Using Project –Based Approach to Enhance English Speaking Ability of Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology Students
Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology, Thailand
ABSTRACT
The purposes of this research were 1) to study the use of project-based approach to enhance English speaking ability of undergraduate students at Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology, and 2) to study undergraduate students’ satisfaction with this type of project-based approach. The subject consisted of 60 first year undergraduate students at Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology during first semester of 2014 academic year. The instruments used in this experiment included lesson plans, a project evaluation form, an English speaking test, a student’s self-assessment form and a satisfaction questionnaire. The experimental process and data collection were conducted as follows: The subjects were given an English speaking ability pretest. Then, the 3 English speaking projects were used 45 hours in 12 weeks. After the completion of each project, a project evaluation form and a student’s self- assessment form were administered to measure the subjects’ English speaking achievement, and a questionnaire was used for surveying the subjects’ satisfaction on project-based approach. The t-test was employed to compare the subjects’ English speaking achievement before and after using project-base approach. The mean and standard deviation of scores from the project evaluation form, the student’s self-assessment form, and satisfaction questionnaire were used to measure at the end of the first project, second project and the third project. The experiment lasted forty – five hours. The results were as follows; The students’ speaking achievement after the project-based approach was significantly higher than before, with projects constructed at 0.01 level. The students’ satisfaction towards studying project-based approach to enhance English speaking ability of TNI students after the first project, second project and third project was at high and the highest level respectively.
KEYWORDS
English Project-Base Approach, English Speaking Ability through Project-Based Approach