MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------- HO THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TEACHING OF PROJECT-BASED ACTIVITIES PRESENTED IN NEW ENGLISH PRIMARY TEXTBOOK SERIES (TIENG ANH 3, 4, 5) AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NHA TRANG CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------- HO THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TEACHING OF PROJECT-BASED ACTIVITIES PRESENTED IN NEW ENGLISH PRIMARY TEXTBOOK SERIES (TIENG ANH 3, 4, 5) AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NHA TRANG CITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2017 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ----------------- HỒ THU HÀ NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY HOẠT ĐỘNG DỰ ÁN TRONG BỘ SÁCH TIẾNG ANH TIỂU HỌC MỚI (TIẾNG ANH 3, 4, 5) Ở MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở THÀNH PHỐ NHA TRANG LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUẾ, 2017 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Date: …/…/2017 Signature Ho Thu Ha iii ABSTRACT Project-based learning has been proved to be an effective teaching method by many researchers and it is not new for teachers in many Western countries. This study was conducted to investigate the teaching of project-based activities presented in new English primary textbook series (Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5) at some primary schools in Nha Trang city. In order to collect the data, the questionnaire, interview and class observation were used. The questionnaire includes 25 questions about the teachers’ perceptions and practices of teaching project-based activities.
The questionnaires were delivered to 40 English primary schools teachers. Among them, 10 teachers were chosen randomly to be interviewed. The researcher also observed 5 classes of different grades in different primary schools. The finding reveals that most of teachers have good perceptions of project- based activities; they can figure out the benefits and the difficulties that they encountered when teaching project-based activities and provide some useful suggestions for improving teaching project-based activities as well.
However, there are also some teachers who do not see the necessity of teaching project-based activities in their class and their motivation for teaching project-based activities is low. Moreover, in teaching process, teachers have faced a lot of difficulties such as class time limit, students’ different proficiency level; poorly equipped facilities, large class and so on. Thanks to the finding and recommendations for teachers and educational administrators, the researcher hopes that primary English teachers can improve their teaching project-based activities in the future. iv This paper could not have been completed without the encouragement and support from a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc for his continual encouragement, careful reading, critical comments and patient guidance that made my paper better and more professional. I own all the participating primary English teachers at some primary schools in Nha Trang city a debt of gratitude for their help and enthusiasm in the fulfillment of my thesis. My warm thanks go to all my colleagues at Nha Trang National College of Pedagogy who always encourage and support me during the time I was busy with this research paper.
Finally, I would like to show my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my family, my mother, my sweetheart, my close friends and my classmates who are always by my side and give me great mental and physical support. Their love, support and constant encouragement gave me a great deal of strength and determination that helped me during the stressful time of writing this paper. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. ix LIST OF FIGURES. x LIST OF TABLES.
xi CONTENTS OF THESIS CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION. Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Structure of the study. 4 CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW. Review of previous studies. Review of studies worldwide.
Review of studies in Vietnam. Project-based learning (PBL). Features of Project-based learning. Project-based activities.
Types of projects. Project-based activities used in Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5. Steps of project development. Starting the project.
Developing the project. Reporting to the class. Assessing the project. Benefits and drawbacks of project-based learning.
Benefits of project-based learning. Drawbacks of project-based learning. Students’ roles and teacher’s roles in PBL. Students’ roles in PBL.
Teacher’s roles in PBL. Project-based learning and young language learners. 23 CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY. Data Collection Method.
Data Collection Instruments. Reliability and Validity. 29 CHAPTER IV – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers’ perceptions of teaching project-based activities presented in new English primary textbook series (Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5).
The reality of teaching project-based activities presented in new English primary textbook series. Suggestions for improving teaching project-based activities. 63 CHAPTER V – CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY. Summary of the key findings.
Teachers’ perceptions of teaching project-based activities. The reality of teaching project-based activities. Suggestions for improving teaching project-based activities. For educational administrators.
