Cải thiện kỹ năng nói tiếng anh thông qua việc học theo đề án tại một trường đhnn ở việt nam m a minor programme thesis linguistics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

BÙI NGỌC ANH

IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING COMPETENCE THROUGH
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AT A SCHOOL OF FOREIGN
LANGUAGES IN VIETNAM
Cải thiện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh thông qua việc học theo đề án tại
một trường ĐHNN ở Việt Nam

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

BÙI NGỌC ANH

IMPROVING ENGLISH SPEAKING COMPETENCE THROUGH
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AT A SCHOOL OF FOREIGN
LANGUAGES IN VIETNAM

Cải thiện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh thông qua việc học theo đề án tại
một trường ĐHNN ở Việt Nam

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601140111
Supervisor: Dr. Dư ng Đ c

HANOI - 2017

inh


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare the thesis entitled
“Facilitating English speaking competence through project-based learning at a
school of foreign languages in Vietnam”
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of
Languages and International Studies- VNU, Hanoi, and this thesis is in total
fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts. This thesis has not
been submitted for any degree and any other university or institution.
Hanoi,2017

i Ng c nh

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deep thanks to people who have assisted me when
I carried out the research.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Duong Duc
Minh, PhD for his encouragement and guidance throughout the research.
I also wish to thank all my teachers of Post-Graduate Studies Department,
VNU for supporting me with a lot of knowledge and giving me the best
environment to fulfill my thesis.
I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to the teachers and
students at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University who have helped
me to collect the data.
Finally, I am deeply indebted to all the support and encouragement that my
family has so loving offered me.

ii


ABSTRACT
This study explored high school teachers’ perceptions of project-based learning
in the new English textbooks. The specific areas of investigations were teachers’
perceptions about (1) P L’s definitions, P L’s benefits for students in language
learning in terms of motivation, improvements in language skills, learning
autonomy, teamwork skills and teachers’ roles in P L, (2) their challenges in
implementing PBL. The findings from questionnaires and interviews reveal that
teachers had a clear understanding of PBL was and a positive attitude to the benefits
of PBL for students in language learning. Also, the results of the study show that
teachers encountered with three main challenges when implementing PBL :
students’ ability, time for preparation and schools’ facilities.

asing on these

findings, suggestions are made to enhance the success of PBL in teaching and
learning English language.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ....................................................................... viii
PART A ....................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale ........................................................................................................... 1
2. Aims of the study .............................................................................................. 2
3. Research question ................................................................................................ 3
4. Scope of the study ................................................................................................ 3
5. Significance of the study ..................................................................................... 3
6. Outline of the study ............................................................................................. 4
PART B ....................................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 5
1.1.

Speaking skill ................................................................................................ 5

1.1.1. Definition of speaking ............................................................................... 5
1.1.2. Speaking skill............................................................................................. 5

1.2.

Project-based learning ................................................................................... 6

1.2.1. General definition of project-based learning ............................................. 6
1.2.2.Major features of PBL ................................................................................. 8
1.3.

Previous research works ................................................................................ 9

1.3.1. Advantages of PBL .................................................................................... 9
1.3.2. Disadvantages of PBL ............................................................................. 11
1.4.

Summary ...................................................................................................... 11

Chapter II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 12
2.1. Research questions and subject of the study .................................................. 12
2.1.1. Research questions restated ...................................................................... 12

iv


2.1.2. Subjects of the study................................................................................. 12
2.2. Research methods ........................................................................................... 13
2.3. Data collection instruments ............................................................................ 15
2.3.1. Pre-test and Post-test ................................................................................ 15
2.3.2. Observation .............................................................................................. 15
2.3.3. Questionnaire............................................................................................ 16
2.4. Data collection procedure ............................................................................... 18

