cooperation and knowledge exchange amongst
students and it encourages individual students to talk more.
Given sufficient time to complete the PBL project, learners would be given
enough time to plan, revise and reflect on their learning. Assessment is seen as an
ongoing, varied and frequent process involving teacher assessment, peer assessment, selfassessment, and reflection.
According to Fragoulis (2009, p. 92), there are many benefits of implementing the
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project based learning (PBL) technique in teaching speaking, they include the following:
1. PBL provides contextual and meaningful learning for students.
2. PBL can create an optimal environment for practicing speaking English.
3. PBL makes students actively engage in project learning.
4. PBL enhances students’ interests, motivation, engagement, and enjoyment.
5. PBL promotes social learning that can enhance collaborative skills.
6. PBL can give an optimal opportunity to improve students’ language skills.
To put in a nutshell, PBL is very beneficial to students in general and those of
English in particular. The question here is what the teacher and students do to maximize

the advantages of PBL, especially in oral presentation.
2.2.3. The application of PBL in teaching oral presentation
There are some stages of the PBL technique implementation according to Bell
(2010). The first is speculation in which teachers provide the choice of project topics
initially based on the curriculum and discuss them with students. At this stage, teachers
and students speculate possibilities that will lead smoothly to the projects. However, for
beginner or lower level students, teachers can choose the projects themselves but still
consider the problems of the students. It was assumed by Gaer (1998, p. 22) that students
at the beginner or lower level do not have the language or confidence to develop project
themes. Thus, he assumes, teachers need to lead them first before they can decide for
themselves. The second stage is designing the project activities, referring to organizing
the structure of a project activity that includes group formation, assigning roles, and
methodology decision. The third is conducting the project activities in which the students
work out what was planned and designed in the previous stage. At this stage, the students
gather information, discuss it with the members of their group, consult with the teacher
about problems encountered in their work and exhibit their final products that might be in
the form of a presentation, a performance, a product, a publication, etc. to the class or
even to the wider community such as other classes, teachers, outsiders. The last stage is
when the students perform in front of the class.
According to Srikrai (2008), PBL technique activities can have characteristics as follows:
(1) focus on content learning rather than on specific language patterns.
(2) student-centered with the teacher as a facilitator or coach.
(3) encourages collaboration amongst students.
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(4) leads to the authentic integration of language skills and processing information
from multiple sources.
(5) allows learners to demonstrate their understanding of content knowledge
through an end product such as an oral presentation, a poster session, a bulletin board

display, or a stage performance.
(6) bridges the use of English in class and the use of English in a real life context.
More importantly, PBL is both process- and product-oriented (Stoller, 1997). The
implementation of project work differs greatly from one instructional setting to another.
In some settings, fairly non elaborate tasks, confined to a single class session, are labeled
as projects. In other settings, elaborate sets of tasks fill the process for completing the
project and span an entire instructional unit; in settings like these, the benefits of project
work are maximized because students actively engage in information gathering,
processing, and reporting over a period of time, and the outcome increases content
knowledge and language mastery. In applying the PBL technique in the classroom, Marx
(1997) set out problems teachers may have with enactment during the class as below:
(1) Time: projects often take longer than anticipated.
(2) Classroom management.
(3) Control: teachers often feel the need to control the flow of information while at
the same time believing that students' understanding requires that they build their own
understanding;
(4) Support of student learning.
(5) Technology use: teachers may have difficulty incorporating technology into
the classroom, especially as a cognitive tool.
(6) Assessment: teachers may have difficulty designing assessments that require
students to demonstrate their understanding.
Based on the above, the teacher can discuss the end product with her students and
explain what exactly they have to do and how, what they have to practice or learn, what
they can expect and what is expected from them, the choices they have to make and the
rules they have to follow. It is very useful from the start to draw a timetable, a plan and a
check list of objectives for the project work so that the students can follow the stages of
the project

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Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this second part of our research, I will move to something that is more practical.
The present chapter aim to collect data about the use of the PBL in developing 11 th grade
students’ oral presentation. To achieve that, I have tried to investigate how students of a
mountainous high school consider the effectiveness of using project based learning on
achieving better result in their oral presentation. We have also investigated how teacher
judge the use of PBL as a particular means to develop their students’ oral presentation
skill. In order to conduct our investigation, answer the research questions, and confirm
our hypothesis, we collected data from students’ questionnaire and classroom
observation.
The major tool of collecting data was the questionnaire addressed to 11 th grade
students. We have used teachers’ interview in order to see the teachers’ opinions about
the use of oral presentation to improve their students speaking level. In addition, we have
used the classroom observation in order to collect more information and to confirm the
questions and interview results. During a period of four weeks, we have attended many
sessions with different four teachers and different four groups.
3.1. Research setting
3.1.1. An overview of Do luong 3 upper secondary school
Do luong 3 upper secondary school is situated in Do luong district, Nghe An
province. Founded in 1978, Do luong 3 has an enthusiastic and experienced teachers
staff. This is a school that has a length of good tradition of teaching and learning in Nghe
An province. At present, there are 36 classes with about 1400 students divided into three
different grades: 10th, 11th and 12th grades.
English has been considered as an important subject in the program because it is a
compulsory subject in GCSE examination as well as the chance of getting better jobs in
the future. Therfore, the leaders has always created the best possible conditions for
English teaching and learning to help students to improve speaking ability effectively.

