Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in the EFL Classroom

Published by Melissa (1507042035)

Today, there are many study methods to help students open a pathway into success when they are studying in higher education. One of the most popular and effective methods is “Problem-Based Learning.” It was created by the Medical School of the McMaster’s University of Ontario, Canada for medical students in the 1980’s. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a learning process that begins with a complex problem based on the real world and situated in the learner’s learning context. The students are not given any information from their teachers, so they have to figure out solutions by themselves through collaboration and analysis. Today, PBL has spread throughout different fields of study, such as business, physics, and engineering. The PBL process improves students’ individual and social learning skills; as students’ proficiency in these skills increase, these students will achieve many learning benefits.

Problem-based learning (PBL) approach has recently played a significant role as a teaching approach that enhances the cognitive and metacognitive knowledge of the students. It is an approach that engages students in learning how to learn while they also learn language and content (Mathews-Aydinli, 2007: 1). Within the PBL approach, problems served as the context for new learning. Students were presented with an open-ended or ill-structured problem to work alone or in a group to work out for a solution. The main characteristics of an open-ended or illstructured problem are that there was no right way to solve it, there may be no single right answer to it, and students need to find more information to help them solve the problem (Stepien, Gallagher, and Workman, 1993). The aim of PBL is for students to acquire knowledge and problem-solving skills through problem analysis and resolution.

PBL can positively support the language instruction from the Constructivist perspective because language learners develop their understanding of target language conventions through involvement in the kinds of language activity found in real life, not by learning lists of rules (Abdullah, 1998: 1). According to Lee and Carrington (2005), there are plenty of advantages to using PBL in ESL classrooms. PBL could increase the amount of language input, promote authentic and contextualized language use, shift the students’ attention from using accurate forms to represent meaning, increase opportunities to negotiate meaning, and enhance overall communicative competence respectively. In other words, language learners will use the target language to present information, discuss it, and share their ideas with others after exploring for the solutions to the problem. This meta-level discussion is a vital means of generating a skill transfer (Wadhwa, 2005: 143). It means that learners will pull together isolated knowledge, skills, and experiences into a holistic in-depth understanding through discussion with their peers. They are required to have social interactions with others in a problem-centered environment. On the other hand, these social interactions provide them with opportunities to test and defend their own understanding, as well as enrich and expand their knowledge by examining the views of others (Igo et al., 2008: 2). As a result, it is believed that PBL can improve the students’ English language oral performance and their discussion skills in addition to their problem-solving skills.

Despite the evidence that PBL promotes cognitive and metacognitive learning (De Grave, Boshuizen, and Schmidt, 1996; De Grave, Schmidt, and Boshuizen, 2001; Yeung, et al., 2003; Mathews-Aydinli, 2007; Yew, and Schmidt, 2009), little is known about how it affects the English language learning of Thai speakers, particularly, in the tertiary level, and what their opinions are towards learning through PBL approach. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the effects of the PBL approach on the English oral language performances of Thai university students. The investigation was based on the three aspects of language learning which were fluency, accuracy, and complexity. In other words, the investigation was based on the smooth flow of the participants’ speech productions, the accurateness of their sentence structures, and a variety of sentence structures used in their talk. Additionally, the study will explore the participants’ opinions towards learning with a PBL approach.

Problem-based learning (PBL) approach

A Problem-based learning (PBL) was originated from the reforms in medical education at McMaster University in the mid 1960s. It derived from the theory that learning was a process in which the learners actively constructed knowledge (Gejselaers, 1996: 13). In PBL instruction, learning is primarily constructed by students who have been presented with a problem. The problem, by itself, engages students in learning because as soon as they are presented with a problem, they have to brainstorm among their peers to identify the problem statement and generate learning issues for their own self-directed learning. Then they will come back to their groups to share the knowledge that they have learned and discuss it over for possible solutions to the problem.