2.4.1. Cycle 1 ...................................................................................................... 18
2.4.2. Cycle 2 ...................................................................................................... 19
2.5. Data analysis ................................................................................................... 19
2.6. Summary ......................................................................................................... 20
CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 21
3.1. Findings .......................................................................................................... 21
3.1.1. Research question 1: “How important is applying PBL integration in the
curricula to English learning process of students at SFL?” .............................. 21
3.1.3. Research question 3: “Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to
students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what are some possible solutions?” ................... 28
3.2. Discussion ....................................................................................................... 30
3.2.1. The importance and the benefits of PBL integration ............................... 30
3.2.2. Students’ difficulties when working with PBL ........................................ 32
3.2.3. The importance of suggested solutions .................................................... 33
3.3. Summary ......................................................................................................... 35
CHAPTER IV:IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION ......................................... 37
4.1.

Implications ................................................................................................. 37

4.1.1.

The role of teachers in PBL integration ................................................... 37

4.1.2.

The role of students in PBL integration ................................................... 39

4.2.

Limitations of the study ............................................................................... 40

4.3.

Suggestions for further research .................................................................. 41

4.4.

Conclusion ................................................................................................... 41

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 43

v


APPENDENCES......................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX I: PRE-TEST FOR STUDENTS ........................................................... I
APPENDIX II: POST-TEST FOR STUDENTS .....................................................IV
APPENDIX III: SPEAKING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR B1 ..................... VII
PPENDIX IV: STUDENTS’ SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST ...........IX
APPENDIX V: OBSERVATION SHEET FOR THE RESEARCHER..................XI
APPENDIX VI: STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................. XII

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PBL: Project-based learning
SFL: School of Foreign Languages

TNU: Thai Nguyen University
TS: Total Score
AS: Average Score
EOP: English Oral Proficiency

vii


LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 2.1. Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTagart, 1988)............................13
Figure 4.1. The Process of Project-Based Learning (Krajcik & Blumenfeld,
2006).........................................................................................................................38
Table 3.1. Students’ opinions about benefits of P L................................................23
Table 3.2. Pre-test scores...........................................................................................23
Table 3.3. Number of errors per error type occurred in pre-test...............................24
Table 3.4. Result of observation on students’ presentation at week 8......................25
Table 3.5. Post-test score..........................................................................................26
Table 3.6. Number of errors per error type occurred in post-test.............................27
Table 3.7. Students’ evaluation of difficult areas.....................................................28
Table 3.8. Students’ evaluation about the importance of suggested solutions……29

viii


PART A
INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
English, which is considered one of the most dominant languages in the world,
has never been a minor concern of the human being in general and Vietnamese

people in particular. It is seen as a useful tool for the purpose of connecting people
on the earth and the key to achieving success in a variety of fields. More essentially,
English is also the primary business language as well as prior standard for those
who want to enter a global workforce, research or international market place.
Realizing the new trend, Vietnamese educators have made English a compulsory
subject in the curricula at all schools including the primary, secondary and
university levels. Increasingly, language skills are top priority criteria for employees
who want to get stable jobs in the modern life.
Additionally, the practice of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in
Vietnam is still lacking practical communicating environment and the fundamental
application of second language (L2) is primarily bound to the classroom context,
which is the same barrier to the majority of Asian contexts (Elam & Nesbit, 2012).
Most classroom periods follow teacher-centered learning model, in which learners
try to memorize vocabulary, grammatical rules, recite pre-fabricated dialogues and
complete paper tests. For instance, during an English lesson at high school on the
topic “Making a phone call”, students are normally expected to keep in mind
vocabulary related to greetings, giving information, and saying goodbye, then listen
to a dialogue and fill in the blank.

