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Using Project Based Learning to Teach English for Specific Purposes

Conference Paper · October 2021

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 Using Project Based Learning to Teach English for Specific Purposes

Case Study: English for Business in Vietnam

Áp dụng phương pháp học theo dự án trong giảng dạy tiếng Anh chuyên ngành

trường hợp: tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Thương mại ở Việt Nam

Dr. Greg Emery

Tóm tắt tiếng Việt

Học dựa trên dự án (PBL) là một phương pháp sư phạm hiện đại mà giảng viên có thể sử

dụng để thu hút sinh viên trong việc học tập tích cực và hiệu quả. Gần đây, phương pháp

này được áp dụng phổ biến trong giảng dạy tiếng Anh tại nhiều trung tâm ngoại ngữ và

trường đại học ở Việt Nam. Phương pháp này đã được chứng minh mang lại một số lợi ích,

giúp cải thiện khả năng tiếng Anh trong thực tế và một số tri thức kỹ năng mềm khác cho

những sinh viên học tiếng Anh chuyên ngành. Bài báo này giới thiệu và phân tích phương

pháp Học dựa trên Dự án (PBL) bao gồm một số khía cạnh: cấu trúc, vai trò của người hướng

dẫn cũng như giới thiệu một ví dụ về việc sử dụng phương pháp này để dạy tiếng Anh chuyen

ngành thương mại cho sinh viên Đại học Nha Trang như một minh họa. Phương pháp học

tập dựa trên dự án mặc dù đã được chứng minh bằng một số hiệu quả nhưng nó không nên

thay thế mà chỉ nên hỗ trợ, bổ sung cho các phương pháp giảng dạy truyền thống.

Keywords: phương pháp học theo dự án, tiếng Anh chuyên ngành, giảng dạy tiếng Anh,

giảng dạy tiếng Anh chuyên ngành

Teaching English for Specific Purposes in Vietnam in the 21st Century (Conference)
Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture, October 8, 2021
Abstract

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical tool instructors can use to engage students

in active and effective learning. This method is increasingly being adopted by English as a

Foreign Language (EFL) teaching centers and universities in Vietnam. This method has

proven beneficial for improving English abilities, and corresponding soft skills, in students

who study English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This paper introduces and analyzes the

Project Based Learning (PBL) method and includes sections on the structures of PBL/EFL

projects and the roles of instructors in PBL/EFL projects. A Case Study is also provided

which documents and illustrates a PBL project that was used to teach English for Business

at a national university in Vietnam. The Project Based Learning approach, while

demonstrably effective, need not replace conventional teaching methods but can rather

complement them.

Keywords: Project Based Learning, PBL, English for Specific Purposes, ESP, Teaching

English, Teaching ESP

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Introduction

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical tool instructors can use to engage

students in active learning. Working on projects, students in a Project Based Learning

environment are meant to gain knowledge and skills by working, over an extended period of

time, on real-world, complex problems. Project Based Learning assists teachers in helping

students to develop a wide and integrated variety of English language competencies. Project

Based Learning can be especially useful in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP). In

an English Language Learning (ELL) setting (classroom, online, hybrid), Project Based

Learning also offers instructors, academic planning units, and administrators considerable

flexibility when developing language-learning objectives, course content, and program

curricula. In a Project Based Learning EFL/ELL environment, student-inquirers – guided by

instructors (“coaches”) – identify and clarify real-world problems, formulate questions, plan

research strategies, develop research-based speculative solutions to the problems considered,

formalize these conclusions in written documents, and make oral presentations. The Project

Based Learning approach need not replace conventional teaching methods but can rather

complement them. In this paper, I introduce and analyze the Project Based Learning (PBL)

pedagogical approach in EFL/ELL environments and offer a Case Study that documents and

illustrates a PBL/ESP (Business English) project undertaken in Vietnam.

3
The Structure of Project Based Learning

By nature, language is dynamic, fluid, complex, and multidimensional. Project

Based Learning releases instructors and students into a dynamic, energetic, experiential,

and experimental language-learning ecosystem. Project Based Learning (which is closely

related to Problem Based Learning and Inquiry Based Learning) is based on the tried-and-

true pedagogical principle of “learning by doing.” A PBL approach to teaching English for

Specific Purposes need not replace traditional methods – also tried-and-true – of

instruction. Rather, it may be useful to understand a PBL approach to teaching English as a

tool which can be used to enhance and compliment more conventional teaching

methodologies.

