Using PBL to Boost Postgraduate English Teaching During Distance Learning

Dalian Naval Academy,Dalian,China Email:wangtianli0411@163.com

[Abstract]Due to the pandemic of Covid-19,the traditional postgraduate English teaching was transferred from the real classrooms to the virtual classrooms of distance learning,which resulted in the low efficiency and effectiveness.To help solve these problems,this paper puts forward a PBL(Project Based Learning)method,gives the reasons for choosing this method,provides the procedures to conduct PBL,and lists five noticeable questions for PBL.

[Keywords]project based learning;postgraduate English teaching;distance learning

PROBLEMS STEMMING FROM THE DISTANCE LEARNING

at the beginning of the year,an unexpected breakout of Covid-19 greatly changed many people’s routine life.The pandemic also caused great changes in our working and studying patterns.We could not go to our workplaces and students could not go to their schools.Thanks to the development of the internet technology,we began to work online at our homes and students began to study online in the distant virtual classrooms.

However,this swift change caused many problems.Take the postgraduate English teaching as an example:Given a very limited time to prepare for the new pattern of teaching,many teachers spent much of the time getting familiar with the technologies and they simply transferred their doings from the traditional classrooms to the virtual classrooms.Soon,the teachers discovered that they can not easily control the class as they did before.For example,they might spend much longer time questioning a student than in the face-to-face questioning due to the signal delay;they might have to pause for a while to solve the accidental problems caused by the breakdowns of the software or the hardware; and they might repeat several times what they had said to ensure that all the students had seen or heard clearly(Ma,2020,p.24).Many times they found that they could only finish two thirds or even half of their teaching contents when the time ran out.That is to say,the teachers can not finish the fixed teaching contents within the scheduled teaching hours,which translates into a low efficiency.In addition,just facing the screen or the images of the students,the teachers were not very sure whether the students were following the teachers’pace,especially the students who are inactive.On more than one occasion,the teachers found that their students were absent from the virtual classroom or doing some other things rather than listening and/or watching carefully.The comfortable home environment distracts the students’attention away from their learning when they are sitting in the virtual classroom or doing the after-class assignments,which causes an far-from-ideal effectiveness.

Many teachers would agree that the traditional lecture-style teaching method in the virtual classrooms achieved very low efficiency and effectiveness(Deng,2020,p.23).

HIGHER EFFICIENCY AND BETTER EFFECTIVENESS AS WELL AS THE TRAINING TARGETS FOR POSTGRADUATES

To make all the students active in the teaching process and achieve higher efficiency and better effectiveness,we use PBL(Project Based Learning)to boost postgraduate English teaching during distance learning,which can also improve their abilities and skills to think critically,to make wise decisions,to collaborate closely with peers,to effectively solve problems,etc.

Higher Efficiency and Better Effectiveness

PBL is a model that organizes learning around projects.Nowadays,as an appropriate and effective method,it is widely used in the teaching of English as a second language(Du & Han,2016,p.2).According to the definitions found in PBL,projects are complex tasks,based on challenging questions or problems,that involve students in design,problem-solving,decision making,or investigative activities;give students the opportunity to work relatively autonomously over extended periods of time;and culminate in realistic products or presentations(Jones,Rasmussen,&Moffitt,1997,p.43).

Project Based Learning emphasizes student-centered instruction through the assignment of projects.It allows students to work more independently to construct their own learning and culminates in student-generated products.It is a pattern that transforms teaching from“teachers’speeches”to“students’deeds”.Students become active problem-solvers,decision makers rather than passive listeners,they collaborate or cooperate with each other,organize their activities,conduct researches,solve problems,synthesize information,organize time and resources and reflect on their learning.The students are always on the run to get their project done.Researches have shown that the students’active involvement in the whole process of the project enhances the quality of students’learning in subject matter areas(Thomas,2000,p.35).

On the other hand,teachers change their role“from sage on the stage to guide on the side”and assume the role of cognitive coach(by asking,monitoring,probing,managing,group regulating,keeping moving)rather than knowledge-holder and disseminator(EduTech,2020,p.6).Teachers will not teach knowledge that they formerly taught in the classrooms.Students will learn the project-related knowledge on their own.The classroom time would be used to ask questions by students and answer questions by teacher,that is,to provide guidance for students to follow.In other words,the teachers and the students focus their attention on the core issues of the project,the ones that push the project move forward.This is the improved time efficiency.In addition,“fragmented knowledge”taught in the traditional classrooms has been designed systematically into the project.Through one single project,the students can actually learn a series of loosely connected knowledge.This is the enhanced content efficiency.

The Training Targets for Postgraduates

Moreover,project serves as the initial challenge and motivation(appealing to be explored,setting up the context of learning),which will drive the students to learn in the process of researching.This makes learning and researching equally important,which is the core of postgraduate education.The education of postgraduates requires that the students can not only obtain the abilities to learn knowledge but also gain the skills to work creatively through the training of scientific research.Compared with the education of undergraduates,the education of postgraduates puts more emphasis on the abilities and skills to identify problems,analyse problems and solve problems.As an important part of the postgraduate education,the concepts and methods of English teaching should serve for the overall training targets for postgraduates.Hence,the postgraduate English teaching should integrate its contents within the framework of independent research.It should try to improve the students’abilities and skills to practically use the English language,collaborate with peers and lead the team during the process of a specific project.The postgraduate English teaching should make the students experience the basic features of different cultures in the aspects of thinking,expressing and acting,through which it makes them acquire a fairly good intercultural communicative competence.

