The Effect of Project-Based Learning on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Paragraph Writing Skills

Abstract

Paragraph writing skill is considered to be one of the main challenges EFL learners come across. Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge Project - based learning (PBL) is simply defined as an instructional approach that contextualizes learning by presenting learners with problems to solve or products to develop (Moss & Van Duzer, 1998) emphasizing learning through student-centered, interdisciplinary, and integrated activities in real world situations (Solomon, 2003). The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effect of PBL on paragraph writing skills of Iranian EFL Learners. The participants in the current study were 36 Iranian male EFL learners at Armangarayan language institute. The participants were at the intermediate level in compliance with Oxford Placement Test (OPT), and selected according to a simple random sampling: the Experimental group (EG) and Comparison group (CG) with 18students in each group. A writing pre -test was also administered to measure their writing skills. Then, after 10 weeks of PBL and instruction, writing post-test was administered. The scores were then analyzed using a scoring module developed by Soleimani et al. (2008).The results were submitted to t-test revealing that the students who were educated by PBL outperformed the students who were educated by the instruction based on student textbooks. The findings lend credence to the positive effects of PBL in enhancing students’ writing performance.