Using project based learning method to improve grade 10 students’ english speaking skill a classroom action research at luong dac bang high school

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS USING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING METHOD TO IMPROVE GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL: A CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH A

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GRADUATION THESIS

USING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING METHOD TO IMPROVE GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL: A CLASSROOM

ACTION RESEARCH AT LUONG DAC BANG HIGH SCHOOL

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I, Le Thi Ha, a student of the Faculty of Foreign languages at Hong Duc University, confirm my authorship in the research titled

“Using Project – Based Learning method to improve 10th

grade students English speaking skill A classroom action research at Luong Dac Bang high school’’

The thesis is the result of my own research and the substance of the thesis has been submitted neither as a whole nor in part for a degree to any other

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On completing this graduation thesis, first and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to MA Du Thi Mai, my respectful supervisor, who has always given me precious advice and suggestions Without her instructive remarks as well as corrections, the study could not have been accomplished

I am also immensely thankful for the enthusiastic support, unique ideas, and valuable suggestions of my beloved lecturers, my friends, and especially my classmates in class K22A of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Hong Duc University They are those who have always comforted and encouraged me to overcome obstacles while I was carrying out my study

I could not finish this paper if there was no assistance from all students in class 10A6 of Luong Dac Bang high school They are those who have directly participated in my own research I would like to send my big thanks to all of these students

Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, my parents, and my elder sister for all their infinite spiritual support during the implementation of the study Without them, I could hardly have had enough bravery to deal with difficulties and keep going on with my research

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to find out the effectiveness of using project-based learning (PBL) methods to improve English speaking skills for grade 10 students The study participants included 30 students in class 10A6 from Luong Dac Bang High School They were selected to be the subject of a survey questionnaire about the methods of learning English speaking skills that they were taught in class In addition, those 30 students were divided into 6 groups as subjects to participate in an action research about using PBL Both 6 groups responded to the test before and after the research as they learned their speaking skills through PBL At the end of the study, the research result showed that the students’ speaking skills have been improved Moreover, the teacher and students’ positive reponness on using project-based learning in speaking class also proved that this method provided an opportunity for students to become more creative and engaged in the English interaction

1.1.2 The components of speaking skill 5

1.1.3 Principles for teaching speaking 8

1.1.4 Speaking activities 10

1.1.5 A successful speaking activity in classroom 13

1.2 Project- Based Learning method 14

1.2.1 Definition 14

1.2.2 Advantages of Project- Based Learning 16

1.2.3 Types of projects 18

1.2.4 Main principles of the project method 18

1.4 Significance of Project – Based Learning in teaching speaking 21

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 40

3.1 Results of the pre-test and post-test 41

3.1.1 Results of the pre-test 41

3.1.2 Results of the post-test 43

3.1.3 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test 44

3.4 Results of pre questionnaires 45

3.4.1 The importance of English Skill 46

3.4.2 Students’ difficulties of speaking English in class time 47

3.4.3 Students’ frequency of practicing speaking English in class 49

3.4.4 The activeness of students in teamwork in English speaking lessons 50

3.4.5 Students’ opinion about speaking activities in classroom 50

3.4.6 Teacher’s methods is using teaching speaking Elisgh 51

3.4.7: The number of students who learnt through project based learning method 52

3.5 Result of post questionnaires 52

3.5.1 Students' opinions on the effectiveness of using project-based learning to improve speaking skills 54

3.5.2 Students’ improvement for criteria after applying Projectbased learning in improving speaking skills 54

3.5.3 Students’opinion toward the benefit of the PBL in five speaking lesson.

3.2 Limitations of the study 59

3.3 Suggestions and implication 60

REFERENCES 61

APPENDIXES 65

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Distributing the program by lesson 28

Table2: Program for each week 34

Table3: Descriptive statistics of the pre-test 41

Table4: Frequency of the pre-test scores 41

Table 5 : Descriptive statistics of the post-test 43

Table 6: Frequency of the post-test scores 43

Table 6: Descriptive statistics of the pre-test and post-test scores 45

Table 8: Students’ opinions towards the benefits of the applied PBL on their confidence 56

LIST OF CHARTS

Figure1: Simple Action Research Model from MacIsaac (1995) 31

Figure3.1: Result of the pre-test scores 42

Figure 3.2: Result of the post-test scores 43

Figure 3.3 : Comparison of the pre-test and post-test scores 44

Figure 3.1: The importance of English Skill 46

Figure 3.5: Students’ difficulties of speaking English in class time 47

Figure 3.6: Students’ frequency of speaking English 48

Figure 3.7: Students’opinion about Speaking skill 49

Figure 3.8: Students’ frequency of practicing speaking English in class 49

Figure 3.9: The activeness activities of students in teamwork in English speaking lessons 50

Figure 3.7: Students’s opinion about speaking activities in classroom 51

Figure 3.8:Teacher’s methods is using teaching speaking English 51

Figure 3.10: The number of students who learnt through project based learning method 52

