Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners in Two High schools in District Four in Mashhad

A Thesis Proposal Submitted to the English Department at Islamic Azad University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in
English Language Teaching (ELT)
 
Supervisor
Dr. Mohammad Ali Fatemi
 
Feb.2015
 

(در فایل دانلودی نام نویسنده موجود است)

تکه هایی از متن پایان نامه به عنوان نمونه :

(ممکن است هنگام انتقال از فایل اصلی به داخل سایت بعضی متون به هم بریزد یا بعضی نمادها و اشکال درج نشود ولی در فایل دانلودی همه چیز مرتب و کامل است)

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title                                                                                                                    Page
 
APPROVAL PAGE                                                                                               ii
 
DEDICATION                                                                                                       iii
 
AKNOWLEDGEMNENTS                                                                                   iv
 
DECLARATION                                                                                                    v
 
TABLE OF CONTNETS                                                                                       vi
 
LIST OF TABLES                                                                                                  vii
 
ABSTARCT                                                                                                            xi
 
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction                                                                                 1
 
    1.1 Background and purpose                                                                                 1
 
    1.2 Statement of the problem                                                                                4
 
    1.3 Research questions                                                                                          5
 
    1.4 Research hypotheses                                                                                       5
 
    1.5 Significance of the study                                                                                6
 
    1.6 (De)Limitations of the study                                                                          8
 
    1.7 Definition of  Key Terms                                                                               9 

1.7.1 Learner autonomy                                                                            9

1.7.2 Project works                                                                                  10
  

 

 
CHAPTER TWO: Review of Literature                                                                11 

   2.1. Theoretical Background & Concepts                                                           11
  

 
    2.1 Overview                                                                                                     32
 
  

CHAPTER THREE: Methodology                                                                       34
  

 
    3.1 Overview                                                                                                     34
 
    3.2 Participants and setting                                                                                  34
 
    3.3 Instrumentation                                                                                              34
 
              3.3.1. Power points                                                                                    36 

 3.3.2. Students’ logbooks                                                                                      38

3.3.3. Posters and wall newspapers                                                                      40

3.3.4. Preparing brochure or pamphlets                                                                41

3.3.5. Making authentic material for future use in the classroom                        41

3.4 Procedure                                                                                                                   42
  

 

 

 

 
    3.5 Study design                                                                                                   51
 
CHAPTER FOUR: Results and Discussions                                                           52
 
    4.1 Overview                                                                                                       64
 
 
 
CHAPTER FIVE: Conclusions                                                                               72
 
    5.1 Overview                                                                                                       72
 
    5.2 Summary of the findings                                                                               73
 
    5.3 Conclusions                                                                                                   74
 
    5.4 Pedagogical implications                                                                               76
 
    5.5. Suggestions for further research                                                                  77
 
REFERENCES                                                                                                       78
 
APPENDICES
 
 
 
    Appendix A  Questionnaire to investigate the Learner autonomy                      85 

 

Appendix B   Interview questions                                                                       88

 

Appendix  C   Common reference levels                                                                 89

 

 

 

Appendix D  Projects implemented during twelve sessions in brief                   92

 
  

 
   BIO-DATA                                                                                                            113 

Tile page in Farsi

 

Abstract in Farsi                                                                                                    117

Approval page in Farsi                                                                                                   118

 

Declaration Page in Farsi                                                                                          119

 
  

 

 
 

LIST OF TABLES
Table a- The merits of the PBL procedure in comparison to the traditional classrooms      7

Table b – The pre-test scores of both groups                                                                       43

Table c – The mean scores of the two groups on the test section                                         44

Table 1- Tests of Normality for experimental group                                                            53

Table 2- Tests of Normality for control group                                                                      54

Table 3- Group Statistics on autonomy                                                                                 54

Table 4- Independent Samples Test on autonomy                                                                55

Table 5- Group Statistics for reading pre-test                                                                       56

Table 6- Independent Samples Test for reading pre-test                                                       57

Table 7- Group Statistics for writing pre-test                                                                        57

Table 8 -Independent Samples Test for writing pre-test                                                        58

Table 9- Group Statistics on speaking pre-test                                                                      59

Table 10- Independent Samples Test on speaking pre-test                                                    61

Table 11- Group Statistics on listening pre-test                                                                     61

