Khadernawaz Khan, Ph.D., Dhofar University, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman | Khader_khhan@hotmail.com
Abstract
Project-Based Learning or Instruction is an approach that helps learners to transcend the traditional classroom setting. “Project-based learning enables teachers and students to move beyond the limitations of the traditional intensive English curriculum” (Foss, Carney, McDonald & Rooks 2007:2). It encourages learners to embark upon independent discovery and learning. Moss &Van Duzer (1998:2) see project work as an “instructional approach that contextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products to develop” (cited in Foss, et al, 2007). The problems that need to be solved or the products that need to be developed require the skills of inquiry, analysis, and synthesis. Learners are required to acquire factual knowledge, gain mastery over concepts, and present an acceptable solution to a problem or develop a product that satisfies the demands of an independent inquiry. These objectives are achieved through the skills of communication, planning, negotiation, and effective time management. Diaz-Rico (2004:1) contends that “…because a project is emergent and negotiated rather than fully planned by the teacher, it encourages students to go beyond the minimum standards of involvement.” Going beyond the ‘minimum standards of involvement’ implies active participation in sharing and contributing to the end product. Projects thus provide learners a meaningful context wherein they work cooperatively towards a set goal. As projects are often undertaken by groups of learners with varied learning styles and abilities, there is often a scope for them to be creative in the process of doing the project. Cooperation, creativity, and independence are thus the hallmarks of project-based learning. Since learners work on chosen topics of interest, mainly related to real-world situations, detached from the traditional mainstream classroom activity, they get the feeling of independence and responsibility together with the feeling of ownership of the end product. Project work also develops critical thinking in learners because from choosing the topic through narrowing down the sources of information to drafting the report, learners are impelled to think analytically. Even passive learner is motivated to ‘think’ in order to be a part of the project. They also develop presentation skills as they are expected to explain their final products at a ‘Students’ Seminar.’ Some researchers (Bredderman, 1983; Blumenfeld et al, 1991; & Diaz-Rico, 2004) have cautioned that project work may fail if both teachers and learners are not convinced of the outcome, i.e., language development. The onus of convincing learners of the benefits of Project-Based Learning lies in the teacher who should see project-based learning as a means to promote long term independent learning by bringing round the students to actively involve in the learning process.
The author implemented Project Based Learning in the Foundation Program at Dhofar University in Oman, with a degree of success that is reflected in the learners’ feedback. In this paper, the presenter will discuss the methodology adopted in implementing project work, and the assessment procedure used in evaluating the final products.
| Key words: project based learning cooperation creativity autonomy critical thinking |
Introduction:
Education should aim at producing informed learners equipped with the decision making and problem solving abilities. Learners should become autonomous in making important choices concerning their learning. Autonomy in the classroom can be brought about by providing learners a meaningful context for learning. One of the ways in which such a meaningful context could be provided is through incorporating projects in the EFL curriculum. The efficacy of Project Based Learning (PBL) in language acquisition is recognized and is being incorporated in English Language syllabus in countries like Singapore (MOE Work Plan Seminar, 2000, cited in Holst, 2003) and Oman (Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Program, Draft V.4 May 2007).
Though research on PBL is limited and most of the literature available in this area is anecdotal (Beckett 2002), recent empirical contributions made by researchers like, Heilman & Stout (2004), Beckett & Slater (2005), Fosss et al., (2007) are significant in that they highlighted the effectiveness of PBL in fostering cooperation, creativity and learner autonomy. Heilman and Stout (2004) maintain that participants in their workshop were “amazed to see the amount of input and autonomy students can have in doing projects” (p .588). “Projects are open ended. In fact, the most exciting projects are those that grow and grow and grow.”(Diaz-Rico, 2004, p.1)
PBL also works as a bridge between classroom-based ‘transmission pedagogy’ and independent learning in real life situations. It not only develops learner confidence, critical thinking skills and promotes self-esteem but also brings out the real potential of a teacher in facilitating independent learning beyond the classroom. The success of a project work lies mainly in the teacher’s own conviction that PBL is an opportunity to help learners become independent. It also depends on how the teacher convinces his learners about the benefits of project work.