Firgure 3.11: Students’ opinions of using Project-based learning in optional lessons 53

Figure 3.12: Students' opinions on the effectiveness of using project-based learning to improve speaking skills 54

Figure 3.13: Students’ improvement for criteria after applying Projectbased learning in improving speaking skills 55

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale

It is unquestionable that English is considered a global language It is the official language of more than 53 countries and territories, the official language of the EU, and the third most widely used language in the world (only after Chinese and Spanish due to the advantage of the population number of these countries) In Vietnam, since starting the open-door process to the world in many aspects such as getting involved in globalization, international economic integration, and trade liberalization, English, has achieved dominance Indeed, it is manifested by the Ministry of Education and Training to choose it to be the first foreign language taught at schools in Vietnam Therefore, there has been the higher demand for learning English in our country than ever as English

positively facilitates job promotions, foreign cooperation, etc

Today, along with educational improvements in teaching and learning methods, the learners gradually become the centered subject while the role of the teacher should be just the instructor instead of the controller The purpose of the study is to find out the effectiveness of using project-based learning methods

Among four skills, however, speaking is considered as the result of studying English or it is the main goal of language learning since, it represents all the other aspects of language skills which means that having a good speaking most likely has a good knowledge because through speaking, people can share their ideas, get and produce information and the speaker should be able to choose the lexicon, structures and discourse such as the grammatical points, the choice of words and topics so that the utterances which are said by the speaker can be understood by the listener

On the other hand, the critical problem that is faced by many students is how to be able to speak English well There are still many students that cannot speak English even they have studied English for more than 10 years since they were in kindergarten till to senior high school Students study English for

several years still face some difficulties in increasing their English skills especially speaking (Haryudin, 2017)

Actually this is a big problem because the goal of teaching English at senior high school are to reach grammar and vocabulary In functional level, students are not able to apply the target language in their daily life such as to communicate with foreigner and give a lecture in front of a crowd or class Through basic research, besides many students who speak English confidently, a majority of students in class 10A6 at the Luong Dac Bang high school have difficulty in learning speaking skill They are often fed up with learn speaking skills through given structure and conversations according to the traditional method that teachers often teach Moreover, after the speaking skills classes, they cannot apply it in real life, or even after 12 years of study, they still cannot communicate with foreigners with basic communication sentences In addition, according to some teachers, many teachers who have been teaching English for 25-30 years use old-fashioned methods to help their students remember As a result, many students are not enthusiastic or interested in speaking skills

Due to the before mentioned reasons, I conducted the research “Using Project- Based Learning method to improve 10th grade students’ speaking skill: A classroom action research at Luong Dac Bang high school’ In my thesis, I

would like to help students be more confident and improve their speaking skill

2 Aim of study

The study has been done with following aims:

- To identify whether PBL can improve the students’ speaking skill in English classroom at Luong Dac Bang high school

- To identify teachers and students’ opinion towards PBL used in speaking class

From the purposes mentioned above, the researcher is conducted to find out the answers for the following questions:

1 How can Project Based Learning help improve students’ speaking skill?

2 What are the students’ and teachers’ opinions towards PBL used in

speaking class?

3 Scope of the study

This research is carried out with 30 tenth grade students in class 10A6 at Luong Dac Bang high school

There are plenty of methods that are likely to apply to teach speaking skill It is immensely difficult to cover all methods in English speaking skill In addition, this study mainly focuses on the influence of PBL on speaking skill of students in class 10A6 and some typical skills used in PBL which could help improve the students’ speaking ability and help them feel confident in communication within the context of teaching and learning in class 10A6 at Luong Dac Bang high school

4 Method of study

Quantitative method: Questionnaires and tests

Survey questionnaires were made for 30 respondents who are students in class 10A6 The main objective of this questionnaire is to find out students’ views on English-speaking teaching and learning at grade 10 at Luong Dac Bang high school In addition, researcher conducted a pre-test to assess students’ speaking skills in English class before using PBL and post-test to see how students’ learning results are improved after the implementation of PBL

Action research was conducted for 30 students in class 10A6 and undertook practical interventions to bring about informed changes in practice

5 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part 1- Introduction: The first chapter presents about the rationale, aims

of the study, research questions, scope of the study, method of the study and design of the study

Part 2 – Development: This part is divided three chapters:

Chapter 1- Literature review: This chapter focuses on an overview of

speaking which consist of: definitions of speaking, principle for speaking, the components of speaking skill, a successful speaking activity in classroom, project – based learning, the previous studies on improving speaking ability

Chapter 2: Research methodology:

This chapter aims to introduce how the research is conducted, describing the methodological approach, participants in this study, data collections and procedures then summary

Chapter 3: Findings and discussion:

This part shows the results and the analysis to answer the research questions as

well as to make discussion on the research findings They are result of interview, result of questionnaire, result of pre and post test

