MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ----------------- HO THI THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS AT SOME LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI 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, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ----------------- HO THI THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS AT SOME LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN QUANG TRI MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC. TRAN VAN PHUOC HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ----------------- HỒ THỊ THU HÀ NGHIÊN CỨU NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VỀ HOẠT ĐỘNG DẠY HỌC THEO DỰ ÁN TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH MỚI TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ Ở QUẢNG TRỊ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC HUẾ, 2019 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due references are made.
Hue, …/… / 2019 Signature Ho Thi Thu Ha i ABSTRACT This study mainly focuses on exploring EFL teachers' perceptions of project-based learning (PBL) activities in new English textbooks at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri. The study also attempts to investigate the practice of teaching PBL activities in these textbooks in terms of its benefits and challenges. In addition, this research finds out the possible suggestions for improving teaching PBL activities. The study uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
The data collection instruments include questionnaires and interview. The participants of this research are 20 EFL teachers who currently work at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri. Findings from both of research approaches indicate that teachers have an overall understanding of PBL activities. Besides, through the implementation of PBL activities in their class, the benefits and challenges that EFL teachers have encountered are also pointed out.
Accordingly, some of the main challenges are the limitation of time and fixed school syllabus, students' attitude, teachers' professional skills, inadequate school facilities, little financial encouragement from schools. Basing on these findings, recommendations for teachers and educational administrators are made to enhance the success of PBL in teaching and learning English language. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc for his patience, encouragement, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge which has helped me a lot all the time of conducting this thesis.
My sincere thank also goes to all the English teachers from secondary schools in Quang Tri province who spent their time finishing my research questionnaires. Without their passionate participation and input, the survey could not have been successfully conducted. Last but not least, I must express my very profound gratitude to my parents, my classmates and my friends for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them.
iii TABLES OF CONTENTS Page Statement of Originality. iii Tables of Contents. iv List of tables. vii List of figures.
viii List of abbreviations. ix CONTENTS OF THESIS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Scope of the research. Significance of the research.
Structure of the research. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Project-based learning. Project-based learning activity.
Benefits and challenges of project-based learning. Benefits of project-based learning. Challenges of project-based learning. Teachers' roles in project-based learning.
Review of previous studies. Review of the studies worldwide. Review of the studies in Vietnam. An overview of the new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7, 8,9).
Data collection instrument. Data collection procedures. 23 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9).
Teachers‟ perceptions of the practice of teaching project-based learning activities in new English textbooks (Tieng Anh 6,7,8,9). Suggestions for improving teaching project-based learning activities. 47 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES. Summary of the key findings.
Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activities. Teachers' perceptions of practice of teaching project-based learning activities. Suggestions for teaching improvement. For educational administrators.
Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further studies. 58 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Teachers‟ perceptions of project-based learning activity Table 4.2 Aims of using project-based activities in teaching English Table 4.3 Types of project-based learning activities Table 4.4 Requirements of developing a PBL activity Table 4.5 The most frequently used PBL activities in new English textbooks Table 4.6 Teachers‟ roles in teaching project-based activities Table 4.7 Work arrangement in implementing PBL activities Table 4.8 Sources of reference materials for PBL activities Table 4.9 Benefits of project-based activities for students Table 4.10 Frequency of teachers' giving feedback on students' project works Table 4.11 Challenges in terms of teachers' professional skills when assessing PBL vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Grades for implementing PBL activities Figure 4.2 Frequency of implementing PBL activities Figure 4.3 Time for students to implement PBL activities Figure 4.4 Places for students to implement PBL activities Figure 4.5 Stages of the lesson to implement PBL activities Figure 4.6 Necessity of teachers' instruction during implementing PBL activities Figure 4.7 Frequency of informing projects‟ assessment criteria in advance Figure 4.8 Form of assessments used for assessing students' project work Figure 4.9 Frequency of teacher‟s assessing students' project work Figure 4.10 Challenges in teaching PBL activities Figure 4.11 Challenges in terms of students' attitude when assessing PBL activities viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PBL : Project-based learning EFL : English as a Foreign Language ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale The widespread of English in the 21st century has raised a huge concern among researchers and educators in looking for new teaching and learning methods which can improve students' communicative competence as well as life skills. Among those, project-based learning (PBL) is considered as an innovative language teaching method.
