VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI THUY DUNG USING PROJECT-BASED TEACHING TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ CONFIDENCE IN ENGLISH PRESENTATION SKILLS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE Sử dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án để cải thiện sự tự tin của học sinh ở kỹ năng thuyết trình tiếng Anh tại một trường cấp III ở tỉnh Bắc Ninh M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI THUY DUNG USING PROJECT-BASED TEACHING TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ CONFIDENCE IN ENGLISH PRESENTATION SKILLS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN BAC NINH PROVINCE Sử dụng phương pháp dạy học dự án để cải thiện sự tự tin của học sinh ở kỹ năng thuyết trình tiếng Anh tại một trường cấp III ở tỉnh Bắc Ninh M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy HANOI – 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and has not been submitted to any other university or institution partially or wholly.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2018 Student Nguyễn Thị Thùy Dung i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEGEMENTS In the process of implementing my thesis, I have received lots of help, encouragement and experiences from teachers and friends. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy who has generously given me invaluable assistance and guidance.
Without her help, my research would have never been successfully completed. Besides, my sincere thank is also extended to all the teachers in Post-graduate Department, Ha Noi University of Language and International Studies for their lectures supporting this research; simultaneously, my thank to all the students who helped me take part in the research and fulfill the questionnaire. Last but not least, I am grateful to my family and friends who have given me much encouragement during the time I carry out this research. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT It is obvious that project-based learning plays an important role in language teaching and learning.
This thesis was conducted with the aims to find out the reasons why students lack confidence in presentations, explore students’ and teacher’s attitudes toward the project-based learning, and explore how the project- based learning lessons help improve ten – grade students’ confidence in English presentation skills. The study was conducted as an action research focusing on improving ten – grade students’ confidence in English presentation skills at a High School in Bac Ninh province by using project-based learning. It includes 48 ten – grade students who are in the second semester of school year 2017 – 2018. Hopefully, the results of the study can help students improve their confidence in English presentation skills in future and teachers apply project-based learning in their language teaching.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATION PBL: Project-based learning iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iv TABLE OF TABLES. viii TABLE OF FIGURES, CHARTS. ix PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Methods of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of presentation.
Types of presentation. Criteria for a good presentation. The importance of presentation skills in language learning .1 Definitions of confidence. The importance of confidence in presentation skills.
Project-based learning (PBL). Definitions of PBL. Salient features of PBL. 12 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Benefits of PBL. Types of PBL. A framework for PBL. The role of the teacher in PBL.
Definition of action research. The process of action research. Rationale of using an action research. Context of the study.
The pre-test and post-test. The action research procedure. 29 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Factors affecting students’ lack of confidence in English presentation skills.
34 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Attitudes of students and teachers to project-based learning. Attitude of students. Attitude of teacher.
Effect of project-based learning. Effect of project-based learning in presentation skills. Effect of project-based learning in improving confidence in presentation skills. Summary of the study.
Major findings and discussion of the study. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies. VIII vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF TABLES Table 1.1: Summary of criteria for a good presentation .1: Students’ result in the pre-test of presentation.2: Students’ feeling about topics of project carried out in the semester .3: Students’ result in the post-test of presentation.
40 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF FIGURES, CHARTS Figure 2.1: Steps in the action research cycle .1: The role of presentation skills .2: Students’ interest in English presentation skills in class .3: Factors causing students’ lack of confidence in English presentation skills .5: Factors motivating students’ confidence in English presentation.6: Effect of PBL in presentation skills .7: Effect of project-based learning in improving confidence in presentation skills. 39 ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study In this globalization era, the importance of English is widely recognized since it is a mean of international communication; therefore, it is used through the world. In Vietnamese education reform recent years, English national curriculum has been focused on developing English language competence which is expected in all four of the following skills: listening, reading, writing, especially speaking.