Part 3: Conclusion

Based on the research findings, this section aims to give: summaries and conclusion, this chapter also shows the limitations of the study and gives suggestions for further study to help the next researchers gain the better results

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speaking skill

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Speaking is a type of communication and human interaction, in which information is generated, received and processed continuously so that participants can talk and express their thoughts and feelings The form and meaning of information depends on the context in which it occurs, including the physical environment, the purpose of the conversation, and the collective experiences of the participants (Burns & Joyce 1997) According to Byrne (1984), in this speaking activity, the speaker and the listener have an active function that determines the success or failure of this communication process The speaker is responsible for creating a clear message for the listener to

understand and respond to The speaker must be able to predict and then generate expected patterns for a particular speech situation For example, when a salesperson asks "How can I help you?" The expected sequence of speeches includes a statement of need, an offer of appreciation, and a farewell exchange In order to give the correct answer, learners must understand the context in which the speech act occurs, choose the right vocabulary to describe the object sought, rephrase or underline words to clarify the description if the employee does not understand Therefore, as Brown (1994) states, in order to communicate successfully, a speaker must develop both linguistic competence and sociolinguistic competence This means that speaking requires learners not only to know how to make specific arguments such as grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary, but also understanding when, why and how to create language

Based on the above definitions, it can be concluded that learning to speak involves “the development of a number of complex skills and different types of knowledge about when and how to communicate” Brown (1994) Therefore, during speaking lessons, teachers need to monitor students' pronunciation to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and which areas need to be developed

1.1.2 The components of speaking skill

Speaking is not easy to express something orally In addition, learners must use different speech components to improve speaking skills Brown (2001)

a Pronunciation

Pronunciation is a way to make language clearer when they speak and means that learners can communicate successfully when they pronounce and with good intonation although they have limited grammar and vocabulary Pronunciation refers to the usual or traditional way of saying words (Kline, 2001) Pronunciation does not make isolation master the number word or a list of sounds Instead, he specifically learns and practices English and makes easy-to-follow speakers (Gilbert, 2008) Moreover, the pronunciation is

all inclusive aspects of speech such as rhythm, expression, intonation, more peripheral articulation gestures, eye contact and body language (Fraser, 2001)

b Grammar

It is necessary to organize good sentences in conversation both in spoken and written form grammar Grammar can be described as a principle or set of rules that can be used to produce well-formed grammatical sentences in that language Purpura (2004)

Furthermore, grammar can be defined as a set of rules that allow us to combine words in small languages in large units Greenbaum and Nelson (2002) According to Harmer (2001) how can language grammar change their words in their form and it can be arranged in a few sentences in this language Therefore, it can be shown that the correct arrangement of the meanings of certain sentences rot in the context Also, it can be used to avoid any errors communication it is included grammar functions In addition, grammar is a provisions necessary for learners to merge correct sentences in conversation at a time in spoken and written form Nelson (2001) say that grammar is a l way words combine to form sentences Structure and basic principles of language refers to grammar, including the construction of correct sentences, proper form of certain words and clear words Batko (2004)

c Vocabulary

Vocabulary is necessary for successful second language use because without a common vocabulary, we would not be able to apply the structures and functions that we learned to communicate easily It can be shown that one of the key to successful communication is the power of words Vocabulary is the most important the main thing in the language especially in speaking and using the appropriate dictionary Moreover, if we know more words, it will be easier for us to express our ideas, thoughts and feelings in written or spoken form, vocabulary becomes familiar when we use it verbally everyday language Turk (2003) This means that in spoken or spoken language, vocabulary must be very familiar if it is used every day in conversation to speech recognition Vocabulary is the basic

structure of language learns Learners need to know words, their meanings, how they pronunciation and how they are spelled So, when we teach vocabulary, the teacher not only explains the meaning but also the spelling and pronunciation Vocabulary is essential for students to master because vocabulary can help them when communicating with each other Vocabulary to expression will create meaning that listeners can understand (Kreidler, 2004) If we want to communicate with each other, we must have a good range of many vocabularies and turn them into a sentence that can be understood by the listener If we have poor vocabulary, we will find it difficult to communicate because we do not know what we will tell our listeners They say that one of the keys to learning a language is vocabulary by many researchers and there is a good relationship between vocabulary and other words students' ability to make sense

d Mobility

Fluency is described as the ability to speak in a communicative, precise manner and fluent Fluency generally refers to the transmission of spoken language freely without discontinuity In the process of teaching and learning, if teachers want to determine students' fluency, the teacher allows students to communicate freely without discontinuity This will help students speak easily and fluently The teacher does not go to fix immediately while the idea is that multiple fixes interfere conversation layer (Pollard, 2008) As suggested by Harris and Hodges (1995) Fluency is the ability to speak automatically and quickly This means that the speaker must speak automatically and quickly

e Comprehension

Comprehension is the ability to process and recognize fragments of speech, and make a formula to prove the meaning of the sentence Understanding of second language is not easy to learn because it is not directly observable and must be understood from nonverbal and overt verbal reactions, through the intuition of researchers or teachers or by artificial means Understanding indicates the truth that members are fully aware of the nature of the research task, even if processes are complex and involve risks (Cohen, 2005)