It means that they seem to have few

opportunities to collaborate with group members or social interaction after school
days. In other words, “living and functioning in a first language (L1) environment
while studying English compounds the disconnection between second language
(L2) English”, as stated by arrs (2012, p.11).
Therefore, the way English is taught and learnt is still a big issue which
demands researchers to spend large amounts of time and effort to discover the best

1

answers to this question. Brown (2011) fully acknowledges that there should be a
new language teaching method owing to the expanded scope of language teaching
programs all over the world.
Integrating project-based learning in the curricula at Thai Nguyen University in
general and School of Foreign Language in particular is regarded as a useful and
efficient strategy. This is a new teaching method that arranges learning process
based on certain projects. According to Thomas (2000), complex tasks are displayed
in projects aimed at developing students’ ability in design, problem-solving and
investigative activities. In other words, this teaching method brings pupils a good
chance to improve integrated skills such as language competence and other
necessary expertise in the 21st century. The outstanding advantages of this program
are obvious, because it helps learners practice many skills at the same time (writing,
reading, listening and speaking) while other subjects just focus in one or two
competences. As a result, this model makes great contributions to raising their
studying results and learning important life skills.
The reason why action research is employed is that this kind of method
concerns with improving specific point in a teacher’s technique in a particular
classroom using empirical measurement as stated by Richards and Platt & Platt
(1992). Hence, this action research, conducted within fifteen weeks, was
implemented to address the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) for
promoting students’ motivation, personal skills, as well as studying achievements at
School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University (SFL-TNU).
2. Aims of the study
There are two main purposes of implementing this research.
Firstly, this study is designed to explore the importance and major advantages
of integrating project-based learning (PBL) in the curricula at SFL – TNU. In other
words, it is likely to be conducted with the purpose of examining whether or not
using educational projects is an appropriate approach to support students’ language
skills in general and enhance their English speaking skill in particular. The study

2


also clearly exposes several unexpected difficulties which participants experienced
during the process of working with projects at School of Foreign Languages.
Secondly, this paper recommends several solutions to problems encountered (if
any) while teaching and studying project-based subjects in order to decrease
unexpected matters as well as raise the effectiveness of this method.
3. Research question
1. How important is applying PBL integration in the curricula to English learning
process of students at SFL?
2. To what extent can P L facilitate students’ speaking competence?
3. Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what
are some possible solutions?
4. Scope of the study
This study mainly concentrates on the practical effectiveness of PBL integration
in the curricula at School of Foreign Languages. Furthermore, not only strong
points but also weak points of this approach will be shown so that educators are able
to solve the unexpected problems and raise students’ self-direction, motivation and
results in English subjects at SFL-TNU.
The participants joined in this research are a group of 84 sophomores whose
major is English Education at SFL-TNU.
5. Significance of the study
This research, among all research work, is constructed not only to explore
previous related theories to get background knowledge of PBL but also to change
and improve educational situations. Implementing this practical study is highly
supposed to point out pupils’ various learning difficulties in acquiring English as a
second language; furthermore, it will make great contribution to clarifying the
importance of applying PBL in curricula for non-native learners. In addition, the

finding results are likely to contain fruitful conclusions when revealing positive
aspects along with weak points should be eliminated. After that, the composition
will suggest several solutions so as to improve both teaching and studying these

3


subjects. As a result, this research aims at bringing students a good chance to
practice integrated language competence with projects, enhance communication
skill, strengthen collaborative abilities through discussions and peer assessments as
well as apply their knowledge into real life contexts.
6. Outline of the study
This paper’s content will be arranged in an order which reveals information from
theoretical to empirical.
PART A: INTRODUCTION, gives an overview of the study. More particularly, it
includes statement of the problem, the main reasons leading to this research,
intentional aims, objectives as well as brief description of scope and significance,
methods, and design of the inquiry.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT is organized around three chapters as follows:
Chapter I: LITERATURE REVIEW, clarifies theoretical background and related
preceding studies relevant for the research. Both positive impacts and disadvantages
will be exposed in this section.
Chapter II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, focuses on eliciting research
questions, research methods, data collection and data analysis.
Chapter III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, helps to clarify the effectiveness of
project-based learning at SFL. In addition, not only good points but also weak
points and solutions are clearly shown.
PART C: CONCLUSION, briefly summaries the main points of the paper,
provides essential findings, displays existing limitations together with implications
and gives suggestions for further studies.

