VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYỄN HẰNG NGA A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF APPLYING PROJECT - BASED ACTIVITIES AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN HA NOI (Nghiên cứu về những thuận lợi và khó khăn khi áp dụng các hoạt động dạy học theo dự án tại một trường tiểu học ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2020 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYỄN HẰNG NGA A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF APPLYING PROJECT - BASED ACTIVITIES AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN HA NOI (Nghiên cứu về những thuận lợi và khó khăn khi áp dụng các hoạt động dạy học theo dự án tại một trường tiểu học ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy Hanoi – 2020 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE STUDY PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED ENTITLED A Study On The Benefits and Challenges Of Applying Project - Based Activities At a Primary School in Ha Noi IS MY OWN STUDY IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS Ha Noi, 2020 Nguyen Hang Nga i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all people who have given me great supports during my MA course and in the completion of my study. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ass. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy for her advice, guide, encouragement and supervision throughout the study. She consistently encouraged me to write this paper, but would steer me in the right direction whenever I needed it.
I am always greatly thankful to have her as my supervisor. I also would like to thank to my lecturers who have taught QH2017.D1 for their lectures as well as their enthusiasms during the MA course. I am extremely grateful to all the staff and faculty members for their assistance in all the problems that I encountered during my studying here. My sincere gratitude goes to three teachers of English and one hundred - seven students at grade 3,4,5 at Phu Linh primary school for their contributing to the data collection presented in the research.
Lastly, I would like to express my thanks to my family, my colleagues for their care and encouragements during my time of fulfilling this study. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The study was conducted with an attempt to examine the real situation of applying PBL in order to investigate the benefits and challenges of using PBL in improving speaking skills as perceived by teachers and students. The subjects involved in the study are three English teachers and one hundred- seven in grade 3, 4, 5 chosen at random from sixteen classes. The data were collected from questionnaires for students and teachers, classroom observation and interviews for students and teachers.
The results of the study have shown that PBL motivates students to speak English, helps them interact more frequently with other students and teachers, remember and use the target vocabulary and structures in the project lessons. For teachers, PBL increases student-teacher interaction, helps teachers correct students’ mistakes in pronunciation and grammar and assess students’ understanding. Also, the findings of the study point out PBL’s challenges for students: lack of confidence in talking in front of the big groups, slow reaction to questions from other students and teachers, time limitation and frequent use of mother tongue. For teachers, teachers have problems with time, students’ error correction, related knowledge, experience and students of mixed levels, little motivation and interest.
Therefore, those findings may benefit schools and teachers that have the same problems in implementing PBL. Additionally, the present study may provide valuable information for the researchers and teachers who are interested in cooperating PBL into their teaching. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES .viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the research.
Significance of the study. Structure of the thesis. 3 CHAPTER II- LITERATURE REVIEW. Theoretical background of project- based language teaching.
Definition of projects and project- based language teaching. Features of project- based language teaching. Stages in conducting a project. Benefits of the project-based language teaching.
Challenges of applying project-based language teaching. In the world. 13 CHAPTER III- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Setting of the study.
Conduct a preliminary study. Description of the curriculum and the textbook. 18 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Data collection instruments.
Limitations of the methods. 23 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Real situation of PBL in improving speaking skills as perceived by students. Real situation of PBL in improving speaking skills as perceived by teachers.
Feedback and correction. Knowledge and experience. Summary of the benefits and challenges of using PBL in improving speaking skills. Summary of the benefits of using PBL in improving speaking skills.
Summary of the challenges of using PBL in improving speaking skills. Summary and conclusion. Pedagogical implication for applying PBL in improving speaking skills. The limitation of the study.
Recommendations for further related studies. V v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. XXI vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PBL: Project – based learning L1: Mother tongue/ vietnamese L2: Second language/ english T: Teacher T1: The first teacher T2: The second teacher T3: The third teacher S: Student S1: One student in grade 3 S2: One student in grade 4 S3: One student in grade 5 G3: Students in grade 3 G4: Students in grade 4 G5: Students in grade 5 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Charts Chart 4.Spending time for PBL according to students’ questionnaires. Summary of the benefits of using project- based learning in improving speaking skills (Source: Summary of the author).
Summary of the challenges of using PBL in improving speaking skills (Source: Summary of the author). The information of English teachers .Students’ motivation in PBL according to students’ questionnaires. Students’ motivation in PBL based on classroom observations. Students’ participation in speaking activitiesaccording to students’ questionnaires.