However, there have been many problems that should be solved. The facilities at
school are still poor, for example, the library is too small and lack books especially
English books as a reference. Furthermore, the students have few opportunities to
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practise English with native speakers to improve their communication, especially oral
presentation. They often feel shy, nervous … to express their attitides towards any
problem.
3.1.2.The teachers
In Doluong 3 upper secondary school, there are totally 9 teachers of English aged
34 to 50. All of them have got the University Bachelor’s Degree but their time lengths of
teaching English are different. The oldest teacher has nearly 20 years of teaching
experience, and the youngest just has nearly 10 years. As rural teachers, they have few
opportunities to upgrade their teaching and do not have a lot of teaching aids and
materials to help their work. Despite all these disadvantages, they are always eager for
knowledge and willing to adjust to new thinking and apply better ways to improve their
teaching quality. Especially, some of them have been applying project based learning
method in teaching to give learners more chances to practise speaking English, especially
oral presentation. However, they often get into some troubles in the process of
performing it effectively.
3.1.3. The students
At Doluong 3 high school, the fact is that most students have difficulties in
participating in oral presentation activities because of some reasons:
Firstly, they are living in the rural area where people mainly live on agriculture.
Therefore, they hardly have chances to practise speaking outside the classroom or in the
daily life. Instead of that, they are excellent at learning structures and grammar that help
them pass examinations.
Secondly, most of the classroom activities concentrate on teaching and practicing
language structures. Therefore, during the lesson, the learners do most repetition,

substitution, memorizing activities, or answering questions based on texts and so on.
They do not have only a little time to use English in oral communication. As a result,
when doing speaking activities, they often cope with such problems as “inhibition”,
“nothing to say”, “mother-tongue language”, “body language ”, etc
Moreover, their parents, the actual farmers, who hardly know anything about
English, do not encourage them to learn it. As a result, most of the students do not know
what they learn English for, except for the reason of passing the final examination. They
do not know its importance in the modern life as well as in their future. They become
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bored with learning it. In each class, there are only a few students really learning English
and being interested in learning it. The rest almost forget all the things they have learnt.
Once the learners have no motivation for learning, the learning quality is very difficult to
be improved.
3.1.4. The English syllabus
The textbook English 11 was pulished in 2006. The Englis syllabus is the main
material used in the class. It is structured with a priority towards theme-based or topicbased approach, including 16 units, each unit includes 5 lessons with four different skills
and a language focus. There are 3 periods of english per week and each semester deals
with 8 of them with a total periods are 54. The text book aims at providing students with
a profound knowledge of numerous fields, a favorable attitude towards English and four
skills proficiency in English (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing). In order to
achieve these objectives, the content of the book is designed based on topics related to
social life, sports, work and leisure, which are familiar with students. For each topic,
related vocabulary and word study are presented communicatively. In addition, new
methods of language teaching and learning such as learner-centered approach,
communicative approach and task-based teaching are extensively employed. The new
syllabus with the communicative approach is considered interesting but rather
challenging for the teachers. It mainly focuses on equipping students with communicative
ability and competence to perform basic language functions receptively and productively,

using correct language forms and structures.
3.1.5 The current situation of teaching and learning oral presentation skill at
Do luong 3.
At Do luong 3 upper secondary school, both teachers and students are aware of the
importance of learning speaking English, especially oral presentation. However, its
effectiveness is not high although many teachers have taken advantages of using the
benefits of project based learning. This is due to subjective and objectives causes.
The role of the teachers in class is a guide for the students to lead their own study.
They also take great efforts to create good language environment for students to actively
participate in classroom activities by organizing groups work and pairs work in order to
help students to have chance to exchange their ideas with their friends and achieve the
main target of developing not only speaking skills but also other ones. However, there
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still appear problems which partly prevent students from actively taking part in these
activities for speaking. Perhaps, the reason is that they are still affected by the traditional
teaching and learning methods. Therefore, they appear not to have high interest and
motivation to participate in the classroom activities, also show their attitudes in oral
presentation.
In summary, a brief overview of Do Luong 3 where the researcher collected the data
for her research has been presented. Some issues related to students, teachers, learning
requirement, speaking teaching situation have been investigated, which provides the
context for the research to be undertaken. The next part will shed light on the
methodology applied in the study.
3.2. Research design
3.2.1. Research method
Action research was conducted involving five phases in each cycle namely, (i) the
initial reflection phase, (ii) the planning phase, (iii) the implementation phase, (iv) the
observation and analysis phase and (v) reflection and assessment phase.