Finally, REFERENCES and APPENDICES are also listed sufficiently at the end
of the research.

4


PART B
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims at providing readers an overview of language learning,
especially in acquiring speaking ability together with challenges which students
usually have when studying a foreign language. In addition, background
information about PBL and preceding studies will be displayed specifically.
1.1. Speaking skill
1.1.1. Definition of speaking
Speaking, one of the two important productive skills, has been defined in a
variety of ways by different researchers; thus, it is very difficult to choose which is
the most exact one.
According to Bygate (1998), speaking skill can be seen as the production of
auditory signals to produce differential verbal responses in a listener. In other
words, it is regarded as the human’s ability to combine sounds in a systematic way
so as to form meaningful utterances.
Under a top-down view, Eckard and Kearny (1981), Florez (1999) and Howarth
(2001) consider speaking as a two-way process relating to a true communication of
ideas, information and feelings, cited in the article of Leong & Ahmadi (2017).
Besides, taking its form and meaning into consideration, Burns and Toyce (1997)
define speaking as an interactive process of constructing sense that involves
receiving, producing and processing collected data.
In brief, speaking is an action of conveying information or expressing one’s
feeling in speech with its various forms which are dependent on particular contexts.
1.1.2. Speaking skill

As stated by Freeman (in Risnadedi, 2001,pp. 56-67), speaking skill is one of
the students’ most important abilities in expressing their ideas orally which can be
assessed through the scores of speaking tests or examinations. He also claims that
speaking is much more complicated and difficult than people assume because it is
not only an oral trail of abilities that it got from vocabulary and structure.

5


It is obviously that this language competence plays a vital part in life due to its
importance according to the idea of Johnson (1997). Firstly, it has an enormous role
in language learners for the purpose of informing and communicating with others.
Secondly, to become a well-rounded communicator or an outstanding person, they
must be professional in making any speech. Last but not least, mastering the way to
speak in front of the public has a great benefit on enhancing career opportunities for
those who have just graduated from colleges or universities.
1.2. Project-based learning
1.2.1. General definition of project-based learning
There are a range of terms which both refer to project-based learning such as
experiential learning and negotiated language learning (Eyring, 2001; Legutke &
Thomas, 1991), project method (Kilpatrick, 1926), project approach (Diffily, 1996)
and investigative research (Kenny, 1993).
Additionally, many specialists from various countries have afforded to give
definitions of this approach.
PBL is defined as an oriented model which requires students to explore matters
ending in authentic results. More specifically, projects can be expanded in terms of
scope as well as involved aspects with the aim at increasing learning opportunities
at school. The writer also emphasizes that learners should be acted and experienced
in some important roles like decision maker, problem solver and investigator
(Blumenfeld, 1991).

According to Legutke and Thomas (1991, p.160), PBL is not an available
method but an "educational philosophy which aims at providing the direction, and
some possible routes, to a more democratic and participatory society". In other
words, it is the learners' duty to base on instructional steps to create their own
products and deal with troubles by themselves.
Also, Beckett (2002) regards a project work as a lasting activity which consists
of both personal and collaborative tasks, namely building up inquiry questions and

6


schedule as well as gathering and analyzing data. He states that students have a
choice to report collected information in oral or written form.
In addition, it is claimed by Haines (1989) that projects, multi-competence
operations, attach special importance to topics rather than small details. Learners
play a vital part in choosing appropriate fields and working approaches so that they
can control the "end product". The writer convincingly concludes that project
method helps students to "recycle" their existing knowledge by giving them "natural
contexts".
Moreover, researchers are advised to consider typical types of projects when
defining PBL. The first type named structured project in which teachers give their
pupils available and specific methods. Thus, students just follow the indicated way
for finding and tackling information. Besides, a semi-structured research method
shows both project area and methodology providing that learners must be much
more active and responsible for their studying process. In general, not only teacher
but also students take charge in this kind of method.
Thirdly, learner-centered language target is the characteristic of an unstructured
project. That means they are free to create and manage the learning timetable,
content and methodology (Petersen, 2004).
In Petersen's viewpoint, the diverse ways of collecting data and where it is