According to Stoller (2002), a Project Work has the following features:
- focus on content learning, real-world subject matter, and topics of interest to learners
- student centeredness
- emphasis on cooperation
- authentic integration of all the four skills and processing information from various sources
- both a process and a product orientation
- motivation and stimulation leading to learner confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy
He also suggests a variety of projects: research, survey, production, performance, encounter, correspondence, and organizational. It is possible for students to work on each type or a combination of some of these types (Stoller, 2002).
This paper discusses the project works undertaken by students of Level-3 in Foundation Program at Dhofar University. These projects include some of the types of projects that Stoller (2002) suggested and also bear all the features that he attributed to them. These projects also reflect the Oman Academic Standards learning outcomes.
Background:
Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Program outlined certain learning outcomes, one of which is the Project Work that includes a written report followed by oral presentations.
Section 3 of Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Program Draft V.4 of May 2007 outlines the learning outcomes for English language. The following sections of the Draft expect students to be able to:
Prepare and deliver a talk of at least 5 minutes. Use library resources in preparing the talk, speak clearly and confidently. Make eye contact and use body language to support the delivery of ideas. Respond confidently to questions. (3.2. c)
Produce a written report of a minimum of 500 words showing evidence of research, note taking, review and revision of work, paraphrasing, summarizing, use of quotations and use of references. (3.2 .e)
The Instructor thought it necessary to include project work in Level-3 of the program as students’ performance at this level is crucial to attaining entry into university courses. In order to help students benefit from both mainstream teaching and independent learning, project work is made a part of Oral Communication classes. These classes particularly provided the needed opportunity for students to practice communication in the target language. It was an open session where students utilized the time fully discussing their ideas both with their peers and their Instructor. The class met 2 hours a week during the 15-week semester. As the class comprised of mixed ability learners, the Instructor thought it proper to help them learn cooperatively. Towards this end the Instructor assigned group projects.
Prior to introducing the project work to the students, the Instructor prepared a time schedule (see Appendix: i) prescribing dates within which a certain activity related to the project should be completed. On the day of the initiation, students were handed out the time schedule and were told to strictly adhere to it. The process of Project work included the following stages:
- Introducing project work
- Brainstorming for topic selection
- Questionnaire preparation and resource identification
- Personal interviews
- Collecting data from relevant sources
- Student-teacher conferences
- Submission of products
- Presenting and defending the products orally
For the purpose of objective evaluation of the end products as well as the oral presentations, external examiners (in this case the FP Director, FP Convener, and an FP Native Speaker teacher) were requested to attend the presentation session. All the written reports were to be submitted to these external examiners a day prior to the oral presentations for their evaluation against the prescribed bench marks (see Appendix. ii). On the day of the presentations these examiners assessed students’ oral skills against the set bench marks reflecting the Oman Academic Standards learning outcomes (see Appendix. iii).
Stage 1. Introducing Project Work:
In this session students were briefed about the need for doing Project Work at Level-3 and the pedagogical implications for them. They were also informed how the whole task proceeds and the necessity of everyone’s involvement in completing it. In the beginning a few students were skeptical about the outcome of such a venture. As these students involved themselves in doing the project work, they saw the benefits of such an enterprise. Students were put into groups of 4/5 taking every care that the members of the group could meet and communicate easily outside the university. Here the Instructor explained how a group should work: each member being responsible for a part of the project. The Instructor also advised them to choose a group leader who would lead the team and report to the Instructor. At the end of the class, students were handed out the time schedule and the Instructor explained each and every aspect of the schedule clearly so that they could carry out the sub-tasks in time.