According to Stoller (1997) and Beckett & Slater (2005), PBL organizes instructional activities around projects and is promoted as an effective way of facilitating students‟ language learning, content learning and integrated skills‟ development. Moreover, this method seems to be potential for enhancing not only learners‟ communicative competence but also their life skills (Thomas, 2000) and connects their English in class with the English for daily purposes (Fried-Booth, 2002). In Vietnam, the Pilot English Textbooks for Grade 6 to Grade 12 have been applied in teaching English language in upper and lower secondary schools upon the issue of Document No.2653 by Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training in 2014. This series, which covers 12 main units in each book, is designed with the aims of not only offering students memorable and well-illustrated lessons by stating the main language and skills to be taught, but also helping them to have profound awareness on the social problems and life skills through the project activities in each unit.
According to Hoang et al. (2015), the project activities in this series will help students to improve their ability to work by themselves and in a team, and extend their imagination in a field related to the unit. To achieve those aims, PBL is believed to be the most suitable and effective teaching method to be applied when teaching students' project works in these new textbooks. In Quang Tri, textbooks Tieng Anh 6, 7, 8, 9 have been used as the main English textbook since the academic year 2014-2015 at most of the lower secondary schools.
At the end of each unit, there will be a section for project works. Students are required to create a product related to the learning units in different forms such as making an oral presentation, interviewing, designing poster, etc. to show how much they understand the lesson. However, as far as I am concerned, the incorporation of PBL in general and project activities in these textbooks in particular have not come up to the teachers' expectations.
Some of the teachers at lower secondary schools confess that they often ignore this section because it seems challenging and time- 1 consuming for preparation. Moreover, the limitation of time in class and some financial problems also prevent them from understanding deeply about this method. In that context, I myself decided to carry out a study named "An investigation into EFL teachers' perceptions of project-based learning activities in new English textbooks at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri". This study will make an attempt in exploring the lower secondary school teachers‟ perceptions of the project-based learning activities in the series textbooks' new version.
Moreover, the research will go into details of the benefits and challenges they may encounter when integrating these activities into their classes.2 Research objectives This study aims to better understand the possible applicability of project based learning activities in teaching English to lower secondary school students through the perceptions of EFL teachers at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri. Besides, it is also expected to figure out the benefits and challenges they may encounter when teaching those activities in new English textbooks. Some suggestions for improvement in teaching thus will be drawn out.3 Research questions For above mentioned purposes, the research looks for the answers to the following questions: 1. What are the EFL teachers' perceptions of project-based learning activities in the new English textbooks at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri? 2.
What are the EFL teachers' perceptions of the practice of teaching project- based learning activities in new English textbooks at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri? 3. What are the suggestions for improving teaching project-based learning activities at some lower secondary schools in Quang Tri? 1.4 Scope of research Project-based learning in the field of second language teaching is a relatively broad topic. This research thus only focuses on finding out the teachers' perceptions of PBL activities in new English textbooks without concerning students' perceptions. Moreover, the research is conducted with the participation of 20 teachers from 9 different lower secondary schools in Quang Tri.
Therefore, the findings of this study may yield different results in the classrooms or contexts in other regions.5 Significance of the research The study was implemented with the hope that it will contribute to the possible applicability of project-based learning activities in new English textbooks at lower secondary schools in other provinces in Vietnam. Moreover, due to the fact that current new English textbooks have been used and raised a huge concern among teachers of how to develop it to be suitable with students' language competence, it is expected that the results of the study and some useful suggestions will help teachers overcome the difficulties in teaching new textbooks in general and project-based learning activities in particular.6 Structure of the research Chapter 1 Introduction presents the rationale of the study based on the theory and practicality. The research objectives and research questions are mentioned and explained in this section. Also, the scope and the significance of the research are included in this part.
Chapter 2 Literature review is written with the aim of providing the theoretical background of the project-based learning. Furthermore, in this chapter, the literature of the previous studies with their specific results is carefully mentioned. Chapter 3 Methodology introduces the chosen research approaches and the methods for data collection used in this research.