Accordingly, it can be said that understanding indicates the speaker's understanding about what they say to the listeners turn aside misinterpret information in addition, its purpose is to create for listeners easily receive information from the speaker

So from some explanation above, it can be said that if we want to talk obviously we have to master the skill component, if we have less than one of them to spoken language, it is difficult for the listener to understand By practicing every day we will be able to master all the ingredients of the know-how

1.1.3 Principles for teaching speaking

An enjoyable activity for students can be achieved by teaching speech Sometimes people can get bored if the teacher doesn't use an interesting strategy when explaining device Bale (2005) states that teachers must know the principle of speaking if they are teaching a foreign language There are some principles of teaching abroad language: (1) Create opportunities for students to practice English fluency and give encourage that it is natural to make mistakes when speaking (2) Give students a chance talk and limit the teacher's conversation (3) Do the types of speaking tasks possible related to student understanding (4) Distinguish foreign languages and second languages As for foreign languages, he doesn't use the target language in everyday life

According to (Ur, 1981), there are two main principles that should be applied in speaking class The first principle is to ensure that the teaching process takes place in a planned way The key is to create a high level of motivation That's the key considered in determining the student's readiness to conduct the conversation

Motivation is a combination of effort and desire to achieve a learning goal and positive attitude towards foreign language learning To make students feel willing and satisfied to participate in the lesson, the teacher should do the following things:

First, teachers use their experience or instincts Teachers based on qualification to decide on an interesting topic to capture students' attention

and make inspiration Outside of meaningful contexts, it is not possible to develop useful skills In addition, Green (1995) states that unreal contexts cannot help learners engage in actual behavior in school and work environments Second, teachers can stimulate interesting topics by talking about the topic and communicating enthusiastically Teachers can ask everyone about the topic and tell them about issues related to the topic then lead into the lesson In this way, students have the opportunity to share their opinions and teachers can develop their knowledge to integrate them into the subject Teachers can also guide students guess what will be discussed and arouse students' curiosity to find truth In this way, learners have reasons to speak for themselves and care about students in class participating in the lesson In addition, teachers can ask guiding questions before starting the operation and to provide important information to create motivation (Harmer, 2002)

Third, the increase of motivation in a lesson can make the situation more comfortable or by doing activities, for example: practice in small groups, play a game of guessing before speaking of a large number of people, or trying to say the teacher's homework instructions, machines exercise first and repeat Harmer (1999) If students are afraid to do mistakes, teachers can encourage them to focus on content rather than form

Fourth, the teacher must give an appropriate level of difficulty, not too difficult or very easy for the teacher learners, because it can bore them

Fifth, teachers made better use of meaningful learning and activities are carried out in accordance with their real life so that students can easily speak for themselves The second principle is to provide enough motivation to engage students in the lesson Teachers should provide as many opportunities as possible to practice in the target language which will help them facilitate acquisition rather than linguistic analysis or grammatical interpretation Nunan (1999) For the outside class, learners must learn the ability to use language to achieve something done in real life

From the above explanations, it can be concluded that the principles of teaching speaking must distinguish a foreign language from a foreign language because you have to know the difference so as not to cause any misunderstanding Next is to give students time to practice because if the teacher doesn't take the time to practice, they cannot develop accuracy and fluency in speaking English and trying to explain It's natural to make mistakes and design an engaging class activity students' attention and make students bored in the learning process

1.1.4 Speaking activities

The five things suggested by Ur were supported by Kayi (2006, p.12) who offers thirteen activities to promote speaking The activities are discussion, role-play, simulations, information gap, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews, story completion, reporting, playing cards, picture narrating, picture describing, and find the difference The explanations are:

a Discussions

After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons The students may aim to conclude, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, the purpose of the discussion activity must be set by the teacher In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things For efficient group discussions, it is better not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing to large groups The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or the students may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in every discussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to be open to different ideas Lastly, in class or group discussions, whatever the aim is, the students should always be encouraged to question, paraphrase ideas, express support, check for clarification, and so on

b Role Play

One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role-playing activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel

c Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulations different from role plays is that they are more elaborate In simulations, students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment For instance, if a student is acting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on Role-plays and simulations have many advantages First, since they are entertaining, they motivate the students Second, as Harmer (2001, p.91) suggests, they increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because, in role play and simulation activities, they will have a different role and do not have to speak for themselves, which means they do not have to take the same responsibility

d Information Gap

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs One student will have Information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their information Information gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information Also, each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide Information the others need These activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target language

e Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristic of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas

f Storytelling

Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates

Storytelling fosters creative thinking It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have Students also can tell riddles or jokes For instance, at the very beginning of each class session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes as an opening In this way, not only will the teacher address students' speaking ability but also get the attention of the class

g Interviews

Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their own interview questions Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helps them become socialized