found also produce a number of projects. One of them is correspondence research
through which messages are sent between people by using letters, phone calls and
email. Another type is survey project that allows students to search for their favorite
survey instruments, to gather necessary document and to analyze assembled ones.
Last but not least, production project requires learners to work with materials such
as boards, chalk, posters, slides and other visual and audible aids. Then, they are
also asked to hand in reports, narrative work and brochures or to give a short oral
presentation.

7


In conclusion, there are many kinds of projects and ways for defining PBL, so
teachers should take them into consideration to apply this method at school
effectively.
1.2.2. Major features of PBL
There are several typical characteristics of PBL combined by Legutke and
Thomas (1991) that emphasize the outstanding features of this teaching approach. It
provides multi-skill activities in which learners play a vital part in choosing
appropriate fields and working approaches so that they can control the “end
product”.
 Topics and assignments originate from the real life.
 Action plan is built up and organized carefully in which sub-topics, problem
areas, anticipated troubles and solutions are given according to the project ideas.
 PBL brings a great educational meaning itself. The reason is that students'
learning skills are improved considerably through group-working process,
discussion, implementing the study and applying new insights to new cycles of
experimentation.
 Each project orient its duty is to put "interdisciplinary approach" into practice.
 Project work regards each learner's self-control and self-direction as an obvious

thing.
 Collaboration skills and activeness of group members make a great contribution
to group's final success when doing project tasks.
 Project learning has investigative characteristics and inherits significant value of
cognitive learning style.
 Learner-centered principle is the crucial target if project learning. It makes way
for students to develop and explore their hidden talents, abilities and interests.
 Project learning attaches special importance to the ending products and
achievements.

8


 Participating in PBL, teachers and pupils have a variety of chances to experience
many exciting roles like manager, monitor, researcher, audience, participant, actor,
writer or secretary.
 Learners are considered as partners. They are able to contribute to the learning
process and content because of being supported with convenient conditions.
(Legutke and Thomas, 1991, pp.158-160)
Furthermore, an author named Bryson (2013) shows that P L’s features can be
briefly summarized in the six ’s following terms:
 Authenticity: Projects designed at schools are usually practical and applied
programs. These approaches put the passion on students and enable them to work
with “real world issues”. Therefore, learners are likely to get excited with the topic
they are caring about.
 Academic rigor: This feature refers to the basic requirement of PBL that asks
students to keep in mind content standards and to think of the topic critically.
 Adult connections: Projects with adult connections characteristic inspire
students through the meaningful involvement of adults beyond the classroom.
 Active exploration: This vital feature aims at motivating learners’ creativity,

enthusiasm and willingness while learning subjects centered projects.
 Applied learning: Working with projects, pupils have to interact with various
circumstances and use the target language immediately as well as apply useful skills
to come up with the employer’s expectation.
 Assessment practices: It is considered to be a good chance for students to
receive useful evaluations and feedback not only during but also after the process of
working with projects.
Project-based learning owns a wide range of features which support students’
learning process. Therefore, teachers are recommended to master these
characteristics and apply them to teaching method efficiently.
1.3. Previous research works
1.3.1. Advantages of PBL