Different researchers and instructors break down the steps involved in any PBL

project into any different number of stages. (There are many PBL rubrics.) Here, for

example, is one set of steps, 1) The instructor informs the students of the problem to be

solved and the project to be undertaken. This step is often referred to as the “project

launch.” The best PBL projects allow for the possibility of more than one right answer, i.e.,

multiple answers are plausible, 2) Students also actively engaged in the project launch.

During the launch, the students and instructor discuss what kind of information may be

needed to solve the problem and where the kind of data needed might be obtained, e.g.,

from online and hard-copy documents, interviews, site visits, surveys, participant-observer

engagement, etc., 3) Students develop a tentative plan of action – including a timeline – for

undertaking and completing all steps of the project, i.e., from collecting and analyzing data

to preparing final documents and oral presentations, 4) Students actively engage in

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collecting and analyzing relevant information, 5) Based on their research and analysis

(individually and/or in teams), students determine the best solution(s) to the problem, and

6) Students or student-teams prepare final documents, e.g., “recommendations,” and make

summary oral presentations to their classmates, their instructor(s), and (if a real-world

project) to the clients themselves. Note: PBL projects are iterative in nature, i.e., “two steps

forward, one step back.” For example, while preparing final documents, students may

discover that more research is needed on a specific issue.

The Role of the Instructor

The Project Based Learning approach transforms the role of “instructor” or “lecturer”

into that of “facilitator” or “coach.” The PBL model “upends the practice of downward

transference of information from knowledgeable teacher to passive students.”1 In a Project

Based Learning English for Specific Purposes environment, student-inquirers (guided by

expert coaches) identify problems, formulate questions, research salient issues, develop

data-based speculative solutions to the initial problem, and formalize these conclusions in

written documents and oral presentations. Throughout the process, the coach (instructor)

regularly meets and works with the students – all the while providing feedback. (In such

PBL environments, I refer to myself as a “senior learner” rather than a “professor.”)

Concerning “hands-on” approaches to teaching English – such as Project Based

Learning – one Vietnamese scholar states, “Teaching-learning innovation has always been

1
Gras-Velazquez, Project-Based Learning and EFL, 2021

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one of [Vietnam’s] national and educational leaders’ political goals. ‘True learning, true

career’ has been known as a … goal in Vietnam’s latest national policy in education. [The

goal of using hands-on pedagogical approaches to teach English is] to boost motivation in

English presentation courses [and to develop] target skills among which creative skills,

listening skills, language skills dominate, thereby increasing learners’ inspiration. The

teachers also get more proactive and sense more opportunities for innovation.”2

Taking a PBL approach to teaching English can assist the instructor to create a

differentiated (individualized) context which allows for differences in how individual

students learn in order to assist individual students in accessing the varied components of

academic content. As PBL projects generally require teamwork, the development of English

skills can be differentiated (distributed) among learners at low, intermediate, and high levels

of English language proficiency. That is, within group work, each individual student’s

strengths and preferred ways of learning (e.g., by reading, writing, listening, or speaking)

can reinforce and strengthen the English abilities of other team members and of the group.

That is, students learn from and teach each other.

It is important for instructors to keep in mind that for students, learning English is a

means to an end, i.e., English proficiency is understood to be a tool to accomplish other

objectives, e.g., professional success. For students, “learning English” is meant to become

“living English.” Incorporating Project Based Learning projects into a curriculum can assist

instructors align “learning English” such a “big picture” scenario.

2
Nga, Hands-On Projects and EFL in Vietnam, 2020

6
Using PBL to teach Specific Purposes: A Case Study

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is a subset of English as a Second Language

(EFL). ESP usually refers to teaching English to university students or adult professionals,

with reference to the particular vocabulary (jargon) and language skills they need. A given

course of ESP will usually focus on one occupation or profession, such as English for

Cultural Management, English for Library Science, English for Museum Management,

English for Business, English for Academic Purposes, English for Tourism, and so on.

Below is a Case Study which describes and illustrates the use of PBL in an English for

Business ESP course.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D or Harley) is an iconic American motorcycle

manufacturer founded in 1903. In 2013, Harley-Davidson, Inc. authorized a dealership in

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Harley-Davidson of Saigon. [Today there are also dealerships

in Đà Nẵng and Hà Nội.]

With Harley-Davidson Saigon as the client, students and instructors from Nha Trang

University’s (Đại học Nha Trang) Department of Tourism English, Department of English

Interpretation & Translation, and Faculty [College] of Business collaborated (initially on-

line and later in-person) with students and instructors from Ohio University’s (USA) College

of Business, College of Communication, and Center for International Studies. There were

two sub-projects:

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 • One group of NTU-OHIO student-teams researched whether Harley-Davidson

Saigon should enter the motorcycle rental and touring market in Vietnam. [The initial

business plan of Harley-Davidson Saigon included only motorcycle sales and did not

include rental and/or touring options.]

