Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) for a sustainable future

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This panel discussion focuses on Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) in second/foreign language education in global contexts. Second/foreign Language education has played important role in fostering global citizenship and sustainable development in this world characterized by diversity, change, and cross-cultural interactions. Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL), a student-centered pedagogical approach, was introduced to second/foreign language education in the 1980s and 1990s to complement teacher-centered pedagogy. PBLL engages students in language and content learning “through planning, researching (empirical and/or document), analyzing and synthesizing data, and reflecting on the process and product orally and/or in writing by comparing, contrasting, and justifying alternatives” (Beckett, 1999, p. 4). It empowers students by encouraging their creativity and learning autonomy and allowing diverse learning characteristics and abilities both individually and collectively (Zhao & Beckett, 2014). As such, it is a powerful and transformative education approach that can be used to prepare students for participation and leadership in creating a sustainable future.
PBLL came to second/foreign language education from Project-Based Learning (PBL), an approach that has 100-year history in general education. PBL has been adopted as an optimal approach for implementing state-level 21st century curricula goals in US general education (see Beckett, et al, 2015; 2016). There have also been federally funded PBL initiatives (e.g., National Science Foundation) to implement 21st century curricula innovations and teacher training (see e.g., Beckett et al, 2015; Beckett et al, 2016; and the 2016 special issue of Journal of Science Education and Technology). Outside of the US, Lewin and McNicol (2015) stated that European educational policy has aimed to increase employability and lifelong learning by developing students’ digital competency and their 21st century skills such as independent learning, critical thinking and problem-solving, communication and collaboration, creativity, and ICT skills, integrated with project-based and other approaches. These qualities brought by PBL are what education for sustainability aims at for students in this ever changing global era.
However, the implementation of a PBL approach in second and foreign language education is relatively new, and theoretically grounded empirical research around this topic—and in particular project-based approaches that involve technology—is very much in its infancy (Dooly & Sadler, 2016). There is also very little work on assessment of PBL in general and PBLL in particular. This proposed panel discussion aims to address these gaps by reporting a content-analysis study of PBLL research literature published between 2002 and 2018 in P.R.C., as well as empirical studies that explored students’ and teachers’ practice and experiences with PBLL respectively in a Chinese as a foreign language education context in the U.S. and in an English as a foreign language context in the P.R.C. Also included in the panel, is a framework for researching and assessing technology-infused PBLL.
The critical content analysis study of PBLL work in PRC is significant because it provides access in English to 16 years of research in China and published solely in Chinese with global audience. It also provides a model for making meaning of the vast amounts of data that have accumulated by extracting the underlying trends and principles and highlighting important issues emerged from the analysis. The two PBLL studies of English and Chinese as foreign languages make important contributions to the field as they were conducted in two contexts that have had the least experience with PBLL. These two empirical studies help us zoom in on details about how English and Chinese as foreign languages are being taught and learned in classrooms through PBLL. They also foreground confluences of different educational philosophies and practices represented by PBLL and exam-oriented Chinese education model in the context of globalization. The different foci on teachers and students in the studies also offer a unique comparative perspective to PBLL. Findings and issues being discovered in the studies have implications to sustainability in language education. The assessment framework included in this panel addresses another much needed area of research for PBLL as it provides guidelines for instructors and researchers in establishing clear learning objectives for learning and assessment and choosing the appropriate assessment instruments and tools for their PBLL courses or projects.
The proposed panel will further our current knowledge regarding PBL-based teaching and learning of language form, subject matter content with technology tools, and the roles of learners and teachers in the approach. The panel discussion informs researchers and educators by offering theory and practice that can translate into classroom use as well as provides a springboard for further research. The studies on the panel will have important contributions and implications to the teaching and learning of second/foreign language education in general and PBLL, both of which play important roles in achieving education for sustainability.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Individual Presentations

• Project-based language learning studies in China: A literature review - Sue Wang, Central University of Finance and Economics; Gulbahar Beckett, Iowa State University

• Exploring student reactions to a project-based English course in a Chinese junior high school class - Luxin Yang, Beijing Foreign Studies University; Wei Wen, High School Affiliated to Beijing Institute of Technology; Juanjuan Zhao, University of Cincinnati; Gulbahar Beckett, Iowa State University

• Bridging Chinese as a Foreign Language and cross-cultural education with technology-enriched PBL - Juanjuan Zhao, University of Cincinnati

• A Research-Based Framework for Assessing Technology-Infused PBLL - Mo Chen, Iowa State University

Discussant

• Gulbahar Beckett, Iowa State University