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ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
Based on the idea that students gain knowledge or skills by experiencing
and solving real world problems, Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been
recognized to be effective and fruitful in the 21st century education. A great
number of studies on PBL have been carried out on the global scale (Lam,
2011).
With an aim to shed light on some fundamental aspects of PBL, this paper
focuses on answering the five following questions:
What is PBL?
What are the key features of PBL?
What is the process of the implementation of PBL?
What are the benefits of PBL in EFL classroom?
What are the difficulties in implementing PBL?
And some suggested projects are proposed for teaching English for
elementary EFL students. The addressing of the questions, to some extent,
renders help to teachers and practitioners who are willing to apply PBL in
their teaching practice and make the implementation more effective.
With a new appoach to PBL, which is different from the mentioned authors
focusing PBL as tasks, Stoller (2006) lists some key criteria for PBL:
must allow for time to focus on language and direct teaching if needed
must result in a final, tangible product
must conclude with students’ reflection on both process and product.
It is can be seen that there is complexity in PBL definitions. PBL is defined
the use of effort in connecting ideas and acquiring new skills during
different stages of projects;
assessment in both the process of working from the first stage to the
last stage and the finished project.
Booth (1986) argues that a project actually covers three stages: beginning
in the classroom, moving out into the world, and re-turning back to the
classroom. This model later develops into the eight stages of development.
Based upon the above models, Alan and Stoller (2005, p.10) summarize
and put forward the revised ten-step process in “Maximizing the Benefits of
Project Work in Foreign Language Classrooms”. The steps are:
The revised model is easier to handle and manage, which may help the
teachers and students in the real application of the project. Thus the
students’ language skills, creative thinking and content learning can be
facilitated. The final objective of the project work can be achieved.
Third, as students work together to achieve their end product they develop
confidence and independence (Fried-Booth, 2002). Project work
incorporates collaborative team work, problem solving, negotiating and
other interpersonal skills, which have been identified by learners as
important for living successful lives (Stein, 1995). Besides, Farouck (2016)
confirmed in his study that PBL helps to develop students’ evaluation skills
for presentation and reduce communication anxiety.
During the two semesters of the academic year 2017-2018, I was in charge
of teaching English of elementary level for a class of thirty first-year non-
English majors. After several first weeks, I found the students were
relatively passive and showed low motivation in learning. They just did the
things they were told to do. They seemed to be unable to manage their own
learning.
Links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2UN7UaIVDZ-
Z0gxMvpMdc9gldjF5UZ_/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PNsYigYQl0VwYzAIQT0snogzKqbZeo
FJ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17HD8vbwexy4Hfw2_TBotSLfWCYB_H
M0V/view?usp=sharing
CONCLUSION
This paper has presented fundamental areas of PBL in the literature by
answering important questions concerning the definitions, the key features,
the implementation process, the benefits of PBL in EFL context, and the
commonly faced challenges in implementing PBL. Based on the literature
review that has been done, PBL has the following characteristics:
cooperative learning, student-centeredness, life-long learning, self-directed
learning, motivation, autonomy and creativity, which are appropriate and
fruitful for language teaching and learning. And to give English teachers
some practical ideas about projects for teaching English for low level
students, some specific projects are proposed. Despite the limitations, the
presentation in the paper helps raise a supporting voice to teachers and
practitioners willing to experiment this teaching approach.
THE AUTHOR
Brown, A., L., Ash, D., Rutherford, M., Nakagawa, K., Gordon, A., &
Campione, J., C. (1993). Distributed expertise in the classroom. In G.
Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and
educational considerations (pp. 188-228). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Fried-Booth, D., L. (2002). Project work (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.
Haines, S. (1989). Projects for the EFL Classroom: Resource Material for
Teachers. Nelson.
Krajik, J., Blumenfeld, P. C., Marx, R. W., Bass, K. M., Fredricks, J. &
Soloway, E. (1998). Inquiry in project-based science classroom:
Initial attempts by middle school students. Journal of the Learning
Sciences. 7(3&4), p.313-350.
Marx, R. W., Blumenfeld, P. C., Krajik, J., & Soloway, E. (1997). Enacting
project-based science. The Elementary School Journal, 97(4), p.341-
358.