One of the most important parts of speaking skills is presentation skills. Joan Van Emden, Lucinda M. Becker (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, p.142): "The ability to present a case clearly, cogently and confidently is enormously valuable at every stage of student's lives, whatever the subjects they study; it will bring them success in academic work, job interviews and their future working life - it's the most transferable of all their skills and a critical part of their professional development." Recognizing of the importance of developing English language competence for students, High Schools in Bac Ninh province have implemented in the system of seven – year English course books 10, 11, 12 to help students master four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Experiencing five years teaching these course book programs, the researcher noticed the fact that one obvious and continuous weakness of most students is limited speaking skills, especially presentation skills.
Many students feel shy to present in front of other people. The most serious problem is the lack of confidence. Meanwhile, the researcher considered project-based learning approach (or project-based teaching) as an appropriate and effective way to help students overcome the difficulties in speaking skills and increase students’ confidence in presentation skills. Project-based learning refers to students’ designing, planning, and carrying out an extended project that produces a publicly-exhibited output such as a product, publication, or presentation (Patton, 2012).
During doing projects, students have to use English and cooperate with their peers as well as building 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com teamwork, group skills to get the best result in their final presentations. Therefore, their confidence can be improved in presentation skills. Moreover, students are encouraged to become independent workers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. Considering the positive contribution of PBL, the researcher conducted a study on the implementation of project-based learning to improve students’ confidence in English presentation skills at a High School in Bac Ninh province.
Aims of the study With the reason above, this study is aimed at: - finding out the reasons why students lack confidence in presentations, - exploring students’ and teacher’s attitudes toward the project-based learning, - exploring how the PBL lessons help improve ten – grade students’ confidence in English presentation skills. Research questions In order to achieve these aims, three following questions were proposed: (1) What make students feel unconfident in presentation? (2) What are students’ and teacher’s attitudes toward project-based learning? (3) To what extent PBL lessons help improve ten – grade students’ confidence in English presentation skills? 4. Significance of the study Some studies claimed that PBL has been challenging for teacher to apply in spite of its positive benefits. PBL may not work well with students who are not ready to this new approach (Levy, 1997).
Teachers may have difficulty in the role of “facilitator”, especially if they haven’t grasped concept of PBL. In addition, it is not easy to integrate all of the course material into a single, semester-long project, so teachers may not success to cover some of the core material for a particular course. Besides, the group dynamic may make it difficult to determine which students contributed the most to the project, some students are lazy to cooperate and work for the final results, thus complicating student assessment. Because of these potential problems, the researcher wants to provide an understanding into the 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com benefits and effectiveness of applying PBL in English lessons.
The study will consolidate the theoretical understanding of PBL for colleagues and students at the researcher’s high school. They will have appropriate teaching methods in applying PBL in their lessons. Moreover, the findings of the study will help the ten-grade students improve their confidence in English presentation skills by using PBL. Scope of the study This study mainly focuses on improving ten – grade students’ confidence in English presentation skills at a High School in Bac Ninh province by using PBL.
It includes 48 ten – grade students who are in the second semester of school year 2017 – 2018. Due to the limitation of time and scale of a minor thesis, the study only focuses on finding out the reasons that make students lack confidence in English presentations, investigating students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward using PBL and extent of the project that meets the project aims. Methods of the study The study was conducted as an action research with four key stages: Planning, Acting, Observing, and Evaluation: Stage 1: Planning: - A pre-test and a questionnaire were used to investigate the issues that make students lack confidence in English presentation skills. The data collected from the questionnaires was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.
- Mapping out strategies for the lesson plans applied PBL to improve students’ confidence in English presentation skills. Stage 2: Acting: - PBL was adopted in the English lessons with fifteen hours over fifteen weeks in class 10A2 in the second semester of school year 2017 – 2018 with eight topics based on Basic English Textbook 10 (Hoang Van Van, 2006) to improve their confidence in presentation skills. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Stage 3: Observing: - An experiencing teacher in English groups of the High School was invited to observe these lessons and evaluate the changes in the final results. - Class observation were made carefully and objectively based on the outcomes of students.
Stage 4: Evaluation: - A post-test was given for students to evaluate their confidence in English presentation skills. - A questionnaire was carried out to get information from students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward using PBL in English lessons. - Documentary analysis was used to measure what the project met its objectives. - From the results of the post-test, questionnaire and class observation, some conclusions were made.