Contribution of the study. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further studies. 79 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PBL : Project-based learning VNEN : Vietnam Escuela Nueva ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: The necessity of using project-based activities in teaching English in Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5 Figure 4.2: How teachers have taught project-based activities in the class Figure 4.3: Time limit for students to complete a project-based activity Figure 4.4: The place where students were asked to do their project-based activities Figure 4.5: Work arrangement in teaching project-based activities Figure 4.6: The way teachers form students in pairs or groups Figure 4.7: The roles of vocabulary and sentence patterns in the process of doing and presenting projects Figure 4.8: Teachers’ attitude towards teaching the project-based activities in their English classes Figure 4.9: The necessity of teachers’ comments and assessment for each project Figure 4.10: The frequency of teachers’ assessing students’ project work Figure 4.11: The frequency of teacher’s informing students of the projects’ assessment criteria in advance Figure 4.12: Difficulties teachers have encountered when teaching project-based activities Figure 4.13: Difficulties teachers have encountered when assessing project-based activities Figure 4.14: Suggestions for improving teaching project-based activities Figure 4.15: Teachers’ suggestions for improving assessing students’ projects x LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Summary of the questionnaire components Table 4.1: Teachers’ perceptions of project-based activity Table 4.2: Common project-based activities Table 4.3: Project-based activities presented in Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5 Table 4.4: Purposes of using project-based activities in teaching English Table 4.5: Criteria of a good project Table 4.6: Teachers’ roles when teaching project-based activities Table 4.7: Teachers’ evaluation of the project-based activities Table 4.8: Benefits of project-based activities for students Table 4.9: The skills students can practice during the process of doing projects Table 4.10: Benefits of project-based activities for teachers Table 4.11: Number of students in each English class Table 4.12: What teachers should do to help students do project-based activities better Table 4.13: The number of teachers who has attended training courses about how to teach project-based activities xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Nowadays, it is significant to acknowledge that English plays an essential role in our life. That is the reason why children are learning English earlier and earlier all over the world, and Vietnam is not an exception. According to Graddol (2006, p.88), “English learners are getting younger, across the world. English is being introduced in primary schools, with greater compulsion, and at a steadily lowering age”.
In Vietnam, teaching English has become compulsory at schools in general and primary schools in particular for many years. According to Decision No.50/2003 QD_BGD & DT on October 30th, 2003, pupils at primary school must learn a foreign language as an elective subject from grade 3 to grade 5 (Nguyen, 2007, p. With the aim that by 2020 most Vietnamese students graduating from secondary, vocational schools, colleges and universities will be able to use a foreign language, especially English, confidently in their study, daily communication, and work, the National Foreign Language Project 2020 has been launched by Ministry of Education and Training since 2008. To start the project, a new set of textbooks has been designed based on the communicative approach.
This new set of textbooks is completely different from the old version and one of the differences is the “project” activity at the end of each unit from grade 3 to grade 12. The “project” activities are designed to apply project-based learning (PBL) approach which is leaner-centered and directed with the aim to strengthen students’ understanding of the lessons through experiencing the subject matter in a relevant way, evaluate students’ progress, increase students’ interest in learning and develop different skills for students. Obviously, PBL approach is not new for teachers in many other countries especially Western countries. 1 Project-based learning (PBL) has been proved to be an effective teaching method by many researchers.
According to Fried-Booth (1997), PBL functions as a bridge between using English in class and using English in real life situations outside class. Through doing projects, students can develop different skills like skills to plan, organize, negotiate, make their points, and arrive at a consensus about issues such as tasks to perform, who will be responsible for each task, and how information will be researched and presented when students work in pairs, in groups or even individually. In Nha Trang, Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5 as the main English textbooks are used by the majority of primary schools. At the end of each unit, there is a “project” activity which requires students to do something to review the language knowledge or create something new based on what they have learned in each unit such as interviewing, designing, drawing and coloring, and so on.
As far as I am concerned, many teachers have not been trained about how to deal with “project” activities in the new textbook series yet. As a result, some of them find it rather embarrassing to teach “project” activities. Some teachers decide to teach “project” activities in the class, some decide to replace them by other tasks or activities and some decide to assign them as homework because of time limitation. Thus, I would like to investigate the way teachers teach and assess their students’ projects in the class.
What are teachers’ perceptions of teaching project-based activities presented in new English primary textbooks series at some primary schools in Nha Trang city? How do teachers carry out project-based activities in the class? With the young language learners, what are the teacher’s difficulties in teaching project-based activities? What are the solutions to overcome those difficulties? To find out the answers of those questions, I would like to carry out the research entitled: An investigation into the teaching of project-based activities presented in new English primary textbook series (Tieng Anh 3, 4, 5) at some primary schools in Nha Trang city.