Stage 2: Brainstorming for topic selection:
In the following week, students in groups were asked to think about possible topics on which they could work. As their work was expected to involve research through personal interviews and library sources, they were told to come up with such topics that provide the opportunity to exploit all the basic research methods. This session helped even passive students to discuss their ideas with their peers. Not only were they motivated to participate, but also used the skill of negotiation in choosing or deciding upon the topic that they would like to work on. The following topics were suggested by the groups but only five were finalized for their projects:
- Travel Agencies in Salalah (Salalah is the city where the university is located)
- Banks in Salalah
- Traditional Music and Dances of Dhofar Region (the region where Salalah is located)
- Women Employees of Dhofar University
- Women teachers of English in Schools
- Car Agencies in Salalah
- Sports Clubs in Dhofar
- Dhofar University Library
Stage 3: Questionnaire preparation and resource identification:
Since the project works involved personal interviews with the employees of the organizations mentioned, student groups were asked to identify areas of their topics on which they wanted to collect information. As is evident from the topics mentioned, the areas were diverse and this demanded the employment of the language and content of their questions relevant to the topics. Each group was encouraged to identify the people whom they could interview to obtain the required information. Care was taken that the people they would meet were mostly non-Omanis to preclude the possibility of L1 communication between the students and the interviewee. In the case of the project work related to Traditional Music and Dances of Dhofar, the interviewee was an Arabic speaking official from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. However, students were told to translate the information into English. The print literature on this topic was available only in Arabic. This posed a great difficulty for the students as they had to translate important information. The questions prepared by the groups were checked for their content, language, grammar and relevance and suggested modifications wherever necessary. The next step was to identify information sources both print and electronic. The print sources included books from the library, brochures and pamphlets supplied by the organizations and the electronic source included relevant websites on the Internet. Students were instructed to acknowledge the sources of information in the reference section of their reports.
Stage 4: Interviews:
The first step in this stage was to arrange appointments with the people who the students wanted to interview. The Instructor issued letters of introduction so that the interviewee would see the purpose and accord appointment. Prior to their interviews, students were trained how to ask questions and if necessary how to take turns and respond to interviewee’s answers during the interview. Every member of the group was expected to ask at least 3 questions. While one was asking the questions, the others were advised to take notes. The interviews were also recorded on the audio cassettes, with the interviewee’s permission, so that their notes could be compared with the recorded information and checked for details and correctness.
Stage: 5 Collecting data from relevant sources: (books, brochures, pamphlets and websites)
Collection of information was distributed among the members in such a way that while two of them worked with books, the others browsed the Internet to acquire the information. They were told to summarize and paraphrase the information thus collected in order to be free from plagiarism. They were explained how to quote important information. They were also shown the referencing pattern for both print and electronic source. Some students came up with the idea of collecting video clippings, photographs, charts, graphs and other visual material.
Stage 6: Student-teacher conferences:
Student –teacher conferences is the most crucial part of PBL where the instructor facilitates the necessary impetus and learners feel at ease to discuss issues relating to their projects freely as it happens outside the class hours. They were arranged during office hours. During these sessions (which began with the initiation of project work and continued until their final presentations), each group had to present information collected through interviews and from books, brochures and the Internet for the instructor’s observations. The notes taken during the interviews were checked with the recordings for correctness and the information gathered from print and electronic source was checked for its relevance to their projects. The Instructor had discussions with students on choosing the relevant information and organizing it as per the layout of the report (see Appendix iv). Much of the thinking and suggestions came from the students, but occasionally the instructor suggested certain modifications in their word choice and sentence structures. Some of the video clippings collected for projects on ‘Music and Dances of Dhofar Region’ and ‘Women as School Teachers’ were advised to be incorporated in the appropriate places in their power point presentations.
Stage 7: Submission of final products:
Students submitted their final reports in word format on the scheduled date. The Instructor met each group separately and discussed the layout, content and presentation of their reports. Minor changes and corrections were carried out and the next day they submitted their final reports.
Stage 8: Presenting and defending the products orally:
A day prior to the actual presentations on the ‘Students Seminar Day’, students were explained how their oral presentations would be evaluated and by whom. This was necessary to prepare them mentally and to create confidence in them. The presentation skills evaluation sheet (see Appendix. iii) was displayed on OHP and students were briefed about the mechanics of presentations: eye contact, maintaining voice variation, volume and pitch; accuracy, fluency and clarity in speech; use of palm cards so as to avoid reading from the screen; and body language. All the groups gave mock presentations during which peer evaluation took place. This was very helpful for them because they could see their strengths and weaknesses in their presentation skills and it also helped the inhibiting students in raising their confidence level.
On the day of the actual presentations, a notice was put up on the FP bulletin board inviting students from the university to attend the presentations. The time and venue were mentioned in the notice. The external examiners were invited before whom the reports of all the project works were laid for their evaluation. The program schedule was also distributed to them with the names of students of each group. Each group was given 20 minutes to talk about their projects and 10 minutes were assigned for question and answer session during which the groups defended their reports by giving examples and clarifications.
