1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- VU THI HONG PHAN TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN ENGLISH FOR GRADE 11 AT VUNG TAU HIGH SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Ba Ria-Vung Tau, March 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- VU THI HONG PHAN TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN ENGLISH FOR GRADE 11 AT VUNG TAU HIGH SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 Supervisor’s name: Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan. Ba Ria-Vung Tau, March 2023 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROJECT- BASED LEARNING IN ENGLISH FOR GRADE 11 AT VUNG TAU HIGH SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University, Ba Ria Vung Tau province, March, 2023. Ba Ria-Vung Tau, March 2023 VU THI HONG PHAN ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Vu Thi Hong Phan, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses. Ba Ria Vung Tau, March 2023 Vu Thi Hong Phan iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion. First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process.
His dynamism, enthusiasm, vision as well as his patience have deeply inspired me. Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Secondly, I am very grateful to the school board staff including the principal and the foreign department of Vung Tau high school who have given me encouragement, support of time, and permission to complete the MA course and implement this thesis there. Thirdly, I am very grateful to Dr.
Ho Van Han – my homeroom teacher and other teachers at Ba Ria - Vung Tau University who have given me support and encouragement to comlete this course. My sincere thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for all their help and motivation. I would like to thank the research participants who have contributed to this study. Last but not least, I warmly thank my family for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love who have provided me strong spiritual and material support.
iv ABSTRACT It is widely realized that Project-based learning (PBL) plays an innovative part in language teaching and learning process. PBL has become more and more popular and effective in many countries with advanced education. However, in Vietnam context, PBL is not considered as a crucial approach to improve students’ performance. This study aims at defining EFL high school students’ and English teachers’ attitudes towards the implementation of PBL in teaching – learning processes at Vung Tau high school in Vung Tau city.
93 grade 11 students and 10 English teachers at Vung Tau high school were involved in this study. The students answered the questions in questionnaire and the teachers participated in the semi-structured to give the responses to the interview questions. The researcher used qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the outcomes through SPSS and excel software. The finding of the study stated that EFL students and English teachers at Vung Tau high school have positive attitudes towards the implementation of PBL.
The outcomes of the study also showed the similarities and the differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the use of PBL. The results are expected to make a contribution to improving understanding of present perception of implementing PBL in language learning in Vietnam context in order that PBL will be widely used in teaching-learning processes to improve the quality of teaching and learning in English language education in Vung Tau in particular, in Vietnam in general. (132 words) Keywords: Project, Project-based learning, attitude, EFL students v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
viii LIST OF APPENDICES. ix LIST OF TABLES .x LIST OF CHARTS. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Background to the study.
Statement of the problem. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Definitions of the terms. Project-based learning (PBL). Organization of the study .7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of attitude.
The components of attitudes. Attitudes towards language learning. Attitudes and achievement. Project-based learning (PBL).
Definitions of project-based learning. The process of project-based learning. Principles to project-based learning. The major benefits of project-based learning.
The challenges of project-based learning. Factors influencing students’ attitudes towards learning English. Materials and courses. Sample and sampling procedures.
The description of the projects. The first project (carried out online). The second project (carried out offline). Semi-structured interview.
Data collection procedures. Semi- structured interview. Data analysis procedures. Validity and reliability .44 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.
EFL students’ attitudes towards PBL. EFL teachers’ attitudes towards PBL. The similarities and differences between students’ attitudes and teachers’ attitudes towards the application of PBL. Discussions of the findings.
EFL Vung Tau high school students’ attitudes towards PBL. EFL Vung Tau high school teachers’ attitudes towards PBL. The similarities and differences between teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the application of PBL. Summary of the main findings of the thesis.
Students’ attitudes towards PBL. Teachers’ attitudes towards PBL. The similarities and differences between students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards PBL. PBL – a compulsory activity at high school in Vietnam.
