چکیده:
Problem-based Learning (PBL) as one of the newest teaching methods in the area of language teaching in second and foreign contexts, has been used by teachers in the last two decades in different institutes. In the current study, attempts were made to find out the effect of the two PBL subcategories, i.e. Hybrid Problem-based Learning (H-PBL) and Pure Problem-based Learning (PPBL) in comparison to a traditional lecture-based method, on Iranian EFL university learners’ speaking skill and their self-confidence, by implementing these two methods in the EFL classroom using eight teacher-made real-world problems. To this purpose, 56 undergraduate participants of Payam Noor university (PNU) in Abadan, Iran, were randomly selected, divided into a control group and two treatment HPBL and PPBL groups. The statistical analysis of the obtained results of the participants’ pretest-posttest scores, through one-way ANCOVA and Man-Whitney U test, revealed that the treatment groups outperformed the control group in speaking skill and self-confidence The findings of the study might bear implications for teachers and university curriculum designers to take more proper approaches towards the instructing university participants.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The statistical analysis of the obtained results of the participants’ pretest-posttest scores, through one-way ANCOVA and Man- Whitney U test, revealed that the treatment groups outperformed the control group in speaking skill and self-confidence The findings of the study might bear implications for teachers and university curriculum designers to take more proper approaches towards the instructing university participants.
PBL Subcategories In order to provide a clearer picture of the content of the present study, the definitions of PBL, Hybrid PBL and self-confidence are presented here: Problem-based Learning: All definitions of PBL have this point in common that it is a participant-centered approach in which real-world problems are used for instruction (Mayo et al, 1993; Barrows, 2002; Torp and Sage, 2003; Hmelo-Silver, 2004; Lai 2007; Legg 2007).
Studies Conducted Outside Iran Some studies have mentioned that applying PBL to language education creates a difficult challenge to whoever attempts it (Larsson, 2001; Karthikeyan, Venkatraj, and Baskaran, 2009), while others have investigated that how well implementation of PBL in a classroom would provide the participants with valuable skills and enhance their learning motivation and efficiency in comparison to those who are taught through the conventional lecture-based method, (Hmelo- Silver, 2004; Tick, 2007; Murray and Summerlee, 2007; Azman & Shin, 2012).
CG The first objective of the current study was to implement Hybrid Problem-based Learning (H-PBL) in an EFL classroom and compare it to a Pure Problem-based Learning (PPBL) and traditional lecture-based method in the teaching of English as a foreign language and to find out their efficacy in improving the speaking skill of participants.