After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class Moreover, students can interview each other and "introduce" his or her partner to the class

h Story Completion

This is a very enjoyable, whole-class, free-speaking activity for students to sit in a circle For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences, he or she stops narrating Then, each student starts to narrate from the point where the previous one stopped Each student is supposed to add from four to ten sentences Students can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on

i Reporting

Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before class

j Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four Each suite will represent a topic The teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in spoken language production Rather, students ask open-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences

k Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures Students are asked to tell the story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a rubric Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structures they need to use while narrating

l Picture Describing

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give students just one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture For this activity, students can form groups and each group is given a different picture Students discuss the picture with their groups, and then a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skills

m Find the Difference

For this activity, students can work in pairs and each couple is given two different pictures, for example, a picture of boys playing football and another picture of girls playing tennis Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences in the pictures

1.1.5 A successful speaking activity in classroom

Sometimes spoken language is easy to acquire, but in other cases it is very difficult (Brown,2001) A successful speaking activity must meet the following characteristics: plenty of time or opportunity for students to speak as often as possible; allocate more as much time as possible for students to speak, to create the best environment for speaking activities Ur (1996) explains some of the characteristics of successful speaking activities that include learners talk a lot,

participant is even, motivation is high, and language is of an acceptable level Each characteristic is explained as follows:

a Learners talk a lot

As much as possible of the period of time allocated to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk This may be obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher's talk or pauses

b Participation is even

Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants It means that all students get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

c Motivation is high

Learners are eager to speak because they are interested * the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective

d Language is at an acceptable level

Learners express themselves in statements that are appropriate, mutually intelligible, and with an acceptable level of linguistic accuracy Friederike Klippel shares some similarities with Ur Her effective way of speaking is; message-oriented communication indicates moments spent in a foreign language when the target language is used as a means of communication; learner focused activities in which the student's feelings, goals and ideas are central; Active learning, cooperation, and empathy emphasize students' active participation in the speaking process From their insights, we can see that the most salient feature of a successful speaking activity is that the learner's speaking time is maximized and that all learners have equal rights opportunity to express you

1.2 Project- Based Learning method

1.2.1 Definition

According to Klein, et al (2009), Project-Based Learning is the instructional strategy of empowering learners to pursue content knowledge on their own and demonstrate their new understanding through a variety of

presentation modes It is the learning model used a problem as the first step in collecting and integrating knowledge based on real activity In line with Klein (2009) as cited in Rahayu & Hartono (2016), said that PBL is instruction using authentic, real-world project, based on a highly motivating and engaging question, task, or problem to teach students academic content in the context of working cooperatively to solve the problem Based on both definitions above, it can be concluded that PBL is an instructional using authentic, real-world project, based on a highly motivating and engaging question, task, or problem to teach students academic content in the context of working cooperatively to solve the problem by providing 31 strategies of empowering learners to pursue content knowledge on their own and demonstrate their new understanding through a variety of presentation modes PBL is the instructional strategy of empowering students to pursue content knowledge on their own and demonstrate their new understanding through a variety of presentation modes (Klein, 2009) The use of PBL activities in teaching English is said to foster students' autonomy and encourage active and student-centered language practice (Florez, 1999) Learning and achieving a deeper level of understanding can be encouraged effectively by learning from examples and learning by doing The collaborative nature of PBL promotes a greater appreciation for social responsibility Scott (1994) The Buck Institute for Education (BIE) defined Project-Based Learning as a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully-designed products and tasks Markham 2003 Students are responsible for their own learning They work to solve problems that are authentic, curriculum-based, and interdisciplinary cooperatively It can be concluded that Project-Based Learning aimed at problem-solving in a collaborative environment over a period of time It is a hands-on experience that starts with driving questions or problems which make activities and leads to meaningful products at the end Project-Based Learning can be assumed as an “instructional approach that contextualizes learning by presenting learners with

problems to solve or products 32 to develop” Moss & Duzer, (1998) PBL is different from traditional instruction in which it emphasizes learning through student-centered, interdisciplinary, and integrated activities in real world situations Solomon(2003); Willie, 2001 as quoted by (Poonpon, 2011) It is student-centered and driven by the need to make an end-product Fried-Booth (2002) Project-Based Learning is caused by the intrinsic needs of students who develop their own tasks individually or in small groups It links language in the real world with language in textbooks Hutchinson (1993) suggested Project-Based Learning as a powerful and motivating teaching method to develop students' second and/or foreign languages through learning by doing Students often see the target language as something outside their world since they have no chance to use the language learned in the classroom or to use it outside the classroom Project-Based Learning allows them to work in an authentic and meaningful context and they can work either alone or in groups They are challenged and responsible to solve authentic problems Students can develop their language skills and communicative competence when they see that language can be used in their lives and beneficial to their tasks and needs It will also gain confidence, cooperation, imagination, independence, and self-discipline Therefore, they can communicate about their life, culture, and world in the target language Guo (2006) said that it is an activity that enhances language and content learning in English as a foreign language