The role of the external examiners:
The external examiners were involved in assessing the project works and oral presentations in order to eliminate subjective judgment by the Instructor. The examiners had no contacts with the students and hence their performance was assessed objectively. The examiners’ comments (see Appendix. vi) corroborate the objectivity in assessing the reports and oral presentations.
Students’S reflections:
At the end of the report students were told to write a short paragraph focusing on their experiences in doing the project work (see Appendix v). They were told to write on ‘time management’, ‘data collection,’ ‘interviews,’ and the ‘usefulness of project work’ and their ‘sense of achievement.’ This helped them to reflect on their work and self-assess their learning in terms of acquiring knowledge and language.
Discussion:
Project Based Learning (PBL) sets the atmosphere for students to be independent learners in a real sense. From the start to the end, students were given the opportunity to negotiate in choosing the topics, language and content of their work. The brainstorming stage allowed them to be proactive in which even the passive students were lead into discussion. The questionnaire preparation stage demanded learners to be not only able to form questions, but also to be able to from the right kind of questions appropriate to the topic. The interview stage helped students to be confident in using English to achieve the goal. As they interviewed people at work, learning took place in a real-world situation. During this stage, students involved themselves in discourse and they were forced, though involuntarily, to apply the techniques of a real discourse. In addition, they learnt how to take notes. While collecting the data from print and electronic sources, they learnt the library skills. They understood how to locate the books and required information from them. They also got familiar with browsing the Internet. They learnt the skill of paraphrasing the information collected and also understood the method of referencing. Thus they were introduced to basic research skills.
While preparing their written reports, they were trained to use Microsoft Word, and for preparing presentations, they were introduced to Microsoft PowerPoint. As Microsoft Word autocorrects sentence structure and highlights spelling errors, it was helpful for students to know their mistakes. Technology helped them see their errors in grammar and spelling.
During student-teacher conferences students learnt the techniques of editing the written work. They started looking at their own work more critically and learnt to edit and reorganize the information in a logical order. They could see the progress of their work and felt a sense of achievement. Students who were shy to speak in the class were open and ready to air their views without any inhibition during these conferences.
While preparing Power Point presentations, students displayed their creativity in choosing photographs, pictures and video clippings. They came up with interesting ideas exhibiting their latent potentialities. For their oral presentations, they learnt the essential skills of presentation. They learnt to project and modulate their voice, pronounce the words correctly, and use body language successfully. Even a shy student could make an attempt to present himself/herself in front of the audience.
Working in groups developed understanding and interpersonal relationship. Group dynamics was fully realized. Group interaction contributed to individual learning process through discovery, negotiation and sharing. Group work enhanced cooperative learning. Group members shared the burden but they owned the successes.
Conclusion:
Thus, Project Based Learning or Instruction helped learners to transcend the traditional classroom setting. Both the instructor and the students “moved beyond the limitations of traditional intensive English Curriculum” (Foss et al, 2007:2). It contextualized learning where they developed products employing the skills of inquiry, analysis and synthesis. Through interviews and data collection, learners acquired factual knowledge in authentic situations. Cooperation among learners was achieved by working in groups. Learners were responsible both individually and collectively in distributing the sub-tasks and producing the final report. In deciding the topic and choosing the material learners employed critical thinking skills. To make sure that the learners used English during interviews, it was made incumbent upon them to record their interviews. However, in cases where they had to interview L1 speakers, they translated their interviews from Arabic to English. Again, this helped learners in working out the appropriate vocabulary in English for the Arabic words to convey the message. Since the groups consisted of learners of diverse capabilities, creativity was displayed in producing the front pages of their reports as well as uploading appropriate video clippings in their Power Point presentations. Explaining their work to audience, learners gained confidence in public speaking. Project Based Learning thus integrated all the four skills. It provided “much richer, wider, more intensive learning experience than possible in the conventional teaching format” (Holst, 2003:4). It provided students with an opportunity to connect the language learnt in the class to their ‘real life interests’ (Foss, et al, 2007).
