Project-Based Learning & Teaching

What is PBLT? Learners work in groups to solve challenging, authentic problems a component of an inquiry-based approach to learning, (students create knowledge and understanding through learning activities built around intellectual inquiry and a high degree of engagement with meaningful tasks.)

Main Elements of PBLT (1) an extended time frame; (2) collaboration; (3) inquiry, investigation, and research; and finally, (4) the construction of an artifact or performance of a consequential task.

The Benefits of PBLT improved language skills, content learning, real-life skills, sustained motivation, and positive self-concepts. (Stoller, 2006)

meaningful communication, experiential learning, individual strategy building, and a sense of accomplishment.

With the focus on the culminating product, language learning becomes incidental.

designed to allow students with a variety of different learning styles to demonstrate their acquired knowledge. does not assume that all students can demonstrate their knowledge in a single, standard, way.

How to Implement PBLT Start with the Essential Question Design a Plan for the Project Create a Schedule Monitor the Students and the Progress of the Project Assess the Outcome Evaluate the Experience

From Stoller (2006) the students and instructor agree on a theme for the project, the students and instructor determine the final outcome of the project, the students and instructor structure the project, the instructor prepares students for the demands of information gathering, the students gather information,

6. the instructor prepares students for the demands of compiling and analyzing data, 7. the students compile and analyze information, 8. the instructor prepares students for the language demands of conducting the activity, 9. the students present the final product, and 10. the students evaluate the project.

Divide your cards into 3 categories… 1. I do this in my classroom now. 2. I am partially successful in doing this in my classroom. 3. I don't do this in my classroom.

1. How do you do this in your class? Why is it important? For the cards in each group (1,2,3), answer the corresponding questions below: 1. How do you do this in your class? Why is it important? 2. How can you make this more successful? Why is it important? 3. Why don’t you do this? Should you try? Find someone who feels that they do it and talk to him/her.

12 Principles of Language Learning &Teaching From H. Douglas Brown (2007). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd Edition)

Cognitive 1. Automaticity 2. Meaningful learning 3. The anticipation of reward 4. Intrinsic motivation 5. Strategic investment

Affective 6.. Language ego 7. Self-confidence 8. Risk-taking 9. The language-culture connection

Linguistic 10. The native language effect 11. Interlanguage 12. Communicative competence

Principle #1: Automaticiy Efficient 2nd language learning involves a timely movement of the control of a few language forms into the automatic processing of a relatively unlimited number of language forms. “the road to fluency”

Task Match each card to a principle.

Principle #2: Meaningful Learning Meaningful learning will lead toward better long-term retention than rote learning. Appeals to student interests Connects new info to old info (schemata building)

Prinicple #3: Anticipation of Reward Encourage for confidence Encourage students to encourage other students Be excited and enthusiastic! It’s a long and winding road – keep an eye on the end rewards – get your students to look there, too

Principle #4: Intrinsic Motivation The most powerful rewards are those that are intrinsically motivated within the learner. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Intrinsic brings feeling of competence and self- determination Extrinsic is all about gaining an award or avoiding punishment

Principle #5: Strategic Investment Successful mastery of the 2nd language will be due to a large extent to a learner’s own personal “investment” of time, effort, and attention Multiplicity of learning styles and strategies = multiplicity of techniques Encourage students to explore a range of strategies

Principle #6: Autonomy Teaching is not “spoonfeeding” learners everything Students need to become independent learners Teachers can help students develop these skills and strategies

Principle #7: Language Ego As human beings learn to use a 2nd language, they also develop a new mode of thinking, feeling, and acting – a 2nd identity. Be supportive because adult learners often feel stupid! Be challenging but kind in activities Consider carefully who to call on, how to pair or group etc)

Principle #8: Willingness to Communicate Create an atmosphere in the classroom that encourages students to try out language, venture a response Provide reasonable challenges Return students’ risky attempts with positive affirmation

Principle #9: The Language-Culture Connection Whenever you teach a language, you also teach a complex system of cultural customs, values, and ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Explicitly discuss cultural differences Consciously connect culture and language

Principle #10: The Native Language Effect Errors are windows to interlanguage; is it the native language? Help students to hold onto the helpful aspects of their NL Facilitate thinking in the target language

Principle #11: Interlanguage 2nd language learners tend to go through a systematic developmental process as they progress to full competence in the TL. Distinguish between interlanguage errors and all others Tolerate interlanguage forms that make sense and show learning Encourage self-correction Don’t let your corrections make students afraid of speaking

Principle #12: Communicative Competence Strive toward Organizational competence = grammatical and discourse Pragmatic competence = functional and sociolinguistic Psychomotor skills (pronunciation, intonation)

Communicative goals are best achieved by giving due attention to: language use and not just usage fluency and not just accuracy authentic language and contexts students’ eventual need to apply classroom learning to unrehearsed contexts in the real world.