9


The idea of integrating PBL in English classroom is rooted from social
constructivism theory which gives prominence to culture and context in
constructing individual and social knowledge (Kim, 2001). It means that both
reality and knowledge are derived from human activities as well as learning, seen as
a social process, cannot separate individually but occurs when engaging in social
activities. Social constructivists agree with the perspective to apply learning
activities included hands-on project-based methods and discipline-based cognitive
tools so as to construct general meaning not only from individual learner but from
collective view of the entire class as stated by Ernest, 1999; Gredler, 1997; Prat &
Floden, 1994, cited in Kim, 2001. Cicconi (2014) mentioned Vygotsky as the
person who advocates this philosophical theory, had a practical implementation
by assigning peer tutor to struggling students in a Math class. At the beginning, the
peer tutor gives instruction to their partner and gradually reduces suggestions.
Consequently, those students have reached MKO (More Knowledgeable Other)

level and are no longer struggling.
Beckett (2002) clearly states that project-based instruction gives learners
motivation to acquire knowledge, to improve problem-solving ability, and to
develop both independent and co-operative working skills.
Besides, this teaching approach creates a convenient condition for students to
have “increased attendance, growth in self-reliance, and improved attitudes toward
learning” (Thomas, 2000, p. 27).
Hilton-Jones (1988) held a six-week project-based English-language course
and she was pleased with the considerable results. Her program motivated the
learners to enhance reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in English and
enabled them to see their language learning needs through project-based activities.
It is also necessary to mention the remarkable effectiveness of PBL on
difficulties faced by primary school students during an eight-week project.
Participating activities related to the topic “sea animals”, ninety-four pupils
admitted that they preferred experiential learning to traditional teaching because it

10


enabled them to be more communicative, creative and responsible for their own
learning (Filippatou & Kaldi, 2010).
1.3.2. Disadvantages of PBL
Beside realizable advantages, PBL still has several limitations which were
experienced by both teachers and students in some areas.
Doherty and Eyring’s (2006) study aiming at exploring evaluations of people
who collaboratively taught a multi-skills project in adult ESL show a few weak
points of project work. As a result, both teachers and instructors encountered
challenges with “sociocultural and pedagogical insights”. Consequently, they drew
to a conclusion that “implementing project work required a flexible attitude toward
plans on the part of the instructors”. (p.125)

A group of eleven experienced US science teachers participated in the research
of Krajcik et al. (1994) with the purpose of investigating common challenges while
using project-based instruction. They declared that students had to broaden their
mind toward great perspectives instead of narrowing their thinking as the unit
progressed. This prevents them from concretizing big topics and sometimes, they
even miss out several details while completing a large-scale assignment.
Not only referring to disadvantages, the study of Filippatou & Kaldi (2010) also
indicated undeniable limitations of PBL. Due to the classroom size (94 students of
mixed learning abilities), sometimes they produce a debate instead of discussion or
collaboration.
1.4. Summary
In conclusion, this chapter provides readers an overview of language learning
including its definition and common challenges of students when studying English.
Then, theories about project-based learning are displayed. Not only P L’s popular
definitions but also this method’s major features are given clearly. Finally, the
researcher broadens the content of this part by showing preceding studies with both
advantages and disadvantages of PBL integration. This session reflects the actual
picture of implementation and effectiveness of project approach through time.

11


CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the main research questions and subjects of the study first.
After that, the methods applied are also clearly indicated along with the reasons for
choosing these approaches. In addition, how the data was collected and data
analysis will be displayed systematically and concisely.
2.1. Research questions and subject of the study
2.1.1. Research questions restated
The study concentrates on dealing with four questions, these are as follows:

4. How important is applying PBL integration in the curricula to English learning
process of students at SFL?
5. To what extent can P L facilitate students’ speaking competence?
6. Are there any difficulties in applying PBL to students at SFL-TNU? If yes, what
are some possible solutions?
2.1.2. Subjects of the study
There will have 84 students who all agree on the implementation of the
proposed program taking part in this research. The participating students, with both
females and males from English Education Class – Course 38 are from School of
Foreign Languages, TNU.
The reason for choosing those participants is that they all finished three
semesters at university, so they were expected to be at the elementary level.
Moreover, they have just graduated from their high school for 1 year. Thus, it is
quite easy for them to make comparison between learning at school and at higher
education level. In addition, this group is considered suitable ones because they
have recently fulfilled the exam for the subject “English Oral Proficiency” and
“English Written Proficiency” which reflect their current competence in language
uses, especially English speaking ability.