1.2.2 Advantages of Project- Based Learning

The benefits of PBL are many and well documented

According to Gallacher (2004), PBL has the following advantages:

 Increased motivation – learners participate on their own project

 Four skills are integrated

 Independent learning is encouraged when learners take responsibility for their own learning

 There are learning results - learners have the final product

 The validation task is given to the learner

 Interpersonal relationships develop by working in groups

 Content and method can be decided between learners and teachers and within the group itself to be more learner-centered

 Students can also get help from their parents when working on projects parents are more involved in their children's learning

 Break out of routine and chance to do something different A context is established to balance the need for mobility and accuracy Fried-Booth (1997), adopting a more pragmatic view of PBL, emphasized project work that bridges the gap between the use of English in the classroom and the use of English in real-life situations outside of the classroom From a learner-centered perspective, Thomas et al (1999) argue that PBL can effectively meet the demand learners with different skill levels and learning styles

1.2.3 Types of projects

Sarah North (1990) classified projects into four categories according to primary data source:

a Community projects where students get their information largely from the local community, using methods such as observation, questionnaires, interviews and letter writing

b Case exercises, students receive specific materials (real or imagined) relating to a particular problem to be solved

c Real-life projects in which students are asked to do actual work to achieve their goals, for example, doing a design, the construction of a model or a real object, the performance of an experiment or form equipment and materials

d Library project, in which the main resource base is the library.Usually, students should take a particular topic, read about it, and produce some kind of written work

1.2.4 Main principles of the project method

According to Kemendikbud (2013), there are six (6) phases for the Project- Based method in teaching and learning progress The buffer step explanation is developed as follows:

a Start with the essential question

Question will launched Project-Based Learning lessons must be one that will engage students That is an open question It means so that students can explain and find different information to answer the question

b Design a plan for the project

When designing a project, it is essential to choose the content standards to be addressed After choosing a topic, students and teachers determine the final result of the projects (e.g bulletin boards, written reports, debates, brochures, letters, manuals, presentations, presentations, videos)

c Designing a fixed schedule

Once the project topic and final outcome have been determined, Students and teachers work out the project details to guide students

From the opening to the actualization of the project d Monitor student projects

At this stage, students and teachers have different roles Student is ready the to complete their project Working in groups, students organize information and then discuss the value of the data they have collected, keeping some and discarding others The goal is to identify the information needed to carry out their projects While students are working on their projects, teachers monitor student activity and the progress of their projects

Teachers remind students that every part of the process is theirs and requires their full participation Clear assessment can be made if the teacher assesses the process by creating group and project evaluation criteria

e Assessing student outcome

During this stage teacher also provides students with the feedback on their language and content learning Teacher gives students feedback on how well they understand the information and what they need improve on

f Evaluating students experience

Teacher allows students to do individual reflection, such as journaling, as well as group reflection and discussion Teacher guides students to share their feelings and experiences, and discuss what worked well and what they can see around life

1.3 Applying techniques and activities of Project-Based Learning

PBL benefits are optimized by following the ten-step process for project implementation as outlined in Stoller's research (2009) The steps are summarized below:

Step 1: Students and teachers agree on a theme for the project

During this phase, students and teachers come to an agreement on a project theme Projects range from structured, semi-structured to unstructured in terms of the extent to which the teacher defines the project; so teachers have to work ways in which students can develop a sense of belonging project

Step 2: Students and teachers determine the final outcome of the project

Students and teachers decide the final result of the test For example,

posting bulletin boards, written reports, debates, brochures, letters, textbooks, presentations, videos, multimedia presentations and theatrical performances efficiency They also negotiate the most suitable audience for their projects, e.g classmates, other students, parents, program directors, local businesses

Step 3: Students and teachers structure the project

Once the project topic and final outcome have been determined, students and the teacher identify the details of the project that guide the students from the opening activity to the activity project implementation At this stage, students reflect on roles, responsibilities, and collaborative working groups After negotiating the duration of the project, students organize time to gather, share, and synthesize information, and then present their final project

Step 4: Teachers prepare students for information gathering

Language, skills and information-related strategic needs meetings must be planned When the teacher knows the student's ability level, he prepares teaching activities for each information collection task Take English students as an example, if they conduct interviews to collect information, teachers can plan activities in which students should train questions, ask follow-up questions, seek clarification, and take notes If they are writing a business letter which should be written in English, teacher can review the format and the language of the official letters If he intends to search the Internet, teachers can review research processes, how to evaluate an official website and introduces useful note-taking strategies

Step 5: Students collect information

After practicing the skills, strategies, and language needed to acquire information, students can easily collect information by methods such as interviews, questionnaires, letter writing and library research As soon as possible, teachers provide relevant content resources to help students get started look for information