Table 12- Independent Samples Test on listening pre-test                                                    62

Table 13- Group Statistics on reading post-test                                                                     63

Table 14- Independent Samples Test for reading post-test                                                    63

Table 15- Table 9 Group Statistics for writing post-test                                                        64

Table 16- Independent Samples Test for writing post-test                                                    65

Table 17- Group Statistics on speaking post-test                                                                  66

 

 

Table 18- Independent Samples Test on speaking post-test                                                 67

Table 19- Group Statistics on listening post-test                                                                  67

Table 20- Independent Samples Test on listening post-test                                                 68

 

Abstract
The present empirical research reports on the findings of a study that investigated the effects of Project Work on Language proficiency and autonomy level of Iranian Intermediate Learners in an EFL setting. The method of teaching and learning English language through Project works is a contrast to the current teaching of English in Iranian high schools. The researcher after implementing FCE exam as the pre-test to homogenize 250 female students of two high schools in district 4 Mashhad, chose 50 students as the participants of the study. They were divided randomly into two groups of experimental and control groups. Through 12 sessions of instruction in three months’ time students in experimental group went under different project works introduced by the researcher. At the same time the students in the control group were provided with five short stories as their reading comprehension assignments. In order to collect the required data, a Cambridge FCE proficiency test was employed by the researcher as both pre-test and post-test. To check the autonomy level of the participants, a Learner Autonomy Questionnaire developed by Zhang and Li (2004, p. 23), was administered. At the end an interview was performed by the researcher to perceive the students’ ideas about the project work. Regarding the first hypothesis,” Project works do not have any significant effect on Intermediate Iranian EFL learners’ autonomy “, descriptive statistics of the autonomy questionnaire indicated that the mean of the autonomy level of the experimental group (M= 42.80) was higher than that of the control group (M= 26.76), therefor the hypothesis was rejected. The second hypothesis was not completely rejected. The projects applied had enabled the students to develop positive attitudes towards all English skills except for the reading skill. The results of the interview indicated that most students enjoyed doing projects. The study revealed that project works can be an effective way in teaching foreign languages and could create a gradual shift away from the traditional forms of teaching and learning in an EFL Iranian Intermediate setting.

Keywords: project works, language proficiency, learner autonomy.

Chapter One.
Introduction
      1.1. Background and purpose
Nowadays English is considered as one of the most important international languages which are widely used throughout the world. It is also the medium of communication, therefore the demand for high proficiency in the use of English has increased in the past decades. Today the world’s economy, culture, education, science and politics are under the influence of globalization and English is the medium through which a lot of communications are carried out. This study focuses on the teaching of English through project works to high school students in Iran.

English language plays an important role not only in education, but also in foreign trade, overseas jobs, and study opportunities abroad. It is taught in all secondary schools in Iran and is given some weight in the university entrance examinations. It is also the language for economic negotiations and political matters throughout the world. Therefore it is a vital tool in the international world and the acceptance and use of English in international education is very demanding.

Kumaravadivelu (2008) in his book Understanding Language Teaching stated that a source of tiresome ambiguity that influences language teaching is the absence of principled way which classifies language teaching methods in a coherent fashion. During 1980s various process-oriented approaches were experimented by several scholars including Comprehension approach (Winitz,1981), Natural approach (Krashen & Terrell, 1983),Proficiency- oriented approach (Omaggio,1986), Communicational approach (Prabhu,1987), Lexical approach(Lewis1993; Willis,1990) and Process approach ( Legutke & Thomas, 1991). However, there are particular instructional procedures that have kept their impact on language teaching among which Project-Based Instruction (PBI) is considered to be fitted with quite effective learning opportunities for teaching languages in various contexts. Project work is usually a group work, for this reason it is very important to establish a good working relationship between the students. This develops students´ social skills. They make a choice altogether, discuss the problem and choose the best strategy to reach their goal. Then students have to share their work, take their own role in the work and the responsibility for their part of the work. They have to cooperate and this cooperation is really important in their future life. Moreover, it should be considered as an important motivating factor.

This is a classroom research project that investigated if integrating a Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach into the typical classroom syllabus could foster learner’s autonomy ad language proficiency of EFL learners of two high schools in District four in Mashhad.

تعداد صفحه : 131