12


2.2. Research methods
Action research is employed as an appropriate approach for this study since this
method highly concerns with improving specific point in a teacher’s teaching
strategies in a particular classroom using empirical measurement (Richards and
Platt & Platt, 1992). So as to fit the aim of this study, the researcher combines three
instruments: tests (pre-test, and post-test), observation, and questionnaire. The pretest is designed to measure the chosen sophomores’ English speaking competence
before and after working with PBL by giving them topics to talk in pairs within one
minute and a half. Then it is the researcher’s job to use observation method to

evaluate interaction between those students, and between students and teacher with
the aims at evaluating their improvements after working with PBL at the end of
cycle 1. Finally, after fifteen weeks, questionnaire was delivered to collect students’
attitudes toward PBL during the class period to assess the effectiveness of PBL
courses.
This study was carried out with the two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis
and McTaggart (1990) that includes following process: plan, action, observation,
and reflection. The diagram of the research cycles is represented as this:

Figure 2.1. Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988)
Guided by the above procedure, the researcher took the following steps:
Step 1: Plan

13


Initially, the researcher was expected to assess students’ current speaking
competence and identify some difficulties or issues which need changing. Besides,
essential materials used in this study were also developed at this stages including:
questionnaire, tests, and observation sheet. Meanwhile, the course syllabus and
lesson plan were built so as to help students match the expected outcomes.
Step 2: Act
It is time for the researcher, also the teacher, to introduce an overview of the
course English Excursion Project and to carry out some intended strategies.
Students will be shown examples of the real tours with necessary criteria to include
such as brief introduction, foods and drinks, destinations, traditional costumes,
transportations, and even ticket price for each local tour. Moreover, the researcher
divided 84 students into smaller groups of five to discuss and role-play as tourists
and guides in order to accomplish recommended parts of an excursion project.
During this period, all pupils were forced to cooperate, share ideas and create a

common product.
Step 3: Observe
In this stage, the researcher’s job was to observe and record any progress
made by students in speaking and note down those information in her observation
sheet. The careful attention should be paid to both the student-teacher interaction
and student-student interaction so as to find out strength as well as weaknesses of
their performance and apply innovative solutions to deal with undesired problems.
Step 4: Reflect
At the end of each cycle, it was indispensable for researcher to recite what had
happened in the PBL class in terms of good effectiveness and some existing
weaknesses. This step had the purpose of evaluating the process’ results, then
drawing out suggestions or solutions for the next cycle.

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2.3. Data collection instruments
This study follows the descriptive research method which combines
characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative method. It can be seen as an
effective way to describe the actual picture of numbers and statistics rather than
explain it. In general, descriptive methodology is considered to be appropriate and
useful to educational fields as well as to the understanding nature and function of
the research (Jonassen, 2001).
The three data collection instruments were used: pre-test and post-test
questions, observation, and questionnaire. The questionnaire together with
observation collected the quantitative data while the tests collected the qualitative
data.
2.3.1. Pre-test and Post-test
It is claimed by Halova and Kobilarov (2010) that the test method can be seen
as an appropriate instrument to measure and compare students’ language skills

(especially speaking skill) before and after the intervention of PBL. That is because
using tests helps researcher not only collect information but also evaluate the
effectiveness of the applied method.
Both pre-test and post-test share the same form, length and level of difficulty.
Particularly, the pre-test was took place at the beginning of the course and it is also
located in the first step of cycle 1. It aimed at measuring pupils’ baseline speaking
level before working with PBL by giving them topics to make conversations in pair
within one minute and a half. In contrast, the post-test that was delivered to students
at the end of cycle 2 explored the progress made by those participants after 15
weeks of English Excursion Project. This test included more complicated topics and
situations than those in the pre-test.
2.3.2. Observation
The researcher took an observation in a group of 84 students who were divided
into 2 smaller groups during periods of “Excursion Project” subject at school. This

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