As can be understood from students’ reflections (see Appendix: v), certain shortcomings of project work need to be taken note of. The major constraint was time. Students were under stress as they had to manage their regular class work, assignments, quizzes and tests not only in English but also in other subjects like Mathematics and IT. Working in groups also posed a problem for some because some of their peers were passive. Thus the burden of doing the whole project was sometimes thrust on a few students in the group who really wanted to benefit form project work. Another bottleneck was non-availability of material in English language on certain topics. This had to be translated into English which took time and effort. Despite these shortcomings, students felt that Project Work helped them to learn basic research skills, work in groups and raised their level of confidence in oral presentations. Thus they realized the fact that there is really a ‘take away’ value in that they really gained more than they suffered. However, as Foss et al., (2007) maintained that as any real life project fails, projects in language learning could also meet the same fate if they lack the essential elements of ‘organization’, ‘group cohesion’ and ‘determination’ on the part of the people involved. To overcome this unpredictable result, the teacher should create confidence in learners about the benefits of project work in his/her first meeting with them. Some prior examples of project works could be shown to students to motivate them and a meeting with students who had already done project work could be arranged to eliminate any misapprehensions about the task they are going to take up. PBL certainly is an approach to acquiring language in real life situations.
References
Beckett,G. ( 2002 ). Teacher and student evaluations of project-based instruction. TESL Canada Journal, 19 (2), 52-66.
Beckett, G. and Slater, T. ( 2005). The project framework: a tool for language, content, and skills integration. ELT Journal.59(2), 108-116.
Blumenfeld, P.C., Soloway, E., Marx, R.W., Krajcik, J.S., Guzdial, M., & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26(3&4), 369-398.
Bredderman, T.( 1983). Effects of activity- based science on student outcomes: A quantitative synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 53, 499-518.
Diaz-Rico, L (2004). How project-based learning imitates life and video games. Essential Teacher (M) ET Volume 1:ET 1.4. Retrieved June 24, 2009 from http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/sec_document.asp? CID=659&DID=2584.
Foss, P., Carney, N., McDonald, K., & Rooks, M.( 2007). Project-based learning activities for short-term intensive English programs. Asian EFL Journal, 23(2). Retreived 12.08.2008 from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/pta_Oct_07_ypf&nc&km&mr.php.
Heilman, J., & Stout, M. (2005). Putting projects into practice. In K.Bradford-Watts, C. Ikeguchi, & M. Swanson (Eds.) JALT Conference proceedings. Tokyo: JALT 2004, Nara
( 587-591)
Holst, J.K.( 2003) . Implementing project-based learning in pre-service teacher education. Retrieved 15 July 2009 from http://surveys.canterbury.ac.nz/herdsa03/pdfsnon/N1085.pdf
Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Program Version 4, May 2007. Retrieved July 21st 2009 from http://www.oac.gov.om/files/assurance/draft_standards/gfp_standards_v.4.pdf.
Stoller, F. (2002). Project work: a means to promote language and content. In J.C. Richards& W.A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice
(pp. 107-119). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Appendix: i
PROJECT WORK+ ORAL PRESENTATION
TIME SCHEDULE
| ACTIVITY | DATE | REMARKS |
| Forming groups and choosing the topic | ||
| Preparing a plan | ||
| Preparing a questionnaire and submitting for teacher’s comments | ||
| Reporting progress on meeting people and interviewing them | ||
| Organizing the information obtained through interviews | ||
| Report on referring books/magazines/journals /brochures and browsing the Internet | ||
| Revising and organizing the information collected from the printed sources | ||
| Organizing the information and writing the first draft and submitting for teacher’s observations | ||
| Writing the second draft and submitting for teacher’s observations | ||
| Writing the final draft and submitting for final remarks of the teacher | ||
| Preparing Power point slides for presentation | ||
| Submission of final reports (projects) and mock oral presentations | ||
| Actual oral presentations |
Note: Each group submits its progress as per the time schedule and discusses with the teacher during his office hours. Group members will provide reasonable explanation for any delays or any other difficulty they encounter during their research.