The positive changes in the roles of high school teachers and students. Sufficient training for high school teachers and students. Recommendations for the further research .95 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DOET: Department of Education and Training EFL: English as a Foreign Language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training PBL: Project-based Learning SRLL: Self-regulated Language Learning ix LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1 .123 x LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students’ general information .2: Teachers’ general information .3: Cronbach’s Alpha of students’ and teachers’ attitude to PBL .1: Total mean scores of attitudes towards PBL.2: EFL students’ attitudes towards PBL .3: Cognitive students’ attitudes towards PBL .4: Cognitive students’ attitudes towards PBL (Cultural language knowledge) .5: Cognitive students’ attitudes towards PBL (Language skills) .6: Cognitive students’ attitudes towards PBL (Social Skills) .7: Cognitive students’ attitudes towards PBL .10: Cognitive component - Cultural language knowledge.11: Cognitive component - Language skills .12: Cognitive component - Social skills .65 xi LIST OF CHARTS Chart 2.1: Conceptual framework of the study .1 Students' improvements in cultural and language knowledge .2 Students' improvements in language skills .3 Students' improvements in social skills .4: The usefulness of PBL .5: The effeciency of PBL .7: Teachers' difficulties in applying PBL .8: Support to PBL .9: Teachers' confidence in applying PBL .10: Teachers' enjoyment in applying PBL. Background to the study The society has experienced so many changes and so has the language teaching and learning.
The history of language teaching and learning has extensively innovated in the 21 st century when there has been a recent growth in the number of research on using project-based learning (PBL) in the classroom. Bender (2012) indicates that the teachers’ traditional roles are changed into the new models of teaching when they use PBL. In a project-based learning classroom, the teacher plays the part as an instructor who guides the students to do the project and the students are usually asked to work in groups to plan, carry out and present their projects to express their ideas to their partners (King & Smith, 2020). According to Railsback (2002), project-based learning is a real learning pattern or approach where students plan, apply, and appraise projects and it was believed that projects are realistic, not school-like, authentic world applications beyond the classroom.
Patton (2012) shows that project-based learning relates to students designing, planning, and doing an extended project that creates a publicly-exhibited outcome such as a product, publication, or presentation. As for Thomas (2000), he states that project-based learning is a learning model that supplies a chance for students to actively participate in making a realistic project within the team or individual work. Moreover, Westwood (2008) states that projects are the combination of the new and prior knowledge and skills that students experience in the past and present, so PBL is one of the approaches grounded in constructivism by reinforcing students engagement in problem- solving situations. Dewey (1959), one of the pioneers of PBL, believes that students can get more profound comprehension when they do meaningful tasks which are related to problems in real-world situation.
It means that what they learn in project-based learning class can be 2 directly applied to handle real-life problems. This helps to give students more advantages than learning something that may not occur in real life (Poonpon, 2017). Additionally, Ngadiso et al (2021) showed that applying PBL makes students more interested in the learning process because they can develop skills and benefits from it. Therefore, to foster students’ ability in acquiring knowledge and skills in their learning process, the implementation PBL in teaching and learning is one of the best choices.
It is believed that the learners’ attitude is one of the most influential factors which have great influence on language performance. According to Ajzen (2005), attitude, like personality trait, is a hypothetic construction that is unapproachable to direct observation and must be concluded from measurable responses. These answers must indicate positive or negative assessments of the attitude object. He defines that an attitude is a tendency towards respond favorably or unfavorably to the object, person, institution, or event.
Latchanna & Dagnew (2009) states that attitude is accepted as an indispensable concept to understand human behavior and is defined as a mental state that includes beliefs and feelings. Beliefs about language learning is directly associated with success in language classes. Gardner (1985) that learning outcomes is positively related to the attitude towards learning a second or foreign language. According to Karahan (2007), “positive language attitudes let learner have positive orientation towards learning English”.
Therefore, attitudes may play a very indispensable part in language learning for they can have a great effect on students’ success or failure in their learning. It is obvious that students can get achievement and comfort when having positive attitudes, but their performances and results in language learning may be worsened if they have negative attitudes (Tella, Indoshi, & Othuon, 2010). Apparently, when learners have positive attitudes to the application of projects in learning which relate to their own life, they gain knowledge and apply it into solving the problems in the real life more effectively and accurately. And when teachers have positive attitudes to the application of projects in teaching, they actively implement it into their 3 teaching, which brings them and students many benefits and assist their students to enhance their language skills as well as language knowledge.
Statement of the problem As stated above, in English learning, the application of PBL is considered useful and effective. It is believed that PBL helps students to get the academic achievements (Bas 2011), to improve language skills (Stoller, 2006) as well as social skills (Wurdinger & Qureshi, 2015). It is stated that the implementation of PBL in language teaching and learning brings many advantages to both EFL teachers and students.