Step 6: Teachers prepare students to synthesize and analyze data

At this stage, teachers need to help students master the language, skills, and the strategies needed to compile, analyze, and synthesize the information they collected from different sources The teacher's instructions depend on the types of information collected and how it is collected, for example, recorded interviews, brochures received in response to offers, library

research, and notes

Step 7: Students synthesize and analyze information

Students synthesize and analyze the collected information They work in groups, organize the information, and then discuss the value of the data they have collect, keep some and eliminate others They must identify information necessary for the implementation of their projects

Step 8: Teachers prepare students for the language requirements of the final exam

Teachers design language improvement activities to help student successfully present the final results of the project Activities can focus on successful presentation skills, effective writing review and editing, persuasive arguments, and more Students should focus on form at this

stage

Step 9: Students present the final product

Students present the final results of their projects, as planned in second

step

Step 10: Students evaluate the project

Students reflect on language proficiency and material acquired throughout the project They were also asked to make recommendations that could be used to improve similar projects in the future Teachers provide students feedback on their language and learning content With ten carefully followed steps, both students and teachers can get the best benefits of the PBL

1.4 Significance of Project – Based Learning in teaching speaking

English has been taught as a foreign language in Vietnam for a long time However, the application of PBL in education is very limited

In fact, PBL has some advantages in the context of second and foreign languages Fried-Booth (2002) states that the process leading to the final product of project work provides the opportunity for students to develop self-confidence and self-control Student demonstrate increased self-esteem and a positive attitude toward learning Skehan (1998) argues that this process can help build student autonomy, especially when they are actively involved in project planning Self-study is motivated as students become more responsible for their own learning Authentications operations can provide opportunity for students to look at the task from different angles, improving collaborate and reflect, and enable competitive solutions and diversity of result As Stoller (2006) discussed PBL provides opportunities for integration of the four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking

The other benefit discussed in (Lee's, 2002) study is that students have improved motivation, commitment and joy as the work of the project progressed according to tailored to the particular circumstances and interests of the student From a motivational perspective, projects are authentic tasks more meaningful to students, increase interest, motivated to participate and can promote learning PBL is supposed to promote students because they are fully engaged in the learning task Joy and motivation also come from the fact that the language of the class is not predefined, but depends on about the nature of the project In addition, PBL can develop many useful skills for students

Applying PBL projects in the classroom also helps strengthen social relationships among group members PBL improves collaboration between learners, between learners and teachers, as well as between learners and teachers as well as other members of the community As such, PBL provides learners with the opportunity learn collaborative skills, such as building on the work of colleagues and providing thoughtful peer feedback Besides, it also ask students to do specific tasks in pairs and popular group foreign language training; this practice cooperation and knowledge exchange among students and encourage individual students talk more

Allen (2004) discusses the advantages of PBL for the development of high-level problem-solving skills and critical thinking These skills are very important, as these are lifelong skills that can be transferred to external environments class This means that BPL is an innovative approach that uses different evaluation method Using PBL method, learners self-assess continuous Evaluation is considered an ongoing, varied and regular process involving teacher assessment, peer assessment, self-assessment, and reflection

In short, the PBL is very beneficial for students in general and students English in particular The question here is what teachers and students do to maximize the benefits of PBL

1.5 Previous studies

1.5.1 Studies in other countries

Many studies have been conducted to test the effectiveness of Project-based learning in the application to teaching speaking skills and helping students are more motivated to learn English Researchers are not only foreigners but also Vietnamese From the source of raw materials for this field, some of them can be used as references to help the researcher lead research in the right direction This saves researchers time and find the best results for the study With a study done abroad, Hilton-Jones in United Kingdom in 1988, with a group of West German teenagers The author conducted research on the application of PBL in English courses include: listening, speaking, writing and reading skills After school, students improve their speaking and they feel more confident in communicate

In another study, which is a systematic one, Beckett (1999) found that the establishment of a project-based pedagogy on teaching communication skills in a high school classroom in Canada and test how students approach the effectiveness of PBL in teaching and learning progress The results show that although teachers have a positive response to projects act as providing context for their students to create language functionally

Yogyakarta State University under the title "Improving Students' Speaking Skills Through Project-Based Learning at Grade “the previous study was descriptive qualitative data in nature and supported by quantitative data The actions implemented in this research were carried out Project-Based Learning, using English classroom during the teaching-learning process, using interesting media, such as videos, recordings, and pictures, giving feedback on the students' work, asking the students to bring dictionaries, and giving reward to the most active students