• The other set of NTU-OHIO student-teams researched how this iconic American

motorcycle brand would be perceived by potential Vietnamese buyers and how

American Harley-Davidson enthusiasts might view Harley-Davidson’s entry into the

Vietnamese market.

The research questions (“problems”) were initially formulated as 1), “Should Harley-

Davidson Saigon enter the rental and/or touring motorcycle market?”, 2a) “How do potential

Vietnamese buyers perceive the American Harley-Davidson motorcycle brand?”, and 2b)

“How do American Harley-Davidson enthusiasts view Harley-Davidson’s entry into the

Vietnamese market?”

Initially and for a period of about two-months, student-teams – comprised of NTU and

OHIO students (led by Vietnamese & American instructors, i.e., “coaches”) – collaborated

online using email, SKYPE, etc. In order to gather data to answer the questions, OHIO

students conducted site-visits at Harley-Davidson dealers in the USA while NTU students

visited motorcycle dealers in Vietnam (including Harley-Davidson Saigon). During these

site-visits, students met with dealership managers, salesmen, and customers. All the while,

NTU & OHIO student-teams collaborated on motorcycle market & industry research,

developed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, strengths) analyses, organized

focus group sessions, and administered surveys.

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 After the two months of online collaboration, OHIO students travelled to Nha Trang

University for a period of about two-weeks to work with their Vietnamese teammates in

person, to finalize their research, and written documents, e.g., recommendations Harley-

Davidson Saigon, and to offer summary presentations (including PowerPoints in both

English & Vietnamese) for the managers of Harley-Davidson Saigon. [As can be imagined,

the opportunities for NTU students, and instructors, to learn and use English in a real-world

setting, and with native English speakers, were wonderful. And the American students

learned a little Vietnamese and something about Vietnamese culture.]

Conclusion

Adult English language learners – including university students – have a wide variety

of skills, interests, and needs that extend beyond the classroom. Project Based Learning,

used to teach English – especially in English for Special Purposes classes – is an instructional

method that contextualizes learning by presenting English-learners with real-world problems

to solve. The basic phases found in most PBL/EFL projects – the process of PBL/EFL

projects – include problem identification, planning research, and developing solutions which

can be expressed in written documents, in summary oral presentations, and by developing

products such as strategic plans, brochures, websites, restaurant menus, organizational

diagrams, signage, museum text, marketing plans, etc. Moreover, such an approach can act

as a bridge between learning English in classroom setting and using English in real life

situations outside of the classroom by placing learners in active-learning contexts that

require both knowledge of the mechanics of standard English and the use of authentic “lived”

9
English. Using real-world English is important for learners who see English proficiency as

important for navigating successful, professional lives. Many employers, too, deems English

proficiency as an important skill for high-performance workers. When PBL projects require

teamwork, the development of English skills can be differentiated among learners at low,

intermediate, and high levels of English language proficiency. That is, within group work,

each individual student’s strengths and preferred ways of learning (e.g., by reading, writing,

listening, or speaking) can mutually reinforce and strengthen the English abilities of other

team members and of the group.

10
References

California State University Fullerton, Teach21 (Teaching in the 21st Century),

[Link] Retrieved 13/09/2021.

Gras-Velazquez, A. (2021). Project-Based Learning in Second Language Acquisition.

Routledge.

Gaulin, W. (2019). Phenomenology as a Path to English as a Second Language (EFL) Praxis,

Curriculum and Theory-Making. SpringerLink
[Link]
Second-and-Gaulin/88b9720e7b4ff4019600b7ec3cd67a092240c870 Retrieved 13/09/2021.

Moss, D. (1998). Project-Based Learning for Adult English Language Learners. Eric Digest,
National Clearinghouse for English EFL Literacy
Education [Link] 1998 Retrieved 13/09/2021

Ng, C. (2009). The Power of Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the EFL Classroom.
Polyglossia, Vol. 16, pp 41-47

Nga, N. (2020). Introduction of Hands-On Projects Involving 8 Intelligences and 21 Work-

Readiness Skills to Boost Motivation in English Presentation Courses. VNU Journal of
Foreign Studies, 36(5): 171-183 (Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Nước ngoài, Tập 36, Số 5)

University of North Texas, UNT Teaching Commons. Problem-Based Learning vs. Project-
Based Learning. [Link]
learning/problem-based-learning-vs-project-based-learning. Retrieved 13/09/2021.

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 Appendix: Student and Teacher Roles in PBL for ESP

California State University Fullerton, Teach21 (Teaching in the 21st Century)

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