The choice of the method has determined by the nature of the study because it can
determine the facts about the actual situation and thereby to clarify that the use of project
based Learning can develop their oral presentation skill. In addition, oral presentation is
one of the best and appropriate solutions to deal with students’ problems in speaking
English. To collect the data for analysis, questionaires and teachers’ observation sheet
based on NCTE were used.
3.2.2. Sample of the study
3.2.2.1. The students
The sample of this study was 11th grade students, at Do Luong 3 upper secondary
school. The reasons for choosing to work with these students are for a number of reasons.
In the second year, normally students are able to take risks in speaking the foreign
language because they have started to develop their level from their first year at upper
secondary school. More importantly, they are not like the 10 th students who are not
familiar with the high school atmosphere.
From a population of about 480 students, we have been deal with forty 40 students
selected randomly to be our sample. None of them was ever involved with the use of
PBL before.
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3.2.2.2. Procedures.
At the initial reflection a plan of action for the second phase were developed and
phase, the main objective was to identify issues, implemented. It also involved the
examinations of the problems and research situations and to define what proposed
projects by the teachers and strategies on how changes need to be done to improve the
practice. During the initial observation phase it was noticed that there was an overall lack
of motivation to communicate in English during classroom activities. Also, the lack of
eye contact and low voice was a common occurrence among most of the students.
The planning phase addresses problems identified in the first phase, measures to
be taken, ideas about projects to be implemented, techniques to encourage the students to

be involved in determining the projects, and types of data to be collected and data
collection tools in the implementation phase.
The implementation phase involved conducting the action plan, the documentation
process as well as collecting relevant data including teacher's notes about the
effectiveness of the actions, the reactions of students and also the students' work.
Consequently, a number of documentation processes were used such as photos of the
activities, video recording of the activities and records of students' behavior, feelings and
dialogue during the activities.
Following the implementation phase, the results of actions that have been
implemented were analyzed and discussed. Then a reflection on the implementation of
the project and ways to improve the process and a review of the actions taken and the
results of observations were conducted.
The stages of learning projects presented by Fragoulis (2009) were implemented
as follows:
In the speculation stage, students were told to make presentations in class in
groups of four on one of the topics in the course book. They chose the group members at
the first period of the course. The teacher provided a list of topics for them to choose as
follows:
Project 1: Talk about someone daily routines.
Project 2: The pollution.
Project 3: People’s background.
Project 4: Your schoollife.
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Project 5: Volunteer work on summer holiday.
Project 6: Your personal experiences.
Project 7: Talk about the celebration of Tet and other festivals’ activities.
Project 8: Talk about measures for protecting endangered nature.
Project 9: Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of energy sources.

Project 10: Talk about collection.
or they could choose their own topics which they were interested in but it had to
be related to the lesson and agreed by him. Each representative of the groups drew the
lots to decide which topics they would make their presentations on.
In the designing the project activities, for example, students agreed to make a
project about pollution including the following activities:
• A promo about our conference
• A short film about the causes of pollution (written – acted – directed by students)
• A presentation about thermal pollution
• A presentation about water pollution
• A presentation about air pollution
• Students sing two songs about pollution
• Introducing advertisements of the year 2050
• Writing a letter to UN secretary to ask him to hold an international conference about
pollution
• Designing some posters to show the danger of pollution
In the stage of conducting the project activities, the groups implemented the
activities designed in the previous stage. Students gathered information, processed and
categorized it. Students discussed issues related with cooperation among group members,
problems of personal relations and possible changes in group composition. Students also
modified their products according to the result of the group discussion and feedback.
As for the evaluation stage, a questionnaire for the students about using PBL was
used. the responses will be discussed later. Clearly, the course had certain pedagogical
strengths; however, a number of factors may limit its applicability. The shortage of time
was effective. We had only nine meetings and more time was needed. We already held
the conference on 25/3/2018 and it was a great success.

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Some oral activities performed indoor and outdoor applying Project based learning

Group works discussing in class before making oral presentations

Group oral presentations indoor applying Project based learning
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Making oral presentation in front of the class
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