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Kudos to project work : an innovative tool to enhance the learning of English language in secondary schools
Author
Kavita Deep Kaur Hundal
Supervisor
Wee, Bee Geok
Abstract
This study focuses on the benefits of Project Work as a tool to enhance the learning of English Language in a secondary school classroom. This study seeks to explore perceptions and views of teachers, and pupils regarding the use of other methods to improve the learning of English Language.
Project Work was introduced in 2000 and is core component for university entry into the local universities. The objective of Project Work is to ensure that future citizens are able to innovate and adapt to the changing economic and educational climate. The importance of Project Work as seen by the Ministry of Education is to enable pupils to be innovative and creative in their actions. The skills that are incorporated in Project Work include thinking and communicative skills which are necessary for expressing oneself confidently. It also encourages teamwork and collaboration, qualities of future managers and leaders. Project Work provides immense opportunities for pupils to explore inter-relationships and inter-connectedness across multiple disciplines.
This study has two main objectives. The first is to examine the perception of the Project Work teacher who is also an English trained teacher with regards to the effects of the Project Work experience on their language learning and vice versa. The second objective is to explore the perceptions of pupils with regards to the effects of the Project Work experience to their learning of English Language. This would involve examining their views on the relevance of Project Work to English Language.
There were two samples obtained; one was the Project Work teacher and the other comprised 18 Project Work participants. A number of instruments were employed such as an online questionnaire for pupils, followed by an interview with the teacher. There were other forms of instruments adopted such as rubrics and classroom observation of pupils’ group work and presentation. These were examined to assess whether the extent of language use and conventions have been abided by. The collection of data included an analysis of pupils’ presentations, classroom behaviour and presentations.A significant finding is the inherent awareness of the importance of language in producing a product as reflected by both groups. The pupils find great benefits in incorporating Project Work to enhance their content learning as well as improve their English Language. However, it is also revealed through the study that the role of the language teacher in Project Work is minimal as the pupils can model their writings after the research of other documents. They find that self discovery is more effective given the constraint of time and the benefits of teamwork and collaboration. Furthermore, Project Work is seen as a change to the routine essay writing and formulaic projects that does not encourage inquiry thinking and exploration. The pupils have also voiced out that listening and speaking skills are not very evident in Project Work in comparison to the language classroom. This may be due to the lack of time for groups to meet and thus they work online, hence being more detached and impersonal.
Project Work was introduced in 2000 and is core component for university entry into the local universities. The objective of Project Work is to ensure that future citizens are able to innovate and adapt to the changing economic and educational climate. The importance of Project Work as seen by the Ministry of Education is to enable pupils to be innovative and creative in their actions. The skills that are incorporated in Project Work include thinking and communicative skills which are necessary for expressing oneself confidently. It also encourages teamwork and collaboration, qualities of future managers and leaders. Project Work provides immense opportunities for pupils to explore inter-relationships and inter-connectedness across multiple disciplines.
This study has two main objectives. The first is to examine the perception of the Project Work teacher who is also an English trained teacher with regards to the effects of the Project Work experience on their language learning and vice versa. The second objective is to explore the perceptions of pupils with regards to the effects of the Project Work experience to their learning of English Language. This would involve examining their views on the relevance of Project Work to English Language.
There were two samples obtained; one was the Project Work teacher and the other comprised 18 Project Work participants. A number of instruments were employed such as an online questionnaire for pupils, followed by an interview with the teacher. There were other forms of instruments adopted such as rubrics and classroom observation of pupils’ group work and presentation. These were examined to assess whether the extent of language use and conventions have been abided by. The collection of data included an analysis of pupils’ presentations, classroom behaviour and presentations.A significant finding is the inherent awareness of the importance of language in producing a product as reflected by both groups. The pupils find great benefits in incorporating Project Work to enhance their content learning as well as improve their English Language. However, it is also revealed through the study that the role of the language teacher in Project Work is minimal as the pupils can model their writings after the research of other documents. They find that self discovery is more effective given the constraint of time and the benefits of teamwork and collaboration. Furthermore, Project Work is seen as a change to the routine essay writing and formulaic projects that does not encourage inquiry thinking and exploration. The pupils have also voiced out that listening and speaking skills are not very evident in Project Work in comparison to the language classroom. This may be due to the lack of time for groups to meet and thus they work online, hence being more detached and impersonal.
Date Issued
2009
Call Number
LB1027.43 Hun
Date Submitted
2009