T H E A T T I T U D E S O F S E C O N D A R Y S C H O O L S T U D E N T S T O W A R D S L E A R N I N G E N G L I S H T H R O U G H P R O J E C T - B A S E D L E A R N I N G

M.YAVUZ KONCA & KÜBRA OKUMUŞ

RATIONALE

ELT needs new methods as the old ones are

inadequate in Turkey. Reasons such as the great

difference between Turkish and English, the

difficulty of learning a new language and culture

cause English teaching to be a problematic area.

INTRODUCTION

PBL is one of the new techniques that engages

students in exploring important and meaningful

questions through a series of investigations and

collaborations (Krajcik, Czerniak & Berger 1999)

PBL can be defined briefly as “a model that

organizes learning around projects” (Thomas, 2000,

p. 1). It is built upon authentic learning activities

that care the students’ interests and motivation.

It integrates subject-matter goals with an authentic

learning environment [Eskrootchi, R. and Oskrochi,

2010].

It emphasizes improvement of critical thinking,

problem solving and constructing projects. The

student is autonomous and builder whereas the

teacher is a supporter and counselor in this method.

Constructing a project is considered not as a goal

but a tool for learning, so the PBL places a great

importance on the process dimension of learning

GOAL OF THE STUDY

A teaching method that is generally used in the

field of Science and Maths is suggested to be

implemented in teaching English. For this purpose,

the answers of the following questions are sought:

Is PBL an effective way of teaching English?

What are the benefits of PBL?

What are the possible problems that can be

encountered while using PBL?

METHOD

A qualitative research was conducted in this research. McMillan and

Schumacher (1993, p. 479) defined qualitative research as, “primarily

an inductive process of organizing data into categories and identifying

patterns (relationships) among categories.” From this definition it can

be inferred that qualitative research is closely related to relationships

between variables. In this study, the correlation among the attitudes

and the three variables: gender, age, class is sought.

Since this study intends to describe the attitudes of students towards

project-based learning, survey was used for this aim.

PARTİCİPANTS

Participants were the seventh and eighth grade

students aging 12 and 15 years of a public school in

Turkey. 100 students were chosen for the survey. As

the aim is to describe the attitudes of secondary

school students, a public secondary school students

were selected for the study. Hence purposive

sampling was used.

INSTRUMENTS

A Lickert scale questionnaire was used to determine the attitudes

of the students towards teaching English through Project-based

learning. The questionnaire consists of twenty questions. Each has

5 items which are “I strongly disagree”, “I disagree”, “neutral”, “I

agree” and “I strongly agree”. Questions like whether they learn

through project-based learning and whether they like group works

that are the important parts of the PBL were asked to develop an

overall opinion about the students’ attitudes towards PBL.

 

DATA ANALYSİS

Aritmetic average and standard deviation were used to

analyze the data. t test was used to find out whether

there were differences between answers in terms of

classroom and gender. One way analysis of variance

(ANOVA) was used to determine the differences in terms

of age. LSD Post Hoc was used in order to understand

which age group had differences for the items 3 and 18

of the questionnaire.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

In the survey, the response “I strongly agree” was given to items titled

"Project-based learning helped me to learn a topic I did not know.", "It was fun

to work with my friends.", "Project-based learning increased our desire to

learn", "Project-based learning made us learn by investigating.", " Project-

based learning taught us to make use of knowledge.", "project-based learning

can help us to learn important topics. "," project-based learning can develop

my interpersonal relations." And " I believe that Project-based learning will

develop my creative thinking skills.", " I think project-based learning will

contribute to our work through cooperation." " project-based learning can

accelerate my learning.", and " I want my future courses to continue with

project-based learning."

In the survey, the response “I agree” was given to

items titled "Project-based learning, developed my

communication skills.", "All members of the group

were active in the learning phase.", "We studied so

hard.", " Project-based learning can develop my

analytical thinking skills.", "Project-based learning

can improve my communication skills." "Project-

based learning can develop my group discussion

skills.", and "I believe that project-based learning

will improve my ability of problem-solving."

the response “I disagree” was given to items

titled "I was unlucky because of working with those

who disliked making research." and "I do not like

group work."

F i n d i n g s a n d r e v i e w r e g a r d i n g r e s p o n s e s t o t h e i t e m s o n t h e s u r v e y a c c o r d i n g t o g r a d e l e v e l s o f t h e s t u d e n t s

Whether there was any difference between the responses to the

items in the questionnaire in terms of students' grade level was

analyzed using the t-test.

According to the results, it may be said that the level of response

of 8th year students as compared to that of 7th year students to the

items titled "Project-based learning helped me to learn a topic I did

not know.",", " project-based learning can accelerate my learning.",

and "I believe that project-based learning will improve my ability of

problem-solving." was found to be more negative.

fi n d i n g s a n d r e v i e w r e g a r d i n g r e s p o n s e s t o t h e i t e m s o n t h e s u r v e y a c c o r d i n g t o

g e n d e r o f t h e s t u d e n t s .

Whether there was any difference between the

responses to the items in the questionnaire in terms

of students' gender was analyzed using the t-test .

The level of response of female students as

compared to that of male students to the items titled

"Project-based learning helped me to learn a topic I

did not know.", " project-based learning can

accelerate my learning.", and "I believe that project-

based learning will improve my ability of problem-

solving." was found to be more negative.

fi n d i n g s a n d r e v i e w r e g a r d i n g r e s p o n s e s t o t h e i t e m s o n t h e s u r v e y a c c o r d i n g t o a g e o f

t h e s t u d e n t s .

Whether there was any difference between the

responses to the items in the questionnaire in terms

of students' age was analyzed using the one-way

analysis of variance (ANOVA)

LSD post hoc test was applied to find out between

which age groups of students there was difference in

the responses given to items titled "Project-based

learning increased our desire to learn." and "

Project-based learning can accelerate my learning

As a result of LSD post hoc test the difference

between the students of 13-14 years and 12 years

was found significant. The 13 and 14-year age group

of students responded more negatively the item

"Project-based learning can speed up my learning."

as compared to 12-year age group.

CONCLUSION

The results of the questionnaire carried out on 100

students show that students like PBL in English

classes. The students want to learn with group works

and projects. The 12-15 years students are opinion of

that PBL will help them not only learn English but

improve the skills such as creative and analytical

thinking, problem-solving, communication and

discussion. They would like to be part of active

learning.

Hence it is suggested that PBL be used in teaching

English as incorporating the essential elements of

PBL which are colloboration, critical and creative

thinking, communication, problem-solving into

English language teaching process will provide

learning in depth.

THANK YOU