Students’ participation based on classroom observations. Students’ performance from students’ questionnaires. Students’ performance from class observations. Students’ spending time for PBL based on classroom observations.
Students’ language use. Teacher- student interaction according to classroom observations. Feedback and correction according to classroom observation. Time for PBL according to classroom observations.
Student management according to classroom observations .34 viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Many researchers and educators have studied the advantages of project- based language teaching (Haines, 1989; Thomas, 2000; Richards &Renadya, 2002; Smith, 2005; Markham, 2011). However, a number of schools are still struggling to implement it in their classroom (Thomas, 2000; Gallacher, 2004; Chen, 2010; Huyen, 2010; Trimble, 2017). Most related studies were conducted to investigate teachers’ perceptions of project- based learning and the role of teachers in implementing it(Huyen, 2010) and students’ perceptions of project- based learning were not concentrated on those studies.
In addition, although this approach has been applied for official textbooks at the state primary schools for several years in Vietnam, none of the studies discussed the problems occurring in project activities. Moreover, few studies on project- based learning method in primary schools were conducted in Vietnam; previous researchers mainly focused on project- based approach to learning writing, in high schools or in colleges (Huyen, 2010). Last but not least, teachers and students at Phu Linh primary school have difficulties in doing project- based activities. Those concerns have led to the constitution of the study “A Study On The Benefits and Challenges Of Applying Project - Based Activities At a Primary School in Ha Noi".
Aims of the study The study aims at finding out the benefits and challenges of applying projected- based activities to students’ speaking skills at Phu Linh primary school. Research questions In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study seeks to answer the following questions: Question 1: What are the benefits of applying project- based language teaching in improving speaking skills as perceived by students and teachers at Phu Linh primary school? 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Question 2: What are the challenges of applying project- based language teaching in improving speaking skills encountered by students and teachers at Phu Linh primary school? 1. Research objectives (1) Identifying the benefits of applying project-based language teaching method in improving speaking skills at Phu Linh Primary School as perceived by students and teachers (2) Identifying the challenges of applying project-based language teaching method in improving speaking skills at Phu Linh Primary School encountered by students and teachers 1. Scope of the research 1) Benefits and problems of applying project- based language teaching in improving speaking skills at Phu Linh primary school (2) Research scope: focuses on English teachers and students at Phu Linh Primary School (3) Contents: project-based language teaching, speaking skills, its real situation and suggestions (4) Time: 1st semester in the school year 2018-2019 1.
Significance of the study Once completed, the research is expected to find the current issues of applying project-based language teaching to speaking skills at Phu Linh primary school. Teachers of English at Phu Linh primary will realize their challenges of utilizing PBL and ways to deal with those challenges. More importantly, they could help their students to improve speaking skills at project-based learning activities. Both teachers and students gain advantages in doing projects in their classroom and developing speaking skills.
Additionally, the study could be served as a referential source for teachers and researchers who take their interest in implementing project-based language teaching. Furthermore, it can be beneficial for teachers who have difficulty in conducting a project in the language classroom. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Structure of the thesis The study is divided into five chapters.
Chapter I: Introduction – presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the structure of the study. Chapter II:Literature Review – provides the theoretical background of speaking skills, project-based learning and the previous studies relating to implementing project-based learning. Chapter III: Research Methodology – provides the research procedures, the setting, the participants, the data collection instruments and the ways to analyze data Chapter IV: Data Analysis and Discussion–presents the results from data analysis basing on the research questions Chapter V: Conclusion- includes the major findings, the limitations and the suggestions for further studies. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER II- LITERATURE REVIEW 2.
Theoretical background of project- based language teaching 2. Definition of projects and project- based language teaching Becktt (2002) clarifies the meaning of this term by providing what could be included in the task. Projects involve “a variety of individual or cooperative tasks such as developing a research plan and questions, and implementing the plan through empirical or document research that includes collecting, analyzing, and reporting data orally and/ or in writing” (Becktt, 2002, p. Therefore, projects could be done by individuals or in groups to complete many smaller tasks.
The approach of project-based language teaching deprived from the idea of learning by doing which was initially promoted by Dewey(1897). He supposes that students not only learn from their teachers at school but also gain knowledge or skills from their surrounding communities through real- life activities.