According to Duch (2001) and Igo et al. (2008), PBL instruction is driven by challenging and open-ended or ill-structured problems which mean that there is no right or wrong answer to those problems, but there are reasonable solutions based on the application of learners’ knowledge and information. The important characteristics of a good PBL problem can be summarized to be as follows: (a) it must first motivate students to probe for deeper understanding and relate the subject matter to the real world as much as possible; (b) it required students to take responsibilities of their learning in order to find the solutions; (c) it requires the cooperative learning and group discussion to synthesize what they have learned or known to come up with a solution; (d) it should be incorporated with the content objectives of the course, connecting new knowledge to concepts in other courses and/or disciplines.

PBL model

Mathews-Aydinli (2007) has suggested four main steps in implementing problem-based learning: (1) introducing learners to the problem, (2) exploring what learners do and do not know about the problem, (3) generating possible solutions to the problem, and (4) considering the consequences of each solution and selecting the most viable solution.

Both Woods (1995) and Wadhwa (2005) agree that learners cannot improve language or academic skill simply by sitting in a PBL class. Learning involves tasks such as the understanding of a teacher’s role, the preparing of opened or ill-structured problems where there is no right or wrong answer, the collaborating, and the encouraging self-directed learning. In the case of language learning, the process skills such as discussion, self-directed learning, and problem-solving should be emphasized in parallel with the English performances of the learners.

The PBL model has been implemented in this study according to the above mentioned criteria. The process consists of six stages: (a) Lead-in Activities, (b) Meeting the Problem, (c) Problem Analysis & Learning Issues, (d) Discovery & Reporting, (e) Solution Presentation & Reflection, and (f) Overview, Integration & Evaluation. In the Lead-in Activities Stage, teachers introduce some lead-in activities, related to the theme of the problem, which can be listening or reading activities, and review difficult vocabulary. After giving the students an open-ended/ ill-structured problem in the next stage, teachers should make sure that students understand the problem and then divide learners into small groups. In Problem Analysis & Learning Issues Stage, there are small group discussions to identify the problem statement and learning issues. In the Discovery & Reporting Stage, students in each small group will share some of their discovered information, and their peers will help gather the solution and prepare a presentation to the class. In the next stage, each group will present their solution to the class. After that, there will be a whole class discussion and reflection. In the final Stage, students will reflect on what they have learned and criticize themselves. While the students are moving from each stage, the teachers will act as facilitators to support their language and provide feedback on their language use. Additionally, there are scaffolding strategies for the learners to make progress and encourage them to be the self-directed learners.

Description of the learning process using PBL

PBL is conducted through the following steps:

1. Students first meet to brainstorm among themselves a problem in the real world, which is technical in nature, and is related to their areas of studies in Materials Engineering. They have to define the problem to tailor it to a specific audience. Students, with the help of a teacher, in groups of four or five, examine the problem and clarify what it is they know and don’t know. They also formulate possible hypotheses.

2. After students spend sufficient time brainstorming and discussing the problem they intend to solve, they identify learning issues they intend to investigate. They then submit a memo report on their proposed project, to seek approval from their teacher to proceed with their project. In the memo report, students must explain to their teacher which important problem or need their project intends to address, and describe the problem/need which their final project will help solve or satisfy. The groups then employ research strategies to collect relevant information.

3. Students discuss their findings and peer-teach what they have learnt.

4. The group then develops an outcome for the problem and presents their findings to other groups in their group project presentation, where their peers and the teacher evaluate their project.

5. Students reflect on the way they have learnt in their groups through an online survey.

References

Abdullah, M. H. (1998). Problem-based learning in language instruction: A constructivist model.
Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading English and Communication. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED423550).

De Grave, W. S., Boshuzen, H. P. A., & Schmidt, H. G. (1996). Problem-based learning: Cognitive and metacognitive processes during problem analysis. Instructional Science, 24, 321-341.

De Grave, W. S., Schmidt, H. G., & Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2001). Effects of problem-based discussion on studying a subsequent text: A randomized trial among first year medical students. Instructional Science, 29, 33-44.

Lee, M., & Carrington, A. (2005). Promoting problem-based learning for English as a second language learners. Purdue University Teaching & Learning with Technology. Retrieved from http://research.soe.purdue.edu/challenge.

Mathews-Aydinli, J. (2007). Problem-Based learning and adult English language learners. CAELA Brief. Retreived from http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/briefs/Prblem_based.pdf.