Appendix: ii
PROJECT PORTFOLIO EVALUATION FORM
GROUP NO:______
| Presentation aspects | Band | Final Score |
| Front Page Includes Title, name of authors, semesterAttractive with good protective cover | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Contents Page Includes a content page; correctly documented with page numbers | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Introduction Includes purpose, methodology and a brief introduction of the topic | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Inside Pages Informative, attractive with pictures; reasonable accuracy in language; good range of relevant vocabulary; information relevant to the topic; shows originality | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Acknowledgement A short paragraph thanking all those who helped to produce this document | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Observations/reflections page A paragraph or two showing their experiences in doing the project; should not contain any offensive comments | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| References A page showing all the sources of the data collected | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Appendix A page showing their questionnaire used for interviews | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Final Score | Total | ________ 40 |
Comments:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Name of the Examiner: _________________________________Signature: ____________________
Appendix: iii
PROJECT ORAL PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM
Date of presentation: 2nd June 2008 venue:
Group No: _______1. Names of speakers:
| Evaluation Criteria | Band | Final score |
| Strong Introduction: states the purpose and the topic | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speaker fluent, clear and audible and confident | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speaker makes eye contact with the audience and displays appropriate body language | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speaker maintains good voice projection, varies the volume, pitch and pace of the voice | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speakers use visuals (power point slides, OHP) effectively | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speaker creates interest throughout and doesn’t sound dull | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Speaker uses notes and palm cards effectively and doesn’t read from the screen or from papers | 1 2 3 4 5 | |
| Responds to audience questions adequately and defends the project confidently | 1 2 3 4 5 | 40 |
Examiner comments:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Name of the Examiner: …………………………………………………………………………………
Signature:……………………………………….
APPENDIX: iv
FINAL REPORT LAY OUT
Your project file (Final Report) should have the following layout:
- Front Page:
a) Name of the University
b) Foundation Program; course name/ semester/year
c) Title of the report clearly typewritten with visible font
d) Relevant pictures/ photographs attractively printed
e) Names of all group members
f) Instructor’s name
- Content Page : it should contain the following with corresponding page numbers:
- Purpose of the project
- Methodology
- Introduction
- Findings
- Conclusion
- A note on your experience in doing this project
- Acknowledgement
- Questionnaire
- References
The report should contain information from (a) to (i) with relevant references and pictures.
APPENDIX: v
A sample of Students’ reflections: Their experiences in doing the project: Selected comments
- We really felt that this research is very useful for us in our studies. This research is not only about traditional dances, but we also got more experience in how to do project work. This will help us in our future studies. We learnt how to organize the research and make a presentation. However, we experienced some difficulties while doing the project work. We found it difficult to upload the videos. Also we didn’t find any book in the university library and it was difficult to translate some text from Arabic to English from the dictionary.
- This project helped us to be patient and confident. It also helped us how we can work during interviews, or in any situation. In addition, we got a good knowledge about women at work. However, there were some problems: some teachers did not agree to answer our questions. There was not enough time to complete this project. Most teachers did not allow us to take their photos when they were teaching children.
- It is good to work in group and you know how to divide the work between each one in the group. We faced some problems in getting information about sports clubs. For example, some managers of the club didn’t have enough information such as the date of winning or losing some games, pictures of presidents or players. It was a good experience. We learnt how to do the projects.
APPENDIX: vi
Examiner comments
Examiner 1: Annie Lajniani, Director, Foundation Program
This students’ seminar is the first of its kind in this university. Project Based Learning
is an approach that makes learner independent and confident in using the language
in real life situations.
I must congratulate Dr. Khan for initiating this approach and has implemented so well
that students exhibited their confidence in presenting their reports. The project on Omani Dances was carefully prepared and excellently presented by the female
students. All the other presentations were also well written and presented. Well done
students. I recommend this approach to be implemented by other faculty members
teaching Level 3.
Examiner 2: Smantha Burns, Native Speaker Instructor, Foundation Program
I am really impressed by the way all the students presented their project reports.
They were fluent and fairly accurate in the language. The project on Dances of Oman
was the highlight of this students’ seminar. I know some of the girls who were usually
shy, but I was surprised to see them present so well in front of their peers and other
audience with such a confidence. Dr. Khan deserves all praise for his hard work and
commitment in helping learners develop their language skills.
Examiner 3: Rafa al Yahya, Convener, Foundation Program
I am so delighted to have attended this seminar. I have marked all their projects.
Most of them have been well documented as per the guidelines provided by their
instructor. I have also gone through the data they collected for their projects. The
Students have shown the progress in their learning which I observed in their way of
using the appropriate language with very minor grammatical errors. Thank you Dr.Khan
for such a wonderful seminar.
*This paper was presented at ASIATEFL International Conference Bangkok, Thailand, August 7-9, 2009.