Cooperative project-based learning methodology for motivating and engaging students to learn englishDifficulties of implementation

Abstract

Cooperative Project-Based Learning (CPBL) is an instructional model that involves students confronting real-world issues and problems that they find meaningful, determining how to address them, and then working cooperatively in groups for extended periods to investigate and respond to engaging questions and tasks to create innovative solutions. The CPBL instructional approach appears to be well-placed to become the principal model of teaching in the twenty-first century, and educators would be wise to embrace this innovative approach. As schools struggle to teach students in a world of low motivation, limited problem-solving abilities, highly restricted funds, and ever-changing instructional methods, CPBL has emerged as a classroom option for the twenty-firstcentury methodology that would be the most effective to keep pace with the changes that the world has witnessed during the current COVID-19 pandemic. CPBL can greatly enhance students’ motivation, autonomous learning skills, and technological literacy, which are key matters that help students to be lifelong learners who are able and responsible to build their knowledge and continue their learning under all circumstances. However, motivating teachers to implement CPBL in their classrooms is one of the critical challenges facing this methodology, due to several reasons, the most important of which is that most teachers have insufficient methodological knowledge of how to implement CPBL. In these circumstances, almost all teachers who desire to implement this methodology are willing to learn how they can do so. Certainly, the main reason behind this is the absence of teachers’ relevant professional training. Unfortunately, this leads to a lack of motivation and willingness to adopt this methodology. Consequently, it is considered that the inclusion of continuous training for teachers while providing the necessary pedagogical equipment and materials would inevitably help in raising the level of motivation and, thus, the level of preparedness to plan, manage, and implement purposeful projects that help their learners improve their learning and increase their motivation for joint cooperative work during the completion of their project. The present study explored whether teachers are motivated and willing to adopt CPBL and whether their age, gender and stage of teaching have any impact on the implementation of CPBL. The study also investigated the difficulties and challenges teachers of English encounter when attempting to implement CPBL, as well as the fundamental sources of these difficulties, to provide innovative solutions to enhance teachers’ motivation to use this approach in their classrooms. Additionally, the study attempted to examine the teachers’ perceptions, views, and attitudes regarding this methodology, as well as the integration of new technologies into CPBL to foster students’ investigative, communicative, and autonomous learning skills. To facilitate teachers’ tasks, a model of a cooperative project and its implications for planning will be provided. Significantly, this research is exploratory in scope, quantitative qualitative in design and correlational-factorial in nature. This study used a mixed-method quantitative and qualitative data analysis technique that consists of questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation. A concurrent triangulation technique was used to solve the research questions. Specifically, after collecting both quantitative and qualitative data at the same time and analysing the two databases individually, which allowed a comparison of the results to see if there were differences, convergence, or combinations. The main goal of integrating both quantitative and qualitative data was to place the obtained data into a comprehensive explanatory framework and gain in-depth knowledge about the subject under investigation. Furthermore, employing this method emphasised objectivity in collecting data, testing hypotheses, revising theories, and replicating the participants’ attitudes and views, thereby expanding the scope of the research and gaining a more holistic and individualin-context perspective on the current investigated issue. Specifically, through quotes from participants, a detailed description of the results provides a voice to the teachers’ opinions, attitudes, and experiences about the use of CPBL, level of motivation, difficulties, and challenges encountered. Specifically, to verify and evaluate the number of teachers who use CPBL and how often they use it. To demonstrate the results, descriptive statistics were used, which allowed for the explanation and conclusion of the gathered data from the participants. In this study, a research methodology course that involved communitybased research and followed the CPBL approach has been described. Additionally, to fulfil the research objectives, questionnaires were distributed with sixteen close-ended questions and a five-point Likert scale was used ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree,” were distributed and structured interviews were conducted to elicit the opinions of 84 teachers of English as a second language about the implementation of the CPBL methodology. The participants’ gender equality number was taken into consideration. Males were 37 (44.05%), while females were 47 (55.95%). To guarantee a better understanding of the teachers’ answers, structured interviews were developed. The information was collected from teachers who were implementing CPBL in their classrooms as well as those who had never used it before or were willing to adopt it. Again, for the interviews, the participants were chosen using convenience sampling, with the following factors in mind: school accessibility and interview availability. The average age of the interviewees was 42 years old, and there were 6 females and 5 males among the interviewees. The interviews were based mainly on the objectives of the investigation and were guided by the questions of this research. Notably, most of those teachers work in public primary and high schools in the province of Almeria, and the other participants belong to different cities in Spain. Notably, 58 (69.05%) were primary education teachers; and 26 (30.95%) were secondary school teachers, who had experience teaching English as a second or foreign language for a range of 6 to 23 years. The participants responded to the questionnaires during the second semester (January to March) of the 2019/2020 school year. The factorial analysis revealed that the age of teachers had a significant impact on CPBL implementation (p < .001). Accordingly, younger age groups of 21–30 and 31–40 showed a greater predisposition for the implementation of CPBL than the 41–50 range. The results of the study revealed that 36.9% of teachers were using this methodology. Besides, 69,76% indicated positive attitudes toward CPBL as a powerful constructional approach that improves students’ linguistic skills, critical and creative thinking, and autonomous learning. Additionally, the findings highlighted that the most important problem facing CPBL methodology is insufficient professional training. According to the findings, only 4 (4.76%) of teachers had been using this methodology for more than three years, 8 (9.52%) had been using it between two and three years, and 9 (10.71) used it occasionally, and 10 (11.90%) had been using it for less than one year, and finally, 53 which represents 63.09% had never implemented it before. Regardless of the challenges and difficulties, the findings indicated that 65% of the participants recommended it to other teachers. The results of the study revealed a limited number of teachers who were implementing CPBL. One of the most important reasons was the lack of appropriate pedagogical training. Significantly, teachers need to carry out continuous, adequate, and attractive professional training and also need the motivation to permit CPBL accessibility to their classrooms to invert them into places where creativity and innovation are found. Notably, thisstudy supports CL work on projects more than it does with individual work. Considering that in the cooperative option, students benefit from each other’s experiences, ideas, and interaction. Certainly, communication itself is fundamental to the development of their speaking abilities, capacity to listen and growth of their intellectual curiosity. Additionally, while working cooperatively on projects, students manage, judge, make decisions, and learn by discovering, which helps them develop complex and highorder skills. The study’s findings have important implications for curriculum and professional training course designers and English as a second or foreign language (EFL) teachers, particularly those who are having difficulty and those who want to broaden their knowledge and sharpen their professionalism as well as their proficiency to make the implementation of the CPBL innovative and successful.