In addition,PBL fits into the education of postgraduates.Generally speaking,a postgraduate has wider scopes of knowledge,stronger abilities to do researches and better personal qualities to work in a team,which are crucial for a successful project.

GENERAL PROCEDURE TO CONDUCT PBL

Traditional lecture-style teaching separates knowledge learning from the creative use of the knowledge learned.The learners are always the passive receivers of the knowledge.On the contrary,PBL covers all the elements needed for knowledge constructing and makes the two(learning knowledge and using knowledge)integrated systematically.The project in the postgraduate English teaching can go into various forms,such as lectures,reports,plays,microfilms,etc.PBL in the postgraduate English teaching is generally conducted in accordance with the following procedure.

Choosing a Project

The choice of a project is the key to the success of PBL.In the first place,the postgraduates’English level should be taken into consideration.The language requirement of the project should be a little bit higher than the students’actual level.In this way,it will not only guarantee that the project can be carried out smoothly,but also the students can improve their English during the process.They may learn some new English language or use the English language they have learned more fluently.In the second place,students should have the freedom to choose a courserelated project according to their own interests.The teachers should not impose a specific project on students.What teachers should do is to provide guidance for the students to choose their projects based on the teachers’knowledge and experiences.In the third place,the project should originate from the students’daily life.Otherwise,the students cannot make observation or analysis from their point of view.In the fourth place,the project should involve complex and systematical problems rather than simple and separate problems.Only in this way can the students use their inter-discipline knowledge and master the procedures and methods of the research.In the last place,the project should finally turn into a product.In fact,choosing a project is the process of communicating between students and teachers and it itself is the process of researching and finding.

Making a Plan

The plan for a project should cover the contents,the methodologies,the procedures and the time-table.The contents are the entity of the project;they answer all the project-related questions.The methodologies and the time-table should be decided according to the features and needs of the project.The procedures should show the inner logic of the research process.Moreover,the plan should be flexible and adjustable for the reason that a research process is always unpredictable.

Exploring the Project

The exploration of the project is the main body of PBL.It is the core process for students to conduct the research and gain knowledge and skills.It is composed of the following four basic stages,namely collecting information,sorting and processing information,analyzing and evaluating information,and drawing conclusions.The information collected must be real and reliable.The collected information must be sorted and processed scientifically.A rigorous and complete logic must be ensured during the analyzing and evaluating process.The conclusions must be supported by the reliable and sufficient evidence.In addition,English must be the working language during the exploring process and all the information must be expressed in English.By the way,the team members are encouraged to show their talents during the exploring process and learn how to communicate and collaborate,which is not only the demand for the modern scientific research but also the need to construct a healthy personality.

Making the Product

The product is the basic and key element for a project to be established and it is the evidence to show the cognitive results.It is also an important feature to distinguish Project Based Learning from other forms of learning.The process of making a product should keep pace with the conducting of the project.Actually,the process of conducting a project itself is the process of designing,making and perfecting a product.The product can go into the forms of lectures,essays,reports,models,web-pages,audio and video files,etc.This process can greatly improve the practical use of standardized English.

Exchanging the Product s

Exchanging the products is a process of presenting and sharing.It is also a process of reflecting and improving.More importantly,the students will fully enjoy the happiness brought by PBL,obtain confidence,and form the good habit of thinking critically and practising whole-heartedly.The forms of the exchange can be exhibits,presentations,debates,competitions,etc.These activities provide a good chance for the students to improve their oral English.

Evaluating the Projects

The function of evaluating the projects is to provide a incentive mechanism and serve as foundation for further improvement.The general principle for evaluating the projects is the combination of quantitative and qualitative evaluations,which should cover the research process and the final product.For example,the choosing of the project,the performance of students in the team,the making of the plan,the arrangement of the time,the expression of the results and the presentation of the product should all be taken into consideration while doing the evaluation.The forms of evaluation can be self-evaluating,peers’evaluating and experts’evaluating.The evaluation should focus on both the contents of the project and the usages of the language.They are equally important.

THINGS TO BE MOTICED

When teachers are adopting PBL as their teaching method,they should consider the following five questions.

Are the PBL projects central to the curriculum?

Are the PBL projects focused on the questions or problems that drive the students to gain the key concepts or principles of the discipline?

Do the PBL projects involve the students in a constructive research?

Are the PBL projects student-driven to some significant degree?

Are the PBL projects realistic?

CONCLUSION

PBL is the process of constructing knowledge system in the student-centered pattern.The project combines thinking with practising and integrates learning into researching.Thus it makes the learning become an active exploring process rather than a passive receiving one.Through the participation of project-related activities,the students improve their abilities and skills to learn in an independent and collaborative way and develop their competence of researching and problem-solving.The core feature of PBL is student-centered,but it does not mean that the roles of teachers are weakened.On the contrary,PBL sets up higher requirements for teachers.It requires that teachers must have a good master of the project-related expertise and updated development of the discipline.Meanwhile,it requires that the teachers must have the abilities to deal with different students and complex projects.The teachers should actively guide,direct,organize and supervise the doings of the students and the goings of the projects.The teachers should believe that the students have the potentials to trigger their great creativity under the proper guidance.All in all,the smooth communication,interaction and collaboration between teachers and students are the key factors to the successful PBL.