1.5.2 Studies in Vietnam

A study was done by Nguyen in 2009 in Vietnam This study is an experimental study focusing on the application of PBL in

teaching language In this study, the objective is to apply PBL in teaching verbal expression in university courses The results of this study are positive Both teacher and students appreciated PBL in teaching and learning verbal expression Real PBL benefits for teachers and learners Another study mentioned in this section is the study entitled “Towards promoting project-based learning for group work activities to improve English speaking skills of 10th graders in High School in Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province by Researcher Nguyen Thi Lien (2018) The researcher studied the difficulties of students when learning speaking skills and identified factors that motivate students to be more interested in speaking lessons Research results show that at students' attitude when applying PBL method is very positive and PBL's activities have created a good atmosphere for students to be confident to practice English speaking After learning about previous studies, the researcher has basic

theoretical foundations of project-based learning Most of the past studies, the researcher has shown the effectiveness of using project-based learning in teaching English speaking skills It is found that the application of project-based learning method in the speaking lessons of grade 10 students to help them improve their speaking skills and confidently

present in English is necessary and meaningful Moreover, once again, the study wants to test the effectiveness of positive PBL in self-constructing projects, learning and real-life experiences to document group project formation and presentation At the high schools in this district, there has not been any research on this field If the results of this study are positive, the research can be proposed to the Department of Education to include in

the curriculum with improved methods of further research on a large scale to find the best results

Afterward with positive results, PBL will be applied in all high schools in the district and conducted in school classrooms in the speaking class in both the old and new curriculum in English textbooks From there the method help them confidently communicate, study and integrate with the trend of "global English communication"

1.5.3 Summary

This chapter mentions the theory of speaking language and the problems concerned To be good at speaking English, learners are required gain certain skills in English All skills supporting speaking English are mentioned The methods in teaching and learning also play an important role in having good speaking skills So the theory and technique of PBL are clearly displayed because PBL is known as one of the most effective teaching speaking method To check the effectiveness of this method, many previous studies are discussed and considered as references Finally, the research carries out the study

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Settings

This study was conducted in class 10A6 with 17 females and 13 males at Luong Dac Bang High School The survey shows that class 10A6 is a class in field of social studies with three focused subjects including: Math, Literature, and English On the quality of education in Hoang Hoa District, Thanh Hoa Province, Luong Dac Bang High School is not only the leading school in Hoang Hoa District with a long tradition of hard work, but also the quality of education

is the highest in the province with nearly 100 excellent teachers with high professional qualifications ranked second

Most of the school's teachers have university degrees and some English teachers have master's degrees All of these are divided into specialized groups for specific subjects with specialist groups at the forefront There is an executive leader who coordinates and develops specific topics In particular, the English team has 20 teachers, most of who are young, dynamic and enthusiastic, have solid educational expertise and are constantly developing new teaching methods to keep up with new standards Teachers are generally well trained The team also has two teachers with master's degrees and two who underwent intensive training in Australia The leader of the foreign language group is Ms Ho Thi Minh Thai, a foreign language group leader and master of English from Singapore who has achieved many achievements in teaching and innovative methods

2.2 Participants

2.2.1 The teachers

The teachers participating in this study are the English teachers of class 10A6, Ms Han Minh Xuan She is the participant in this project As a young teacher, she is enthusiastic in teaching, learning and applying new methods in teaching English

2.2.2 The students

Thirty 10th grade students (17 females and 13 males) who were selected to participate in the research Most of them are 16 years old and have been learning English for a long time According to the English teacher in this class, most of the students studied English hard However, speaking skills are difficult to acquire as, some learners do not know what to say Some people passively follow the given sentences and then memorize them, and most students are unsure communicate in front of a large group of people That is reason in the past, when they were in secondary education, they only focused on grammar and reading comprehension to get grades and pass exams They don't have much time to speak Most do not have the opportunity to learn English in English speaking centers and environments In addition, they are not aware of the importance of speaking English in modern society, especially for later work

Therefore, it makes sense to invite them to participate in my research related to improving English fluency and confidence Most of the students who were selected to study the "project-based learning" method were very interested and enthusiastic and voluntarily cooperated with the researcher in carrying out the research

2.3 Teaching materials

The set of English books for grade 10 students at Luong Dac Bang High School is a global success grade 10 English textbook, edited by the general editor, Hoang Van Van and colleagues, Vietnam Education Publishing House organized the compilation according to "new program of general education: English subject program" (2018)

This is an instruction-oriented book that helps students develop communication skills in 4 forms: listening, speaking, reading, and writing through the use of materials (warm language, vocabulary, grammar) At the same time, it is compiled with learners as the center, so teachers create, design, organize and create conditions for students to develop communication skills So,

four skills are developed around close topics: our lives, our society, our environment and our future Topics are concretized into units of lessons for example Unit 1: Family life, Unit 2 Humans and the environment, After each lesson is a review to develop learned language skills

Students develop speaking skills mostly in lessons, but near the end of each Unit there is a Project section Project is the main activity of students, taking students as the center The purpose of this activity is to develop skills in projecting, planning, teamwork, presenting entirely in English based on issues related to Therefore, learners have more opportunities to solve problems and talk more Projects that require students to develop critical thinking and solutions to life problems are also known as soft skills development In each project, students are required to invest in their own project under the guidance of the teacher, and then give a presentation for about 5-10 minutes in the Project lesson

Table 1: Distributing the program by lesson